Speaker Biographies

President

Dr. K.M. Abraham is Principal of E-KEM Sciences. He has also been a Professor at Northeastern University, and Vice President of EIC Labs in Norwood, Massachusetts. Among his many contributions to battery technology are: one of the first demonstrations of practical rechargeable lithium batteries with several hundred cycles; the development of highly conductive gel polymer electrolytes, including those supported on micro-porous polymer membranes of the type used in commercial lithium-ion polymer batteries; the concept of redox shuttle reagents for overcharge protection of rechargeable lithium and lithium-ion batteries; and, initial studies of the rechargeable lithium-polysulfide battery. He invented the ultrahigh energy density, non-aqueous lithium-air battery which is under development in many laboratories around the world. He has published more than 200 papers in journals, meeting proceeding volumes and book chapters, and authored 15 U.S. patents. He received a number of awards for his work. including the Battery Research Award of the Electrochemical Society, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Group Achievement Award for the Rechargeable Battery Team, two NASA Certificates of Merit for invention, the Yeager Lifetime Achievements Award of the International Battery Association, and election as Fellow of the Electrochemical Society and Fellow of The Royal Society of Chemistry.

Maggie Alexander

Apparent, Inc.

Director of Business Development

Maggie Alexander is the Director of Business Development at Apparent, Inc., where she leads commercialization and product deployment efforts for Apparent’s intelligent energy management systems, specifically the development and execution of Apparent’s strategy for behind-the-meter distributed energy resources. Maggie has more than a decade of experience in business and project development, establishing partnerships and programs with national and international governments, environmental organizations, electric utilities and technology companies. She holds a BA in Journalism and an MSc in Environmental Sciences and Policy.

Nicholas Alexiades

Business Development Manager-Global Strategy

Global technical and business leader for UL-based in Northbrook, IL

Software and Functional Safety Certification Engineering Technical Expert (Regional Leader Reviewer/RLR) (UL 1998, UL 991, UL 60730-1, IEC 61508, ISO 13849-1, ISO 26262, and others)

15+ years in application and embedded software development, along with systems engineering and cybersecurity

Graduate of University of Pittsburgh (MS) in Electrical & Computer Engineering – specialized in embedded systems, software and control systems

Nicholas Alexiades

Business Development Manager-Global Strategy

Global technical and business leader for UL-based in Northbrook, IL

Software and Functional Safety Certification Engineering Technical Expert (Regional Leader Reviewer/RLR) (UL 1998, UL 991, UL 60730-1, IEC 61508, ISO 13849-1, ISO 26262, and others)

15+ years in application and embedded software development, along with systems engineering and cybersecurity

Graduate of University of Pittsburgh (MS) in Electrical & Computer Engineering – specialized in embedded systems, software and control systemsGlobal technical and business leader for UL-based in Northbrook, IL

Craig B Arnold

Princeton University

Professor

Craig B. Arnold is the Susan Dod Brown Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Princeton University and the director of the Princeton Institute for Science and Technology of Materials. His research ranges from basic science to applied technology aimed at developing a deeper understanding of fundamental materials synthesis and processing with particular interest in the mechanics of energy storage systems.

Juan Arteaga

University of Calgary

Juan Arteaga was born in Mexico City, in 1984. He received the B.E. degree in industrial engineering and the M.Eng. degree in industrial engineering from the Universidad Panamericana, Guadalajara, Mexico, in 2006 and 2008 respectively.In 2010, he joined the Department of Industrial Engineering at Universidad Panamericana, as an Instructor, and in 2013 became a Professor. Since September 2015, he has been a PhD student in the Department of Electrical Engineering at the University of Calgary. His research interests include energy storage economic feasibility, electricity markets modelling, energy efficiency and energy optimization techniques. He has publication in topics related to grid-scale energy storage, ranging from applications of lithium-ion batteries in the grid, to monetizing strategies for energy storage providing multiple services, including planning and operation algorithms, as well as a policy proposal to encourage investment in energy storage. He is passionate about soccer but has develop a taste for hockey. He enjoys spending time with his wife and children doing outdoor activities, such as fishing, kayaking, hiking, ice skating and skiing.

Nongnuch Artrith

Columbia Univ

Research Scientist

Nong Artrith obtained her PhD in Theoretical Chemistry from Ruhr University Bochum, Germany, for the development of machine learning (ML) methods for atomistic simulations in chemistry and materials science. She was awarded a Faculty for the Future (FFTF) fellowship from Schlumberger Foundation for postdoctoral work at MIT, where she applied ML models to understand catalyst systems. Nong subsequently joined Gerbrand Ceder’s group at UC Berkeley as a postdoc and later associate specialist to develop ML models for amorphous electrode materials for Li-ion batteries. Currently, Nong is a research scientist in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Columbia University, where she applies ML to the understanding of energy storage and conversion materials. In 2019, Nong was named a Scialog Fellow for Advanced Energy Storage.

Susan Babinec

Argonne Natl Lab

Program Lead Grid Storage

Sue Babinec is the Program Lead – Stationary Storage at Argonne National Lab where she is tasked to establish a sustainable growth strategy towards stationary storage for grid applications. Babinec previously served six years in Washington DC as senior commercialization advisor at the Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E) where she co-managed the energy storage portfolio for both transportation and grid. Prior to ARPA-E she led several research groups focused on design and scale-up of Li-ion technologies as a technical director for A123 Systems, Inc. at its Ann Arbor Michigan, site. Babinec spent the first two decades of her career in Midland at The Dow Chemical Corp., where she was the Senior Electrochemist, a member of the Corporate VC group, was awarded the Inventor of the Year Award, and was the company’s first woman Corporate Fellow. She was also co-inventor of a low-cost display technology that was spun out as the venture-funded start-up, holds more than 45 patents, and has authored or coauthored dozens of journal articles and book chapters.

Chunmei Ban

Univ of Colorado Boulder

Assoc Prof

Chunmei Ban joined the Department of Mechanical Engineering at University of Colorado Boulder in August 2019 as an associate professor. Previously, Ban was a Senior Scientist (V) in the Materials and Chemical Science and Technology Directorate at National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). Ban has more than 10 years of experience working at NREL on developing next-generation, high-energy electrochemical materials including silicon, metal oxides and phosphates cathodes, multivalent anodes and organic radical materials. Her research on the surface-modification techniques has been successfully applied for stabilizing the interfacial chemistry of materials and has been granted multiple patents. Since 2010, Ban has been a principal investigator and has led DOE-awarded projects in high-energy cathodes, intermetallic anodes and direct recycling process for battery materials. Ban received a bachelor’s and master’s degree from the Department of Chemical Engineering and Electrochemistry from Tianjin University, China and holds a PhD in Chemistry from the State University of New York at Binghamton, supervised by Professor M Stanley Whittingham.

Brian M Barnett

Battery Perspectives

President

Dr. Brian Barnett founded Battery Perspectives, LLC which provides consulting services related to battery technology and battery safety. Dr. Barnett has extensive experience in assessment, development and commercialization of battery technology. He is recognized as both a technical and industry expert related to batteries and an expert in battery safety and has directed a series of successful lab-based, highly multidisciplinary battery technology development programs that resulted in technology licensing or sale.

Yevgen Barsukov

Texas Instruments Inc

Head of Algorithm Dev

Yevgen Barsukov is the Head of the Algorithm Development in the Battery Management group at Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI). By applying leading theoretical methods of battery analysis, Barsukov is advancing battery fuel-gauging, health and safety technology used in notebooks, mobile-phones, PDAs, and other portable devices. Prior to joining TI, his research was focused on Impedance Spectroscopy-based testing and modeling of batteries. He co-authored books on impedance spectroscopy and battery power management, in journal publications, has multiple patents, and has presented at numerous international conferences. He was recently elected TI Fellow. Barsukov earned a Ms.C. degree in Organic Chemistry at Kiev National University in 1993, and a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from Kiel Christian-Albrecht University in 1996.

Ilias Belharouak

Oak Ridge Natl Lab

Distinguished Scientist & Grp Leader

Dr. Ilias Belharouak is a Distinguished Scientist and the Leader of the Battery Roll-to-Roll Manufacturing Group in the Energy and Transportation Sciences Division at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Tennessee. Dr. Belharouak also serves as a Professor of the Bredesen Center for Interdisciplinary Research and Graduate Education at the University of Tennessee Knoxville. Before joining ORNL, he was a Research Director and the Founding Chief Scientist of the Electrochemical Energy Storage Center in Qatar Foundation. He was a Material Scientist and Battery Expert in the Chemical Sciences and Engineering Division at Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Illinois. Dr. Belharouak is currently an Editor of the Elsevier’s Journal of Power Sources. He was recognized with several awards including R&D-100 innovation awards and topical society awards. Dr. Belharouak authored more than 150 peer-reviewed papers, 30 US Patents and Applications, 5 books, and holds an h-index of 55.

Chris Berry

House Mountain Partners

Founder & President

Chris has been an independent analyst since 2009, with a focus on Energy Metals supply chains, including lithium, cobalt, graphite, vanadium, and rare earths. His advisory work provides strategic insights to asset managers, banks, corporations and academia, and has a specific focus on how disruptive trends in energy, strategic metals, and technology create opportunities. Before shifting focus to analysis of these trends, Chris gained twelve years of capital markets experience on both the buy side and sell side. He has visited and performed economic analyses of metals deposits on six continents, and has been featured in multiple media outlets, including The Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, The South China Morning Post and CNN International, providing insights around raw material supply chain dynamics. Chris holds a Masters of Business Administration in finance with an international focus from Fordham University, and a Bachelor of Arts in International Studies from The Virginia Military Institute.

Mark L. Boyle

AMADA WELD TECH INC

Product Mgr

Dr. Mark Boyle and his team focuses on the development and support of products for a wide range of technologies, including laser welding, resistance welding, microTIG welding, reflow soldering, laser marking, laser cutting and laser micromachining. As a leader in micro welding processes, Amada Miyachi America provides equipment solutions for tab-to-cell and tab-to-buss bar welding manufacturing in the battery industry. Mark Boyle and his team look out for emerging trends and requests in this area for future process and product development. Earlier in Mark Boyle’s career, he focused on a range of laser based applications using cw and pulsed fiber, diode-pumped solid-state (DPSS), and ultrafast lasers. He obtained a BS in physics from the University of Texas at Austin and a PhD in physics with the specialty of laser-matter interaction from the Free University in Berlin, Germany.Mark Boyle is a member of the American Welding Society.

