SmaranRaamMalakapalli

Cement Research · Materials science

Cement with less carbon, through ambient-temperature reactions

Cement makes up roughly 8% of global CO₂ emissions, much of it from heating limestone in kilns at around 1,450°C. I wanted to see if I could make a working cement without such high temperatures. By synthesizing calcium hydroxide and sodium silicate through ambient temperature reactions and combining the two in dry form to create a new cement, I formed a concrete with comparable strength to traditional cement, 16% lower cost, and 30% lower carbon emissions. The paper has passed its first peer review and is now on its second peer review at Springer Nature's Discover Applied Sciences.

• Built my own circuit to measure electrical resistivity
• Cold-emailed industrial strength-testing companies and characterization labs until some agreed to test my samples for free or at a discount
• Ran carbon and cost comparisons, with significance tests on the results
• Won the Norman Borlaug and Ricoh Sustainability awards plus a grant, then an American Statistical Association Honorable Mention for the analysis

PaperAmbient temperature proof-of-concept synthesis of a lower-carbon, cost-effective cement using 3 reaction mechanisms

AI for Homelessness Prevention · Machine learning

Who's at risk of losing their home?

After working with Kirkland city councilmembers on being able to tell, ahead of time, who is likely to end up homeless or "doubled up" (living with friends or family because they can't afford their own place), I pursued a research project using national, public U.S. survey data. I built classifiers that estimate risks for direct homelessness and doubling up, with intended application in a targeted social aid pipeline.

The research paper is under peer review at the Journal of Technology in Human Services.

PaperMachine Learning Classification of Homelessness and Doubling Up Using National, Publicly Available U.S. Survey Data