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Daniel P. Abraham, PhD, Senior, Materials Scientist, Argonne National Laboratory

Dr. Daniel Abraham conducts research on lithium batteries used in electric vehicles, consumer electronics, and grid energy storage. He has authored over 170 articles in peer-reviewed journals and delivered over 350 technical presentations in popular, academic, and industrial settings. His work enables the development of materials and components that enhance battery performance, life, and safety. Dr. Abraham is also a research advisor and mentor to various undergraduate students, graduate students, postdoctoral associates, and junior scientists. He has received awards for “exceptional work in developing the next generation of scientists and engineers.”
Robert Anstey, CEO and Founder, GDI

Rob Anstey is the founder and CEO of GDI. He started the company in 2009 and has led its strategy and technical direction. Rob is co-inventor on several of GDI's patents covering 100% silicon anode technology. He is also an EV enthusiast and believes battery technology is critical to fighting climate change, and suffers onward as a Buffalo Bills fan.
Artrith Nongnuch, Assistant Professor, Materials Chemistry and Catalysis, Utrecht University

Nong Artrith (http://nartrith.atomistic.net) is a tenure-track assistant professor in the Materials Chemistry and Catalysis Group at the Debye Institute for Nanomaterials Science. Prior to joining Utrecht University, Nong was a Research Scientist at Columbia University, USA, and a PI in the Columbia Center for Computational Electrochemistry. Nong obtained her PhD in Theoretical Chemistry from Ruhr University Bochum, Germany, for the development of machine-learning (ML) models for materials chemistry. She was awarded a Schlumberger Foundation fellowship for postdoctoral research at MIT and subsequently joined UC Berkeley as an associate specialist. In 2019, Nong was named a Scialog Fellow for Advanced Energy Storage. She is the main developer of the open-source ML package ænet (http://ann.atomistic.net) for atomistic simulations. Her research interests focus on the development and application of first principles and ML methods for the computational discovery of energy materials and for the interpretation of experimental observations. More here: https://youtu.be/mJTcHTgrvDY
Susan Babinec, Program Lead, Stationary Storage, Argonne Collaborative Center for Energy Storage Science (ACCESS), Argonne National Laboratory

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.
Drew Baglino, Senior Vice President, Powertrain & Energy Engineering, Tesla

Drew has served as our Senior Vice President, Powertrain and Energy Engineering since October 2019. Previously, Drew served in various engineering positions continuously since joining Tesla in March 2006. Drew holds a B.S. in electrical engineering from Stanford University.
Andreas Bareid, Director, E Mobility & Battery Business Development, QAD

Andreas Bareid was born in Norway, worked in HP within the supply chain in Spain, took his MBA in San Francisco, supported Automotive and Manufacturing companies with Infosys out of Germany, and is now heading the EV and Battery space for QAD out of Detroit. He has been speaking at Battery Tech in California and eTech in Bologna and will be speaking at Oslo Battery Days August 2023, InterBattery, and Reuters Automotive event and is heading the Onshoring Battery Technology committee at NAATBatt.
Brian Barnett, PhD, President, Battery Perspectives

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.
- Battery Power for Consumer Electronics
- Battery Intelligence
- Lithium-ion Battery Development & Commercialization
- Advances in Automotive Battery Applications
- High-Performance Battery Manufacturing
- Battery Management Systems
- Battery Recycling
- Global Supply Chain for Battery Raw Materials
- Battery Safety
- Grid-Scale Energy Storage
- Next-Generation Battery Research
Yevgen Barsukov, PhD, Head, Algorithm Development, Battery Power Systems, Texas Instruments, Inc.

Yevgen Barsukov is the Algorithm Fellow 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, PhD, Section Head, Electrification and Energy Infrastructure Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory

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.
Kimberly Berman, Special Projects Analyst, Equity Research, BMO Capital Markets

Kimberly joined BMO Capital Markets Equity Research as a special projects analyst in 2017 to develop proprietary industry knowledge around battery chemistry, the power storage market and related technologies. Kimberly is a seasoned capital markets research professional and has followed a number of highly scientific disciplines throughout her career.
Irene Berry, Director, Lithium Data Science, Albemarle

Irene Berry is the Director of Lithium Data Science at Albemarle Corporation. In this role, Irene leads data science, modeling, and forecasting across the lithium ecosystem from mine to market. She has 15 years of experience applying physics-based models and data science to hybrid and electric vehicles, energy storage systems, battery technologies, and lithium markets. Irene has Masters in mechanical engineering and in technology policy from MIT.
Adam S. Best, Principal Research Scientist, CSIRO Manufacturing

Dr. Adam Best received his PhD from Monash University, Australia in 2002 before completing a post-doctoral Fellowship at Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands. Dr. Best joined CSIRO in 2004 and is currently a Principal Research Scientist with the Metal Industries Program of CSIRO Manufacturing. Adam was Co-Chair of the International Battery Association (IBA) meeting held in Brisbane, Australia, in 2014 and is currently the Co-Chair for the International Meeting on Lithium Batteries (IMLB) 2022 to be held in Sydney Australia. In 2017, he was awarded a Winston Churchill Memorial Fellowship to study battery electrolytes and how to develop a battery industry in Australia. Adam leads several battery research programs developing novel electrolytes and battery concepts including for next-generation lithium batteries with a range of Australian and International Companies and is also the R&D Advisor for Energy Renaissance, Australia's first lithium-ion battery manufacturer. Due to Australia’s mineral wealth, Adam is passionate about the opportunities for Australian industry to be part of the global battery value chain and works to connect them locally and globally.
Shubro Biswas, Senior Cell Electrode Engineer, Cell Engineering, Rivian

Mechanical engineer by training, has worked in operations and improvement at BHP in upstream resources (coal, copper, uranium, gold/silver) as well as at Tesla building out Giga Texas manufacturing. Currently working in Rivian Cell Engineering focusing on both current generation as well as next-generation manufacturing technologies.
Shaurjo Biswas, PhD, CTO and Co-Founder, Liminal Insights, Inc.

Shaurjo Biswas is the CTO and cofounder of Liminal Insights, Inc., a battery manufacturing intelligence company whose mission is to accelerate the transition to electric mobility by improving quality and reducing cost of batteries. Liminal’s proprietary ultrasound-based inspection platform combines ultrasonic measurements with machine learning to fill the information gap in the industry, by providing battery manufacturers actionable insights throughout the battery production process. Shaurjo holds a B.Tech. in Mechanical Engineering from IIT Madras, India, and PhD in Materials Science from the University of Michigan. He was also a postdoctoral fellow at Princeton University working on new battery architectures and processing methods, before spinning out Liminal based on his postdoctoral research.
Susanne Bjarsvik, Vice President, Battery Cell Process & Manufacturing Engineering, Stellantis

Susanne joined Stellantis in 2022 as head of Battery Cell Process Engineering after relocating from Sweden. She attended electrical engineering department at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg and was one of the pioneers at Volvo Cars, responsible for their first energy storage system put into serial production in 2012. After several leading positions within ESS and electrification strategy at Volvo Cars, Susanne took on the position as head of ESS department at AB Volvo before shifting focus from product development to manufacturing.
Toby Bond, Industrial Scientist, Energy Materials & X-Ray Imaging, Canadian Light Source

Toby Bond is an Industrial Scientist specializing in energy storage and X-ray imaging at the Canadian Light Source (CLS), Canada's national synchrotron facility. Toby completed his MSc in Jeff Dahn's lab at Dalhousie University, where he helped develop a prototype ultra high-precision coulometry system. He's since worked at the CLS for over 8 years, where he's worked with industrial clients in the energy storage sector to solve applied materials and cell engineering problems using synchrotron techniques. He is currently completing a PhD in Jeff Dahn's lab (while continuing in his role at the CLS) with a focus on the development of in situ computed tomography and x-ray diffraction techniques to characterize battery degradation and failure.
Pascal Boulanger, PhD, CTO and Company Founder, Research and Innovation, NAWATechnologies

Pascal Boulanger (PhD of physics, HEC Paris) was Researcher (1993) at Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) in nuclear and solar energy. He lead photovoltaic system laboratory. In 2005, after activity at Banque Publique d'Investissement (BPIFrance), he became IRAMIS Deputy Director (nanotechnology research institute at CEA Saclay (French Commission for Alternative Energies). He identified core technology for NAWA and founded NAWATechnologies with Ludovic EVEILLARD (2013). He is CTO, Board member, Deputy Managing Director.
Thomas Brooks, Senior Sales and Marketing Manager, Sales and Marketing, BlackStarTech

Thomas Brooks is the Senior Sales and Marketing Manager for BlackStarTech. He has spent over twenty years in the sales and marketing industry, helping manage businesses like Motorala exponentially expand their technological capabilities across the world. His experience in the energy and technology industries gives him a unique perspective to champion innovative solutions to modern day problems for organizations and businesses.
Jeff Bruce, Director Battery Technologies, Battery Development, Microsoft Corp.

Jeff is responsible for all battery development at Microsoft, working with cell and battery pack manufacturers and driving new technology adoption in Microsoft’s various product lines. Prior to Microsoft Jeff worked at various large and small battery manufacturers as well as system integrators. Jeff has worked with almost every electro-chemical energy storage medium available; Lithium, Lead-Acid, Flow, Molten Salts, Aqueous Salts. Primarily focused on system level design including cell architectures, battery management system design for small 3C level systems up to Mega-Watt (MW) scale system integration. Prior to entering the fascinating world of batteries Jeff worked in the semiconductor world focusing on CMOS Imagers, Memory, and ASIC design.Jeff holds 40+ patents in analog circuit, memory, imager design, and various processes and methods.Jeff holds a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Idaho, and Bachelors of Science in Electrical Engineering from Washington State University
Simon Buderath, Strategy & Technology Consulting, P3 USA

I started my P3 career in February 2008 in Germany. Since August 2021 I am located in Detroit and running our Strategy and Technology Business in the USA. I have 10+ years of experiences in the automotive and commercial vehicle business with execution of projects in Europe, the USA and China. My competencies focusing on strategic advisory, efficiency programs, technical due diligence and program management.
Jordi Cabana, PhD, Professor, Department of Chemistry, University of Illinois and Group Leader and Scientist, Materials Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory

Jordi Cabana is a Professor at the Department of Chemistry of the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) and a Group Leader and Scientist at Argonne National Laboratory (ANL). Professor Cabana completed his PhD in Materials Science at the Institut de Ciencia de Materials de Barcelona, Spain, in 2004, followed by a postdoctoral appointment in the Department of Chemistry at Stony Brook University. He was also a Research Scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory from 2008 to 2013. He is generally interested in the physical and inorganic chemistry of materials for electrochemical applications. He was designated “Up-and-Coming” by Chemistry of Materials in 2017. He was a Scialog Fellow in Advanced Energy Storage from 2017 to 2020, and he received Scialog Awards in 2018 and 2020.
Ben Cao, PhD, Vice President of R&D, Nanoramic Laboratories

Dr. Ben Cao is the VP of R&D-Battery Technology at Nanoramic® Laboratories. He leads the battery R&D team to develop Neocarbonix low-cost & fast-charging electric vehicle Li-ion battery devices. He has over 12 years of experience in energy storage technology and leadership. He is currently the principal investigator leading a ~3.6MM$ R&D project awarded by USABC to develop low-cost and fast-charging EV battery cells based on Nanoramic NMP/PVDF-free electrode technology.
Eduardo Cardoso, Associate Director, Business Development, Linde

Eduardo as part of the National Business Development team is responsible for growth in automotive, aerospace, plastics and the Lithium-ion Battery market.
and has been with Linde for 21 years.
Eduardo holds degree in Automation and Control engineering and an MBA in Economics and Business management. His Linde career includes customer service, regional business manager, development & strategic accounts manager, executive manager for industrial and healthcare & general manager in Chile.
Steven Carlson, PhD, Executive VP of Advanced Materials and Battery Products, Meta Materials

Steven A. Carlson (Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, MIT) is the Executive VP of Advanced Materials and Battery Products at Meta Materials Inc. In 2022, while president of Optodot Corporation, he was named the NYIPLA Inventor of the Year for his innovations in the fields of ceramic-coated separators, nanocomposite all-ceramic separators (NPORE®), and advanced battery manufacturing processes, covered by more than 35 issued U.S. patents and more than 25 issued patents abroad.
Vidyu Challa, PhD, Reliability Manager, ANSYS, Inc.

Vidyu Challa brings 20 years of industry experience with 10 years in the battery space. She has been involved in different levels of the battery supply chain including cell manufacturing, testing, root cause analysis, safety and battery risk mitigation. She has broad based expertise that includes engineering technology start-up experience, consulting, product development, R & D, and various roles in marketing and business development. Dr. Challa has led battery training courses at major conferences and for leading companies in consumer, medical, and automotive verticals. She has consulted for leading companies on Battery quality and safety and has developed battery qualification programs. Dr. Challa obtained a PhD from the University of Maryland, where her work was focused on electronics reliability.
George M. Cintra, CTO, R&D, EaglePicher Technologies LLC

George Cintra is Chief Technology Officer for EaglePicher Technologies, an industry-leading producer of cells and batteries systems for defense and aerospace industries. He has more than 25 years of leadership experience in battery and power systems design, product development and commercialization, technology strategy, and manufacturing of primary and secondary batteries. Prior to EaglePicher, he was Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer for Integer, Inc. (formerly Greatbatch), a leading innovator of powered medical devices and electrochemical cells. Prior to Integer, he held a variety of leadership positions at Procter & Gamble, Gillette, and Duracell. He has been awarded thirty-nine patents across a broad range of battery and power source materials and products. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from the University of Rhode Island and completed graduate studies at Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Virginia.
Richard Clark, Global Lead, Energy Storage, Technical, Morgan Advanced Materials

Educated as a chemical engineer at the University of Cambridge, England, Richard Clark has been with Morgan Advanced Materials for 35 years, developing and commercializing carbon and ceramic materials and components. He currently leads Morgan's work in energy storage, which encompasses all businesses related to Lithium-Ion Batteries and other electrochemical devices such as redox flow batteries and fuel cells as well as those supplying various other components for Electric Vehicles.
Andrew Cook, PhD, Application Manager, Advanced ALD Business Unit, Beneq Oy.

