Since 2019, the Bowman Lab has been in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of California, Irvine.
Our research uses advanced scanning and transmission electron microscopy (S/TEM) to study electroceramics and nanomaterials for energy conversion and storage applications and carbon capture, utilization, and storage. We aim to understand and design nanoscale structural and chemical phenomena vital to the performance of these materials.
We work at the nexus of fundamental and applied ceramic science, and advanced S/TEM to produce knowledge about the atomic-scale interplay between electrical and chemical properties. Central to our work is developing correlated multiscale S/TEM methods and employing them with macroscale property testing to improve material design and performance. Our interests include:
- materials for energy conversion and storage
- materials for carbon capture, utilization and storage
- advanced transmission electron microscopy and spectroscopy
- electrochemical properties and defect chemistry of ceramics
- interfaces, grain boundaries and surfaces
- ceramic processing and thin-film growth
Land Acknowledgment
The UC Irvine campus is located on the homelands of the Acjachemen and Tongva peoples who continue to claim their place and act as stewards of their ancestral lands as they have for the past 10,000 years.
Academic Employees’ Unions
UAW Local 4811 (formerly 2865) represents all 36,000+ Academic Student Employees—Teaching Assistants, Graduate Student Researchers, Graduate Student Instructors, Tutors, and Readers—across the University of California system. UAW Local 5810 represents 11,000+ Postdoctoral Scholars and Academic Researchers at all 10 UC campuses and Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. Together, we collectively bargain for better working conditions and work together for a workplace free from racism, sexism, and all forms of oppression.
Funding
Latest conference news
August 2024
Huiming and Will present posters at the Gordon Research Conference (GRC) on Solid State Studies in Ceramics at Mount Holyoke College, Massachusetts, August 4 – 9, 2024.
Huiming presents an invited talk at the Gordon Research Seminar (GRS) on Solid State Studies in Ceramics at Solid State Studies in Ceramics at Mount Holyoke College, Massachusetts, August 3 – 4, 2024.
July 2024
Huiming presents a talk at Microscopy & Microanalysis in Cleveland, Ohio, July 28-August 1, 2024.
Will presents a talk at the 24th International Conference on Solid State Ionics in London, England, July 15-19, 2024.
June 2024
Will presents a talk at Enhanced Data Generated by Electrons (EDGE) 2024, the 9th International Workshop on Electron Energy Loss Spectroscopy and Related Techniques in Vancouver, Canada, June 9-14, 2024.
Latest awards and honors
May 2024
Hasti Vahidi defended her PhD dissertation! Congratulations Dr. Vahidi!
April 2024
Huiming Guo was awarded a 2024 Microscopy & Microanalysis (M&M) Student Scholar Award, for her paper entitled: “Atomic Structure and Chemistry of High-Entropy Oxide Grain Boundaries revealed by STEM Imaging, Strain Mapping, and Spectroscopy”. The award is sponsored by the Microanalysis Society (MAS), which includes complimentary student registration for the M&M 2024 meeting and financial support of expenses to attend the meeting. Huiming will receive her award during the opening plenary session at the M&M 2024 meeting. She will be also invited to the Presidents’ Reception, hosted by the Microscopy Society of America and MAS presidents. Congratulations to Huiming!
February 2024
Jane Martinez was awarded the Spring 2024 Miguel Velez Scholarship!
Latest funding news
February 2023
The Lab received a grant from the ClimateWorks Foundation to collaborate with Prof. Jose Mendoza, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Michigan State University, and Prof. Hang Ren, Chemistry, University of Texas at Austin. Research Corporation for Science Advancement, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and ClimateWorks Foundation have made awards to seven cross-disciplinary teams of early career scientists in the third year of the Scialog: Negative Emissions Science initiative, which aims to catalyze advances in basic science that will enable technologies for removal of CO2 and other greenhouse gases to become more efficient, affordable, and scalable.
Latest publication news
April 2024
Huiming’s paper was published in Applied Physics Letters! The article is titled “Tuning grain boundary cation segregation with oxygen deficiency and atomic structure in a perovskite compositionally complex oxide thin film.”
Jane’s paper was published in Advanced Materials Interfaces! The article is titled “Precision Calcination Mechanism of CaCO3 to High-Porosity Nanoscale CaO CO2 Sorbent Revealed by Direct In Situ Observations.”
February 2024
Hasti’s paper was published in Advanced Functional Materials! The article is titled “Reversible Enhancement of Electronic Conduction caused by Phase Transformation and Interfacial Segregation in an Entropy Stabilized Oxide.”
January 2024
Huiming’s paper was published in Matter! The article is titled “Designing nanostructure exsolution-self-assembly in a complex concentrated oxide.”
Latest outreach news
January 2024
Jane led the organization of Vista Middle and High School Visit to UCI. The visit included 3 UCI MSE Professors (Bowman, Ragan and Apelian), 7 UCI PhD/Masters students, 53 visiting students, and 5 chaperones.
May 2023
Hasti visited Main Street Elementary in Los Angeles’ in collaboration with UCI MSE GSA. They spent the day with 5 different classes, working with students on Foldscope and digital optical microscopes looking at evolution-related samples including plants, fruits, insects, and more.
UCI MSE created the Anti-Racism Working Group.