Ratnakumar V Bugga

NASA Jet Propulsion Lab

Principal Tech Staff & Scientist & Team Lead

No bio available.

Ben Cao

Nanoramic Laboratories

Research & Development Director

Dr. Cao, R&D Director for Advanced Energy Storage at Nanoramic Laboratories, currently leads the R&D team in the development of Neocarbonix^TM. Dr. Cao has more than 10 years’ experience in advanced Li-ion energy storage technology development including designing Lithium-ion capacitors and batteries, electrode development & manufacturing, cell validation and tests, project management, electrode materials analysis, and technical team building, management and leadership.

Ben Cao

Nanoramic Laboratories

Research & Development Director

Gerbrand Ceder

Univ of California Berkeley

TUT7: How to Qualify Your Battery Manufacturer to Prevent Cell Failure

Daniel M Tellep Distinguished Prof Engineering

Materials Science and Engineering and a Faculty Senior Scientist at LBNL. He uses computational and experimental methods to design novel materials for energy generation and storage, including lithium and sodium-ion battery chemistries, multi-valent intercalation, and solid-state batteries. He has published extensively in the fields of alloy theory, novel oxide design, energy storage, and machine learning. He is a co-founder of Computational Modeling Consultants, Pellion Technologies, and The Materials Project. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and The Arts. He is a Fellow of the Materials Research Society and the Metals, Minerals and Materials Society, and has received awards from the Electrochemical Society, the Materials Research Society, the Metals Minerals and Materials Society, and the International Battery Association.

Vidyu Challa

DfR Solutions

Consulting Mgr

Vidyu Challa is a battery expert/consultant and is currently Consulting Manager at Ansys-DfR Solutions. Dr. Challa helps develop battery supplier qualification programs for companies in different industry verticals such as consumer, medical, aerospace, and industrial segments. She works on a range of battery challenges including supplier qualification, battery risk mitigation, root cause analysis, design reviews, and manufacturing audits. Dr. Challa teaches battery workshops at several industry conferences and Fortune 500 companies. She spent several years in the battery industry, developing custom battery solutions for IOT and smart medical devices. She has broad-based expertise that includes engineering technology start-up experience, product development, R&D, and various roles in marketing and business development. She obtained a PhD from the University of Maryland, where her work was focused on the reliability of electronic components and systems. She is a recipient of the Phi Delta Gamma Award for Interdisciplinary Excellence as well as the Ann Wylie Dissertation Fellowship award. Dr. Challa has published her work in journals, gives invited talks at conferences and frequently writes blog articles. She most recently published a book chapter on battery failure analysis in Mcraw Hill’s Handbook of Batteries.

Mark Crittenden

Oxis Energy Ltd

TUT1: Materials Selection and Design for Batteries with High Energy Density, Ultralong Cycle Life, Fast Charging, and Excellent Safety

Head of Battery Development and Integration

Mark holds a first-class Master's degree and a PhD in Electronic Engineering, is a Chartered Engineer and a Fellow of the Institute of Engineering and Technology. He worked at Nanometrics, developing materials characterisation and metrology equipment for the semiconductor industry, from inception through to full production. He later worked at Research Machines in the roles of New Product Introduction Manager and Programme Manager. He joined OXIS Energy in January 2012 as Head of Business Development, commercialising the game-changing Lithium Sulfur technology. In 2016, Mark took on the role of Head of Battery Development and Integration, working with customers who are adopting Lithium Sulfur into their products. He is also an advisor to the Aerospace Technology Institute.

Yi Cui

Stanford Univ

Prof

Yi Cui is a Professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Stanford University. He received BS in Chemistry in 1998 at the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), PhD in 2002 at Harvard University. After that, he went on to work as a Miller Postdoctoral Fellow at University of California, Berkeley. In 2005 he became an Assistant Professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Stanford University. In 2010 he was promoted with tenure. His current research is on nanomaterials for energy storage, photovotalics, topological insulators, biology and environment. He has founded three companies to commercialize technologies from his group: Amprius Inc., 4C Air Inc. and EEnovate Technology Inc. He is a Fellow of Materials Research Society, a Fellow of Royal Society of Chemistry and a Fellow of Electrochemical Society. He is an Associate Editor of Nano Letters. He is a Co-Director of the Bay Area Photovoltaic Consortium and a Co-Director of Battery 500 Consortium. He is a highly proliferate materials scientist and has published more than 400 research papers. In 2014, he was ranked NO.1 in Materials Science by Thomson Reuters as “The World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds”. His selected awards include: Blavatnik National Laureate (2017), MRS Kavli Distinguished Lectureship in Nanoscience (2015), the Sloan Research Fellowship (2010), KAUST Investigator Award (2008), ONR Young Investigator Award (2008), Technology Review World Top Young Innovator Award (2004).

Jeff R Dahn

Dalhousie Univ

Prof

No bio available.

Eric C Darcy

NASA Johnson Space Ctr

Battery Tech Discipline Lead

Eric C. Darcy, Ph.D., has spent his 33-year career at NASA in the areas of battery design, verification, and safety assessments for the rigors of manned spacecraft applications. As Battery Technical Discipline Lead at NASA-JSC, his main objective has been the development of safe, while high performing, battery systems with a deep focus on understanding, preventing, and mitigating latent defects that could lead to catastrophic cell internal short circuits.

Shmuel De-Leon

Shmuel De-Leon Energy Ltd

TUT16: Battery Safety and Abuse Tolerance Validation

Bridget Catherine Deveney

CEO

Shmuel De-Leon, Founder and CEO of Shmuel De-Leon Energy Ltd., is a leading international expert in the business of energy storage. Prior to founding the company, for over 21 years, Shmuel held various positions as an energy storage, electronic engineering, and quality control team manager. Shmuel holds a B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering from Tel Aviv University, and an M.B.A. in Quality Control and Reliability Engineering from the Technion Institute in Haifa, as well as an Electronic Technician's diploma.

Elkem Carbon

TUT11: Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) for the Analysis of Battery Materials, Half Cells, and Full Cells

Sr Mgr R&D

No bio available.

Marcel Drüschler

Marcel has a PhD in chemistry from the University of Marburg, Germany. He is an enthusiastic electrochemist with a demonstrated history of developing solutions for challenging tasks in the field of energy storage and conversion as well as classical electrochemistry. As co-founder and CEO of rhd instruments, he leads a skilled team focusing on creating innovative and intelligent lab equipment as well as on developing powerful EIS data analysis software.

Martin Ebner

Battrion AG

CEO

Dr. Martin Ebner is CEO and Board Member of Battrion AG in Switzerland. He holds BS (2005-2008) and MS (2008-2010) degrees from ETH Zurich in Electrical and Mechanical Engineering, respectively. He received his PhD (2011-2014) in the Laboratory for Nanoelectronics under the supervision of Professor Vanessa Wood at ETH. He received a fellowship from the Gebert Rüf Foundation in 2013, and the Graduate Student Gold Award of the Material Research Society, the Hilti Award for Innovative Research and the Battery Division Student Research Award of the Electrochemical Society, the Dimitris N. Chorafas Prize and the ETH Medal in recognition of his PhD Thesis in 2014. In 2015, he received an ETH Pioneer Fellowship and the Hans Eggenberger Award and the VW & BASF Special Prize for Applied Research in 2016.

Michael A Fetcenko

Sion Power Corp

Exec Chairman

Michael Fetcenko became Executive Chairman for Sion Power in April 2019, after retiring from BASF after 38 years. He was President of Ovonic Battery Company, the inventor of NiMH batteries, when acquired by BASF in 2012. He became Managing Director of BASF Battery Materials, North America before taking on Director of Global Licensing responsibilities. He is an inventor with over 70 patents and 100 publications in the NiMH and Li-ion field. He is an expert in patents and licensing, with over 40 NiMH licenses, and leads the successful Argonne National Laboratory NCM patent enforcement and licensing effort, which resulted in 14 licenses and sub-licenses. He has led R&D, scale-up and commercialization, and has had P&L responsibilities. His inventions are used in all NiMH batteries for consumer, stationary, and hybrid vehicle applications, such as the iconic Toyota Prius with over 20 million vehicles on the road. He has served on the Board of Directors and Technical Steering Committee for Sion Power for 5 years, a leader in advanced ultra-high energy Lithium battery systems, including protected metallic lithium anodes for Li-Ion batteries. He became Chairman and then Executive Chairman in 2019.

Philip Fischer

Nidec Industrial Solutions

Sales Director, BESS

Sales Director- BESS (US & Americas) Deploy Nidec’s BESS value-proposition in the United States and rest of Americas, developing business opportunities & generating sales for turn-key solution of Battery Energy Storage Systems, Photovoltaic Power Plants, and for Power Conversion Systems

Kevin Fok

LG Chem

Director

Kevin Fok is Director, Operations and leads the team in the delivery, project execution, and operations & maintenance of battery energy storage systems for the electric grid. He has extensive experience in the renewable energy industry with roles in sales, business development, marketing, engineering, and project management spanning lithium-ion batteries, solar photovoltaics (PV), nickel-metal hydride batteries, fuel cells, and hydrogen storage. Mr. Fok is a co-inventor of 13 U.S. patents. He has Master of Business Administration (MBA) and Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering degrees, both from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He has a Distinguished Leader Certificate from the Michigan Ross Executive Certificate Program, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

James Frith

Bloomberg LP

Head of Energy Storage

James heads up the Energy Storage team at BloombergNEF. He leads the company’s coverage on energy storage technologies and the lithium battery supply chain, providing insights on technology, markets, policies and regulation. James leads the team in producing a mix of quick take insights on market events and longer deep dive research pieces. He leverages his background in battery research to provide key insights into the chemistries, applications and markets for lithium-ion batteries. Prior to joining BNEF James completed a PhD at the University of Southampton. This work focused on lithium-oxygen batteries as next generation energy storage devices. He then went on to work as a research fellow at the University of Southampton for two years. James holds a BSc in Chemistry and a PhD in Electrochemistry.

