Currently I am working on an industry- (Catalytic Solutions, Inc.) sponsored project, involving the design of new supported/unsupported materials for three-way catalysts (TWC). These catalysts simultaneously catalyze the oxidation of CO to CO 2 , hydrocarbons to CO2 and H2O, and the reduction of NOx to N2 . In a collaboration with Prof. Ram Seshadri's group (Materials Department, UCSB), I have successfully synthesized several unsupported Pd-doped perovskite catalysts. In a departure from conventional TWCs, the perovskites are synthesized under extreme conditions (1000 °C in flowing O2) and they have extremely low surface areas (~1m 2 /g). Nevertheless, they show remarkable activity and are completely resistant to sintering, thereby having much greater duration in vehicle use at much lower precious metal loading. Interestingly, when they are used in catalytic converters, environmental fluctuations due to the engine cycle cause Pd respond to the ambient gases by migrating into and out of the perovskite reservoir. To test catalytic performance and monitor kinetics, I am using custom-built computer-controlled flow microreactor with on-line quadrupole mass spectrometry (QMS), gas chromatograpy (GC-TCD) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) detection. I have also conducted experiments at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory in extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) and at UCSB in operando IR to probe the local structure and active sites of this new generation of TWCs.