Andrew gained his PhD in Physical Organic Chemistry at Aberdeen University in 2001. He has worked in the fields of polymer synthesis and industrial scale roll-to-roll vacuum coating technologies (primarily atomic layer deposition, sputtering and thermal evaporation) and wet coating technologies (slot die).
Andrew has worked across multi-collaborative R&D projects funded by IUK and the European Union, which have directly investigated the scaling up of R2R ALD and battery technologies to manufacturing readiness levels.
Jason Croy, PhD, Group Leader, Materials Research Group, Electrochemical Energy Storage, Argonne National Lab

Jason Croy Received his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Central Florida where his work focused on the electronic, vibrational, and catalytic properties of mono- and bi-metallic nanoparticle systems. In 2010 Jason joined the Electrochemical Energy Storage Theme at Argonne National Laboratory outside of Chicago, IL. His work at Argonne focuses on the design, synthesis, and characterization of high-energy, lithium-ion electrode materials. Dr. Croy is currently the Group Leader of the Materials Research Group at Argonne National Laboratory and the principal investigator of the Department of Energy’s Deep-Dive consortium on “Realizing Next Generation Cathodes for Li-Ion Batteries” consisting of 50 scientists and engineers across 5 national laboratories.
Yi Cui, PhD, Professor, Department of Materials Science & Engineering, Stanford University

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 Dahn, FRSC, PhD, Professor of Physics and Atmospheric Science, NSERC/Tesla Canada Industrial Research Chair, Canada Research Chair, Dalhousie University

Jeff Dahn obtained his B.Sc. from Dalhousie University (1978) and his Ph.D. from the University of British Columbia in 1982. Dahn then worked at NRC (Canada) (82-85) and at Moli Energy (85-90) before taking up a faculty position at Simon Fraser University in 1990. He returned to Dalhousie in 1996. At Moli, he did pioneering work on lithium-ion batteries. Dahn was appointed as the NSERC/3M Canada Industrial Research Chair in Materials for Advanced Batteries at Dalhousie University in 1996, a position that he held until 2016. In 2016, Dahn began a research partnership with Tesla as the NSERC/Tesla Canada Industrial Research Chair which will continue until 2026. Dahn’s research has been recognized by numerous awards including a Governor General’s Innovation Award (2016) and the Gerhard Herzberg Gold Medal in Science and Engineering (2017), Canada’s top science prize. He is the only person to have been awarded both awards this far. Dahn is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and an Officer of the Order of Canada.
- Battery Power for Consumer Electronics
- Battery Intelligence
- Lithium-ion Battery Development & Commercialization
- Advances in Automotive Battery Applications
- High-Performance Battery Manufacturing
- Battery Management Systems
- Battery Recycling
- Global Supply Chain for Battery Raw Materials
- Battery Safety
- Grid-Scale Energy Storage
- Next-Generation Battery Research
Eric C. Darcy, PhD, Battery Technical Discipline Lead, Power Systems, NASA Johnson Space Center

Eric C. Darcy, PhD, has spent his 35-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.
Joshua Davis, Scientist, U.S. Department of Transportation

Joshua Davis is a Physical Scientist at the US Department of Transportation-Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) Office of Hazardous Materials Safety in the Research, Development, and Technology Branch. Joshua oversees a variety of research topics and manages multiple contracts for PHMSA. Joshua is also the lead of an interagency Lithium-Ion Battery Research Working group. The focus of the group is to enhance communication and collaboration on lithium-ion batteries across a variety of federal agencies. Joshua received his degree in Chemistry and Forensic Science from West Virginia University.
Shmuel De-Leon, CEO, Shmuel De-Leon Energy Ltd.

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.
- Battery Power for Consumer Electronics
- Battery Intelligence
- Lithium-ion Battery Development & Commercialization
- Advances in Automotive Battery Applications
- High-Performance Battery Manufacturing
- Battery Management Systems
- Battery Recycling
- Global Supply Chain for Battery Raw Materials
- Battery Safety
- TUT2: Managing and Understanding the Risks of Li-ion Battery Safety
- Grid-Scale Energy Storage
- Next-Generation Battery Research
Tim Debastos, Head, LG Energy Solution Tech Center - MI

Timothy DeBastos is Head of LG Energy Solution Michigan Inc. Tech Center., (LGESMI), the North American subsidiary of LG Chem (LGC), Korea. In this position, he has overall responsibility for strategic direction, engineering, and business development. Prior to joining LGESMI, DeBastos worked at Rivian on HV Battery Electromechanical Design. Prior to that, he was chief engineer for high voltage pack and modules at LG Energy Solution. The majority of his over 20-year professional career was spent at Ford Motor Company, where he worked through various propulsion roles with increasing responsibility. He focused on EV commercial vehicles, integration, and implementation. Mr. DeBastos received a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Wayne State University and his Master of Business Administration from University of Michigan - Stephen M. Ross School of Business.
Stefan Debruyne, Director, Business Development, Lithium, SQM International

Stefan Debruyne joined SQM in 2005 as Asia-Pacific Sales Director, Lithium and Iodine, where he witnessed firsthand the lithium-ion battery production boom in Asia and the emerging electrification of transportation in China. In his present role as Business Development Director, he is focusing on the engagement with the automotive battery value chain and its stakeholders. Prior to joining SQM in 2005, he held a variety of international commercial roles at different listed companies. He has earned a Business Engineering degree from University of Leuven and an executive MBA from Vlerick Business School. He currently works for SQM as Director of Business Development.
Nathaniel Dick, Business Development Manager, Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina EDPNC

Nathaniel Dick joined the EDPNC (Economic Development Partnership) in November of 2020, bringing with him his knowledge and expertise of the Chinese market. As part of the Business Development team, Nathaniel cultivates business for North Carolina in the North American and Greater China market. Nathaniel is a member of the North Carolina Economic Development Association, a member of the Wake County Economic Development FDI Advisory Committee, as well as serves as the President of the RTP Chapter of the Carolinas Chinese Chamber of Commerce.
Jian Dong, PhD, Senior Engineer Cell Development, R&D Aerospace Defense & Performance ADP, SAFT America

Jian (JD) Dong achieved his PhD in Materials of Science and Engineering from Tsinghua University, China, focused on negative materials in lithium ion chemistry. During his three years postdoc in Georgia Tech, he worked on the lithium ion chemistry and all kinds of fuel cells. In 2006, he worked as a development scientist in NanoDynamic, and developed a very high powered and reliable tubular solid oxide fuel cell. Since 2010, he worked in Saft America Inc. for the development and manufacturing of lithium ion cells. Now he is a leading scientist in the racing related cells development and manufacturing. With his effort, the high powerful racing related cell and battery has become one of the major businesses in Saft.
Maher El-Kady, Dr., CTO and Co-Founder, Nanotech Energy

Maher El-Kady is co-founder and chief technology officer at Nanotech Energy, Inc and a professional researcher at the UCLA Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry. His research focuses on the design and implementation of new materials and devices to address challenges in energy, electronics, and sustainability. This approach is interdisciplinary, bridging the fields of chemistry, materials science, and engineering along with molecular and cell biology, for the development of more effective batteries.
Gebrekidan G. Eshetu, PhD, Senior Scientist & Group Leader Energy Storage Devices, Power Electronics & Electrical Drives, RWTH Aachen University

Dr. Gebrekidan Gebresilassie Eshetu obtained his PhD by the end of 2013 in Materials Science/Chemistry (Electrochemical Energy Storage and Conversion Materials) from the LRCS (CNRS) laboratory in France, Amiens, under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Michel Armand, Prof. Dr. Stephane Laruele, and Dr. Eng. Sylvie Grugeon. Following, he did his postdoctoral research at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Helmholtz Institute Ulm (HIU) in the group of Prof. Dr. Stefano Passerini. Then, he worked at CIC Energigune (Spain) as a senior postdoctoral researcher on solid electrolytes for lithium- and sodium-metals-based rechargeable batteries. In 2018, he joined RWTH, Aachen University, in the group of Prof. Dr. Egbert Figgemeier. Currently, he is a group leader at Institute of Power Electronics & Electrical Drives of RWTH for functional surfaces, interface, and interphases for applications in electrochemical energy storage devices, notably rechargeable batteries. His interest focuses on the design and characterization of functional electrolytes, pre-charging, surfaces, interfaces, and interphases for rechargeable batteries and beyond.
Christiane Essl, Researcher, Battery Safety, VIRTUAL VEHICLE Research GmbH

Since 2016 Christiane Essl is working as a researcher at the VIRTUAL VEHICLE Research Center in Austria on Battery Safety with the focus on vent gas analysis and early failure detection. In April 2021 she finished her Ph.D. work with the focus on the analysis and early detection of failing automotive lithium-ion batteries. Since 2019 Christiane is also working at AUDI AG as an extern.
Michael A. Fetcenko, Executive Chairman, Sion Power

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 30 million vehicles on the road. He has served on the Board of Directors and Technical Steering Committee for Sion Power since 2012, a leader in advanced ultra-high energy lithium battery systems, including protected metallic lithium anodes for Li-Ion batteries.
Kevin Fok, Director of Compliance, LG Energy Solution Vertech, Inc.

Kevin Fok is Director of Compliance and leads the company in the regulatory compliance strategy and requirements for grid energy storage system product architecture and design. He has extensive experience in renewable energy with roles in sales, business development, marketing, engineering, project management, and operations & maintenance spanning lithium-ion batteries, solar photovoltaics (PV), nickel-metal hydride batteries, fuel cells, and hydrogen storage. He is a co-inventor of 13 U.S. patents. He has been a presenter, panelist, moderator, and session chair at over 100 conferences and events. He has presented tutorials, developed alternative energy curricula for universities, developed content for a first responder course, served on conference educational committees, and reviewed abstracts for major conferences. He is an engineering alumni board member at the University of Michigan and also regularly participates in its engineering research symposium as an abstracts reviewer and judge. He is involved with industry organizations and serves on technical committees for energy storage safety, battery recycling, and battery second use. He has served on project advisory panels for energy storage safety, firefighter safety, and sprinkler protection. He has a Master of Business Administration (MBA), Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering, and a Michigan Ross Distinguished Leader Executive Certificate, all from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
Merlin Frank, Research Associate Battery Components & Recycling, Production Engineering of E Mobility Components, RWTH Aachen University

After graduating from high school, I studied mechanical engineering at RWTH Aachen for 6 years. After completing my master's degree, I started my PhD at the Institute "Production Engineering of E-Mobility Components" at RWTH Aachen University in 2021. Since then I have been working there as a scientific assistant. I am dedicated to any topics around the topic of Re-X. This includes any strategies that can be useful after the initial use phase of a battery in an electric vehicle, e.g. refurbishment, remanufacturing, re-use, and recycling.
Eric Frederickson, Managing Director of Operations, Call2Recycle

Eric Frederickson serves as Managing Director of Operations for Call2Recycle where he is responsible for the development and enhancement of the organization’s operations, supply chain, and downstream recycling network. This includes optimizing performance and efficiencies while upholding the organization’s commitment to safety standards and compliance obligations. With over 20 years of experience in highly regulated logistics at some of the nation’s top transportation firms, Eric’s focus is on helping organizations develop scalable pathways for a circular economy.
Linda L. Gaines, PhD, Transportation Systems Analyst, Energy Systems, Argonne National Laboratory

Linda Gaines is a Systems Analyst in the Energy Systems and Infrastructure Analysis Division at Argonne National Laboratory. She holds a BA in Chemistry and Physics from Harvard, and a Ph.D. in Physics from Columbia. Her primary interest is problem solving, applied to efficient use of resources. She began her career at Argonne by writing a series of handbooks of energy and material flows in energy-intensive industries that provided background for studies of technical and institutional issues involved in producing and recycling advanced-design automobiles, trucks, and trains, and batteries. Her most recent work has involved studying ways to reduce impacts from transport by recycling of lithium-ion batteries. She is an editor of the journal Sustainable Materials and Technologies and on the Editorial Board of Scientific Reports (a Nature journal).
Kevin Gallagher, PhD, Advanced Battery Cell Technology Manager, Corning, Inc.

Kevin Gallagher joined Corning in 2021 as the Advanced Battery Cell Technology Manager in the Environmental Technologies Division. Kevin leads the commercial technology effort for the next-generation battery materials being developed at Corning. Prior to joining Corning, Kevin spent 5 years in the German automotive industry focused on electric vehicle battery cell R&D and 7 years at Argonne National Laboratory as a Principal Investigator researching various types of batteries. Kevin has 47 peer-reviewed publications, 3 book chapters, and 17 published patents in the field of electrochemical energy storage and conversion.
Yuan Gao, Independent Board Director, Lithium Americas Corporation

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.
Katharina Gerber, Dr., Sr. Director of Business Development, LiCAP Technologies, Inc.

Katharina Gerber joined LiCAP Technologies in 2021 as the Sr. Director of Business Development. Katharina leads commercialization strategy for the Activated Dry ElectrodeTM process and turnkey equipment solutions being developed at LiCAP. Prior to LiCAP, Katharina worked on Zero Carbon Lithium project in Germany and at California Energy Commission overseeing development of innovative energy harvesting and storage technologies. Katharina holds a doctorate degree in materials science from German University of Bonn.
Kevin L. Gering, Distinguished Staff Scientist, Energy Storage Technologies, Idaho National Lab

Kevin L. Gering, PhD (INL) PhD Chem. Eng., University Oklahoma - 1989 (electrolyte theory). Kevin has been involved in battery testing and R&D for nearly 20 years while at INL. Dr. Gering is an established expert in the field of state-of-the-art molecular-based electrolyte models for electrochemical systems (Advanced Electrolyte Model, AEM), and has developed novel performance and lifecycle (aging) models for lithium-ion battery systems covering mechanistic aspects of kinetic limitations and performance loss over battery life (CellSage). AEM generates more than 100 property metrics with each simulation, giving genomic-level information for electrolyte characterization. CellSage simulations perform mechanism-wise analyses of battery aging while accounting for multiple concurrent stress factors that can change over the timeline. Kevin is well qualified to speak on issues of electrolyte transport, characterization, screening, and optimization for lithium-ion systems, wherein particular areas of expertise are highly concentrated electrolytes and low-temperature battery performance. During AEM development, Kevin has achieved milestones in formulating mathematics and new modeling techniques that capture properties that were previously very difficult to model over wide ranges of temperature and salt concentration, such as colligative permittivity, conductivity, diffusivity, viscosity, surface tension, ion desolvation energy and kinetics, double-layer composition and properties, comprehensive ion speciation, osmotic pressure, preferential ion solvation, and many others. Kevin is currently contributing to the DOE program eXtreme Fast Charge Cell Evaluation of Lithium-ion Batteries (XCEL), and is involved in integrating CellSage architecture and outcomes within a machine learning (ML) program under DOE-VTO. Dr. Gering has a diverse background in modeling complex systems, where other previous work covered developing a methane hydrates marine basin model, a dynamic passive aeration compost model, blast wave calculations, transport model for pulsed catalytic reactors, and others. He actively collaborates within DOE labs, universities, and the private sector, and is an advocate of domestic intellectual property, having several patents issued and pending, and under license. AEM and CellSage tools have seen increased licensing, speaking to the growing impact of INL to meet industrial needs.
Stephen Glazier, PhD, Associate Director, Cell R&D, NOVONIX Battery Technology Solutions

Dr. Stephen Glazier is currently the Associate Director, Cell R&D at NOVONIX Battery Technology Solutions in Nova Scotia, Canada. He oversees R&D programs which span the entire lithium-ion space - from NOVONIX’s own anode and cathode materials to next-gen battery technologies. Prior to NOVONIX, Stephen completed his MSc and PhD at Dalhousie University working under the supervision of Dr. Jeff Dahn, researching degradation mechanisms, cathode material synthesis, and electrolyte development.
Tobias Glossmann, Principal Systems Engineer, HV Battery Research and Test Lab, Mercedes-Benz Research and Development North America

