Abstract: I will discuss two current projects, both relating to DM direct detection in the “light DM” mass range. In the first, we perform the first high-throughput search for materials that can serve as excellent low-mass DM detectors. Using properties of over 1000 materials from the Materials Project database, we project the sensitivity for both absorption and scattering processes between dark matter and electrons. Using the anisotropic materials in the dataset, we further compute the daily modulation rate of known materials which highlight materials with prospects to detect a directional dark matter wind. In the second project, we calculate the scattering rate of sub-GeV DM in solid-state targets for spin dependent dark matter-nucleon interactions. For DM particles with masses below 100 MeV, the scattering occurs predominantly through incoherent multiphonon production. We compare the sensitivity of future experiments with existing constraints on cross sections, derived from searches for the mediating particle.