About

Professor Olivia A. Graeve is the Elias Masry Endowed Professor in Engineering at the University of California San Diego, within the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. She leads the Xtreme Materials Laboratory, which focuses on the design, manufacturing, and crystallography of materials intended for applications in extreme environments. Her research encompasses a broad range of materials including ceramics such as carbides, borides, and oxides, as well as metals. Current projects in her laboratory include the design of radiation detectors, materials for ultra-high temperature applications, luminescent ceramics, and biomaterials, with a particular emphasis on hydroxyapatite. Professor Graeve's work integrates advanced computational methods such as density functional theory to study the structural and energetic properties of doped hydroxyapatite, contributing to the understanding of materials for biomedical and engineering applications. She has been recognized for her contributions with honors such as a doctorate Honoris Causa from the Universidad Autónoma de Baja California and the UC San Diego Academic Senate's Donald F. Tuzin Distinguished Service Award. Additionally, she has served as Chair of the UC San Diego Academic Senate, demonstrating her leadership within the academic community.

Research topics

• Materials science
• Chemistry
• Process engineering
• Nanotechnology
• Engineering
• Mineralogy
• Biology
• Ecology
• Nuclear magnetic resonance
• Environmental science
• Oceanography
• Chemical engineering
• Crystallography
• Metallurgy
• Inorganic chemistry
• Geology
• Organic chemistry

Selected publications

• Crystallography and Defect Structure of Alkaline-Earth Hexaborides─CaB ₆ , SrB ₆ , and BaB ₆ ─Doped with Lithium

  Inorganic Chemistry · 2026-05-15

  articleSenior authorCorresponding

  We explore the effects of lithium doping on the structure of three alkaline-earth hexaborides─CaB6, SrB6, and BaB6. Lithium incorporation was characterized using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry and X-ray diffraction analyses, demonstrating a systematic expansion of the cubic Pm3̅m lattice with increasing lithium concentration. Scanning and transmission electron microscopy revealed that lithium doping induces distinct surface pitting and localized lattice distortions. Solid-state 7Li nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy provided deeper insight into the lithium coordination environments. One-dimensional NMR confirmed the ionic character of lithium and demonstrated the presence of minor side products, which were largely eliminated by acid treatment of the powders. Two-dimensional exchange spectroscopy NMR identified two distinct ionic lithium environments within the BaB6 lattice. The absence of cross-peaks with side-product signals confirmed spatial separation and chemical stability of lattice-confined lithium. Our analyses establish a foundational understanding of alkali metal doping behavior in boron-rich ceramics and highlight the structural role of lithium as a dopant in hexaboride systems, supporting future investigations into how lithium incorporation may influence electronic properties.

  PublisherDOI

• Defect-Selective Luminescence in Hydroxyapatite Under Electron and Gallium Ion Beams

  Materials · 2026-01-13

  articleOpen accessCorresponding

  We report a defect-selective luminescence response in calcium-deficient hydroxyapatite (HAp) induced by electron and ion irradiation. Compacted HAp pellets prepared from hydrothermally grown nanofibers were investigated to analyze defect-related luminescence using photoluminescence (PL) and cathodoluminescence (CL) techniques, both before and after compaction. Low-energy electron beam irradiation (15 keV) produced a two-stage luminescent response, an initial enhancement arising from field-assisted activation of OH-channel vacancies (VOH and VOH + Hi), followed by an exponential decay attributed to defect annealing. Monochromatic transient CL measurements show that this rise–decay behavior is selective to the OH-related bands at 2.57 and 2.95 eV, whereas the 3.32 and 3.67 eV emissions exhibit only a monotonic exponential decay. The corresponding decay constants further indicate that the activated OH-channel vacancies anneal more rapidly than the other centers, consistent with their higher electron-capture probability and lower structural stability. In contrast, Ga+ ion irradiation (30 keV, 1.4 × 10−13 A/µm2) induced progressive monotonic luminescence quenching, primarily driven by selective annealing of oxygen vacancies in PO43− groups. These complementary pathways, electron-induced activation and ion-driven suppression, demonstrate that irradiation serves as a versatile tool for defect engineering in hydroxyapatite. Beyond providing fundamental insights into vacancy stability, these results open new routes for tailoring the optical, sensing, and bioimaging functionalities of HAp through controlled irradiation.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Understanding microstructure-controlled brittle fracture and toughening through a probabilistic framework

  International Journal of Mechanical Sciences · 2026-01-08

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  PublisherDOI

• Osteogenic Potential and Hemocompatibility of Rare-Earth-Doped Hydroxyapatite in Murine Preosteoblast Cells

  ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering · 2026-01-26

  articleSenior authorCorresponding

  We describe the osteogenic potential and hemocompatibility of rare-earth-doped hydroxyapatite in a murine preosteoblastic (MC3T3-E1) cell line, aiming to assess the osteoblast differentiation effect of ytterbium-, terbium-, cerium-, and europium-doped hydroxyapatite through alkaline phosphatase activity and the expression levels of osteogenic marker genes, including Runx2, ALP, OPN, and BMP2. Our findings reveal various levels of enhancement in early osteogenic activity across the four dopants. Among the dopants tested, europium- and ytterbium-doped hydroxyapatites produce the most pronounced effects, significantly enhancing ALP activity and upregulating multiple osteogenic genes. Cathodoluminescence spectroscopy confirms successful incorporation of all rare-earth ions in the HAp lattice, while hemocompatibility and cell viability assays demonstrate that all compositions are biocompatible and safe for contact with blood, providing a comparative framework for understanding how rare-earth dopants influence early osteogenic response. These findings demonstrate the potential of Eu- and Yb-doped hydroxyapatites as bioactive materials for bone regeneration.

