Mark Martirez is a Research Physicist with a background in computational and theoretical chemistry, condensed matter physics, and materials. He uses computational modeling to understand optical and magnetic properties of materials as well as the atomic and molecular processes occurring on surfaces of catalysts driven by heat, light, or electricity. As a deputy advisor for sustainability science, he helps execute the Associate Lab Director of  Applied Materials and Sustainability Sciences'  vision for research and related activities under the sustainability sciences priority research direction, especially in electromanufacturing. He was previously an assistant project scientist at the University of California, Los Angeles. Prior to that, he was an associate research scholar at Princeton University. Martirez earned a doctoral degree from the University of Pennsylvania in physical chemistry and a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the University of the Philippines. He did postdoctoral research at Princeton University.