Keefe has published in the areas of
polymer synthesis, paint formulation, high-throughput coatings, and art conservation science.
Architectural coatings Keefe joined Dow in 2001, The Evoque polymer encapsulates
titanium dioxide to more evenly distribute within coatings. This improves the hiding efficiency of the coating (its ability to cover the color of the base material to which the coating is applied). Less , often the most expensive and energy-intensive component of a coating, is required. Evoque received the 2013 Greener Reaction Conditions Award in the
EPA's Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge for industrial contributions to green science. The Dow Coatings Team, including Keefe, received the 2017 "Heroes of Chemistry" Award from the American Chemical Society for the development of Evoque. In 2008 Keefe began a partnership with Dow, the
Tate and the
Getty Conservation Institute to work on the development of specialized solvents for use by art conservators. Dow provided high-throughput (HTP) analytical devices for the rapid screening of potential cleaning solutions, varying the percentage of each additive and monitoring factors such as paint gloss, color, flexibility, migrated surfactant removal and residue detection. ==Awards==