About

Grace Wu is an Assistant Professor in the Environmental Studies Program at UC Santa Barbara. Her research focuses on the dynamics and drivers of land use change, climate change mitigation, and advancing sustainable, multi-use landscapes that protect biodiversity and support climate goals. She employs spatial science approaches to identify and understand the co-benefits and trade-offs between climate solutions and habitat conservation. Her main research areas include the sustainable spatial planning of low-carbon energy systems and designing policy, management, and technology pathways for sustainable land systems. Grace has worked closely with science and policy teams at The Nature Conservancy to assess land-based climate change mitigation strategies such as renewable energy and transmission infrastructure expansion, aiming to achieve net zero climate targets without negatively impacting high conservation value areas. Her prior work has influenced state-level energy planning in California to better integrate land use and conservation considerations. She co-founded the Multi-criteria Analysis for Planning Renewable Energy (MapRE) initiative and developed the RE Zoning GIS tool to facilitate renewable energy siting using multiple criteria. Her ongoing projects include advancing the MapRE framework in Southern Africa and applying the RE Zoning tool in California and internationally, including by the World Bank. Additionally, she collaborates with the FABLE consortium to develop land use planning frameworks that assess the impact and value of land-intensive climate solutions like bioenergy and reforestation in comparison to other societal changes.

Research topics

• Materials science
• Computer Science
• Machine Learning
• Chemistry
• Algorithm
• Nanotechnology
• Chemical engineering
• Physics
• Metallurgy
• Electrical engineering
• Nuclear chemistry
• Optoelectronics
• Inorganic chemistry
• Organic chemistry

Selected publications

• Tunable CO ₂ Capture and Release Using Redox-Switchable Carboranes

  Journal of the American Chemical Society · 2026-04-06

  article

  capture binding constants, significant areas of interest in carbon capture technologies.

  PublisherDOI

• Fabrication of luminescent Eu(III)-functionalized hydrogen-bonded organic framework for sensitive detection of Th4+ ions

  Spectrochimica Acta Part A Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy · 2025-08-23 · 1 citations

  article1st author
  PublisherDOI

• A Bibliometric Analysis of Research on Chinese Wooden Architecture Based on CNKI and Web of Science

  Buildings · 2025-07-27 · 3 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  In the context of the growing emphasis on sustainable development and building safety performance, wooden architecture will attract increasing attention due to its low-carbon characteristics and excellent seismic resistance. In this study, the bibliometric software Citespace is used for data visualization analysis based on the literature related to Chinese wooden architecture in the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) and the Web of Science (WOS) databases, aiming to construct an analytical framework that integrates quantitative visualization and qualitative thematic interpretation which could reveal the current status, hotspots, and frontier trends of research in this field. The results show the following: Research on Chinese wooden architecture has shown a steady growth trend, indicating that it has received attention from an increasing number of scholars. Researchers and institutions are mainly concentrated in higher learning and research institutions in economically developed regions. Research hotspots cover subjects such as seismic performance, mortise–tenon structures, imitation wood structures, Dong architecture, Liang Sicheng, and the Society for the Study of Chinese Architecture. The research process of Chinese wooden architecture can be divided into three stages: the macro stage, the specific deepening stage, and the inheritance application and interdisciplinary integration stage. In the future, the focus will be on interdisciplinary research on wooden architecture from ethnic minority cultures and traditional dwellings.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Tetrazole-Based Probe: A New Frontier for Scalable, Selective Peroxynitrite Sensing in Cells

  ChemRxiv · 2025-08-26

  preprintOpen access

  Peroxynitrite (ONOO−), a highly reactive oxygen and nitrogen species produced during cellular oxidative stress, has emerged as a key tar-get for responsive fluorescent probes. The existing toolbox of responsive chemistries, which predominantly rely on oxidative bond cleav-age and fluorogenic activation, remains constrained by complex syntheses and irreversible detection mechanisms. Herein, we present a streamlined, efficient strategy for synthesizing a tetrazole-based peroxynitrite-responsive fluorescent probe (Tet-Probe: TP), that exhibits reversible behavior. Our strategy relies on a three-step, two-pot process: (1) synthesis of tetrazole carboxylic acid, (2) simple esterification of tetrazole carboxylic acid with N-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)-N'-ethylcarbodiimide (EDC), and (3) light activation to transform our non-fluorescent pre-probe into a fluorescent peroxynitrite-responsive chemistry. This new class of tetrazole-based probe demonstrates ratiometric sensing, reversibility, and high selectivity for peroxynitrite over other biologically relevant redox active species. Additionally, when incubated with CHO cells treated with SIN-1, TP-2 achieves efficient cellular internalization and peroxynitrite-induced fluores-cence enhancement with minimal toxicity. This seminal study introduces a new type of scalable (gram-scale) tetrazole-based probe for reversible peroxynitrite sensing, making it a promising molecular tool for real-time analysis of biological processes in cell.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• An off–on fluorescence sensor based on a hydrogen-bonded organic framework for the detection of ascorbic acid

  Analytical Methods · 2025-01-01

  article1st authorCorresponding

  Cu 2+ modified HOF-TCBPA, resulting in an off–on fluorescence sensor for detecting AA. The sensing mechanism involved a synergistic effect of IFF and electron transfer.