Robert L Galyen

Contemporary Amperex Technology Co Ltd CATL

CTO

No bio available.

Yuan Gao

Pulead Technology Industry Co Ltd

Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors

A world-renowned inventor, Dr. Yuan Gao has over 25 years of experience in the complete supply chain of lithium-ion battery industry, from lithium extraction to batteries. One of his inventions, the Ti/Mg technology, enables high voltage lithium-ion batteries and is being practiced today in a vast majority of lithium-ion batteries for small portable electronics such as smart phones and tablets. Dr Yuan Gao joined Pulead Technology in May 2014 and had served as its President and CEO until Sept 2019 and currently he is Vice Chairman of the board. Concurrently he is serving on the Board of Directors of Lithium Americas Corporation. Previously Dr Gao served as a Corporate Vice President at Molycorp (USA), and a Global Marketing Director and Technology Manager, as well as other management positions at FMC Corporation (USA). Dr. Gao received his BSc from the University of Science and Technology of China, and his PhD in Physics from the University of British Columbia in Canada. He received his postdoc training from Professor Jeff Dahn’s lab at Simon Fraser University. He has also received Executive Education from The Wharton Business School, University of Pennsylvania in the USA.

Frank Gibbard

WattJoule Corp

CEO & CTO & CoFounder

Dr. H. Frank Gibbard holds a PhD degree in physical chemistry from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His technical experience includes directing and carrying out work on primary and rechargeable batteries, including lithium ion, nickel metal hydride, alkaline zinc-manganese oxide, alkaline zinc air, lithium thionyl chloride, lithium sulfur dioxide, flowing-electrolyte all-vanadium and vanadium-bromine redox, zinc bromine flow systems, and high-temperature molten salt rechargeable and primary thermal batteries. He has served as Vice President of R&D and Advanced Engineering of a major primary battery company and as Chief Executive Officer of two battery companies and one fuel cell company. He has more than 100 publications, presentations, book chapters and patents, and is a reviewer for technical and scientific journals.

Samuel Gillard

US Dept of Energy

Mgr Technology Dev

No bio available.

Tobias Glossmann

Mercedes Benz R&D N America Inc

Sr Systems Engineer

Tobias Glossmann has more than 18 years of experience in battery R&D at Mercedes-Benz. He holds advanced degrees in Electronics/Mechatronics engineering from Esslingen University of Applied Sciences and in Chemistry from Oakland University and he is pursuing a PhD in Biomedical Sciences. Over the years he has gained experience in a broad spectrum of issues that included high voltage system design, thermal management, battery controls, materials evaluation and system integration. His current responsibilities include battery research collaborations and development projects. His current research interests are interfaces in batteries and electrochemical sensors and advanced battery materials.

Thomas D Gregory

Borealis Technology Solutions LLC

Owner

Tom Gregory received his BS in chemical engineering from Case Western Reserve University in 1978 and his MS in 1979, specializing in electrochemical engineering. His 34-year career at Dow Chemical encompassed a variety of R&D roles including development and scale-up of production technology for organic, inorganic, polymer, and ceramic materials. He led pioneering rechargeable magnesium battery R&D and engaged in development of novel lithium ion battery and fuel cell-related technologies. Tom is currently a consultant specializing in chemical process analysis, design, and scale-up and electrochemical energy generation and storage. He is active in both AIChE and The Electrochemical Society and frequently serves on proposal review panels for the National Science Foundation and Department of Energy. He is the inventor or co-inventor on 16 U.S. and 42 foreign patents and has published or presented 25 papers in scientific journals and conferences.

Jack Guo

Philips Healthcare

Dir

Jack has been with Philips for 21 years, worked on product innovation, research and development. His work has spanned from the medical device and software solution development, to innovation collaboration, data and platform integration, and lifecycle management. Jack has brought multiple products from concept to market in his career in the medical device industry. He is currently co-leading the Battery Platform Team of Philips that provides the battery realization platform and integrated solutions to the medical applications.

Avetik R Harutyunyan

Honda Research Institute USA Inc

Chief Scientist & Research Director

Dr. Avetik R. Harutyunyan is currently a Chief Scientist and Research Director at Honda Research Institute USA Inc., (San Jose, CA) and Adjunct Professor at the Penn State University (State College, PA). His areas of research include growth and studies of nanoscale materials for energy applications and AI perspectives. He is an author of more than 150 scientific publications and more than 100 patents. He is a Fellow of APS and AAAS also Elected Chairman of External Advisory Board of ECS. Harutyunyan received his B.A. degree in “Quantum Physics and Electronics” and Ph.D. in “Solid-State Physics and Mathematics.”

Mark C Hersam

Northwestern Univ

Prof

Mark C. Hersam is the Walter P. Murphy Professor of Materials Science and Engineering and Director of the Materials Research Center at Northwestern University. He also holds faculty appointments in the Departments of Chemistry, Applied Physics, Medicine, and Electrical Engineering. He earned a BS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) in 1996, MPhil in Physics from the University of Cambridge (UK) in 1997, and a PhD in Electrical Engineering from UIUC in 2000. His research interests include nanomaterials, nanomanufacturing, scanning probe microscopy, nanoelectronic devices, and renewable energy. Dr. Hersam has received several honors including the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, TMS Robert Lansing Hardy Award, AVS Peter Mark Award, MRS Outstanding Young Investigator, US Science Envoy, MacArthur Fellowship, and eight Teacher of the Year Awards. An elected member of the National Academy of Inventors, Dr. Hersam has founded two companies, NanoIntegris and Volexion, which are commercial suppliers of nanoelectronic and battery materials, respectively. Dr. Hersam is a Fellow of MRS, AVS, APS, AAAS, SPIE, and IEEE, and also serves as an Associate Editor of ACS Nano.

Daniel Higgs

Forge Nano

Business Development Manager

Daniel works with Fortune 500 companies on development of atomic layer deposition-enabled products for batteries and electronic components. He has over 10 years’ experience in the field and likes to garden, cook, travel, learn languages, play jazz trumpet, and drink tea in his spare time.

Daniel Higgs

Forge Nano

Business Development Manager

Ted Hoying

EVE Energy North America Co Ltd

Director of Business Development

Dir. Business Development for EVE North America

6 Years at EVE Energy

26 Years in the battery industry

Brett M Huhman

US Naval Research Laboratory

Senior Research Engineer

Brett M. Huhman received the B.S. and M.S. degrees from the University of Missouri, Columbia, in 2003 and 2006, respectively, and a PhD from Virginia Tech in 2017, all in electrical engineering. At MU, he developed a method for decontamination of an office environment using cold fog dispersal with electrostatic and UV enhancement. At VT, he developed a diagnostic that can detect end-of-life in battery packs made of parallel cells, and showed for the first time that operating batteries in parallel at high rates will dissolve copper from the anode current collector. From 2005 to 2007 he was with L3-Titan Pulsed Sciences Division at the Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC, working on the development of compact pulsed power radiography devices and electromagnetic launchers. In 2007, he joined the Pulsed Power Physics Branch of the Plasma Physics Division at NRL, in the Electromagnetic Launcher and Advanced Systems Section. Currently he is the chief engineer of the NEMESYS and ERASER pulsed power facilities at NRL. His current research interests include electromagnetic launchers, pulsed power engineering for radiography, and rep-rate pulsed power design. He has published over 70 conference and refereed journal articles in a variety of venues and topics as first and secondary author. In January 2011 he received his Professional Engineer License in Electrical and Electronics Engineering, and is registered in the District of Columbia. He received the Award for Group Achievement for his work on the railgun program in 2011 and 2019. In 2019 he was promoted to Senior Research Engineer.

Sachiya Inagaki

Yano Research Institute Ltd

Senior General Manager/Director

Sachiya Inagaki has been working with Yano Research Institute since August 2000. Since 2009, he has been focusing primarily on market research for xEVs, LiB cells and its materials. Since August 2011, he had been in a position of General Manager of the Seoul branch office for three years, and he has been in a position of Senior Executive Manager of Industrial Technology Unit at the headquarters in Tokyo, Japan. He has conducted a lot of various market research regading xEV and LiBs, and also made presentations at several major EV- and LiB-related conferences, such as AABC, CIBF, Battery Japan, etc. His realism to the market make him unique and different from others. He has acquired his M.B.A. from Tsukuba University in 2007.

Viktor Irle

EV Volumes

Co Founder & Market Analyst

No bio available.

Koji Ishiwa

Toshiba Corp

Sr Expert

Graduate Tokyo Science University in 1982. Experienced development and engineering for rechargeable batteries (Ni-Cd, Ni-MH and LIB) in Furukawa, Sanyo and Toshiba, Currently senior expert for automotive application in Toshiba SCiB division.

Judith Jeevarajan

UL LLC

Research Director Electrochemical Safety

Dr. Judy Jeevarajan is the Research Director of Electrochemical Safety for Underwriters Laboratories (UL). With over 23 years of experience in the area of batteries and a primary focus on the lithium-ion chemistry she specializes in battery safety research including safety trends in aged li-ion cells and modules, thermal runaway propagation in lithium battery systems, fire suppressants for li-ion battery fires, and consumer battery safety. Dr. Jeevarajan serves in the Technical Working Group for standards organizations such as Underwriters Laboratories, Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), International Civil Aviation Organization/Society of Aerospace Engineers (ICAO/SAE), Radio Technical Commission for Aeronautics (RTCA), International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and is currently leading an effort under Aerospace Industries Association of America (AIAA) to develop a space safety standard for battery systems. Dr. Jeevarajan was recently invited to be a member of the Energy Advisory Council at Case Western Reserve University. Dr. Jeevarajan completed UL’s Global Leadership Program (GLP) in 2016 and the Executive Leadership Program (ELP) in 2019. She was inducted into the William Henry Merrill Society as a Distinguished Members of Technical Staff (DMTS) in 2016. Representing Underwriters Laboratories, Dr. Jeevarajan co-chairs a Battery Safety Council with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). As a member of a Non-Advocate Review panel as well as an advisory member to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Dr. Jeevarajan supported the Boeing 787 Investigation and the NTSB informational forum on li-ion batteries. From 1998, Dr. Jeevarajan previously worked at National Aeronautics and Space Administration-Johnson Space Center (NASA-JSC) in Houston, Texas where she was the Group Lead for Battery Safety and Advanced Technology for NASA-JSC. Dr. Jeevarajan also represented the battery group on all NASA safety panels and led the advanced battery technology work with a special focus on the safety improvements. Before becoming a civil servant at NASA in 2003, she worked for Lockheed Martin Space Operations, a NASA contractor. Prior to this, Dr. Jeevarajan worked for a year as a post-doctoral fellow at Texas A&M University on NASA projects as well as in a small business company in College Station, TX for a year immediately after completing her graduate work. Dr. Jeevarajan is a published contributor on battery safety. She has made more than 125 presentations at conferences and has won numerous NASA awards with the NASA Exceptional Service Medal and the NASA-NESC Engineering Excellence Award, being of noteworthy mention. In August 2019, she won the AIAA Aerospace Power Systems Award and a recognition in April 2020 by IESA as one of the leading women in the energy storage and electric vehicle industry. Dr. Jeevarajan earned her Ph.D. in Chemistry (Electrochemistry) from the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa (1995) and holds a Master of Science in Chemistry from the University of Notre Dame (1991).

