What should I do with my creds??!!!

[Wat E]

I have recently graduated from Cornell Engineering with a 2.98 gpa from Material Science. For the first 2 1/2 years I have been slacking off and only realized what needed to be done to improve my grades in the last 3 semesters. I was able to raise my gpa 0.1-0.2 points each semester for the last 3 semesters but it was too little too late. This was especially the case since I was overambitious as well as lazy during the first 5 semesters and loaded up on courses when I really should have focused on courses.

My GRE is 800 Math / 640 Verbal and I also have one peer reviewed publication out with one more peer reviewed publication about to be submitted, though my research professor told me that it looks promising. I have been doing various different forms of research for the past 3 years and have a lot of research internships on my resume. I have taken a year off this year in order to improve my application a little more to take a little weight off my gpa but I don't know if this is enough.

What are some options for what I can do in order to try to get into at least a decent pHd program for either Chemical Engineering or Material Science? (The reason I would like to choose either is that I would like to work in solar cells and that topic is prevalent in both majors) If someone can help me with some real world examples that would be awesome. Thank you!!