Dr. Ozkan is committed to green energy technologies and to sustainable systems. Partnerships on green energy, sustainable manufacturing, and zero emission vehicles to develop, apply and disseminate knowledge, test theories and address economic, social, educational, environmental and technological issues are her main objectives. Dr. Ozkan's specific goals as Climate Champion are: increasing revenue for community-based or applied green energy research projects; achieving national recognition as a community-engaged research university engaged in campus projects related to "green energy" and "sustainability"; improving local community relationships through increased responsiveness to requests for partnerships.

Her most recent research activities are focused on the development of industrial scale advanced energy storage devices such as batteries and supercapacitors for zero emission vehicles and wearable technologies. Her research group's materials portfolio includes 2D Van der Waal materials (graphene, BN, MoS2, WS2), nanoparticles, nanofabrics, nanowires, bioinspired hybrids and porous materials.

Dr. Ozkan is the recipient of many National Awards including the National Medal for Engineering Science Young Investigator award from the Society of Engineering Science, the Frontiers of Engineering Honor by the National Academy of Engineering, the Distinguished Engineering Educator of the Year Award by the National Engineers Council and the Emerging Scholar Award by the American Association of University Women. Her lab has more than 200 publications, more than 50 patent disclosures and eight U.S. patents. She has graduated 60 PhD students serving as their advisor or co-advisor. She is a strong advocate of interdisciplinary teaching and advancements of minorities such as women in engineering and is the founding female faculty of the UC-Riverside chapter of Society of Women in Engineering.