In collaboration with the group of Howard Katz we are investigating the structure of the amorphous form of an ionically conducting compound known as sodium beta-alumina (SBA).  This phase is produced during solutions processing of the precursors for SBA, and the resulting material can be used as a transparent high-k dielectric for electronic applications. Such materials are crucial for the creation of transparent electronic devices such as transistors and diodes that make use of novel organic electronic materials. To investigate this novel class of materials we are using a combination of ab initio modeling and algorithms designed to explore the possible structural forms in the amorphous phase.