My research interests center on the development of sustainable building materials using local natural resources. My research currently focuses on surface and bulk modifications of natural fibers to improve their performance in polymeric and cementitious composites for building applications. I believe that one of the feasible ways to achieve sustainable construction is to use building materials with less embodied energy. This will help in reducing Canada's escalating greenhouse gas emissions from the building materials manufacturing industry, which is currently responsible for six percent of Canada's greenhouse gas emissions.

Everything we use in everyday life or for engineering applications is made of materials or a combination of materials. Engineering materials are subcategorized into metals, ceramics, polymers, and composites. Engineers are responsible for the fabrication, selection, and quality control of materials to develop technologies with higher efficiency. Therefore, the determination of materials properties, in other words, material characterization, is one of the essential responsibilities of engineers in the development of advanced technologies.

Material characterization applies fundamental physics and chemistry principles to reveal the structure of materials at all relevant scales (macro-, micro-, or nano-scale) and understand how the structure determines the properties of materials.

I hope that my research results may empower communities in Canada's North to become more self-sufficient and sustainable by decreasing dependence on building materials that often need to be flown in at a great expense. I believe that ensuring social and economic independence is the most important goal of sustainable development. Hence, my research program aims to provide remote communities with a means to create, locally, the materials needed to build and repair homes to become more socially and economically independent.