Dr. Karim joined the Department of Chemical Engineering at Virginia Tech as an Associate Professor in the Fall of 2014. His research is focused on the synthesis and characterization of nanomaterials, and the design of heterogeneous catalysts for energy and environmental applications. He is a co-principal investigator for the Synchrotron Catalysis Consortium (SCC) and his group uses a combination of advanced in-situ and in-operando characterization techniques (SAXS, XAFS, FTIR) to study the synthesis mechanisms of colloidal nanoparticles and catalysts and to study the reaction mechanisms on heterogeneous catalysts. He recently received the 3M Non-Tenured Faculty Award for his work on identifying the nucleation and growth mechanisms of Pd colloidal nanoparticles. He has co-authored 43 peer reviewed publications, one patent and delivered 10 invited lectures and presentations. Prior to Virginia Tech he worked as a senior research scientist (2008-2014) at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), one among 10 U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) national laboratories managed by DOE's Office of Science. Dr. Karim earned his BSc in Biomedical Engineering from Cairo University in Egypt (2000) then moved to the U.S. and received his PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of New Mexico working with Prof. Abhaya Datye (2001-2006) followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Delaware in the Chemical Engineering Department with Prof. Dionisios Vlachos (2007-2008).