After working at A.E.R.E Harwell and taking a faculty position at Oxford, he joined the UCSB Faculty as Professor of Materials in 1991 and in 1992 became a Professor of Chemistry. He has been the Director of the Materials Research Laboratory since 1992. My research interests lie in the area of inorganic materials, and encompass the synthesis, characterization and applications of such materials. I am actively involved in the development of advanced methods for the chemical and structural characterization of polycrystalline materials, and the application of such methods to the study of zeolite catalysts, molecular sieves, and optical materials. In the catalysis area, there are three programs.
Characterization is by single crystal X-ray diffraction.
In the second, where the emphasis is on the study of adsorbed molecules in zeolite cavities, we are harnessing the combined strengths of diffraction methods, solid state NMR and molecular dynamics simulations to probe the structure and dynamics of hydrocarbons and other sorbates. Thirdly, we are attempting to develop new methods for natural gas conversion, including the use of carbon dioxide as an oxidant. A.K. Cheetham, N. Nighman, R.H. Jarman and R.J. Thrash, J. Opt. Theoretical calculations on silica frameworks and their correlation with experiment, N.J. Henson, J.D. Gale and A.K. Cheetham, Chem. A synchrotron X-ray diffraction, neutron diffraction, 29Si MAS NMR, and computational study of the siliceous form of zeolite ferrierite, R.E. Morris, S.J. Weigel, N.J. Henson, L.M. Bull, M.T. Janicke, B.F. Chmelka and A.K. Cheetham, J. Am.