Casey Jones

Purdue Univ

Graduate Research Asst

Casey Jones is a research assistant and PhD student in Aeronautics and Astronautics representing Dr. Vikas Tomar and the Interfacial Multiphysics Laboratory at Purdue University. He is a six-year veteran of the US Navy, where he worked as a nuclear electronics technician aboard a fast-attack submarine stationed in Pearl Harbor. He obtained his BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

James Kaschmitter

SpectraPower LLC

TUT3: Li-Ion Cell Design and Manufacturing: Process, Equipment, and Quality Control

CEO

James Kaschmitter is the CEO of SpectraPower, which he founded in 2002. SpectraPower operates a battery research facility in Livermore, CA that performs contract energy storage research, consulting and expert witness services for government, private companies, law firms, startups and investors. Jim has founded, or co-founded, several companies in the energy storage field. He began research in Li-ion batteries in 1989 at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). He was co-founder and CEO of PolyStor Corporation starting in 1993. PolyStor is the only U.S. company to have commercially manufactured in high volume in the U.S. all form factors of lithium-ion cells, including cylindrical, prismatic and polymer. In 1997 Jim founded PowerStor Corporation to commercialize the carbon aerogel supercapacitor that he co-invented at LLNL. PowerStor supercapacitors are now manufactured and sold in high volume by Eaton Bussman. He founded UltraCell in 2002, which successfully developed the world’s first reformed methanol micro fuel cell. UltraCell’s micro fuel cells are currently manufactured and sold by Brentronics and are deployed with U.S military and intelligence units, and are in use in combat in the Middle East. Jim holds a master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University and has a bachelor’s degree in the Physics Honors Program from the University of Utah. He holds more than 20 patents in the alternative energy field. He owns, maintains and operates an experimental aircraft and holds instrument and multi-engine ratings.

Kostyantyn Khomutov

GBatteries

CEO

Kostya is a seasoned executive with more than 15 years of experience in the global technology sector. He is the Chief Executive Officer of GBatteries, an advanced battery technology company, based in Ottawa, Canada. His focus is to deliver advanced battery technology while driving operational excellence. He has a Master of Applied Science in Aerospace Engineering from Carleton University. Prior to GBatteries, Kostya was the founder of several organizations including Wolna, a SatCom company and Smart Rotor Systems (SRS), a company that developed vibration and noise reduction technology for helicopters.

Haegyeom Kim

Lawrence Berkeley Natl Lab

Staff Scientist

Haegyeom Kim received a BSc degree (2009) from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering in Hanyang University, a Master degree (2011) at graduate school of EEWS from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), and a PhD degree (2015) on graphite derivatives for Li and Na rechargeable batteries at Seoul National University. He worked as a postdoctoral researcher in Professor Gerbrand Ceder’s group at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) and he is now a staff scientist at Materials Sciences Division of LBNL. His current research interest lies in the design and development of novel electrode materials for Li, Na, and K ion batteries as well as the investigation on underlying energy storage mechanism in there. To date, he has published more than 60 papers in peer-reviewed journals, including 32 first-authored papers. According to Google Scholar, his papers have been cited over 7,000 times.

Jenna King

Amionx

CEO

Jenna King has more than eighteen years of experience working with technology companies ranging from startup ventures to large public companies. Ms. King served as General Counsel and a member of the executive leadership team of Zimmer Dental. She began her professional career as a corporate attorney at Cooley LLP.

Jenna King

Amionx

CEO

Kevin Konecky

Fisker, Inc

Director

Mr. Konecky brings over 20 years of xEV experience to his work, having worked on multiple complex designs for battery system development, charging system integration, and high-voltage powertrain integration. He is skilled in new product design and development, product testing, product safety, integration of multiple sub-systems for vehicles, new product launches and has expanded his skillset beyond batteries into power electronics. His experience in batteries includes multiple technologies (Li-ion, NiMH, UltraCapacitors, Lead-Acid). Mr. Konecky has worked for multiple OEM and Tier 1 battery suppliers (GM, Fisker, Byton, Cobasys, EnerDel, Lockheed Martin) and has a BS in Electrical Engineering from Clarkson University (Potsdam, NY) and MS from Purdue (IUPUI - Indianapolis, IN).

Nikhil A Koratkar

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Prof & Endowed Chair

Professor Nikhil Koratkar received his BTech degree from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay in 1995. He received both his Master’s (1998) and PhD (2000) from the University of Maryland, College Park. His research is focused on the synthesis, characterization, and application of nanoscale material systems. Professor Koratkar is a winner of the NSF CAREER Award (2003), the Electrochemical Society's SES Young investigator Award (2009), the American Society of Mechanical Engineering (ASME) Gustus L. Larson Memorial Award (2015) and the IIT-Bombay Distinguished Alumnus Award (2019). In 2016, Koratkar was elected a Fellow of the ASME. In 2018, Clarivate Analytics named him in their highly cited researchers list (top 1% by citations). Koratkar serves as an Editor of CARBON (Elsevier). He also serves as a board member and advisor to two start-up companies aimed at commercializing next-generation energy storage solutions.

Alexis Laforgue

Natl Research Council Canada

Research Officer

Alexis Laforgue is a research officer of the National Research Council of Canada. His work is mainly focused on the development of innovative materials, processes and devices for energy technologies. He obtained his PhD from the Université Paris-Est Créteil (France) on the development of conductive polymers for supercapacitor applications, then held different research positions at Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) and Université de Montréal (Canada), working on polymer chemistry, electrochemistry and surface science. Since joining NRC in 2006, he has been working on various energy technologies including Li-ion batteries, graphene-based supercapacitors, solid polymer electrolytes for lithium metal batteries and solid-state Li-air cells. He is currently leading the activities related to pilot-scale battery manufacturing with a new facility recently inaugurated at NRC.

Joshua Lamb

Sandia National Laboratories

Principal Member of the Technical Staff

Dr. Joshua Lamb is currently a Principal Member of the Technical Staff with the Advanced Power Sources R&D organization at Sandia National Laboratories. He primarily oversees the Battery Safety and Abuse Testing Laboratory (BATLab) team. The team focuses on the development of inherently safe lithium-ion batteries by understanding the consequences and mechanisms of failure, developing cradle-to-grave battery testing, and developing new materials for use in battery systems. Dr. Lamb earned his Ph.D. in Metallurgical Engineering in 2008 and his B.S. in Chemical Engineering in 2002 from the University of Nevada. Since joining Sandia in 2011, Joshua’s research interests include advanced techniques for determining the stability of lithium-ion batteries and the development of advanced battery abuse and safety tests.

Jody Leber

CSA Grp

Sr Technologist

Jody Leber is an International Compliance Professional with 31 years of experience in the industry. His specialties include Battery, Electromagnetic Interference, Electromagnetic Compatibility, Environmental Simulation, Product Safety, and Renewable Energy. As a Senior Technologist at CSA Group, he is responsible for participating on standards committees, development and implementation of new service areas, and facility improvements and expansion. Jody is an active member of the ANSI, CSA, GMG, IEC, SAE and UL standards committees, and is the Technical Advisor for IEC TC 21 and the Deputy Technical Advisor for SC 21A.

Chiaying Lee

SharkNinja

Principal Battery Engineer

Chia-Ying is currently the Principal Battery Engineer at SharkNinja in charge of Li-ion battery integration and strategic planning. With a PhD degree in Chemical Engineering and a Master’s degree in Economics, he combined both backgrounds to help Shark deliver multiple handheld, upright, and robotic vacuum products powered with Li-ion batteries. Chia-Ying also worked at companies manufacturing batteries for electric vehicles, medical devices, and energy storage applications. He spent more than a decade in different battery development sectors from material R&D, battery design, prototype validation, failure analysis, toward large-scale manufacturing. He holds several US patents in battery designs and publications in peer reviewed articles including the Science Journal. Chia-Ying lives in Cambridge, MA.

Jianlin Li

Oak Ridge Natl Lab

Research Scientist

Dr. Jianlin Li is a senior research staff and University of Tennessee Bredesen Center Adjunct Faculty Member at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). His research interest lies in materials synthesis, processing and characterization, electrode engineering, and manufacturing for energy storage and conversion. Dr. Li received his B.S. in Materials Chemistry and his M.S. in Materials Science from University of Science and Technology of China in 2001 and 2004, respectively, and his Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Florida in 2009. He is a recipient of several prestigious awards including 2 R&D 100 award and 1 Federal Laboratory Consortium (FLC) award. He has received 14 patents and patent applications, and authored 120 refereed journal articles and 3 book chapters.

Lin Liu

University of Kansas

Associate Professor

Dr. Lin Liu received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Iowa State University in 2011, and subsequently spent one and a half years as a post-doctoral researcher at The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, before joining The University of Kansas in 2013. Dr. Liu’s research focuses on the development of new theoretical models to predict both the electrochemical performance and the reliability of energy conversion and storage devices, such as solid-state fuel cells and Lithium-ion batteries. Dr. Liu and his students are also developing new fabrication techniques to synthesize materials and cell components. He has co-authored more than 50 peer-reviewed research articles. Dr. Liu also has industrial experience at General Motors and The Stanley Works. Currently, the research in Dr. Liu’s group has been supported by NSF, NASA, and the Kansas Board of Regents.