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.
Rohan Gokhale, PhD, Applied Technology Manager, Umicore Rechargeable Battery Materials

Rohan Gokhale is the Applied Technology Manager for the Rechargeable Battery Materials Division of Umicore in North America. He has a strong background in materials science and electrochemistry. Rohan earned a Ph.D. in Chemistry (National Chemical Laboratory, India) working on novel ways to synthesize carbon materials for use in electrochemical energy storage and conversion. Subsequently, he contributed to the development of carbon based Pt-free electrocatalysts for achieving cost reduction in fuel cells, at the University of New Mexico. Before joining Umicore, he was a Research Scientist at the Nissan Tech Center of North America, working on solid state battery research program for next generation EVs. He has 20+ high impact publications and 3 awarded US patents to his credit.
Eric Gratz, PhD, Co-Founder & CTO, Ascend Elements

Dr. Eric Gratz, Co-founder and CTO of Battery Resourcers, is a former Assistant Research Professor at the Metal Processing Institute at WPI, has expertise in recycling, battery materials and extractive metallurgy. Dr. Gratz is responsible for the technical development of novel recycling processes at Battery Resourcers. He served as the CEO of Battery Resoucers from 2016 to 2020 where he grew Battery Resourcers from a 300sq ft lab to a fully vertically integrated pilot plant providing shredding through cathode production services of spent lithium ion batteries and battery materials. He has been working on lithium ion battery recycling since 2012 and is recognized as a global technical leader in the space.
Thomas D. Gregory, Owner and Consultant, Borealis Technology Solutions LLC

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.
Oliver Gross, MASc, SME Energy Storage and Conversion, Advanced Propulsion Technology, Stellantis

Oliver is the global Subject Matter Expert for Advanced Energy Storage and Conversion at Stellantis where he is responsible for the energy storage and fuel cell systems technology roadmaps and architecture. He is a member of the United States Advanced Battery Consortium Technical Advisory Committee, and chairs several additional committees, including manufacturing, 12V Stop Start and 48V Mild Hybrid batteries. He holds both a BS and a Master’s Degree in Materials Science, for the University of Toronto. Oliver has over 25 years’ experience in the advanced energy storage industry. He currently holds over 10 patents, and more than 20 publications.
Jerry Hallmark, Vice President, ENOVIX Corp.

Jerry Hallmark is an energy technologies expert with a track record of discovering and commercializing numerous battery and energy technologies. At Enovix, he leads the Customer Applications Engineering team, working with customers to define, develop and commercialize 3D Silicon batteries. Prior to Enovix, Hallmark was at Motorola where he sourced, tested, qualified, and launched into commercial products over 25 different custom lithium-ion cells - many of which at the time were the highest energy density cells in high-volume commercial production. He also led research and development efforts in supercapacitors, fuel cells, thermoelectrics, ferroelectrics, and numerous semiconductor materials technologies. Hallmark earned a Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering (Solid State Devices) from Arizona State University and a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Florida. He holds 32 patents, has given numerous presentations at industry conferences and workshops and served as President of the US Fuel Cell Council.
Daniel Higgs, PhD, Director, Revenue, Iontra Inc

Daniel Higgs, PhD, is the Director of Revenue at Iontra where he is driving rapid adoption of Iontra’s groundbreaking battery charging technology. Daniel is responsible for all sales, licensing, and customer development projects for which he engages regularly with most top global OEMs in the power tool, consumer electronics, and automotive markets. Daniel has spent over 10 years in product and business development of battery materials, cells, and charging technologies.
Elham Honarvar, PhD, Cell Formation Engineer, Advanced Technology, Ford Motor Co.

Dr. Elham Honarvar has more than 10 years of experience working on R&D projects, and she is an expert in physical and inorganic chemistry, electrochemical techniques, synthesizing and characterization of organometallic compounds, and molecular modeling. She holds a PhD in electrochemistry and an MS in inorganic chemistry. Her work involves improvement in cell formation and the aging process for different cell chemistry. She is currently an electrochemist in the Advanced Technology team for process engineering at Ford.
Peiman Hosseini, PhD, Director of Engineering Operations, Engineering, Meta Materials

Dr. Peiman Hosseini is Director of Engineering Operations in charge of the development of vacuum-based deposition technology at Meta Materials Inc. He previously served as CTO and CEO of Bodle Technologies, a company focusing on commercialization of new solid-state reflective display technology. A member of the Royal Academy of Engineering Enterprise Hub since 2014, he has published work in many prestigious journals and is a named inventor on over 20 patents.
Matthew Howard, Chief Strategy Officer, Faraday Institution

Matt Howard is Chief Strategy Officer for the Faraday Institution, the UK's flagship organization for energy storage research, skills development, market insights and early-stage commercialization. He oversees a portfolio that includes developing and stewarding new partnerships to build the organization’s impact, value, thought leadership and longevity. Matt has over 25 years of communications and government relations experience, including as the Chief Communications Officer and director of the communications, education and public affairs division for the US Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory. He holds an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business along with degrees from Miami University and the University of Rochester.
David Howell, Principal Deputy Director, Office of Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains, United States Department of Energy

Dave Howell is the Acting Director of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Vehicle Technologies Office (VTO) with responsibility for the Department’s $400 million advanced vehicle R&D portfolio. He has over 35 years of experience planning and executing complex, multi-disciplined R&D activities that includes hybrid and electric vehicle R&D, advanced battery research and manufacturing, and advanced structural materials research. Dave serves as DOE’s representative to the United States Advanced Battery Consortium Management Committee, the Executive Committee for the Battery500 Research Consortium, and various international and inter-government forums. He is the Chair of the recently chartered Federal Consortium for Advanced Batteries (FCAB). FCAB brings Federal agencies having a stake in establishing a domestic supply of lithium batteries together to accelerate the development of a robust secure domestic industrial base and ecosystem for advanced batteries.
Chao Hu, PhD, Associate Professor, Mechanical Engineering, Iowa State University

Dr. Chao Hu received his B.E. degree in Engineering Physics from Tsinghua University in Beijing, China, in 2007 and his Ph.D. degree in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Maryland, College Park in Maryland, in 2011. He worked first as a Senior Reliability Engineer and then as a Principal Scientist at Medtronic in Minnesota from 2011 to 2015. He is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Iowa State University and has a courtesy faculty appointment in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. His research interests are engineering design under uncertainty, lifetime prediction of lithium-ion batteries, and prognostics and health management. Dr. Hu has received several awards and recognitions for his research, including the Best Track Paper Award at the IISE Annual Conference & Expo in 2019; the ASME Design Automation Young Investigator Award in 2018; the Highly Cited Research Paper 2012-2013 in the Journal of Applied Energy in 2015; the Star of Excellence Individual Award at Medtronic in 2014; and the Best Paper Awards at the ASME Design Automation Conference and the IEEE International Conference on Prognostics and Health Management in 2013 and 2012, respectively.
William Hudson, PhD, Vice President of Product, QuantumScape

Will Hudson is the Vice President of Product at QuantumScape, leading the company’s product roadmap and commercialization strategy. Over the last 10 years, he has led various R&D functions at QuantumScape, including the team that developed its ground-breaking solid-state separator film and its first multilayer cell prototypes. Prior to QuantumScape, Will worked on battery development and electrification at other Bay Area startups, including Seeo and Mission Motors. Will has a BS in Chemistry from Princeton University and a PhD in Physical Chemistry from UC Berkeley, where he focused on polymer electrolyte materials for solid-state batteries.
Iola Hughes, Research Manager, Rho Motion

Iola is the Research Manager at Rho Motion working on electric vehicle, energy stationary storage and battery market analysis, as well as modelling energy and commodity demand associated with the energy transition, and has been with the company since its inception.?Rho Motion, headquartered in London, offers the most comprehensive and well-informed forecasts and analysis for the energy transition.
Hyun Jin (HJ) In, Principal, Legal, Fish & Richardson

Hyun Jin (HJ) In, Ph.D., focuses his practice on post-grant matters, advising clients on key issues that span post-grant, prosecution, and litigation practices. With extensive experience across several fields of IP practice, HJ is uniquely positioned to navigate his clients through complex legal issues at the strategic nexus of patent prosecution, post-grant, and litigation. He focuses his practice primarily on post-grant proceedings before the PTAB and has appeared in more than 80 proceedings.
Sachiya Inagaki, Vice President, Battery Material Supply Business, FREYR Battery Norway AS

Joined Freyr in May, 2021. He is VP Battery Material Supply Business and mainly in charge of Supplier Relations and Business Development with material manufactures. Before joining Freyr, he had been in a position of Executive General Manager of Industrial Technology unit in Yano Research Institute, and lead a dozens of market research and consulting projects as to LiB industries such as material, cell, application, process, reuse/recycling and etc. He was also in a position of Seoul Branch Office Manager and has broaden battery related networks mainly in Asia. During his previous position, he had joined this event several times as a speaker. He has acquired MBA of Tsukuba University in 2007.
Viktor Irle, Co-Founder & Market Analyst, EV Volumes

Viktor Irle has a M.Sc. in Management & Economics of Innovation from Chalmers University of Technology, where he learnt analyzing emerging markets and market disruptions from new innovations. Being passionate about automobiles and especially electric engines and clean technology, EV-volumes.com is the natural outcome of his set of skills. Viktor is convinced the future automotive history is both electric and autonomous.
Sam Jaffe, Vice President, Battery Solutions, E Source

Sam Jaffe is the vice president of battery solutions at E Source. He has been in the battery industry for two decades as an analyst, a consultant and an executive. He previously was founder and managing director of Cairn ERA, a company acquired by E Source in 2021. Prior to that he worked at Navigant and before that at IDC Energy Insights. He was also the founder and CEO of Panea Energy and Cygnus Energy. He is the author of two books, Jewish Wisdom for Business Success and The New Korea and lives in Boulder, Colorado.
- Battery Power for Consumer Electronics
- Battery Intelligence
- Lithium-ion Battery Development & Commercialization
- Advances in Automotive Battery Applications
- High-Performance Battery Manufacturing
- Battery Management Systems
- Battery Recycling
- Global Supply Chain for Battery Raw Materials
- Battery Safety
- Grid-Scale Energy Storage
- Next-Generation Battery Research
Judith Jeevarajan, PhD, Vice President and Executive Director, Electrochemical Safety Research Institute, UL Research Institutes

Dr. Judy Jeevarajan is the Vice President and Executive Director for the Electrochemical Safety Research Institute (ESRI) at UL Research Institutes (ULRI) with more than 25 years of experience in the area of battery safety research. She was inducted into UL’s Henry Merrill Society as a Distinguished Member of Technical Staff in 2016 and as a Corporate Fellow in 2020. Dr. Jeevarajan serves in the Technical Working Group for standards organizations such as UL, Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), Society of Aerospace Engineers (SAE), International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), and American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) and additionally serves as a member of the UN Informal working group that is working on the re-categorization of the hazards associated with lithium-based cells and batteries. From 1998 to 2003, Dr. Jeevarajan worked for Lockheed Martin Space Operations at National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)-Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, until 2003. In 2003, she started her work as a NASA civil servant where she was the Group Lead for Battery Safety and Advanced Technology. Dr. Jeevarajan represented the battery group on all NASA safety panels and was responsible for approving all batteries flown for human-rated space missions. Dr. Jeevarajan has several NASA awards to her credit with the NASA Engineering and Safety Center’s (NESC) Engineering Excellence Award and the Exceptional Service Award being noteworthy. She also won the Power Systems Award from AIAA in 2019 for her contributions to the safety of the human space flight and the ‘Woman Leader of the Year’ Award from the India Energy Storage Alliance (IESA) in 2020 for her active contribution in the area of energy storage safety. Dr. Jeevarajan is a published contributor on battery safety with more than 150 presentations at conferences and several journal publications. She has three book chapters to her credit. 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).
Dana Jensen, Senior Industrial Policy Analyst, U.S. Air Force

Dana is a senior industrial policy analyst with the US Air Force's Office of Commercial and Economic Analysis specializing in aviation. He is co-chair of the Joint Air Force-NASA-FAA Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) Supply Chain Working Group, and serves the Air Force as a Systems Engineering and Technical Analysis (SETA) expert focused on AAM-enabling technologies including advanced manufacturing, advanced power storage systems, artificial intelligence, and autonomy. Dana is a member of the Air Force's Agility Prime core team that evaluates the technical and commercial merit of AAM use cases for potential government support. Prior to work in aviation, Dana served as a diplomat with the US State Department in Honduras, Pakistan, and the Netherlands. He also worked on Wall Street for nearly a decade trading derivatives for Europe's largest investment bank, and was trained academically as a field archaeologist focused on the pre-Inca cultures of the Andes mountains of South America.
Meng Jiang, PhD, Staff Researcher, R&D, General Motors Company

Dr. Meng Jiang is a staff researcher at GM R&D and the chair of the technical advisory committee at USABC. She received her Ph.D in chemistry from Stony Brook University and has 20 years of experience in lithium ion battery research and development.
Tapesh Joshi, PhD, Research Scientist, Electrochemical Research Institute (ESRI), UL Research Institutes

Tapesh Joshi is a Research Scientist in the Electrochemical Safety Research Institute (ESRI) at UL Research Institutes. His current role focuses on identifying the safety challenges and measures to prevent hazards in current and next generation of energy devices. Tapesh received his bachelor’s degree from Brigham Young University and his PhD from Georgia Institute of Technology in Chemical Engineering.
Genyo Kaneko, Battery Engineer, Maxell Corporation of America

In 2007, Genyo Kaneko joined Hitachi Maxell, Ltd. (Maxell, Ltd.), as a member of Design of Primary batteries. From 2016 to 2017, he was transferred to the development department, engaged in the design and development of Lithium-free Safety button-type rechargeable batteries, and improved their pretreatment process. Since 2022, he joined Maxell Corporation of America, as Chief Engineer, Energy Products Division OEM Battery Group
James Kaschmitter, CEO, SpectraPower LLC

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.
Steven Kaye, PhD, CTO, Research & Advanced Engineering, Our Next Energy, Inc.

