Professor Goldfarb’s research tackles issues surrounding the past, present and future generation of energy, and its impact on the environment. These three areas include: (1) mitigating the environmental impacts of energy-derived pollutants via improved understanding of contaminant behavior, (2) developing new materials to reduce waste and remediate or retard the spread of contaminants, and (3) investigating economically viable and industrially scalable alternative energy sources. Naturally, there is significant overlap between these three areas that transcends traditional disciplinary boundaries. Ongoing research projects in Professor Goldfarb’s laboratory include the surface modification of zeolites for energy and environmental applications and the chemical tuning of biochars for water treatment of emerging contaminants. Additional investigations look to improve the economic and environmental feasibility of oil shale as an alternative fuel source through waste-to-byproduct conversions of semicoke, as well as isolating and identifying mechanisms of tar and coke formation during biomass processing to increase the viability of energy generation from biomass via thermal and hydrothermal treatments.