Nian Liu

Georgia Institute of Technology

Assistant Professor

Nian Liu is an Assistant Professor at School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Georgia Tech. He received B.S. in 2009 from Fudan University, and Ph.D. in 2014 from Stanford University, where he worked with Prof. Yi Cui on the structure design for Si anodes for high-energy Li-ion batteries. In 2014-2016, he worked with Prof. Steven Chu at Stanford University as a postdoc, where he developed in situ optical microscopy to probe beam-sensitive battery reactions. Dr. Liu’s lab at Georgia Tech is broadly interested in the combination of nanomaterials, electrochemistry, and light microscopy for studying the global energy challenges. Specifically, the Liu’s lab is focusing on electric vehicle battery and stationary battery science and technologies. His publications have been cited over 15,000 times. He is the recipient of the Electrochemical Society (ECS) Daniel Cubicciotti Award (2014), American Chemical Society (ACS) Division of Inorganic Chemistry Young Investigator Award (2015), and Journal of Materials Chemistry A Emerging Investigator (2018).

Michael Liu

BYD America Corp

Dir

With a decade of energy engineering, project management, and business development experience, Michael Liu serves as Director of BYD’s Energy Storage Systems (ESS) practice in North America. As an important intermediary in BYD’s global ESS practice, Liu bridges the technology supply and demand between North America and overseas. Before his promotion to Director, he held two other BYD posts as Regional Manager, and Business Development Manager. Prior to joining BYD in 2012, Liu served as Energy Engineer Southern California Edison’s Energy Efficiency program, where he was actively involved in 90+ Southern California regional projects. Liu received his Master’s degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Purdue University in 2009.

Zhao Liu

Thermo Fisher Scientific

Business Development Manager

Zhao Liu is the business development manager at Thermo Fisher Scientific focuses on battery applications. Zhao's interest is to investigate the analytical challenge of battery characterization in battery R&D and manufacturing. develop solutions to meet the needs. Zhao received the PhD degree in materials science and engineering from Northwestern University

Dongping Lu

Pacific Northwest Natl Lab

Materials Scientist

Dr. Lu is a materials scientist in Battery Materials and Systems group at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). Dr. Lu’s research interest is material and electrolyte development for energy storage as well as in-depth mechanism analysis through advanced in-situ/ex-situ techniques. Currently, he is focusing on the development of high energy lithium-sulfur and solid batteries including new materials, fundamental understanding, and pouch cell design and demonstration. He received his Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry (Electrochemistry) at Xiamen University, China in 2011. Dr. Lu has more than 40 papers published in peer-reviewed professional journals and holds 6 granted and pending U.S. Patents.

Dean D MacNeil

National Research Council Canada

Research Officer

Dean currently leads a team on abuse, performance and integration of energy storage technologies at the National Research Council of Canada in Ottawa. Dean received his PhD from Dalhousie University studying the reaction at elevated temperatures of Li-ion electrode materials and has since held a variety research positions in Industry, academia and government since then. He is currently active in developing new standards (ISO) and regulations (UNECE) for lithium-ion batteries in the transportation sector as well as directing the research activities of his team within thermal evaluations, modelling and integration of batteries in a variety of applications.

Anil U Mane

Argonne Natl Lab

Principal Material Science Engineer

Anil is a Principal Material Science Engineer at applied materials division (AMD), Argonne National Laboratory (ANL). 15+ years' R&D experience in thin film nanostructure materials growth especially via ALD/CVD, nanomaterial characterization & materials integration into nano-devices. Anile worked in semiconductor industries and has hand-on expertise with commercial high-volume production of CVD & ALD multi-station wafer processing tools and processes. 75+ peer-reviewed publications, 25+ patents, 4 R&D100 awards (known as the "Oscars of Innovation"). He completed the DOE Energy I-Corps Cohort 9 program. His current research interests include: (a) Research and development of next-generation technologically feasible nanostructure materials design, creation and engineering, especially by ALD/CVD techniques. (b) In-situ materials growth study focus on surface/interface chemistry, thorough materials and test devices characterizations and search for near-term emerging applications. (c) Applications: Li-ion batteries, 2D Materials, nanocomposites, functional coatings, MEMS devices, photodetectors, etc.

Kevin C Marr

University of Texas Austin

Research Engineer

Dr. Marr is a research engineer at the University of Texas at Austin. His research areas include fire and thermal safety of batteries and battery fire forensic methods. Dr. Marr has expertise in a wide range of experimental and analytical techniques and has developed custom tools and techniques to analyze and assess fire and explosion hazards encountered in various industries, including batteries. He currently serves on several industry-led battery safety committees, including the Battery Safety Council, EPRI Energy Storage and Fire Prevention Advisory Committee, and CESA Safety Technical Advisory Council. Dr. Marr has also served on the technical advisory panel for NFPA Fire Protection Research Foundation Project: “Sprinkler Protection of Li-ion Battery Based Energy Storage Systems.” Dr. Marr has authored or co-authored several publications in peer-reviewed journals and conference proceedings and is a co-author of a book chapter on vapor cloud explosions in the SFPE Handbook of Fire Protection Engineering.

Maria Martinez-Ibanez

CIC Energigune

Assoc Researcher

María Martínez obtained her degree in Chemistry from the University of the Basque Country in 2010. She completed her PhD in Applied Chemistry and Polymeric Materials in 2015 at the University of the Basque Country (San Sebastian, Spain). Meanwhile, she did a stay of six months at the New Jersey Center for Biomaterials (USA) in 2014 under the supervision of Professor Joachim Kohn. After her PhD, María went on researching in Polymat research group at University of the Basque Country. In 2017 she joined the Solid Electrolyte Group in CIC Energigune, under the supervision of Professor Michel Armand. During this time, she did a stay in the Institute for Frontier Materials (IFM), Deakin University (Melbourne, Australia) as part of the research collaboration with the group of Professor Maria Forsyth. Her research interest is focused on polymer electrolytes for lithium metal batteries.

Alvaro Masias

Ford Motor Co

Senior Researcher

Mr. Masias is a Senior Researcher in Ford Motor Company's Electrification Subsystem & Power Supply Department, and has worked on the research and development of lithium batteries since 2002. His past research has focused on battery materials, analysis and safety, in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), Department of Energy (DOE), Department of Defense (DOD), and various universities. His current research focus is on solid-state lithium metal batteries, with an emphasis on the mechanical properties and safety of lithium metal. Mr. Masias is a member of the United States Advanced Battery Consortium (USABC) Technical Advisory Committee. He holds Engineering degrees from the California Institute of Technology and the University of Michigan.

Naoki Matsumura

Intel Corp

Sr Technologist

Naoki Matsumura is a senior battery technologist at Intel Corporation, responsible for new technology assessment, algorithm development and sourcing for mobile devices and datacenter. Prior to that, Naoki held battery research/development roles at Panasonic. Naoki earned his MS in Energy Science from Kyoto University and holds many patents.

James McKinney

BMW Grp

Engineer

No bio available.

Quinton J Meisner

Argonne Natl Lab

PostDoctoral Appointee

Quinton originated from the Atlanta, GA area where he attended Kennesaw State University in Kennesaw, GA; receiving his BS in Chemistry in 2013. Following this he began his graduate career at Florida State University in Tallahassee, FL under the mentorship of Lei Zhu, PhD with focus on the synthesis and characterization of organic materials for light-emitting devices, culminating in the defense his PhD in Chemistry in 2018. Currently he is a postdoctoral appointee at Argonne National Laboratory outside of Chicago, IL where he is a member of the Advanced Electrolyte Research group headed by Zhengcheng “John” Zhang, PhD in the Electrochemical Energy Storage department. Currently Quinton’s research is focused on the synthesis and electrochemical characterization of new electrolyte systems, additives, and binders for applications in Lithium-Sulfur electrochemical cells.

Sergio Mendoza

Exponent, Inc

Sr Assoc & Battery Specialist

Dr. Mendoza is a Battery Specialist at Exponent. He builds on his controls background to perform multi-level analysis on electrified systems pertaining to different industries including automotive, medical, and consumer electronics. Prior to joining Exponent, Dr. Mendoza was a Battery Controls Software Lead Engineer at General Motors (GM). His efforts focused on developing control software for propulsion batteries and battery management systems (BMS). He validated the controls software using Hardware In the Loop (HIL) setups and he executed tests for functional and performance validation. Dr. Mendoza’s areas of expertise include optimal experimental design, model-based control strategies (e.g., energy, power, and thermal) for battery powered systems, and diagnostics of lithium-ion battery packs. Furthermore, Dr. Mendoza applies his extensive knowledge of lithium-ion cells and systems background to conduct Design Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (DFMEA) and safety analyses including Preliminary Hazard Analyses (PHA).

Celina J Mikolajczak

Panasonic Energy of N America

VP Battery Technology

Celina Mikolajczak is Vice President of Battery Technology at Panasonic Energy of North America (PENA). The PENA team is responsible for producing lithium-ion cells at the Gigafactory in Sparks, NV for use in EV and ESS battery production by Tesla. Ms. Mikolajczak leads an interdisciplinary team of engineers who develop and implement new cell and manufacturing technologies on PENA’s cell manufacturing lines. The team works across the entire factory including electrode making, jelly roll winding, cell assembly, cell formation, and top cap production.

Andrew Miller

Benchmark Mineral Intelligence

Product Director

Andrew Miller holds the position of Product Director at Benchmark Mineral Intelligence Ltd (Benchmark), a London based research and consultancy firm focusing on critical raw materials and energy storage supply chains. Andrew oversees Benchmark's supply chain research and analysis, which stretches from downstream assessments of anode, cathode and battery production through to price assessments and forecasting for the key lithium ion battery raw materials – lithium, cobalt, nickel and graphite. At Benchmark, Andrew regularly delivers industry presentations and travels to active mines and processing plants across the world. He has also advised some of the world’s leading institutional investors, auto OEMs, battery producers and mining companies, and manages a portfolio of subscription services which provide in-depth market data and reference pricing for the lithium ion battery supply chain.