Steven Kaye, CTO of Our Next Energy (ONE), is an experienced leader in the areas of battery technology and R&D. He worked as Vice President of Engineering at Refractal, was part of Apple Special Projects Group leading materials R&D for batteries, and was CSO at Wildcat Discovery Technologies. Dr. Kaye has developed breakthrough battery technologies and collaborated on over 60 R&D projects with large material suppliers, device manufacturers, and OEMs. Dr. Kaye earned his PhD in chemistry from UC-Berkeley and holds more than 60 patents covering a variety of battery-related innovations including cathode, anode, electrolyte, cell architecture, and pack designs.
George A. Kerchner, Executive Director, PRBA Rechargeable Battery Association

Mr. Kerchner has served as the Executive Director of PRBA - The Rechargeable Battery Association since 2006. He represents PRBA and its members in the United States and internationally on issues associated with the safe manufacturing, handling, transport, storage, recycling, and disposal of lithium batteries. He also represents PRBA at international transportation forums such as the United Nations Subcommittee of Experts on the Transport of Dangerous Goods, International Civil Aviation Organization Dangerous Goods Panel, and International Maritime Organization Sub-Committee on Carriage of Cargoes and Containers. Mr. Kerchner has also worked as a Senior Regulatory Analyst with the law firm of Wiley Rein LLP in Washington, DC since 2005 with expertise on the domestic and international transportation of new and waste lithium batteries, electric vehicles, and portable electronic equipment.
Nikolaus Keuth, PhD, Senior Group Product Manager, IODP XI Data Analytics Solutions, AVL List GmbH

After the studies of mechanical engineering with the focus on automotive engineering as well as automation and control theory at the Technical University in Vienna, Dr. Nikolaus Keuth did his PhD in automation and control with the focus on data driven modelling in 2004, at the Technical University in Vienna. Since 2005, he is working at AVL List GmbH in different roles starting from project manager, product manager, department manager for data analysis and modeling products. Currently, Dr. Nikolaus is product manager for data analytics products in the area of battery, cell development in the automotive market.
Ali Khazaeli, Dr., Subject Matter Expert, TechInsights

Dr. Khazaeli is a subject matter expert for Battery at TechInsights, with over 10 years of experience developing, fabricating, and characterizing batteries in consumer electronics and automotive.
He holds a Ph.D. from Queen’s University and has led exploratory research projects into the applications of advanced materials for batteries and supercapacitors. He worked as a research scientist on several projects, including the formation of Li-ion batteries and the development of fast-charging protocols.
Haegyeom Kim, PhD, Staff Scientist, Materials Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Haegyeom Kim is a staff scientist at Materials Sciences Division of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL). He received his PhD in 2015, from Seoul National University, and was a postdoctoral researcher at the LBNL until early 2019. His research interest lies in the materials design for energy storage and conversion materials, based on fundamental understanding of synthesis process-structure-property relationship. He published more than 80 peer-reviewed articles, 6 patents, and gave around 15 invited talks and seminars. He was selected as a Clarivate Web of Science ‘highly cited researcher’ in 2019 and 2021, and won several awards, including Young Scientist Award from International Society for Solid State Ionics, ECS Battery Division Postdoctoral Associate Research Award, ECS Energy Technology Division Graduate Student Award.
Hyojeong Kim, Graduate Student, Battery Safety, BMW AG

Hyojeong Kim is a PhD student at Karlsruher Institut fur Technologie (IAM-AWP) in cooperation with the BMW group. Her current research focuses on understanding triggers of thermal runaway in a Li-ion battery cell, using needle penetration test and calorimeters. She holds a Bachelor in Material Science & Engineering from Konkuk University and a Master of Science in Chemistry from University of Stuttgart.
David Klanecky, President & CEO, Cirba Solutions

David is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Cirba Solutions. His impressive, over 25-year career is in research & development, operations, commercial, and strategic leadership roles across numerous innovative industries, including the global lithium business, energy storage, and several specialty materials industries. While working at Piedmont Lithium, Albemarle, and Dow Chemical he had expansive assignments in Spain, Switzerland, Australia, and China, that brought out his passion for travel and culture. He is a Chemical Engineer with an Executive MBA in Global Management, and focuses on safety, operations, talent development, and innovation.
Emily Klein, Materials Scientist, Energy Assurance

Emily Klein is a materials scientist and engineer at Energy Assurance LLC. She received her M.S in Materials Science and Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology and has research experience with lithium-ion, lithium-metal batteries, and safety testing. She was a member of Dr. Matthew McDowell’s laboratory group and studied the effect of extremely low temperatures on the morphology of lithium metal, liquid metals in solid state batteries, and alloy anodes in solid state batteries. At the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, she focused on safety characterization of commercial batteries.
Kevin Knehr, PhD, Assistant Chemical Engineer, Argonne National Laboratory

Kevin Knehr is an assistant chemical engineer in the Chemical Sciences and Engineering Division at Argonne National Laboratory. Kevin's research focuses on performance and cost modeling of advanced battery systems. Kevin holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Drexel University and a PhD in Chemical Engineering from Columbia University. Prior to joining Argonne, Kevin spent two years at Honeywell UOP as a senior R&D scientist and two years as a postdoctoral research associate within the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment at Princeton University. Kevin has authored 27 peer-reviewed publications characterizing the performance and cost of lithium-ion, lead-acid, zinc-bromine, sodium metal-halide, and vanadium redox flow batteries
Kevin Konecky, Battery and Energy Storage Systems Consultant, Total Battery Consulting

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).
- Battery Power for Consumer Electronics
- Battery Intelligence
- Lithium-ion Battery Development & Commercialization
- Advances in Automotive Battery Applications
- High-Performance Battery Manufacturing
- Battery Management Systems
- TUT15: Cell and Pack Design
- Battery Recycling
- Global Supply Chain for Battery Raw Materials
- Battery Safety
- Grid-Scale Energy Storage
- Next-Generation Battery Research
Kevin Kong, PhD, Senior Applications Engineer, ANSYS, Inc.

With more than 8 years of experience in computational mechanics, Kevin Kong joined ANSYS as an Application Engineer after obtaining his PhD in Applied Biomechanics from the University of Virginia. His PhD work was focused on computational modeling of human soft tissues for automotive safety application. His current work involves multi-physics simulations where he provides technical support to ANSYS’s customers with LS-DYNA related challenges in the automotive, consumer electronics and biomedical industry. He has recently been focused on building multi-physics battery abuse models.
Nikhil Koratkar, PhD, Clark and Crossan Chair Professor, Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

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.
Julia Kowal, PhD, Professor, Electrical Energy Storage Technology, Technical University of Berlin

Julia Kowal has been professor for Electrical Energy Storage Technology at the Institute for Energy and Automation Technology at TU Berlin since 2014. Her research focus is testing, characterization, ageing, modeling, diagnostics, and lifetime prediction of different battery technologies.
Sujeet Kumar, Dr., CEO, Ionblox

Dr. Sujeet Kumar is CEO of Ionblox, a next-generation energy company transforming the future of mobility by land and air. Previously, Dr. Kumar served as CTO for Envia, as a Sr. Scientist for Greatbatch, and as Sr. Engineer at Nanogram. Dr. Kumar has won an R & D 100 award and is the inventor of over 60 patents. Dr. Kumar has a Ph.D. in Materials Science from the University of Rochester.
JOHN LIU, SR. CONSULTANT, REPT BATTERO Energy Co., Ltd.

John holds a PhD degree in Electrochemistry, and has been immersed in battery since 2003. His experience covers the up, mid, and down streams of lithium battery value chain, which helped him developing deep insights in market & technology trends, and creating wide connection in both industry and academia world wide.
John published 27 peer-reviewed journal papers in academia, and 13 patents in industry.
Bob Laudisi, Applications/Mechanical Engineering, Associated Environmental Systems

Bob is an Outside Sales and Battery Application Engineer at AES. He has a degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Pittsburgh’s Swanson School of Engineering. Before joining AES, Bob worked as an engineer designing and facilitating the manufacture of mechanical assemblies for the defense, semiconductor, and tech industries. Bob focuses on helping companies procure chambers and battery fixtures that will accommodate their specific testing requirements and improve the efficiency of their testing operation.
Peter Le Comte, Senior Market Manager, Minerals, CSX Transportation

Peter Le Comte holds a Bachelor in Economics from the University of Colorado Boulder and is currently attending University of Florida for his Master in Business Administration. Peter has worked on both sides of the rail industry as a shipper developing rail supply chains and at a railroad. As a rail shipper, Peter helped emerging markets, such as sand for hydraulic fracturing develop reliable and sustainable rail-centric supply chains. Today at CSX, Peter is the market manager of the mineral ore markets that includes lithium products, nickel, lime/limestone, soda ash, sand, and various other mineral based commodities.
Jay Lee, PhD, Vice Chairman, Foxconn Technology Group

Currently, he is vice chairman and board member of Foxconn Technology Group. Prior to this position, he served as vice chairman of Foxconn Industrial Internet. Dr. Jay Lee is also an Ohio Eminent Scholar and L.W. Scott Alter Chair Professor of the Univ. of Cincinnati, and is the founding director of National Science Foundation (NSF) Industry/University Cooperative Research Center (I/UCRC) on Intelligent Maintenance Systems (www.imscenter.net) as well as the Founding Director of Industrial AI Center (www.iaicenter.com ). Currently, he serves as a member of Board of Governors of the Manufacturing Executive Leadership Council of National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), as well as a member of the Global Future Council on Advanced Manufacturing and Production of the World Economics Council (WEF) to engage the global leaders for the development of collaborative activities in smart manufacturing. Previously, he served as senior advisor to McKinsey & Company. Prior to his academic career, he served as Director for Product Development and Manufacturing at United Technologies Research Center (UTRC) as well as Program Directors for a number of programs at NSF. He was selected as 30 Visionaries in Smart Manufacturing in by SME in Jan. 2016 and 20 most influential professors in Smart Manufacturing in June 2020. Dr. Jay Lee’s new book on Industrial AI was published by Springer in Feb. 2020. For more publications, see ResearchGate https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jay_Lee10 Google Scholar https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=g9GtqgQAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao
David Lee, PhD, Global CSO & US Site Manager, StoreDot USA, Inc.

Dr. David Lee has over 27 years of experience in battery R&D and production with specific world-class expertise in silicon-based technologies. As the global CSO (Chief Science Officer) of StoreDot, Dr. Lee oversees the company’s current and future Si-dominant technology roadmap while also heading the US R&D center. Prior to joining StoreDot, David served as a general manager of the materials research center at Evergrande New Energy Vehicle in Shenzhen, China. He also led silicon programs for more than 10 years at Enevate and Dow Corning corporation for both high energy density and extreme fast charge technologies. David was also one of the founding members in the Li-ion battery program at Samsung SDI, where he designed the first commercial products in both prismatic and cylindrical form factors. He holds a PhD in materials chemistry from Rutgers University and has authored more than 30 patents and 25 research publications.?
Michael Leiber, Regional Sales Manager, E-Mobility and Battery Solutions, Manz USA, Inc.

Michael Leiber is the Regional Sales Manager for the Mobility and Battery Solutions for Manz USA. With over 20 years’ experience in the global commercialization and management for energy storage technologies, Michael now is successfully supporting EV Mobility, Stationary Power, and Consumer companies’ objectives for bringing innovative and high performance automation solutions for both lithium battery cell and module assembly.
Andrew Leyder, Program Analyst, Research, Development & Technology, U.S. Department of Transportation

Andrew "Andy" Leyder is the Acting Chief of the Research, Development & Technology (RD&T) Branch within the Office of Hazardous Materials Safety, Pipeline, and Hazardous Material Safety Administration, at the U.S. Department of Transportation. As Acting Chief, he oversees multiple research projects focusing on packaging integrity, risk management and mitigation, safe transportation of batteries, and emerging technology. Mr. Leyder and his staff work to implement the agency's research goals manage the research budget, and work with subject matter experts to initiate new research projects. Mr. Leyder also collaborates with leaders across the federal government and various stakeholders to maximize the branch's activities and engagement initiatives. Before joining the RD&T branch, Mr. Leyder was the Program Analyst under the Data, Risk, and Analytics Branch. He held various roles working on process improvements and assisting with building the Quality Management System to collect Hazardous Material Incident Reports. Mr. Leyder holds a BA in Political Science and Sociology from Albion College (Albion, Michigan), a Master's in Public Administration and Policy from American University, and a Master's in Cybersecurity Risk Management from Georgetown University (Washington, D.C).
Weihan Li, Young Research Group Leader, RWTH Aachen University

Weihan Li is leading a young research group at RWTH Aachen University, where he received the Dr.-Ing degree with the highest praise, summa cum laude, in 2021. During 2018 - 2021, he was team leader, project leader, and research associate at RWTH Aachen University. During 2016 - 2017, he was a research assistant at Active Adaptive Control Lab and Sloan Automotive Lab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He received his MS and BS in automotive engineering at RWTH Aachen University and Tongji University. He was with the Volkswagen AG, Porsche Engineering GmbH, and SAIC Volkswagen, in various electrical and mechanical engineering roles. He is involved in the development of digital twin for batteries with physics-based modeling and machine learning. His current research interests include model-based battery analytics and monitoring, machine learning for aging estimation and lifetime prediction, battery fault identification with big data analysis, and reinforcement learning for fast charging and energy management.
Weikang Li, PhD, Postdoctoral Researcher, NanoEngineering, University of California, San Diego

Dr. Weikang Li is a postdoctoral researcher from the University of California, San Diego. He joined the Department of NanoEngineering in 2019, after graduation. His research mainly focuses on cathode materials and advanced multidimensional characterizations. He specializes in surface modification and interphase investigation. Weikang is the (co-)author of more than 20 peer-reviewed journal articles and 2 patents. He is now moving forward as an entrepreneur in the battery recycling business.
Ya-Ting Liao, PhD, Associate Professor, Case Western Reserve University

Dr. Ya-Ting T. Liao is an associate professor and the faculty director of the UL Fire and Combustion Laboratories at Case Western Reserve University. She also leads the Computational Fire Dynamics Laboratory in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at CWRU. Dr. Liao’s research projects range from basic fire science (e.g., material flammability, solid pyrolysis, ignition, microgravity combustion, flame spread) to understanding fire behavior in specific situations (e.g., structures, wildland fires, spacecraft, battery fires). Dr. Liao’s work has been supported by NSF, NASA, CASIS, and UL. Dr. Liao currently serves on the Editorial Advisory Board of the Journal of Fire Science, the Board of the United State Section of the Combustion Institute, the Board of Advisors of the Central States Section of the Combustion Institute, and the ASME K11-Fire and Combustion Technical Committee (FCTC). Prior to joining the faculty at CWRU, Dr. Liao worked for two-years in the petroleum industry. From 2013-2014, she worked on thermal fluids and two-phase flow problems as a consultant and later as a thermo-fluids specialist at FMC Technologies. In 2011-2012, Dr. Liao worked at Bloomberg LP as a software developer. Dr. Liao obtained her PhD in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from Case Western Reserve University in 2011. She double majored in Mechanical Engineering and Physics at National Taiwan University in 2004.
Shih-Chieh Liao, PhD, Chief Technical Advisor, Research & Development, HCM Co., Ltd.