  PublisherDOI

• Charge compensation, structural response, and dopant distribution in Eu3+-doped hydroxyapatite: A density functional theory study

  Journal of Solid State Chemistry · 2026-02-13

  articleSenior authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• CNN-based and optical flow-based image interpolation for TaC ceramics

  2025-09-16

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  PublisherDOI

• Defect-Mediated Electrical Conduction and Piezoelectricity in Hydroxyapatite Nanofibers

  The Journal of Physical Chemistry B · 2025-08-08 · 5 citations

  articleCorresponding

  We report the influence of vacancy point defects on the conductivity and piezoelectricity of hydroxyapatite (HAp) nanofibers. A combination of experimental techniques, including conductive atomic force microscopy, electrostatic force microscopy, and switching spectroscopy piezoresponse force microscopy, along with computational modeling, was employed to elucidate the conduction mechanisms and charge accumulation effects in HAp. Our findings demonstrate that oxygen and calcium vacancy defects play a crucial role in the conduction mechanism of HAp nanofibers, specifically through charge-trapping and detrapping processes, as well as in charge accumulation and the piezoelectric response. The Poole-Frenkel conduction mechanism was confirmed by fitting experimental current-voltage data to a theoretical model, revealing a dielectric constant consistent with previously reported theoretical values. These insights contribute to a deeper understanding of the role of point defects in the electrical and piezoelectric properties of HAp, which is essential for optimizing its performance in biomedical applications.

  PublisherDOI

• Comparison of deep conditional generative models for scanning electron microscopy image reconstruction

  2025-08-01

  article

  Image-to-image translation is a task in the field of computer vision that has been gaining importance in recent years, with the objective of transforming an image from one visual domain to another without losing coherence. This process has applications in various tasks, such as style transfer, and in different fields, including medicine. One area where image translation has great potential is materials science, where obtaining a series of images of a material using scanning electron microscopy can be a complex process. In this context, image-to-image translation emerges as an alternative for generating synthetic images of a material’s microstructure, based on specific visual information obtained by the scanning electron microscopy process. In this work, we present a comparison of the performance of different conditional generative architectures for obtaining synthetic images from edge maps. These edge maps are obtained through image pre-processing algorithms such as the Laplacian and Canny edge detectors, complemented with image manipulation and correction techniques. To evaluate the performance of the conditional generative adversarial networks, metrics such as the structural similarity index (SSIM) and peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) are employed. The results demonstrate that both the choice of edge detection algorithm and the correction techniques significantly impact the model’s ability to generate synthetic images with high fidelity.

  PublisherDOI

• Charge Compensation, Structural Response, and Dopant Distribution in Eu3+-doped Hydroxyapatite: A Density Functional Theory Study

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2025-01-01

  preprintOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Comparative study of machine learning algorithms for the prediction of amorphous Fe-based materials

  2025-09-16

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  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• Inter-American Materials Collaboration (CIAM): A Novel Synthesis and Sintering Process for Nanostructured Oxide and Carbide Ceramic Composites

  NSF · $264k · 2005–2009

• SNM: Scalable Manufacturing of Unique Hexaboride Nanomaterials for Advanced Energy Generation and Gas Storage Applications

  NSF · $1.1M · 2013–2018

• CAREER: Scaled-Up Manufacturing of Nanostructured Refractory Ceramics for High-Temperature Applications

  NSF · $157k · 2009–2012

• Collaborative Research: Designing New Phosphors using Computational and Experimental Co-discovery

  NSF · $666k · 2019–2025

• SNM: Scalable Manufacturing of Unique Hexaboride Nanomaterials for Advanced Energy Generation and Gas Storage Applications

  NSF · $900k · 2012–2013

Frequent coauthors

• Ekaterina Novitskaya

  University of California, San Diego

  48 shared

• James Kelly

  47 shared

• Raghunath Kanakala

  Alfred University

  29 shared

• Lisa H. Trahan

  University of California, San Diego

  25 shared

• Gennie Miranda

  University of California, Davis

  25 shared

• Kaustav Sinha

  University of Nevada, Reno

  20 shared

• Victor R. Vásquez

  University of Nevada, Reno

  17 shared

• Manuel Herrera

  Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

  17 shared

Labs

• Xtreme Materials Laboratory at UC San DiegoPI

Education

• B.S., Structural Engineering

  University of California San Diego

  1995

• Ph.D., Materials Science and Engineering

  University of California, Davis

  2001

Awards & honors

• Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics an…
• Inducted into the Tijuana Walk of Fame (2014)
• Inducted into the Mexican Academy of Engineering (2016)
• Inducted into the Mexican Academy of Sciences (2019)
• Fellow of the American Ceramic Society (2017)