Lórien is interested in identifying, delineating, even quantifying the various factors (and their intersections) that deter gender minorities from pursuing careers in computational and physical science disciplines. Such inquiries necessarily require interdisciplinary approaches, including techniques in applied mathematics, data feminism, history and philosophy of science, economics, and modeling + simulation. In collaboration with Dr. Elena Schaa, Lórien investigates scientific masculinities and their impact on the environment in which science is conducted and visualization/communication techniques between scientists.

Funded by Trinity’s Provost PhD Project Awards, Lórien’s doctoral research pertained to ensuring the accurate description and prediction of material properties—such as total energies, band gaps and magnetism—using density functional theory (DFT). They used a variety of DFT programs to abet their scientific queries, notably Abinit, for which they are an active developer (check out their rennovated Linear Response utility LRUJ), and ONETEP. As a result, Lórien has pivoted to programming workflows and electronic structure theory software DevOps.

As a result, Lórien has pivoted to programming workflows and electronic structure theory software DevOps. They test out their methodologies and workflows on solid and molecular systems of environmentally sustainable technological relevance, including kesterite solar cells, lithium-ion batteries, transition metal oxides, MOFs with spin crossover applications, and Prussian Blue Analogues.