Dr. Shih-Chieh Liao is the Chief Technical Advisor of HCM Co. He is also the Deputy Director of Energy Storage Materials and Tech of Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) of TAIWAN. Dr. Liao received his PhD degree in Materials Science & Engineering from Rutgers University (New Brunswick, NJ, USA) in 1996. He has published over forty SCI papers and been granted 22 patents. Dr. Liao received the Outstanding Technical Paper Award from the Metal Powder Industries Federation of USA in 2000 and the R&D 100 Awards (USA) in 2020.
Anthony Liberatore, Project Manager, Hatch

Anthony is currently engaged in battery projects as a project manager. His current engagement supports his client in scale-up from an R&D laboratory process to a pre-pilot line with a focus on further scalability to a commercial Giga-factory. He interfaces with a multitude of groups across the organization and personnel from engineers/operators to VPs.
Feng Lin, PhD, Associate Professor, Chemistry, Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University

Dr. Feng Lin is an Associate Professor of Chemistry at Virginia Tech. He is also an affiliated faculty of Department of Materials Science and Engineering and Macromolecules Innovation Institute at Virginia Tech. Dr. Lin holds bachelor’s degree in Materials Science and Engineering from Tianjin University (2009), and PhD degree in Materials Science from Colorado School of Mines (2012) with joint research at National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Prior to joining Virginia Tech in 2016, Dr. Lin worked at QuantumScape Corporation as a Senior Member of the Technical Staff, and at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab as a Postdoctoral Fellow. Dr. Lin’s awards and recognitions include SLAC Spicer Young Investigator, Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award, Journal of Materials Chemistry Emerging Investigator, RCSA Scialog Fellow, ACS-PRF Doctoral New Investigator, Energy Storage Materials Young Scientist Award, National Science Foundation CAREER award, John C. Schug Faculty Research Award, and many Scientific Highlights by national laboratories.
Xiao Lin, PhD, Founder & CEO, Suzhou Botree Cycling Sci & Tech Co. Ltd.

Member of the National Technical Committee SAC/TC294 on Discarded or Disused Chemicals Disposal of Standardization Administration of China. Operation Agent of IEA HEV TCP Task 48 Battery Swapping, participant of IEA HEV Task 40 CRM4EV, Leaders in Innovation Fellowships Royal Academy of Engineering Funded by Newton Fund. Working in novel separation and purification technologies for critical battery metals, revolutionary solution for battery recycling and materials regeneration. Finished 50+ research and commercial projects, granted prizes like national technology invention and national key practical technologies of environmental protection. Published 40 papers, been authorized 30+ patents, participated in the formulation of national standards, and been one of main writers of “Power battery blue book” (China) and “White book of power battery recycling” (China).
Dr. Waldemar Linares, Director of Advanced Simulation Technologies, AVL Mobility Technologies

A committed and highly focused leader with a comprehensive knowledge and understanding on simulation, instrumentation, and model-based development. Currently responsible for maintaining and expanding AVL's Software presence in North American market.
- Battery Power for Consumer Electronics
- Battery Intelligence
- Lithium-ion Battery Development & Commercialization
- Advances in Automotive Battery Applications
- High-Performance Battery Manufacturing
- Battery Management Systems
- Battery Recycling
- Global Supply Chain for Battery Raw Materials
- Battery Safety
- Grid-Scale Energy Storage
- Next-Generation Battery Research
Christianna Lininger, PhD, Director of Battery Science and Engineering, Battery Engineering & Sciences, Voltaiq Inc

Dr. Christianna N. Lininger is the Director of Battery Science and Engineering at Voltaiq, the Battery Intelligence Software company that is accelerating commercial battery development in all commercial storage markets. She comes to Voltaiq after completing her Ph.D. and M.S at Columbia University and completing her postdoctoral studies at University of California, Berkeley. Her research was focused on theoretical computational chemistry and physics-based modeling for renewable energy technologies, focused primarily on the impact of mesoscale processes on the key performance metrics of Li-ion batteries. She studied the impacts of nano-sizing active material and the mesostructure of electrode composite on battery performance, phase-change materials, low cost cathode alternatives, solution responses at electrified interfaces, and machine learning algorithms to model building energy usage. Now at Voltaiq, she works closely with partners in industry developing commercial batteries as well as the Product and Analytics development efforts at Voltaiq.
Lin Liu, PhD, Associate Professor, Mechanical Engineering, University of Kansas

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, PhD, Assistant Professor, School of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology

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 PhD in 2014 from Stanford University, where he worked on the structure design for Si anodes for high-energy Li-ion batteries. From 2014 to 2016, he worked 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 materials, electrochemistry, and operando 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 28,000 times, he is recognized as a Highly Cited Researcher by Clarivate. 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), Chemistry of Materials Up-and-Coming Researcher (2017), Journal of Materials Chemistry A Emerging Investigator (2018), Jim Pope CREATE-X Faculty Fellow (2021), and Nanoscale Emerging Investigator (2022).
Ping Liu, PhD, Professor and Director, Sustainable Power and Energy Center, University of California, San Diego

Dr. Ping Liu is Professor of Nanoengineering and Director of the Sustainable Power and Energy Center (SPEC) at University of California, San Diego. His research interests include lithium metal batteries, solid state batteries, and battery safety. Previously, Dr. Liu has led research programs in electrochemical conversion and storage as a staff member at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and as a manager at HRL Laboratories. Dr. Liu also served as a Program Director at Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E) where he drove the development of robust energy storage and thermal management technologies. Websites: http://liugroup.ucsd.edu; http://spec.ucsd.edu
Tongchao Liu, PhD, Assistant Chemist, Chemical Sciences and Engineering Division, Argonne National Laboratory

Tongchao Liu is currently an assistant chemist in the Chemical Sciences and Engineering Division at Argonne National Laboratory. He received his PhD degree from Peking University. His research interests are focused on the interface of electrochemistry, cathode materials, and materials characterization, in particular, concentration gradient cathode design and fundamental understanding of failure chemistries through in situ synchrotron-based X-ray techniques. He is currently serving as editor in the high-impact journals of Nano Energy and Materials Today Energy.
Nima Lotfi, PhD, Director, New Product Development, Bitrode Corp. Member of the Schuler Group

Dr. Nima Lotfi has 12+ years of experience in batteries and transportation electrification. In 2016, he received his PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Missouri S&T in Rolla, MO and joined the Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering Department of SIU Edwardsville. His areas of research interest include battery characterization, modeling, BMS design, control systems, and robotics. He has been leading research and new product development activities at Bitrode Corporation since January 2022.
Mark H.L. Lu, PhD, Senior Industrial Analyst, Industrial Economics & Knowledge Center, Industrial Technology Research Institute

Mr. Lu graduated from Department of Business Administration in National Cheng-chi University, Taiwan, and continued to acquire an MBA degree from National Sun Yat-sen University. His first job concerned with the optical film in China for two years, then came back Taiwan to serve Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) as an analyst in Industry, Science and Technology International Strategy Center (ISTI) until now. As a certified industrial analyst of the biggest think-tank in Taiwan, he is responsible for the research about Taiwan battery-related industry, including material, cell, pack and related applications. Not only handling the official government statistics about Taiwan battery industry, sometimes he also plays a role to provide consulting suggestions for Taiwan government and firms. From 2010 to June 2020, he served as the secretary-general of the Taiwan Battery Association.
Jessica Durham Macholz, PhD, Materials Scientist, Argonne National Laboratory

Dr. Jessica Durham Macholz is a Materials Scientist in the Applied Materials Division at Argonne National Laboratory (ANL). She received her PhD in Chemistry from Stony Brook University in 2016 and joined Argonne as a postdoc in 2017. Jessica is part of the Materials Recycling R&D group working in the Materials Engineering Research Facility (MERF). She is a lead investigator in DOE’s ReCell Center for advanced battery recycling where she investigates safe and cost-effective recycling processes for lithium-ion batteries, specifically with respect to cell pre-processing, cathode/anode separation, cathode/cathode separation, extraction of critical materials from waste streams, and investigating the effect of impurities in recycled material. Jessica’s research currently focuses on developing and validating recycling technologies and conducting process R&D and scale-up of materials through collaborations with industry, academia, and other national laboratories.
Anil Mane, PhD, Principal Materials Science Engineer, Applied Materials Division, Argonne National Laboratory

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.
Arumugam Manthiram, PhD, Professor, Mechanical Engineering, University of Texas at Austin

Arumugam Manthiram is the George T. and Gladys H. Abell Endowed Chair of Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin (UT-Austin). He served as the Director of Texas Materials Institute at UT-Austin for 11 years during 2011-2022. After receiving his PhD in chemistry from Indian Institute of Technology Madras in 1981 and working as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Oxford and at UT-Austin, he became a faculty member in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at UT-Austin in 1991. He has authored 900 journal articles with 95,000 citations and an h-index of 152. He has mentored 300 students and postdoctoral researchers, including the graduation of 69 PhD students. Dr. Manthiram is a recipient of the Battery Division Research Award and Technology Award and the Henry B. Linford Award for Distinguished Teaching from the Electrochemical Society, and the International Battery Association Research Award. He delivered the 2019 Chemistry Nobel Prize Lecture in Stockholm on behalf of Professor John Goodenough.
Brandon Martin, Vice President, Battery & Electric Products & Industry Affairs, Outdoor Power Equipment Institute

Avid industry advocate with nearly two decades of combined leadership in battery safety through product, standard, and regulatory development. Enjoys collaborating with international stakeholders from major equipment manufacturers, industry executives, government, and regulatory authorities to achieve common goals.
Alvaro Masias, Supervisor, Cell Technology Research, Ford Motor Co.

Dr. Masias is a Cell Technology Research Supervisor in Ford Motor Company's Battery Cell Research 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, safety, and life properties of lithium metal. Dr. 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.
Jacob Matly, Global Director, Battery Cell Manufacturing, Metals, Hatch

A technical execution expert and an influential leader possessing over 25 years of extensive experience in research and development (R&D), testing, manufacturing and engineering execution across automotive, e-Mobility, power-train, high voltage battery, electrical propulsion system, electronic design and software development.
Naoki Matsumura, Principal Engineer, Intel Corp.

Naoki Matsumura is a Principal Engineer at Intel Corporation, responsible for battery algorithm development, new technology assessment, 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.
Rolando Mattar, Segment Manager, Renewables - Clean Energy, Dynapower

Rolando Mattar began his career in the power generation industry while serving in the US Army for 8 years (1991-99). When Rolando transitioned into the civilian power generation industry, he worked for two major engine manufacturers: Cummins, Caterpillar over a 10-year period. He then transitioned into the utility power generation market when he joined ABB covering the Caribbean market to include two countries in LATAM (Guyana and Suriname). Having worked with SAFT Americas in the energy storage solutions industry, he is now the Segment Manager, Renewables at Dynapower Company, LLC. Dynapower is a trusted leader in the engineering, design, manufacturing, and service of highly technical, mission-critical, power conversion systems serving an array of clean energy, defense, and industrial applications.
Rory McNulty, Senior Analyst, Benchmark Mineral Intelligence

Rory McNulty is currently completing his PhD in degradation of state-of-the-art high nickel NMC lithium-ion batteries and next-generation technologies. He works with Benchmark Mineral Intelligence as a senior next-generation battery supply chain analyst, mapping technology roadmaps and forecasting raw material supply chains of disruptive technologies.
Shirley Meng, PhD, Professor, University of Chicago; Chief Scientist, Argonne Collaborative Center for Energy Storage Science, Argonne National Laboratory

Professor Y. Shirley Meng received her Ph.D. in Advance Materials for Micro & Nano Systems from the Singapore-MIT Alliance in 2005, after which she worked as a postdoc research fellow and became a research scientist at MIT. Shirley currently holds the Zable Endowed Chair Professor in Energy Technologies and is Professor of NanoEngineering and Materials Science, University of California San Diego (UCSD). She is the founding Director of the Sustainable Power and Energy Center (2015-2020) and was named as inaugural director of the Institute of Materials Discovery and Design. Professor Meng received the National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER award in 2011, UCSD Chancellor’s Interdisciplinary Collaboratories Award in 2013, C.W. Tobias Young Investigator Award of the Electrochemical Society (2016), International Coalition for Energy Storage and Innovation (ICESI) Inaugural Young Career Award (2018), American Chemical Society ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces Young Investigator Award (2018), a Finalist for the Blavatnik National Award (2018), International Battery Associations Research Award (2019) and Royal Chemical Society Faraday’s Medal (2020). She is the author and co-author of more than 225 peer-reviewed journal articles, 2 book chapter and 5 issued patents. Professor Meng serves on the executive committee for battery division at the Electrochemical Society and she is the Editor-in-Chief for MRS Energy & Sustainability. She is an elected fellow of the Electrochemical Society (FECS) and fellow of the Materials Research Society (FMRS).
- Battery Power for Consumer Electronics
- Battery Intelligence
- Lithium-ion Battery Development & Commercialization
- Advances in Automotive Battery Applications
- High-Performance Battery Manufacturing
- Battery Management Systems
- Battery Recycling
- Global Supply Chain for Battery Raw Materials
- Battery Safety
- Grid-Scale Energy Storage
- Next-Generation Battery Research
Glen Merfeld, Vice President & CTO, Lithium, Albemarle Corporation

Glen Merfeld is Vice President and Chief Technology Officer Energy of Energy Storage for Albemarle’s Lithium & Advanced Materials global business unit. Glen began his professional career with General Electric’s Global Research Center serving in a variety of technology development and leadership positions in the areas of polymers, composites, and coatings, as well as for energy conversion and storage technologies including batteries, thin-film solar devices, and organic light-emitting diodes. He was promoted to Research Executive and Platform Leader of Energy Storage with responsibility spanning fundamental material physics to scaled manufacturing processes with end-use in applications ranging from watt-hour capacitors for portable x-ray detectors to megawatt-hour batteries for grid connected wind turbines. In 2016, Glen led the creation of a new Product Science group for GE focused on combining data analytics and deep physical models to link what is technically possible to what is commercially relevant - the resulting models were used to direct research priorities, set product strategy, and guide capital allocation. Albemarle hired Glen as CTO for Lithium Energy Storage in April of 2018 to lead research & development in both material and data science. Glen holds degrees in Chemical Engineering - a Bachelor of Science degree from Northwestern University and a Doctorate of Philosophy from the University of Texas at Austin.
Zarko Meseldzija, CEO and Director, RecycLiCo Battery Materials

Zarko Meseldzija, CEO and Director of RecycLiCo Battery Materials Inc., has a range of industry experience with a deep insight in project management, process development projects, and circular economy strategies. Zarko holds a BSc. in Mining Engineering from the University of Alberta and obtained his MBA from the Beedie School of Business.
Chris Mi, PhD, Distinguished Professor, Electrical & Computer Engineering, San Diego State University

