Leanne Gilbertson will lead a National Science Foundation study to design sustainable carbon nanomaterials

A research project led by Leanne Gilbertson, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering, has received $285,000 in funding from the National Science Foundation. Gilbertson’s project will focus on the inner workings of carbon nanomaterials, strong tiny structures made of carbon on the nanometer scale, or about 10,000 times smaller than a human hair. Gilbertson hopes to develop best design practices that result in environmentally sustainable carbon nanomaterials, enhancing the ability to control their desirable and undesirable impacts.