Isaiah Oladeji

Sisom Thin Films

CTO

Dr. Oladeji earned Physics MS and PhD from the University of Central Florida. He has many years of experience working for ULVAC, Sisom Thin Films, Capacitech Energy, Planar Energy, ATMEL Corp., Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing, Lucent Technologies (Bell Labs)/Agere. He also served as an Assistant Lecturer at the University of Ilorin. He was a 1992 Fulbright Scholar, a 1997 NASA Tech Brief award for technical innovation winner. He holds 16 issued US patents.

Isaiah Oladeji

Sisom Thin Films

CTO

Lawrence Pan

Fitbit Inc

Principal Battery Engineer

Lawrence Pan leads the Battery Engineering Team at Fitbit, which has developed solutions to power millions of smartwatches and trackers. Prior to this, he focused on advanced charging algorithms, battery diagnostics, novel electrode design, and use of nanomaterials for energy storage.

Gregory L Plett

University of Colorado, Colorado Springs

Professor

Professor Plett received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University in 1998. Since then, he has been on the faculty of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs. His research focuses on control-systems theory as applied to the management of high-capacity battery systems, such as found in hybrid and electric vehicles. Current research efforts include: physics-based reduced-order modeling of ideal lithium-ion dynamics; system identification of physics-based model parameters using only current-voltage input-output data; physics-based reduced-order modeling of degradation mechanisms in electrochemical cells; estimation of cell internal state and degradation state; state-of-charge, state-of-health and state-of-life estimation; power and energy prediction; and battery pack fast charging.

James E Powell

Transportation Development Group LLC

President & Founder

James E. Powell is president and founder of Transportation Development Group LLC (TDG) a dangerous goods (hazardous materials) training company and consultancy based in Seattle, WA. Jim founded TDG in 1992 after 16 years in executive level positions in the airline, trucking and logistics industries throughout the US. His career includes 5 years at Skyway Freight Systems, a leader in Third Party Logistics services, as well as Air Express International, DHL, and Air Polynesia in Hawaii. He served as Director of Cargo for DHL Air Cargo in the early 1980s and created their first FAA-approved HazMat Training Program. Jim is an international author, speaker, and trainer on dangerous goods and logistics issues. He is a delegate to the UN Subcommittee of Experts on the Transportation of Dangerous Goods for the UN and has attended the UN meetings regarding lithium battery transportation regulations in Geneva for the past 5 years. From 1998 to 2002, Jim was involved in training over 150 FAA Special Agents at their academy in Oklahoma City. Jim was an original instructor for California State University Long Beach’s “Global Logistics Specialist Program” for nearly 10 years. In addition to Jim's work at the UN on behalf of the DG Trainers Association, he is an alternate member of the Canadian Government Standards Board task force on Competency-Based Training.

Robert M Privette

Umicore USA Inc

Mgr Bus Dev

Rob Privette is the prime OEM and customer interface in North America for Umicore Rechargeable Battery Materials. In this role, he is responsible for new strategic business. He has more than 30 years of experience developing and commercializing new products in the battery and fuel-cell industries. He has an M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Purdue University and has completed M.B.A. coursework. Before rejoining Umicore, he was Vice President of Energy Markets at XG Sciences, where he created and grew the company’s Energy Materials business targeting silicon/graphene anode materials and graphene-conductive additives for lithium-ion batteries. Prior to that, he was Product Development Director and U.S. Fuel Cell Development Director at Ovonic Energy Conversion Devices and Umicore Fuel Cells, respectively.

Patrick Reich

ZELTWANGER Dichtheits- und Funktionsprüfsysteme GmbH

Industry Manager E-Mobility

Responsible for all leak testing applications in the E-Mobility market such as battery packs and its components as well as electric engines and fuel cells.

Alexander Roberts

Coventry Univ

Associate Professor

No bio available.

John Roberts

muRata

Business Development Manager

John Roberts is a Business Development Manager with Murata Energy Storage Systems. He spent more than 20 years with Sony Corporation and has been promoting Li-ion batteries since 2008. Murata acquired the Sony battery business in September 2017. In his current role, he is expanding ESS business in North America. John is considered an expert on Lithium Iron Phosphate and has been a champion of the technology since its 2009 market introduction.

John Roberts

muRata

Business Development Manager

John Roberts is a Business Development Manager with Murata Energy Storage Systems working to expand North American sales. John was with Sony Corporation for 21 years and joined the Sony Energy division in 2008 as OEM Sales Manager. Recently, he worked in the power cell group focusing on the Cloud datacenter market. John is considered an expert on Lithium Iron Phosphate and has been promoting the chemistry since Sony launched it in 2009. Murata Manufacturing Corporation acquired the battery business unit from Sony in Sept 2017.

Michael L Sanders

Avicenne

TUT12: The Rechargeable Battery Market: Value Chain and Main Trends 2018-2028

Sr Advisor

Mike has significant energy storage materials value chain understanding with an emphasis on lithium ion batteries and systems with 13 years of market knowledge and relationships. Successful program leadership experience with significant business growth in ventures and existing businesses with a proven track record leading mergers and acquisition team to enter the lithium ion battery materials market. He joined AVICENNE in May of 2016 as a Senior Advisor. Since joining the AVICENNE team, Mike has been leading the US AVICENNE activity working with many clients holding strategy workshops, validation of growth opportunities, helping clients establish their growth plans in energy storage and establishing M&A targets/diligence. Before joining AVICENNE, Mike had a very long career with DuPont, his most recent role was the Global Marketing Director – Energy Storage Venture where he developed significant understanding and insights for the energy storage materials market, device manufacturing and systems while leading global marketing and customer interface efforts to establish programs to enter the $20B energy storage materials market. Executed strategic and market planning for opportunity evaluation, research, choices and M&A activity for entry into rapidly growing new market. He has a degree in Chemistry from the University of Delaware and is a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers and Electrochemical Society.

Shriram Santhanagopalan

National Renewable Energy Laboratory

Lead Battery Safety

Shriram Santhanagopalan leads the Battery Materials, Analysis and Diagnostics team at the Center for Integrated Mobility Systems in the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Over the last ten years Shriram has developed models, materials and test methodology to address performance and safety limitations of batteries, at NREL. He has worked extensively with several leading battery manufacturers and vehicle OEMs around the world. Before joining NREL, Shriram was as a Senior Research Scientist at Celgard, LLC, where he was responsible for performing fundamental studies of electrodes, evaluating polymers, developing new characterization tools for large-format batteries, and design of new Li-2 components for automotive batteries. He actively participates in committees on battery standards. He has authored over 80 peer-reviewed articles and several book chapters, including a book he co-authored with the NREL team. He received his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of South Carolina.

Marshall A Schroeder

US Army Research Laboratory

Materials Science Engineer

Dr. Marshall Schroeder received his PhD in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Maryland in 2015 under the tutelage of Dr. Gary Rubloff. Following his graduate studies on Li-O2 batteries, he began working as a Materials Science Engineer with Dr. Kang Xu at the U.S. Army Research Laboratory. At ARL, his work has focused on design, synthesis, purification and testing of novel electrolyte salts, solvents and additives for stabilization of high voltage non-aqueous (~5V) and aqueous (~4V) cell chemistries, with a focus on studying the impact of solvent-ion interactions in bulk electrolyte and at electrode/electrolyte interfaces on cell performance. In addition to internal ARL efforts, his work is actively contributing to multiple U.S. DoE-funded energy storage projects (JCESR 2.0, Battery500, Co-free Initiative, Low Temperature Electrolytes, etc.)

Jeremy Schrooten

Pyrotek Inc

Technical Director

Dr. Schrooten is Technical Director at Pyrotek, a US-based, global technology company and leads the technical aspects of Pyrotek’s Battery Material business. Jeremy has 20 years of technical and business leadership experience with a diverse set of companies including United Technologies, Angstrom Power, and Société Bic S.A.

Thomas Schwoerer

ZELTWANGER Leak Testing & Automation LP

President

Thomas has 20+ years of professional work experience in high-tech industrial equipment, from around the globe (Asia, Europe, North America). He held various managerial roles in Sales and General Management for industry leading companies in Leak Testing, Automation and Robotics, as well as Laser Technology.

Austin Sendek

Stanford University

Visiting Scholar

Dr. Austin Sendek is the founder of Aionics, Inc., a provider of software and professional services for machine learning-accelerated materials design. In addition, Dr. Sendek is a Visiting Scholar in the Department of Materials Science & Engineering at Stanford University and a guest lecturer in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Columbia University. Due to his academic and entrepreneurial work, he was included on Forbes Magazine’s 30 Under 30 in Energy list in 2019. Dr. Sendek holds a Ph.D. in Applied Physics from Stanford University and a B.S. in Applied Physics from UC Davis.

Kamal R Shah

Intel Corp

Director Platform Architecture Mgmt

Kamal Shah is the Director of platform architecture management in Intel’s client computing group. He focuses on front end of requirements management and systems engineering aspects for the client architecture organization. He is also the chairman of Mobile PC Extended Battery Life Working Group, an industry-wide working group focused on extending battery life of mobile PCs. Over the years, he has held many managerial positions at Intel. He earned an M.S. in Computer Engineering from University of Texas at Austin and is a holder of two granted patents.

Denis Sharypin

MMC Norilsk Nickel

Head

Denis Sharypin has attained a degree from Moscow State University in Russia and the graduate school of Toyo University in Tokyo, Japan (both distinction with honors). Denis has worked for Norilsk Nickel for 10 years, and currently stands as the Head of Market Research, responsible for covering the Base and Precious metals markets. Outside of Norilsk, Denis is the Chairman of INSG Statistics Committee, Representative Director at the Nickel Institute, and a representative member of the International Platinum Group Metal Association.

