Dr. Hemamala Karunadasa

Biography

Professor Hemamala Karunadasa works within the field of chemistry with a focus on materials science, earth science, and applied physics, driving the discovery of new materials for clean energy applications. Her research is centered on creating materials that combine structural tunability with organic molecules and varied electronic and optical properties, extending to inorganic solids. Key areas of her work include developing sorbents for environmental pollutant capture, phosphors for solid-state lighting, and absorbers for solar cells. She completed her undergraduate studies at Princeton University, focusing on the geometric magnetic frustration of metal oxides, before pursuing her Ph.D. at the University of California, Berkeley, where her thesis targeted heavy atom building units in magnetic molecules. Her postdoctoral research at both Berkeley and Caltech led her to explore molecular catalysts for water splitting and hydrocarbon oxidation. Since joining Stanford University in 2012, she has aimed at developing molecular approaches to solid-state materials. Her lab incorporates both synthetic techniques and structural determination methods such as x-ray diffraction to characterize materials for renewable energy applications.

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