  PublisherDOI

• Nitrogen‐Deficient Graphitic Carbon Nitride with Selective Adsorption and Photoreduction Isosite for Efficient Uranium Extraction from Seawater Under Air Atmosphere

  Advanced Functional Materials · 2025-11-04

  article1st author

  Abstract Photocatalytic uranium extraction from seawater is an ideal approach to acquiring uranium resources, yet its performance is often compromised by ambient air interference. Herein, the nitrogen‐deficient graphitic carbon nitride (Nv‐g‐C 3 N 4 ) with an isosite structure of selective adsorption and photoreduction for U(VI) is successfully constructed, achieving efficient photocatalytic uranium extraction from seawater under air atmosphere. The study reveals that cyano groups reconstructed through nitrogen defects demonstrate robust electron‐withdrawing capability, significantly promoting the separation of photogenerated charges and driving electron accumulation around these groups. Besides, the nitrogen‐deficient structure endowes Nv‐g‐C 3 N 4 with superior selectivity toward U(VI), evidenced by its markedly lower adsorption energy for U(VI) compared to O 2 . Therefore, even under air atmosphere, Nv‐g‐C 3 N 4 exhibits excellent photocatalytic uranium extraction performance, exceeding cyano‐functionalized g‐C 3 N 4 by 39.7 times. It also achieves a record‐high saturation uranium extraction capacity of 3625.3 mg g −1 , significantly surpassing other reported g‐C 3 N 4 ‐based photocatalysts. Remarkably, under natural sunlight, the Nv‐g‐C 3 N 4 ‐based aerogel achieves a uranium extraction capacity of 43.2 mg g −1 in spiked natural seawater. Briefly, this work illustrates the importance of constructing the defect engineer as an isosite structure of selective adsorption and photoreduction for U(VI) in photocatalytic uranium extraction from seawater.

  PublisherDOI

• Spin‐Orbit Effects in a Thallium Borohydride Stabilized by Coordination to Bis(diisopropylamino)Cyclopropenylidene (BAC)

  Angewandte Chemie · 2025-07-25 · 1 citations

  article

  Abstract Reaction of Tl(OTf) with 2 equiv of bis(diisopropylamino)cyclopropenylidene (BAC) in THF results in formation of [Tl(BAC) 2 (OTf)] ( 1 ) in moderate yields. Subsequent reaction of 1 with [K][H 2 ‐9‐BBN] ([H 2 ‐9‐BBN] − = dihydrido 9‐boratabicyclo[3.3.1]nonane) in THF results in formation of [Tl(BAC)(μ‐H 2 ‐9‐BBN)] 2 ( 3 ), also in moderate yield. Complex 3 is the first reported thallium borohydride. We attribute its thermal stability to the strong donor ability of the BAC co‐ligand. Both 1 and 3 exhibit trigonal pyramidal geometries about Tl + in the solid‐state, indicative of the presence of stereochemically active lone pairs. The hydride environment in 3 is calculated to exhibit a 3.9 ppm downfield shift attributed to spin‐orbit effects from the adjacent Tl center.

  PublisherDOI

• Homoleptic 1,2-Benzenedithiolate Complexes of Thorium and Uranium

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2025-01-01

  preprintOpen access
  PublisherDOI

• The dinuclear PhotoCORM (CO) ₃ (bpy)ReMn(CO) ₅ . formation of a luminactive product upon CO uncaging by MMLCT excitation

  Journal of Coordination Chemistry · 2025-11-07

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Synthesis, Structure, and ¹⁹⁹ Hg Chemical Shifts of Mercury 1,5,9‐trimesityldipyrromethene ( ^Mes DPM) Complexes

  Chemistry - A European Journal · 2025-06-16

  articleOpen access

  Abstract In this work, we describe the easy synthesis of mercury complexes with the 1,5,9‐trimesityldipyrromethene ( Mes DPM) ligand. The compounds were characterized using standard analytic methods such as NMR, IR, as well as UV/Vis spectroscopy. The molecular structures in solid state were determined by single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction analysis (SC‐XRD) experiments. In addition, the 199 Hg NMR chemical shifts were determined by measurements and quantum chemical calculations.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Trevor W. Hayton

  University of California, Santa Barbara

  447 shared

• Gabriel Ménard

  84 shared

• Guillermo C. Bazan

  National University of Singapore

  74 shared

• Ram Seshadri

  University of California, Santa Barbara

  72 shared

• Anthony K. Cheetham

  University of California, Santa Barbara

  60 shared

• Danil E. Smiles

  University of California, Santa Barbara

  50 shared

• Elizabeth A. Pedrick

  45 shared

• Lani A. Seaman

  45 shared

Awards & honors

• Smith Conservation Fellow at The Nature Conservancy
• UC President’s Postdoctoral Fellow at the John Muir Institut…