Leon L Shaw

Illinois Institute of Technology

Rowe Family Endowed Prof

Dr. Leon L. Shaw is the Rowe Family Endowed Chair Professor for Sustainable Energy and Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at Illinois Institute of Technology. He is a leading scientist in nanomaterials synthesis, processing and microstructure control for energy storage and structural applications with more than 300 publications including over 210 archival refereed journal articles and 10 chapters for various encyclopedia and handbooks. His recent research has focused on nanomaterials synthesis and processing for energy storage, particularly in the areas of lithium-ion, sodium-ion, and redox flow batteries as well as hydrogen storage materials. Prof. Shaw is a Member of EU Academy of Science, a Member of Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering, a Fellow of ASM International, and a Fellow of the World Academy of Materials and Manufacturing Engineering.

Tal Sholklapper

Voltaiq

CEO and Co-Founder

Dr. Tal Sholklapper has an extensive record of success as a cleantech engineer and entrepreneur. Prior to founding Voltaiq, he worked as the lead engineer on a DOE ARPA-E funded project at the CUNY Energy Institute, developing an ultra low-cost grid-scale battery. Before joining CUNY, Dr. Sholklapper co-founded Point Source Power, a low cost fuel-cell startup based on technology he developed while at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and UC Berkeley, where he also did his graduate work in Materials Science and Engineering. As a Materials Postdoctoral Fellow at LBNL, he successfully led the transfer of lab-scale technology to industry partners.

Tal Sholklapper

Voltaiq

CEO & Co-Founder

Steven E Sloop

OnTo Technology LLC

TUT14: Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence in Batteries

President

Steve Sloop has pioneered comprehensive methods to improve safety and efficiency in recycling lithium-ion batteries and materials. These include deactivation of lithium-ion batteries to eliminate hazards in transportation and storage; electrolyte extraction; electrode harvesting and separation; and cathode-healing™, which is a direct method to reintroduce lithium, structure, and performance to scrap electrodes.

Kandler Smith

Natl Renewable Energy Lab

Sr Engineer

Kandler Smith leads the battery computational modeling team in NREL's Center for Integrated Mobility Sciences. His energy storage research projects focus on predicting and extending the lifetime of lithium-ion batteries. He also applies machine-learning techniques for model identification, fast charging, and the computational design and multi-scale modeling of electrochemical/thermal/mechanical-coupled phenomena in lithium-ion batteries.

Jeffrey S Spangenberger

Argonne Natl Lab

Dir ReCell Ctr

Jeff Spangenberger is the Materials Recycling R&D Program Lead in the Applied Materials Division at Argonne National Laboratory. His program works to solve material separation, recovery, and recycling challenges resulting in cost-effective and environmentally sustainable processes that are then transferable to industry. His current focus is on lithium-ion battery recycling, and he is the Director of the ReCell Center, an advanced battery recycling program, funded by the Vehicle Technologies Office of DOE, to evaluate and advance the cost-effective and sustainable recycling of end-of-life advanced batteries.

Ionel C Stefan

Amprius Inc

CTO

Ionel Stefan is Amprius’ Chief Technology Officer. He joined Amprius in its very early days as a Senior Scientist, initially to lead electrochemistry for silicon nanowire anode-based lithium-ion batteries. Dr. Stefan now leads Amprius' development of silicon nanowire electrochemistry, cell technology -- including material design, cell design and engineering -- and product development.

Tom Stepien

Primus Power

TUT9: Improving the Energy Density of Batteries with Silicon-Based Anodes

CEO

Tom has over 30 years of engineering, operations and general management experience at small and large companies. Prior to helping launch Primus, he was a VP/GM at semiconductor equipment manufacturer Applied Materials responsible for a $500 million business. He holds a BS and MS in Mechanical Engineering from MIT, is a co-inventor on numerous patents, and a frequent speaker at energy conferences. Tom serves on the Special Olympics Northern California board of directors.

Dee Strand

Wildcat Discovery Technologies Inc

CSO

Dr. Dee Strand is a Senior Scientist at Wildcat Discovery Technologies. Dr. Strand has over twenty years of experience in materials research, development, and commercialization, primarily in the areas of energy storage and electronic applications. Prior to joining Wildcat in 2013, Dr. Strand served as a Research Fellow at Dow Chemical, where she was the technical lead in Dow Energy Materials, as well as the Principal Investigator on external research programs with universities and national labs on battery materials. Dr. Strand also has extensive experience in patent analysis and technical due diligence of new technologies. Dr. Strand completed her PhD in Analytical Chemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, under the supervision of Professor John Schrag. Her PhD research focused on rheology and birefringence of polymeric solutions. Dr. Strand also holds a Master of Science degree in Chemistry from the California Institute of Technology and a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry from North Dakota State University.

Vivian Sultan

California State Univ

Prof

Professor of Information Systems and Business Management at California State University (CSULA). Dr. Sultan holds a PhD in Information Systems and Technology from Claremont Graduate University. She is a certified professional in Supply Management with experience in account product management, operations, and automated system projects development. Prior to her current role, Dr. Sultan served as a Senior Analyst at Southern California Edison, an Account Product Manager at the Walt Disney Studios. Her publications and research focus on energy informatics and the digital transformation within supply chains.

Bapiraju Surampudi

Southwest Research Institute

TUT5: Solid-State (Ceramic) Electrolyte Materials and Interfaces in All-Solid-State Li Batteries

Staff Engineer

Bapi Surampudi has more than 24 years of experience in powertrain controls and 14 years of experience with electric vehicles and various forms of lithium ion batteries. In addition to the 24 years on the staff of Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), he worked at Caterpillar, Combat Vehicle Research and Development in India and Tata consulting Engineers in India. His role at SwRI has been to build control systems for engines, transmissions, hybrid vehicles and autonomous vehicles. He has also provided leadership for the SwRI battery consortium for the last eight years. He currently serves as a staff engineer for powertrain development at SwRI. He has a PhD from Texas A&M University, MTech from IIT Madras India. He is a senior member of IEEE and a member of SAE. He holds 14 patents and has published frequently in peer reviewed journals and conferences.

Venkataraman Thangadurai

Univ of Calgary

Prof

Dr. Venkataraman Thangadurai is full professor of chemistry at the University of Calgary, Canada. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, United Kingdom. He received his BSc from Sacred Heart College in Tirupattur, India in 1989 and his MSc from Muthurangam Government Arts College in Vellore, India in 1991. He received his PhD from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India in 1999 and did his PDF at the University of Kiel, Germany. He received a prestigious PDF fellowship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Bonn, Germany. Dr. Thangadurai received his Habilitation degree from the University of Kiel in 2004 and started his independent career in Calgary in 2005. He received the prestigious Keith Laidler Award from the Canadian Society for Chemistry (CSC) in 2016 for his outstanding contributions to physical chemistry. His current research activities include discovery of novel ceramic membranes and mixed ion and electron conductors for all-solid-state batteries, solid oxide cells, and electrochemical gas sensors.

Steve Tolen

Indie Power Systems Inc

President & CEO

Steve Tolen is the founder and president/CEO of Indie Power Systems. Under his leadership, Indie Power Systems has earned 6 patents in energy management and is the first to integrate secondary-use batteries into a commercial energy storage system. Indie Power Systems' technology is a key enabler for the integration of secondary-use batteries in energy storage applications. Mr. Tolen holds a BS degree in finance from the University of Illinois and has experience in successful turnaround and startup situations. He serves as Chairman of the Society of Automotive Engineering (SAE) Secondary Battery Use Committee and has presented at major conferences such as NAATBatt, The Battery Show and the Electrical Energy Storage Applications and Technologies (EESAT) Technical conference.

Michael S Trimboli

University of Colorado, Colorado Springs

Associate Professor

Professor Trimboli’s research focuses on development of control strategies for the management of high-capacity battery systems such as found in electric vehicles. He is currently UCCS principal investigator (PI) of a NASA SBIR Phase II program jointly with EP Systems, Inc. where he leads a team investigating the application of model-predictive control to improve the performance and extend the lifetime of lithium ion battery cells. Other research efforts include physics-based reduced-order modeling of ideal lithium-ion dynamics, physics-based modeling of lithium-ion degradation dynamics, empirical and physics-based modeling of lithium-ion thermal dynamics, as well as predictive methods for power estimation. who are adopting Lithium Sulfur into their products. He is also an advisor to the Aerospace Technology Institute.

Pirmin Ulmann

b-science.net

Co-Founder & CEO

Dr. Pirmin Ulmann is co-founder and CEO of b-science.net, an information service for battery innovation & patents that is based on a supervised machine learning approach. Pirmin obtained a diploma in chemistry from ETH Zurich (Switzerland) in 2004 and a PhD from Northwestern University (USA) in 2009, followed by a postdoc at Tokyo University (Japan). From 2010 to 2016, while working at a major Li-ion battery materials manufacturer, he was a co-inventor of 7 patent families. He holds the credential Stanford Certified Project Manager and has co-authored scientific publications with more than 1,500 citations.

Mark W Verbrugge

General Motors Co

GM & Dir R&D

Mark Verbrugge started his GM career in 1986 with the GM Research Labs after receiving his doctorate in Chemical Engineering from the College of Chemistry at the University of California (Berkeley). In 1996, Mark was awarded a Sloan Fellowship to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he received an MBA. Mark returned from MIT in 1997 to join GM’s Advanced Technology Vehicles (ATV) as Chief Engineer for Energy Management Systems. In 2002, Mark rejoined the GM Research Labs as Director of the Materials and Processes Lab, which maintains global research programs ranging from chemistry, physics, and materials science to the development of structural subsystems and energy storage devices. The Lab was later expanded in scope and is now the Chemical and Materials Systems Laboratory. Mark has published and patented in topic areas associated with electroanalytical methods, polymer electrolytes, advanced batteries and supercapacitors, fuel cells, high-temperature air-to-fuel-ratio sensors, surface coatings, compound semiconductors, and various manufacturing processes related to automotive applications of structural materials. Mark is a Board Member of the United States Automotive Materials Partnership LLC and the United States Advanced Battery Consortium LLC, and an adjunct professor for the Department of Physics, University of Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Mark’s research efforts resulted in his receiving the Norman Hackerman Young Author Award and the Energy Technology Award from the Electrochemical Society as well as GM internal awards including the John M. Campbell Award for research accomplishments, twice the Charles L. McCuen Award for inventions substantially influencing GM products, and twice the Boss Kettering Award, the highest technical award given by GM. Mark received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the United States Council for Automotive Research, and two R&D 100 Awards (2017 and 2019). Mark is a Fellow of the Electrochemical Society and is a member of the National Academy of Engineering.

