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Position Governing Body Fellow Junior Research Fellow
School Physical Sciences Department of Chemistry
Email jek77@cam.ac.uk
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Joseph is a theoretical chemist who focuses on building efficient computational methods to identify, study, and ultimately control the key physical principles that give rise to phenomena including catalysis and solar energy conversion.

Joseph studied chemical biology at the University of California, Berkeley, before completing his PhD in quantum dynamics for spectroscopy and electrochemical charge transport at Stanford University. Now based in the Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry, Joseph is developing methods to simulate how light and matter interact at the atomic scale.

Joseph’s research interests lie in chemical problems where the quantum mechanical properties of individual molecules and materials are closely tied to their broader environment. In photosynthetic proteins, for example, the overall protein structure and dynamic changes in that structure play a critical role in how plants and bacteria move energy where it is needed and mitigate damage when there is too much sunlight. Joseph develops machine learning techniques to expand the types of systems that can be studied with and improve the accuracy of electronic structure and nonadiabatic dynamics simulations necessary to simulate complex condensed-phase systems. Simulations of these systems allow us to illuminate design principles for damage mitigation in solar cells and investigate the behaviour of electrochemical catalysis towards more energy-efficient chemical manufacturing.

Outside of the lab, Joseph has helped develop the next generation of researchers by mentoring high school students through year-long science fair projects, contributing to the training of graduate student teaching assistants, and running a workshop series on effective research mentorship in the sciences.