Professor Olivetti’s research focuses on improving the environmental and economic sustainability of materials in the context of rapid-expanding global demand. Her research addresses two major problems where solutions could yield significant environmental benefits:
- Improving the sustainability of materials through increased use of recycled and renewable materials, recycling-friendly material design, and intelligent waste disposition
- Understanding the implications of substitution, dematerialization and waste mining on materials markets. Her research spans three levels of materials production: operational-level, industrial network-level and market-level strategies.