Matthias Vetter

Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems

Head

Electrical Engineer, 22 years of experience at Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE. PhD thesis in the field of modeling and development of control strategies for fuel cell systems. From 2005 to 2010 head of group “Off-grid power supply” with main focus in the field of modeling, simulation and development of control strategies for distributed power generations systems. From 2011 to 2016 head of department “PV off-grid solutions and battery system technology.” Since 2017 Head of department of Electrical Energy Storage. Work topics among others: Autonomous systems and mini-grids, decentralized grid connected PV battery systems, development of battery systems for stationary and automotive applications. Development and optimization of battery management systems, energy management systems as well as supervisory control strategies. Contact person for battery systems at Fraunhofer Battery Alliance. Lecturer at University of Freiburg for "energy storage" and “electromobility.”

Martin M Weiss

NH Research Inc

Product Dir

No bio available.

Colin Wessells

Natron Energy Inc

Co Founder & CEO

Colin Wessells is the founding CEO at Natron Energy, which he co-founded in 2012. At Natron, he has raised over $50 million in equity investments and federal and state awards. For the past several years he has led Natron’s customer engagement in the data center and vehicle electrification industries. He also led the development of Natron’s novel Prussian blue electrode sodium-ion battery chemistry. He is an inventor of fourteen issued patents, has published nineteen peer-reviewed papers, and holds a PhD in Materials Science and Engineering from Stanford University.

M Stanley Whittingham

Binghamton University (SUNY)

TUT11: Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) for the Analysis of Battery Materials, Half Cells, and Full Cells

Distinguished Prof

M. Stanley Whittingham is a SUNY distinguished professor of chemistry and materials science and engineering at SUNY Binghamton and the 2019 Chemistry Nobel Laureate. He received his BA and D Phil degrees in chemistry from Oxford University, where he is an honorary Fellow of New College. He has been active in Li-batteries since 1971 when he won the Young Author Award of the Electrochemical Society for his work on the solid electrolyte beta-alumina. In 1972, he joined Exxon’s Corporate Research Laboratory and discovered the role of intercalation in battery reactions, which resulted in the first commercial lithium rechargeable batteries that were built by Exxon Enterprises. In 1988 he returned to academia at SUNY Binghamton to initiate a program in materials chemistry. He initiated graduate program in Materials Science and Engineering. He was awarded a JSPS Fellowship in the Physics Department of the University of Tokyo in 1993. From 1993-1999 he was Vice-Provost for Research. In 2004 he received the Battery Division Research Award. He is presently Director of the NECCES EFRC based at Binghamton. In 2012 he received the Yeager Award of the International Battery Association for his lifetime contributions to battery research; in 2015 he received the Lifetime Contributions to Battery Technology award from NAATBaaT, in 2017 the Senior Research Award from Solid State Ionics, and in 2018 was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering and received the Turnbull Award from MRS. He is a Fellow of both the Electrochemical Society and the Materials Research Society. He is Vice-Chair, Board of Directors of the New York Battery and Energy Storage Technology Consortium (NYBEST).

Kia Williams

Metrohm USA

Product Mgr

Kia has a PhD in chemistry from the University of South Florida. Kia’s work included analyzing porous carbon materials for energy storage and conversion applications. Kia joined Metrohm in 2018 as the Electrochemistry Product Manager where she focuses on electrochemical and spectroelectrochemical applications.

Craig Wohlers

Cambridge Innovation Institute

Since 2014, Craig has served as Executive Director of Conferences for Cambridge Enertech, with primary responsibilities for scientific conference program development within energy market sectors, with conferences based in the United States, Asia, and Europe. Previously to joining CII, from its inception in 1998, Craig was the Founder and President of the Knowledge Foundation until it was acquired by CII in 2014. Additionally, Craig was a Director at IBC USA (now Informa), and has previous experience in publishing and production.

John A Wozniak

ESP Consulting

President

Dr. Wozniak completed his undergraduate training at MIT and graduate work at the University of Florida, Gainesville, where he stayed on as an Assistant Research Professor until 1995. For the past 25 years he has worked for Energizer Power Systems, Compaq/HP and Microsoft prior to forming his own consulting business in 2014. As the President of Energy Storage and Power Consulting, he works closely with key battery cell and pack manufacturers as well as Fortune 500 OEMs manufacturing everything from consumer electronics, EVs , ESS and battery backup systems. Dr. Wozniak’s focus has been on developing quality manufacturing practices and commercialization of promising battery technologies.

Huolin L Xin

Univ of California Irvine

Asst Prof

Xin is an assistant professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at UCI. He is an expert on studying structure-property relationships for a range of battery materials. His in-depth diagnostic work has helped enable the development of several battery materials. His work on battery materials has been selected as a 2014 Top-10 Scientific Achievement by Brookhaven Lab. His research has resulted in more than 190 peer-reviewed publications and 1 patent. He has coauthored 18 publications in Science/Nature sister journals (corresponding author on 6).

Marina Yakovleva

Livent

Sr Global Commercial Mgr

Marina Yakovleva is a Head of Research and a Senior Global Commercial Manager for New Product and Technology Development at Livent Corporation. Marina started her carrier in battery components industry with FMC Corporation in 1995. Marina has inventions in lithium-ion battery materials widely used commercially, including the Ti/Mg tailored cathode technology that has become the industry standard and is used in a vast majority of consumer electronics devices. Marina has over 70 patents granted in US and worldwide; over 20 patents pending US and worldwide. Today, her mission is to implement Livent’s new strategic inventions through industry and academia collaborations to enable high energy density storage devices. Marina serves as member-at-large of the ECS Battery Division and she is a member of the advisory board for the Battery500 consortium.

Rachid Yazami

KVI Pte Ltd

Founding Dir & CTO

Prof. Rachid Yazami, is a native of Fez, Morocco and a graduate of the Grenoble Institute of Technology (INPG) electrochemistry and materials science where he also received a Ph.D. on graphite intercalation compounds for lithium battery application, and began his career and rose to research director at CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) in Grenoble. Recently, after over 40 years in academic research Prof. Yazami retired from the CNRS, pursuing his career as entrepreneur. Yazami is the inventor involved in over 150 patents related to battery technology, including the graphite anode used in most commercial lithium ion batteries an over $150b business. Dr. Yazami co-authored about 250 articles in peer-reviewed journals, book chapters and international meeting proceedings. Yazami served a visiting associate in Materials Science and in Chemistry at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in collaboration with JPL/NASA together with being the President of the International Battery Association (IBA). His name appears in International Scientific Board of several lithium battery conferences and events. In 2010, Dr. Yazami joined the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore (NTU) where he held the Nanyang Visiting Professor in Materials Science position together with being a PI of battery research at the TUM Create Center of e-mobility, jointly managed by NTU and the Technological University of Munich.In recognition of his invention of the graphite anode in lithium ion batteries, Yazami received several scientific awards, including from NASA, NATO, IBA, JSPS, Hawaii Battery Conference, the IEEE and the Draper Prize in 2014 considered as the Nobel Prize in Engineering. In 2014 Yazami was decorated by HM the King of Morocco. He is the recipient of the French Legion of Honor in 2016 and of the “2018’ Takreem Award” in Science and Technology Innovation, considered the Arab Scientist of the Year Award. Recently Prof. Rachid was the recipient of the 2019 Arab Investor Award during a Forum held in the UNESCO headquarters in Paris together with the Mohamed Bin Rached Medal of Scientific Distinguishment of Life Achievement given by the Ruler of Dubai in 2020.

Gleb Yushin

Georgia Institute of Technology

Prof

Gleb Yushin is a Co-Founder & CTO of Sila Nanotechnologies and serves as a Professor of Materials Science at Georgia Institute of Technology and the Editor-in-Chief for Materials Today. Gleb has co-authored over 170 peer-reviewed publications and over 100 patents. For his contributions to the development of energy storage materials, Gleb has received numerous awards and was recognized as one of the world’s most influential scientific minds by the Electrochemical Society. Gleb holds BS and MS degrees in Physics from Polytechnic Institute and a PhD in Materials Science from North Carolina State University.

Lu Zhang

Argonne National Laboratory

Chemist

Dr. Lu Zhang holds a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the Chinese Academy of Science and is currently a chemist at Argonne National Laboratory. He has been working in the field of organic functional materials for energy storage applications, including overcharge prevent additives for lithium-ion batteries, and active materials for flow batteries. He specializes in molecular engineering of organic functional materials towards tunable and controllable properties that were desired for various applications.

Xiaohan Zhang

BYD America

Project Manager

Jason Zhang is a Project Manager in the Energy Storage team at BYD America. Mr. Zhang has an M.S. in Electrical Engineering. Working in a fast-growing, slim team, he has led the delivery and maintenance of over 16 utility-scale projects, and managed all aspects of the project delivery life cycle, from initial business development to after-sales service. He has established reliable relationships with key partners and vendors. Also, he has participated in the development of the new generation of C&I and containerized energy storage products. He has always kept track of the industry trends and provided feedback information for product line improvement. He lives in Los Angeles, California, where he also enjoys life as a photographer and traveler.

Zhilian Zhou

PPG

Global Technical Manager

Zhilian Zhou is the global technical manager of battery cell technologies within PPG’s Mobility business. Her group develops coating technology used in the manufacture of lithium-ion battery electrodes for automotive and mobility-related applications.

Zhilian holds a PhD in chemistry from University of North Carolina and a MS in chemical engineering from University of Minnesota. Throughout her career, entrepreneurial spirit has led her to conduct growth-related research and launch many new and innovated products.

Zhillian Zhou

PPG

TUT11: Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) for the Analysis of Battery Materials, Half Cells, and Full Cells

Global Technical Manager

Julia van Drunen

Metrohm Autolab B V

Area Sales & Marketing Mgr

Julia has a PhD in electrochemistry from Queen’s University, Canada, and worked for two years as a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Sao Paulo before joining Metrohm Autolab in the Netherlands in 2016. She specializes in the topics of surface electrochemistry of nickel and platinum, energy conversion and storage, and the corrosion of metals and alloys.

Walter van Schalkwijk

Microsoft Corporation