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Our group addresses conceptual and practical matters in catalysis and chemical reaction engineering using a “toolbox” that includes kinetic, spectroscopic, isotopic and theoretical methods and novel catalyst architectures and a methodology that transcends the specific molecular transformations of interest. These methods tackle the design, synthesis, and structural and mechanistic characterization of inorganic solids useful as catalysts for chemical reactions important in the production, conversion, and use of energy carriers, in sustainable petrochemical syntheses, and in the protection of the environment. We develop and exploit novel synthetic protocols for the synthesis of active nanostructures and of isolated single-site catalysts within microporous and mesoporous solids, as well as methods to characterize the local structure and atomic connectivity in these inorganic solids, in many instances during catalytic reactions. These studies involve steady-state and transient kinetic methods and the use of isotopes to trace the identity and kinetic relevance of elementary steps and bound intermediates at surfaces, both at the level of primary and secondary reaction channels and of elementary surface steps using a seamless combination of systematic experimental assessments benchmarked against rigorous analysis by density functional theory and higher-level theoretical methods. The relevance of his research to the practice of catalysis is evident from his many patents, several of which have provided enabling intellectual property for processes involved in the conversion of natural gas, in applications of zeolite catalysis to petrochemicals synthesis and environmental control, and in the conversion of renewable oxygenate feedstocks to fuels and chemicals.