After his assignment at Amazon he resumed his role at University of Tennessee, Knoxville as the Weston Fulton Chair Professor in the department of Materials Science and Engineering.

[citation needed] The research builds on modern electron and scanning probe microscopies, which provide high-veracity information on the structure and functionalities of solids.

His research aims to extract simple physical parameters from imaging data and establish causative relationships between materials properties and functionalities.

[7][8][9] He has also pioneered the development of spectroscopic imaging modes for PFM, allowing visualization of polarization switching on the sub-10 nanometer level and establishing the resolution and contrast transfer mechanisms of domain walls and spectroscopy.

Kalinin's work has revealed the critical role of electrochemical phenomena on ferroelectric surfaces and the emergence of chaos and intermittency during domain switching and shape symmetry breaking.