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Paul Ohodnicki

  • Professor, Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science
  • Director, Center for Energy

    Education & Training

  • B. Phil, Engineering Science, University of Pittsburgh
  • B. A., Economics, University of Pittsburgh
  • M.S., Materials Science and Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University
  • PhD, Materials Science and Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University

Research Interests

An interdisciplinary science and engineer that focuses on problems at the intersection between disciplines of materials science, electrical engineering, and the natural sciences with a particular emphasis on technological solutions to energy challenges.  A primary focus area of my group is in distributed sensing with an emphasis on fiber optics, leveraging a combination of functional materials research and development with photonics and electrical engineering to adapt the platform to sensing a wide range of physical, chemical, and electromagnetic phenomena.  Prior work relevant to the Pittsburgh Water Collaboratory includes distributed pH and CO2 sensing in aqueous environments for monitoring, reporting, and verification of marine carbon dioxide removal as well as understanding impacts of carbon sequestration and oil & gas recovery processes on groundwater chemistry.  Future interests include both physical and chemical sensing in water applications including rivers, lakes, and oceans, both from the perspective of ecological evolution as well as the critical interface and interdependency between energy and water systems (i.e. the “energy – water nexus”).