Chris Mi is a fellow of IEEE and SAE, a Distinguished Professor of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and the Director of the US DOE-funded GATE Center for Electric Drive Transportation at San Diego State University, San Diego, California, USA. He was previously a professor at the University of Michigan, Dearborn, from 2001 to 2015. He received his BS and MS degrees from Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an, China, and his Ph.D degree from the University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada, all in electrical engineering. Previously he was an electrical engineer with General Electric Canada, Inc. Dr. Mi is the recipient of the “Distinguished Teaching Award” and “Distinguished Research Award” of the University of Michigan, Dearborn. He is a recipient of the 2007 IEEE Region 4 “Outstanding Engineer Award,” “IEEE Southeastern Michigan Section Outstanding Professional Award,” and the “SAE Environmental Excellence in Transportation (E2T) Award.” He received three Best Paper Awards from IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics and two Power Electronics Prize Letter Awards. In 2019, he received the IEEE Power Electronics Emerging Technology Award. In 2022, he was named Albert W. Johnson Lecturer and Distinguished Professor of San Diego State University, the highest honor given to any SDSU faculty, and only one award is given each year. He is Guest Editor-in-Chief of IEEE Journal of Emerging and Selected Topics in Power Electronics - Special Issue on WPT, Guest Co-Editor-in-Chief of IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics Special Issue on WPT, Guest Editor of IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics - Special Issue on dynamic wireless power transfer, and steering committee member of the IEEE Transportation Electrification Conference (ITEC- Asian). He is the program chair or general chair of a number of international conferences, including Workshop on Wireless Power Transfer (WoW), IEEE International Electric Vehicle Conference (IEVC), and IEEE International Transportation Electrification Conference - Asia-Pacific. He is also the chair of the IEEE Future Direction’s Transportation Electrification Initiative (TEI) e-Learning Committee and developed an e-learning module on wireless power transfer.
Celina Mikolajczak, Chief Battery Technology Officer, Lyten

Celina Mikolajczak is the Chief Battery Technology Officer at Lyten, prior to that, Celina was the Chief Manufacturing Officer at QuantumScape, responsible for bringing QuantumScape's technology to mass production. Previously, Celina was a member of the board of directors at QuantumScape and the Vice President of Engineering and Battery Technology at Panasonic Energy of North America (PENA), which produces Li-ion cells for Tesla at the Gigafactory near Reno, NV. Celina has 20 years of experience in the battery industry which includes filling a variety of roles ranging from developing safety tests and failure analysis techniques, leading cell quality activities, conducting cell materials development, developing battery regulatory frameworks, and leading design of li-ion battery packs at Exponent, Tesla, and Uber.
Andrew Miller, COO, Benchmark Mineral Intelligence Ltd.

Andrew Miller holds the position of Chief Operating Officer (COO) at Benchmark Mineral Intelligence Ltd (Benchmark), a London-based market intelligence, consultancy and price reporting agency specializing in energy transition supply chains. Andrew oversees Benchmark's supply chain research and analysis, which stretches from long-term forecasting of supply, demand, costs, and pricing, through to sustainability assessments and bespoke advisory projects for a cross section of industry and regulatory stakeholders. At Benchmark, Andrew regularly presents to leading market participants, government bodies and industry forums, while also travelling to active mines, processing plants and manufacturing hubs across the world. He leads a global team of analysts and consultants and has advised some of the world’s leading institutional investors, auto OEMs, battery producers and mining companies. Prior to Benchmark, Andrew held a number of analyst positions across commodity research and finance, after graduating with a first-class honours degree in Economics from the University of East Anglia, UK.
Bruce Miller, Principal Engineer, Regulatory Compliance, Dell EMC

Bruce has worked in the electronic industry for 35 years with experience in design of military, commercial and consumer products. He holds Master’s degrees in Business, Electrical Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering with extensive mathematical training. For the last 22 years, he has worked at Dell computer as a Power Technologist, battery technologist, battery engineer and battery subject matter expert. He is currently the lead Product Safety investigator for Dell Technologies and is a member of UL STP 1624 Lithium Batteries.
Cynthia Millsaps, CEO, Business & Quality, Energy Assurance LLC

Cindy Millsaps, Technical and Innovations Program Director at Energy Assurance a part of Element Materials Technology, has extensive experience in the electrical and battery industry. Cindy graduated summa cum laude in electrical engineering from North Carolina State University. Throughout her career, she has focused on energy system and battery testing and standards development for various industries, participating on standards technical panels for cells and batteries, and developing trade publication updates, standards content, and global compliance pieces. Cindy started Energy Assurance and grew it to a $10 million business over 10 years as its CEO before selling the company to Element Materials Technology in April 2022. She now leads Element’s Technical and Innovations Program and continues her involvement in industry panels and advancements.
Surya Moganty, CSO, Sionic Energy

Dr. Surya Moganty is the Chief Science Officer of Sionic Energy, whose mission is to provide low-cost, longer-lasting, safer, and more sustainable lithium-ion batteries. Dr. Moganty is an expert in advanced battery materials, ionic liquid electrolytes, electroanalytical & organic synthetic chemistry, and process engineering - and is responsible for the continued success of the Company’s research and development efforts on the silicon battery. He received his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering in 2009 from Clarkson University and subsequently worked as a Postdoctoral Associate at Cornell University, where he co-invented technology that was licensed by Sionic. Dr. Moganty authored 22 peer reviewed articles in various scientific journals and 45+ patents/applications. He also served as a principal investigator on numerous federal and state funding programs.
Jake Mohin, PhD, Senior Data Solutions Engineer, Citrine Informatics

Jacob is a Senior Data Solutions Engineer at Citrine Informatics. He is passionate about solving difficult problems when the fields of batteries, polymers, and nanostructures collide. Previously, Jake has solved chemistry and data science challenges in industry, including developing novel NMP-free binder+solvent systems for high-nickel and LFP-based slurries. He has worked in data science professionally for over 2 years at Citrine informatics as a solutions engineer, seeking out and solving diverse use-cases in battery materials development using materials informatics.
Rana Mohtadi, PhD, Senior Principal Scientist, Materials Research, Toyota Research Institute of North America

Dr. R. Mohtadi is a Senior Principal Scientist at the materials research department at Toyota Research Institute of North America TRINA and has been in the decarbonization R&D field for over two decades. She has been spearheading and leading research for the creation, design and demonstration of materials for chemical and electrochemical energy storage technologies, including the research of novel battery electrolyte chemistries for liquid and solid-state batteries, and has contributed important advancements in these areas. She has published influential research and has been awarded over 30 patents. Notable recognitions include receiving the R&D100 award (2011) and being named in “40 under 40” by the Automotive and Crain’s news (2014). She was recognized and showed cased in the “We Run on Brain Power” initiative by the State Governor in 2015 as a face of cutting edge innovation in the State of Michigan, USA.
Frederik Morgenstern, Senior Battery Technology Engineer, BMW Group

Born in Bavaria and raised in Uruguay, Frederik has been working for BMW's R&D Battery team as a cell project manager since 2017. After completing his PhD in solid-state and semiconductor physics in Cambridge UK, Frederik has worked in a broad range of novel technologies, ranging from Solar cells, OLEDs, AR-head-up displays and now batteries. He has co-developed the next-generation of BMW’s Batteries for the "neue Klasse", optimizing the cell with regards to performance, cost as well as ease of pack-integration and manufacturability. As part of BMW's Solid-State Battery team, he worked on the evaluation of the potential and maturity of solid-state batteries for automotive applications. He now works at BMW's technology office in Mountain view as senior battery technology engineer, where he develops and manages research projects with national partners from industry and academia.
Victoria Mosolgo, Conference Producer, Cambridge EnerTech

Since 2015, Victoria has served as a Conference Producer for Cambridge Enertech, with primary responsibilities for scientific conference program development within energy market sectors, with conferences based in the United States and Europe. She has a BS in Chemical Engineering from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
Partha P. Mukherjee, PhD, Professor, Mechanical Engineering, Purdue University

Partha P. Mukherjee is currently a Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Purdue University. Before moving to Purdue, he was an Assistant Professor and Morris E. Foster Faculty Fellow of Mechanical Engineering at Texas A&M University (TAMU). Prior to starting his academic career at TAMU in 2012, he worked for four years at the U.S. Department of Energy Labs; a staff scientist (2009-2011) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and a Director’s research fellow (2008-2009) at Los Alamos National Laboratory. He received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the Pennsylvania State University in 2007. Prior to PhD studies, he worked as an engineer for four years at Fluent India Pvt. Ltd, a fully-owned subsidiary of Fluent Inc., currently Ansys Inc. He received the Scialog Fellow recognition for energy storage, TMS Young Leaders Award, Purdue's University Faculty Scholar Award and the College of Engineering Early Career Research Excellence Award, to name a few. His research interests are focused on mesoscale physics and stochastics of transport, chemistry and microstructure interactions, including a broad emphasis in energy storage and conversion.
Nicolina Nanni, Senior Product Manager, Liminal

Nicolina is the Senior Product Manager of Liminal Insights Inc., a battery manufacturing intelligence provider whose mission is to accelerate the transition to electric mobility by improving quality and reducing cost of batteries. Nicolina holds a bachelor's degree in Industrial Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh, and has focused her career on production-scale artificial intelligence and industrial machine learning applications.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolina-nanni/
Thanh Nguyen, Senior Vice President, Deployment, 6K Energy

Thanh Nguyen is defining strategies and building the next generation of battery material plants globally for 6K Energy, a Boston-based battery materials company. Prior to 6K, Thanh was at Packet Digital developing the strategy for the drone space, he was also at Farasis Energy where he developed the customer network in Europe and US and played an instrumental role in transforming Farasis Energy from a start-up to a global battery supplier.
Hailong Ning, PhD, Head of Battery Manufacturing Technology and Engineering, Nio

Hailong Ning has recently joined NIO as the VP of Battery Manufacturing Technology & Engineering. Prior to his current role, he was the Director of Battery Engineering at Panasonic Energy of North America, where he led the launch and ramp-up of 35GWh battery production at Gigafactory in Reno, Nevada. He has extensive experiences on lithium ion batteries ranging from materials and cell design to manufacturing process and equipment development. He holds a PhD degree in Materials Science and Engineering from University of Illinois Urbana Champaign and Master's and Bachelor's degrees in Physics.
Olivier Noel, Senior Business Advisor, Avicenne Energy

Olivier joined the Avicenne Energy US team in 2017 after a fifteen-year Marketing and Business Development career for a Fortune 100 chemical company focusing on energy storage and battery development projects. Avienne Energy is a team of advisors and consulting professionals providing market research aiming to clarify the market context and help companies to establish their growth and development plans in the battery value chain. Olivier has been part of many proprietary projects supporting the growth efforts of Avicenne Energy's clients and market research.
Jeff Norris, CEO, Paraclete Energy, Inc.

Jeff Norris
FOUNDER AND CEO
●Serial entrepreneur, E&Y Entrepreneur of The Year winner
●Has completed multiple financing and/or strategic transaction rounds valued at over $500 million
●Took one of his companies from concept to a NASDAQ IPO
●Has invested $4 million in Paraclete
Sascha Nowak, PhD, Head of Analytics & Environmental, Electrochemical Energy Technology, University of Munster

Dr. Nowak studied Chemistry at the University of Munster and got his Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry. After his doctorate, he joined the working group of Professor Winter at the MEET Battery Research Center at the University of Munster in 2009 as a postdoctoral researcher, where he established the Analytical department. From 2010-12, he was the Head of the Analytics and Recycling competence areas, and since 2012, he has held a position at the MEET Battery Research Center as Head of the Analytics and Environment division, which mainly focuses on electrolyte aging, transition metal migration and surface investigations, recycling and second life, as well as toxicological investigations.
Michael O'Brian, CEO, Code Savvy Consultants and Fire Chief, Brighton Area Fire Department

Michael O'Brian is the Fire Chief for the Brighton Area Fire Authority (Brighton, MI) and serves on the board of directors for the International Association of Fire Chiefs. Chief O'Brian has served on multiple code development committees including serving as the Chair of the International Code Council Fire Code Action Committee. Chief O'Brian is the Chair of the IAFC Workgroup on lithium ion batteries which is working to develop a tool kit for fire department response, public education, and codes and standards.
Fabian Oehler, Doctoral Candidate - Battery Management, Infineon Technologies AG

Fabian Oehler is a final-year doctoral candidate at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and Infineon Technologies. He conducts research on advanced diagnostics and control algorithms for battery management systems including their experimental validation. In 2019 he received his Master's degree in Electrical Engineering and an additional Bachelor's degree in Management & Technology in 2021, both from the Technical University of Munich.
Sebastian Ohneseit, Group Batteries Calorimetry and Safety, Institute for Applied Materials - Applied Materials Physics (IAM-AWP), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)

Research Associate Group Batteries, Calorimetry and Safety, Institute for Applied Materials - Applied Materials Physics (IAM-AWP), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)
Isaiah Oladeji, Dr., Principal Scientist, ULVAC Technologies, Inc.

Dr. Oladeji obtained his PhD in Physics in 1999, from the University of Central Florida, USA. He invented wet electro-less systems and processes for fast direct deposition of nano-particle based film for energy storage, solar cell , and sensor applications. He holds 16 issued USA patents. He is a Bell lab alumni, and his current research effort at ULVAC Inc. is on the development of Li metal batteries.
Ben Ollis, Researcher, Power & Energy Systems Group, Oak Ridge National Laboratories

Ben Ollis has worked as a Researcher for Oak Ridge National Laboratory for over 8 years. His research focuses on microgrids and the integration of DERs into the distribution system. He has experience working with control systems, energy storage, power electronics, protection, communications, and grid modelling. He graduated from the University of Tennessee with an MS in Electrical Engineering in 2014.
Mike Pagel, Senior Consultant, Hazmat Safety Consulting

Mike Pagel is a Senior Consultant with HazMat Safety Consulting. As a dangerous goods consultant, Mike partners with clients to improve their hazmat transportation programs. This includes creating customized training courses, conducting on-site storage and transportation compliance audits, general consulting support, assistance with Special Permits & Approvals, and developing company SOPs. Mike supports a range of clients with DG compliance, including producers of medical devices, eCommerce operations, cosmetics suppliers, 3PLs & carriers, electric vehicle makers, packaging manufacturers, and consumer electronics companies. Mike started in the industry in 2012 at PHMSA’s Hazardous Materials Information Center (HMIC) at DOT HQ in Washington, DC. For two years, Mike supported the HMIC by answering thousands of questions on PHMSA’s Hazardous Materials Regulations. In this role, Mike worked directly with PHMSA Rulemaking, Approvals & Permits, and Technical staff.
Matthew Paiss, Tech Advisor, Battery Materials & Systems, Pacific Northwest National Lab

Matthew Paiss serves as a Technical Advisor in the Battery Materials & Systems group leading their energy storage system safety efforts. Prior to joining PNNL, he was the President of Energy Response Solutions, Inc. (a Training & Consultation firm). He brings 28 yrs of emergency response experience retiring as a Fire Captain with the San Jose CA Fire Department. His background in renewable energy started in 1982 at ARCO Solar in Camarillo, CA, before studying Solar Technology and Fire Science in Santa Cruz, CA, and working in the semiconductor industry as a service engineer prior to transitioning to the fire service. He has 10 years’ experience on renewable energy Codes & Standards committees and currently represents PNNL on NFPA 855 & 418, UL 9540 & 1974, and is a national named expert on IEC TC120 WG5.
Utsav Panchamia, Manager Battery Systems Engineering, Engineering, Kautex

Utsav Panchamia serves as the Manager of Battery Systems Engineering at Kautex, a Tier One global automotive supplier. In this role, he is responsible for the design and development of Pentatonic™ Battery Systems, including enclosures and underbody protection. Utsav started at Kautex in 2015 as a product engineer for plastic fuel systems and now leads the development of our Battery Systems.
Samy Panneerselvam, PhD, Vice President, Research and Development, Caresoft Global Technologies, Inc.

Dr. Samy Panneerselvam heads Caresoft’s CAE and R&D division. He was instrumental in developing their Digital twin technology for Automotive Benchmarking using High Energy Scan by their patented process. He is with Caresoft for the past 13 years now. Prior to Caresoft, he was with Ford & GT Tech. His Master’s & Doctorate degree is on Advanced Mechanics of materials.
Denis Pasero, PhD, Manager, Product Commercialization, Ilika Technologies Ltd.

Denis Pasero joined Ilika Technologies in 2008, as a scientist specializing in battery technology, to manage commercial lithium ion projects. He became part of the Ilika team to apply his strong academic knowledge to commercial applications and saw the potential to be part of the development and success story of an enterprising smaller company with exciting technology and novel product ideas. Today, as Product Commercialization Manager, Denis interfaces between customers and technical teams.
Glenn Pastel, PhD, Materials Engineer, DEVCOM, U.S. Army Research Lab

Dr. Glenn Pastel is a materials engineer at the U.S. Army Research Laboratory working in the Battery Sciences branch under the guidance of his team lead, Dr. Kang Xu. He earned his PhD in 2019, under the direction of Prof. Liangbing Hu at the University of Maryland, with a dissertation focused on advanced anodes for lithium-ion batteries. Following graduation, he co-founded HighT-Tech LLC to commercialize high-entropy alloy catalysts for ammonia oxidation. His active areas of interest are energy storage technologies with an emphasis on transitioning emerging concepts from the lab to real-world applications.
Yatish Patel, PhD, Research Associate Mechanics of Materials, Mechanical Engineering, Imperial College, London

Dr Yatish Patel is a Research Fellow at Imperial College London in the Electrochemical Science & Engineering Group. Having trained as a physicist before moving to engineering, his research is based around developing engineering solutions centered around scientific understanding of lithium-ion batteries. His research portfolio focuses on understanding degradation mechanisms, failure modes and the limits of operation of batteries and the impact these have on system design and control. His research has led to his involvement with a start-up company in the battery and energy sector.
Ashish Patki, Director, Business Development and Market Intelligence, Livent

With over twelve years in the lithium industry, Ashish Patki leads business development and market intelligence at Livent. Livent’s portfolio of performance lithium compounds have applications in energy storage, polymers, aerospace alloys, and automotive and industrial greases. Ashish previously worked in biofuels and solar industries in engineering and commercial roles. Ashish holds a BS, chemical engineering from University of Pune, India, and MBA from Tulane University, New Orleans, LA. He lives in Charlotte.
Aron Patrick, Director, Research and Development, PPL Corporation

Aron Patrick is Director of Research and Development for PPL Corporation, a leading U.S. energy company focused on providing electricity and natural gas safely, reliably, affordably, and sustainably to 3.5 million customers in Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Virginia. PPL’s high-performing, award-winning utilities, Kentucky Utilities, Louisville Gas and Electric, PPL Electric Utilities, and Rhode Island Energy are addressing energy challenges head-on by building smarter, more resilient, and more dynamic power grids and advancing sustainable energy solutions. Aron is responsible for managing an enterprise-wide R&D strategy and PPL’s partnerships with external research organizations, including national laboratories and universities. Aron has worked for PPL, and PPL subsidiary LG&E and KU, for more than six years. Before joining LG&E and KU, Aron held leadership roles at the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet, including assistant director and program manager in carbon management and renewable energy. In those roles, Aron managed data, modeling, and research in energy policy and future energy technologies. Prior to that, Aron was an intelligence analyst for the federal government, using statistical analysis and modeling to address national security problems. Aron is a Lexington native and holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Kentucky.
Barry A. Perlmutter, President, Perlmutter & Idea Development (P&ID) LLC

Barry is President of Perlmutter & Idea Development LLC. He has over 39 years of technical engineering and business marketing experience in the field of solid-liquid separation including filtration, centrifugation, process drying, mixing and recycling. His strong professional skills focus on process solutions, innovation strategy, market expansion and business development. Barry has published and presented worldwide on applications in the chemical, pharmaceutical, and energy/environmental industries and has been responsible for introducing many European technologies into the Americas marketplace. His two books, published by Elsevier, Amsterdam, "Handbook of Solid-Liquid Filtration" and "Integration & Optimization of Unit Operations" are used worldwide for process guidance.
Ahmad A. Pesaran, PhD, Chief Energy Storage Engineer, National Renewable Energy Laboratory

After receiving his Ph.D. from UCLA, Ahmad has been working at NREL on energy efficient technologies including electrified vehicles. Until 2017, Ahmad was the Manager of the Energy Storage Group researching science and engineering of high energy anodes and cathodes, battery thermal management, 3D electrochemical-thermal modeling, safety and thermal runaway modeling, battery second use, techno-economic analysis of batteries for EVs; he led the Computer-Aided Engineering for Electric Drive Vehicle Batteries for Department of Energy (DOE).Between 2016 and 2018 he was detailed at the DOE's Vehicle Technologies Office (VTO) as technical advisor to the Battery program supporting battery processing, extreme fast charging and recycling. He was the Administrator for the first Phase of the DOE Battery Recycling Prize.Currently, Ahmad is pursuing energy storage business development activities for NREL and supports VTO with battery processing, manufacturing, solid electrolyte, and low-cobalt cathode projects.
Christophe Pillot, PhD, Director, Avicenne Energy

Christophe has built up considerable expertise in the area of batteries. He joined AVICENNE 26 years ago and spent 3 years in Japan analyzing the Japanese electronic, mobile & battery market. Christophe has acquired extensive experience in marketing, strategy analysis, technology and financial studies for the battery and power management fields. He developed the Battery market analysis for AVICENNE, which serves more than 220 customers worldwide. Christophe has published several annual surveys such as "The Rechargeable Battery Market". He is also the founder & chairman of Batteries - an international industry conference held in France since 1999. He is now Director at AVICENNE ENERGY. Globally, he has been involved in more than 300 projects for 200+ customers in the Battery value chain. Before joining AVICENNE, Christophe held a key position in FRANCE TELECOM's innovation division. He has a degree in Chemistry & an MBA in Innovation Management from Paris IX Dauphine. His mother tongue is French, and he speaks fluent English.
Gregory L. Plett, PhD, Professor, Electrical & Computer Engineering, University of Colorado, Colorado Springs

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.
Vilas G. Pol, PhD, Professor, Chemical Engineering, ViPER, Purdue University

Prof. Vilas G. Pol is a Chemical Engineering Professor at Purdue University, USA. He authored/ co-authored >210 research publications (h index 46) and an inventor on 10 issued US patents and 20 applications. Pol’s research activities are highlighted in PBS-NOVA, ABC7 news, Discovery, New Scientist and Forbes magazines. Pol delivered hundreds of invited, plenary talks including ‘TEDx’. He is honored with ‘Argonne Scholar’, Intel prize, R and D 100 award, British Carbon Society’s Brian Kelly award, American Chemical Society’s ‘Grand Prize’ and ‘Salutes to Excellence’ awards, Materials Research Society’s Science as Art first prize, American Institutes of Chemical Engineer’s ‘Sustainable Engineering Forum Research’ and ‘Professional Achievement’ awards, American Ceramic Society’s ‘Richard M. Fulrath’ award, The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society’s Best Energy Paper Award, and a Gold Medal in Kabaddi (DRDO, India). Purdue University honored him with Bravo, Outstanding Engineering Teacher, Seed for Success and Purdue Faculty Scholar awards. Pol set a new ‘Guinness World Record’ for the fastest time to arrange 118 elements of the periodic table.
Michael Pollina, Battery Test Engineer, SAFT America, Inc.

Michael Pollina is a development engineer at Saft America. His previous experiences include Li-ion cell development at Teledyne Energy Systems and electrolyte research at Silatronix. He holds degrees from Wayne State University and the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor.
Stefan Pototschnik, Manager, HV Battery Cell Application Engineering, Ford

Stefan is currently the Manager for HV battery cell application engineering at Ford Motor Company responsible for cell design and release activities for production xEV applications, cell performance and life modeling, and calibration at Ford Motor Company. He has a BS and MS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Maryland and an MBA from the University of Michigan. During his time at Maryland, he studied and modeled fuel cell systems for transit applications and optimized control systems for a fuel cell system utilizing an onboard methanol steam reformer. He has worked at Ford for over 21 years in various roles within the Electrified Systems Engineering team including leading program management for the Focus Electric vehicle launched in 2012, leading the eDrive development for various vehicles including the F-150 PowerBoost hybrid, and leading the Ford ESE team in China from 2016 thru 2020 where he worked to develop Ford's first China-designed and sourced battery packs.
Yuliya Preger, PhD, Senior Member of Technical Staff, Energy Storage Technology & Systems, Sandia National Labs

Yuliya Preger is a Senior Member of Technical Staff in the Energy Storage Technology and Systems Group at Sandia National Labs. Her current work is centered on the safety and reliability of Li-ion and aqueous batteries for grid-level energy storage applications. She earned her PhD and BS in Chemical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and MIT, respectively.
Robert M. Privette, Manager, Business Development, Rechargeable Battery Materials North America, Umicore USA, Inc.

Rob Privette is responsible for Rechargeable Battery Material business development in North America. He has extensive experience developing and commercializing new products in the battery and fuel-cell industries. He earned his MS degree in Mechanical Engineering from Purdue University and has completed MBA coursework. Before rejoining Umicore in 2018, 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.
- Battery Power for Consumer Electronics
- Battery Intelligence
- Lithium-ion Battery Development & Commercialization
- Advances in Automotive Battery Applications
- High-Performance Battery Manufacturing
- Battery Management Systems
- Battery Recycling
- Global Supply Chain for Battery Raw Materials
- Battery Safety
- Grid-Scale Energy Storage
- Next-Generation Battery Research
Gerard Quoirin, Dr, Battery Expert, Special Fluid, TotalEnergies Lubricants

2004 - 2007 : Phd in material chemistry with a Lithium-ion battery specialty (LRCS Amiens, France)
2007 - 2009: research engineer at faculte polytechnique de Mons
2009 - 2014: responsible of battery development for electric and hybrid vehicle at Stellantis
2014 - 2020: Project Manager at Exide Technologies
2020 - now: battery specialist at TotalEnergies
Gerardo Ramos Vivas, Battery Lifecycle Solutions Senior Manager, Toyota Motor North America

Gerardo is an Engineering Senior Manager at Toyota Motor North America with a vast experience and demonstrated leadership in the automotive industry. Gerardo joined Toyota Motor North America in the Purchasing and Supplier Engineering Development Department in 2009 after finishing graduate studies in Rochester, NY. Over his 13+ years at Toyota, Gerardo has had responsibility for multiple commodities including Powertrain, Safety Systems, Body, Chassis, and Functional, leading multiple strategic initiatives including localization of direct parts production to North America, launching of supplier plants to support Toyota's production capacity in North America, launching of critical components for electrification and mobility including Power Control Units for Hybrid systems, and recently joining the Battery Life Cycle Solutions team as the Operations Senior Manager. In his current role, Gerardo oversees agreements, pilots, and partnerships for the establishment of the battery life cycle management for Toyota in North America. Gerardo has a BS in Industrial Engineering from UNITEC in Honduras, a Master in Engineering in Manufacturing and Mechanical Systems Integration from RIT in Rochester, NY, and an MBA from Xavier University in Cincinnati, OH.
Taina Rauhala, Research Scientist, UL Research Institutes

Dr. Taina Rauhala is a Research Scientist at the UL Electrochemical Safety Research Institute (ESRI). She joined ESRI in May 2021 as a Postdoctoral Researcher and moved on to her current role in November 2021. She specializes in battery safety exploration, lithium-ion battery recycling, and flow battery research. Prior to joining ESRI, she completed her doctorate in Chemical Engineering at Aalto University in Finland, where her research focused on electrode materials development for lithium-ion batteries and characterization of degradation mechanisms in lithium-ion cells. Dr. Rauhala earned her Doctor of Science degree in 2021 and holds Master of Science (2013) and Bachelor of Science (2012) degrees in Chemical Engineering from Aalto University.
Robert Rubino, Senior Director, Research and Development, Integer

Rob Rubino is Senior Director of R&D at Integer Holdings Company and is responsible for technology development for active implants including batteries. Rob has worked on batteries for over 20 years and has participated in development of multiple battery technology platforms (QHR, QMR, CFx, Li-ion) that are currently being used in pacemakers, defibrillators, neurostimulators and sensors. Robert holds an M.S. in Medicinal Chemistry from SUNY at Buffalo, and a Bachelor’s degree in Medicinal Chemistry from SUNY at Buffalo. He has co-authored over 20 granted US patents. His current interests include miniaturization of active implants to enable next-generation diagnostics and therapeutics that provide improved patient outcomes.
Kenan Sahin, PhD, President & Founder, CAMX Power

Dr. Kenan Sahin is an academic, scientist, inventor, technologist, serial entrepreneur and philanthropist. In 2002 he founded TIAX and in 2015 spun out CAMX Power, a leader in the development of advanced cathode materials for lithium-ion battery applications in the automotive and high-end portable electronics markets.
Michael Sakamoto, Senior Manager, Global Business Development, UL LLC

Michael Sakamoto is Senior Consumer Technology Global Manager for UL, a global accredited compliance testing and certification company. He manages the development of global services with focus on consumer product safety. He has been with UL for 12 years and brings commercial expertise from working at Sony Electronics for over 15 years managing new product launches, sales distribution, supply chain, and logistics. Current projects at UL include development of testing and certification services with a focus on product safety for wide range of consumer products from electronic vaping products to robotics. With the advancement of battery technology enabling portability and mobile of technology, UL has been committed to following this trend and applying our deep knowledge of safety science which aligns with our public safety mission.
Jeremy Schrooten, PhD, Vice President, Technology, Research & Development, Anovion

Dr. Schrooten brings over 20 years of leadership experience to his role as the Vice President of Technology for Anovion. He is responsible for the Technology Center of Excellence including product and process R&D, customer technical support, and laboratory operations. Dr. Schrooten oversees a team of researchers and engineers to develop proprietary technologies.
Nemanya Sedoglavich, PhD, Head of Product Development, Battery Manufacturing Quality, Titan Advanced Energy Solutions

For the past 15 years, Nemanya Sedoglavich, PhD, combined his passion for systems thinking, engineering and entrepreneurship through diverse experiences developing optoelectronic sensors and instrumentation, driving products from customer needs to delivery in the fields of life sciences, energy, and electrification. He thrives in strategic thinking and product development, by managing complexity, identifying opportunities, and decomposing challenges.
His extensive entrepreneurial experience and knowledge of running high tech startups began at Stanford University's Graduate School of Business, Entrepreneurship Program, and continued by co-founding two startups in robotics and life science instrumentation, and working in early- and mid- stage startups in the medical instrumentation and clean tech energy sectors.
As Head of Product Development at Titan Advanced Energy Solutions, responsible for rapid development and delivery of battery manufacturing diagnostics and quality control systems. Prior to Titan, Nemanya worked at Shell TechWorks on New Energies projects in distributed energy resources, mobility electrification and hydrogen, as well as subsea sensing instrumentation and automation. He was an Industry Panelist and Speaker on topics of renewable energy, distributed energy resources, mobility electrification and hydrogen challenges. Prior to that, he worked at Cytonome, leading research and development of medical instrumentation optical cell sorter products for life sciences and genetic selection in livestock industry, designed optical subsystems, high speed electronics, automation software and FPGA firmware.
Austin Sendek, PhD, Founder/CEO, Aionics, Inc.; Adjunct Professor, Stanford University

Dr. Austin Sendek is the founder of Aionics, Inc., an industry-leading artificial intelligence and high performance compute co-innovation partner for the battery industry. Dr. Sendek is also Adjunct Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at Stanford University and was included on Forbes Magazine’s 30 Under 30 in Energy list in 2019. He holds a Ph.D. in Applied Physics from Stanford University and a B.S. in Applied Physics from UC Davis.
Hang Shi, PhD, CTO, Reliance New Energy Group, India

Dr. Shi has 33 years of active first-hand experience in lithium-ion and related industries since 1990. Found two pioneering Chinese lithium-ion companies in the late 90s and early 2000s, the first Chinese lithium-ion pilot line in 1998 and the first 100Ah LMO-based lithium-ion power cell pilot line in 2001 which was acquired late by Wanxiang Group. Dr. Shi has held many positions in various lithium-ion companies such as CEO of Wanxiang Power Battery, VP of manufacturing at Envia System, CTO of Lishen Battery China, VP of Cell Engineering at Romeo Power, and now CTO of Reliance New Energy Group.
Jong Hyun Shim, Senior Battery Materials Engineer, Ascend Elements

Jong Hyun Shim is a senior battery materials engineer at Ascend Elements. He leads high nickel NMC research and development team to develop precursor and cathode for Li-ion battery materials related to low cost and high energy density. He has been focusing on synthesis of ceramic nano- and micro- materials more than 12 years. Also, he has more than 5 years of experience in research and development of NMC Li-ion battery materials. Prior to joining Ascend Elements, he had worked at the Korean Li-ion battery materials manufacturing company for 5 years. He earned a Ph.D. in Materials Engineering from State University of New York at Binghamton in 2017.
Tal Sholklapper, PhD, CEO & Co-Founder, Voltaiq, Inc.

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.
Mattias Simonsson, Director, Global Sourcing, Stanley Black & Decker

Mattias is the Director of battery systems sourcing and has been with Stanley Black & Decker over the past more than seven years. During this time he has worked on bringing in the latest battery technology from key supply partners and helped integrate into world class products in the Power Tool and Outdoor Equipment markets.
Steve Sloop, PhD, President, OnTo Technology LLC

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.
- Battery Power for Consumer Electronics
- Battery Intelligence
- Lithium-ion Battery Development & Commercialization
- Advances in Automotive Battery Applications
- High-Performance Battery Manufacturing
- Battery Management Systems
- Battery Recycling
- Global Supply Chain for Battery Raw Materials
- Battery Safety
- Grid-Scale Energy Storage
- Next-Generation Battery Research
Ian Smith, Manager R&D, Electrified Powertrain, Southwest Research Institute

Mr. Smith is the manager of the Electrified Powertrain section in the Powertrain Engineering Division of Southwest Research Institute. He oversees a team of engineers focused on conducting testing, research, and development on lithium-ion batteries to improve safety, performance, and life. His team also conducts testing, research, and benchmarking of PEM fuel cell technologies as well as electric motors, inverters, and vehicles. Mr. Smith is also the program manager for the Electrified Vehicle and Energy Storage Evaluation (EVSESE) Consortium. The work conducted in this consortium provides an assessment of state-of-the-art technologies in electrified vehicles and lithium-ion batteries and conducts research on topics like fast charging, immersed (dielectric) coolant, and lithium plating prognostics.
Wei Song, Director, Global Product Line - AGM, Clarios

Wei Song joined Clarios in 2011 as a battery design engineer. During her tenure, she has held roles of increasing responsibility in Customer Engineering, Product Engineering, Commercial and currently serves as a Director of Global Product Line in Product Management. Wei’s current role is responsible for product strategy and bringing new products into the market to drive business growth and profitability. She leads the team and drives collaboration with multiple facets within the organization and with external customers to execute bringing new products into the market. Prior to joining Clarios, Wei worked at Toyota Technical Center for advanced R&D activities since 2008. Wei holds a Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from Beijing University of Chemical Technology, a Master’s degree in Chemical Engineering from Chinese Academy of Sciences, and a Master’s degree in Natural Resources Sciences & Management from University of Minnesota.
Venkat Srinivasan, PhD, Director, Center for Collaborative Energy Storage Science, Argonne National Laboratory

Venkat Srinivasan is a Senior Scientist at Argonne National Laboratory (LBNL), the Director of the Argonne Collaborative Center for Energy Storage Science (ACCESS) and Deputy Director of the Joint Center for Energy Storage Research (JCESR, the battery “Hub”). His research interest is in developing next-generation batteries for use in vehicle and stationary applications.
Dee Strand, PhD, CSO, R&D, Wildcat Discovery Technologies, Inc.

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, PhD, Professor, Information Systems and Business Management, College of Business and Economics, California State University, Los Angeles

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.
Shijing Sun, PhD, Research Scientist, Energy & Materials, Toyota Research Institute

Shijing Sun is a research scientist at the Energy & Materials Division, Toyota Research Institute. Her research focuses on data-driven discovery, design and optimization of functional materials for carbon-neutral mobility. She obtained her Ph.D. in materials science at University of Cambridge and did postdoctoral research in mechanical engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. From 2018 - 2021 she was a research scientist at MIT Photovoltaics Research Laboratory, where she was head of Team Accelerated Materials and led research in developing low-cost solar cells leveraging high-throughput experiments, artificial intelligence, and advanced characterization using synchrotron facilities.
Jeffrey Swoyer, PhD, Senior Director, Battery Technology, Ionic Materials Inc.

With over 27 years of experience in the lithium-ion industry, Jeffrey has served in roles ranging from research engineer to leadership roles in product design, quality, and advanced manufacturing with Valence Technology, Johnson Controls, Enevate, Global Power Synergy Company (GPSC), and Ionic Materials. He was a key technical leader for the launch of a US factory to produce large format lithium-ion cells for automotive applications while at Johnson Controls in the early 2010’s. From 2018-22 he served as Director Engineering with GPSC, providing technical leadership for the launch of their 100MWhr pilot line production in Thailand, utilizing a semi-solid manufacturing process licensed from 24m. He currently serves as Senior Director of Battery Technology with Ionic Materials, leading a team working to develop next-generation polymers. He received his Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from the University of Washington and has been granted 38 patents related to lithium-ion materials and cell design.
Takamitsu Tajima, Chief Engineer, EV Development, Honda R&D Co. Ltd.

Takamitsu Tajima is the general project leader of Honda Electric Road System (Dynamic Charge System. And he is also a chairman of ERS session of JSAE (Society of Automotive Engineers of Japan) and JSAE fellow engineer. He is an experienced project leader for EV, modular car, chassis, and Formula 1 technology. He joined Honda R&D, starting as project leader for the development of high-power platform vehicles. He then became assistant project leader for the development of “Honda’s racing project” (Formula 1 chassis development which won the world champion in 2009 by the later Brawn GP). He is currently general project leader of Honda ERS from 2011.
Prabhakar Tamirisa, PhD, Senior Research Manager, Technical Fellow, Battery & Electrochemical Systems Technology, Medtronic

Prabhakar Tamirisa leads the Battery & Electrochemical Systems Technology group at Medtronic, which is focused on identifying and developing new battery and capacitor technologies for various medical devices, and providing critical technical expertise to the company on development, manufacturing, supply chain and system integration topics. Prabhakar has a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from The Georgia Institute of Technology, is a Medtronic certified DFSS/DRM Black Belt and Technical Fellow. He has authored peer reviewed publications, invited book chapters, has multiple patents and given invited presentations at industry conferences and Medtronic’s internal conferences. He has served as President and Secretary of the Twin Cities section of The Electrochemical Society.
Tanvir Tanim, Battery R&D Engineer and Group Lead, Energy Storage Technology Group, Idaho National Laboratory

Tanvir R. Tanim is an R&D engineer and the group lead for the Energy Storage Technology Group in the Energy Storage and Advanced Transportation Department at the Idaho National Laboratory. His research focuses on enabling next-generation high-energy and power lithium-ion batteries, developing advanced algorithms for reliable life estimation, and expanding and/or verifying advanced diagnostics and prognostics of these high energy and power batteries for electric vehicle applications. Between 2014 and 2021, he authored or co-authored 25 peer-reviewed scientific articles and patents. Tanim can be reached by email at tanvir.tanim@inl.gov
Venkataraman Thangadurai, PhD, Professor, Chemistry, University of Calgary

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.
Martin Thomas, PhD, Lead Scientist, Product Competence, Anton Paar QuantaTec

Dr .Thomas graduated from the University of Birmingham (UK) with a PhD in physical inorganic chemistry for studies relating to the nickel hydroxide electrode and has worked in industry in the field of porous materials characterization for 39 years. He is currently Lead Scientist at Anton Paar QuantaTec, a producer of surface area, pore size, and density analyzers. Dr. Thomas is named on 10 patents relating to porous materials and their characterization and is co-author of “Characterization of Porous Solids and Powders: Surface Area, Pore Size and Density” published by Springer.
Rick C Thompson, Senior Engineer, Battery Team, Dell EMC

Mr. Thompson is a Distinguished Engineer in the Experience Innovation Group at Dell Technologies. He has delivered technology leadership to Dell mobile products in the areas of battery energy density, fast charge, calendar life, and data strategy. He has recently expanded his role to include sustainable materials in support of Dell Technologies Social Impact goals. He has 30 years of industry experience with more than 50 granted patents. Prior to joining Dell Technologies, Mr. Thompson held positions in energy storage technology research, cell design, technology licensing, and battery material commercialization.
Daniel Tishman, Principal, Fish & Richardson

Daniel Tishman represents both plaintiffs and defendants in complex patent litigation in federal district courts and before the U.S. International Trade Commission. Representing major global clients in district court and before the ITC, Dan has asserted and defended infringement claims in multi-patent cases involving wide-ranging technologies. He has participated in nearly a dozen trials, achieving favorable verdicts and settlements involving consumer electronics, batteries, hybrid electric vehicles, and more.
Antoni Tong, CEO, Smartville, Inc.

As CEO and co-founder of Smartville, Dr. Antoni Tong leads the technology development and commercialization of its low-cost and scalable second-life battery energy storage solution. He has extensive expertise in lithium battery management, control, and their integration with the utility grid, distributed renewable resources, and electrified transportation. Prior to Smartville, He worked as a research scientist at UC San Diego and served as lead investigator for multiple energy storage research projects funded by DoE, NSF and California Energy Commission.
Bertrand Tremolet de Villers, PhD, Research Scientist, Process Science and Engineering Group, Chemistry and Nanoscience Center, National Renewable Energy Laboratory

Dr. Tremolet de Villers is a principal researcher at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado (USA). He has physics and spectroscopy expertise in organic and hybrid-organic photovoltaic (PV) and energy storage systems, i.e., Li-ion batteries, and the scale up of these technologies. In his battery research, he has developed in-situ spectroscopic methods to study solid-electrolyte interfaces and electrolyte solvation structure in silicon anodes and next-gen high-nickel/low-cobalt cathodes for rechargeable cells. He has also implemented ultrafast laser patterning of battery electrodes for enhanced performance. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Before joining NREL in 2013, he was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB).
James Trevey, Dr., CTO, Forge Nano

James Trevey Ph.D, CTO of Forge Nano, is an expert in Li-ion batteries and supply chain and a thought leader in materials science and technology scaling. He is an Officer of NAATBatt, Founder and Vice President of the Military Power Sources Consortium (MPSC), and a Chair of Li-Bridge, among numerous other advisory boards in the sustainability sector where he is an active supporter and enabler of collaborative industry and government relations.
Scott Trimboli, PhD, Associate Professor, Electrical & Computer Engineering, University of Colorado, Colorado Springs

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 involved in multiple projects where he leads investigation on battery modeling and the application of model-predictive control to improve the performance and extend the lifetime of lithium ion battery cells. Other research efforts include: reduced-order modeling methods, modeling of lithium-ion degradation mechanisms, empirical and physics-based modeling of lithium-ion battery thermal properties, as well as predictive methods for power estimation.
Mark W. Verbrugge, PhD, Director, R&D Chemical & Materials Systems Lab, General Motors Company

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.
Shaun Verner, Managing Director & CEO, Syrah Resources Ltd.

Shaun joined the company in October, 2016 and was appointed CEO & MD in February, 2017. Prior to joining Syrah, Shaun was at BHP for 20 years in a variety of executive roles, with extensive international, commercial, and operational experience across a range of commodities including copper and base metals, uranium, and thermal and metallurgical coal. Shaun has extensive general management and cross-functional leadership experience, focused on the integration of commercial, operations, and supply chain excellence, with a particular interest in China’s growth and impact on the evolution of commodity and industrial markets.
Matthias Vetter, PhD, Department Head, Electrical Energy Storage, Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE

Electrical Engineer, 25 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” ; From 2011 to 2016 Head of Department “PV Off-Grid Solutions and Battery System Technology”; Since 2017 Head of Department "Electrical Energy Storage" and Coordinator of Business Unit “Electrical Energy Storage”; Contact Person for Stationary Battery Storage at Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE; Contact Person for Battery Systems at Fraunhofer Battery Alliance; Spokesman of R&D Advisory Board of German Energy Storage Systems Association (BVES); Technical Advisor of Working Group “Stationary Applications and Integration” of Batteries European Partnership Association / Batteries Europe; Member of Steering Committee of Batteries European Partnership Association / Batteries Europe.
Chao-Yang Wang, PhD, William E. Diefenderfer Professor, Mechanical Engineering, Pennsylvania State University

Chao-Yang Wang, Fellow of National Academy of Inventors, is William E. Diefenderfer Chair Professor of Mechanical, Chemical, and Materials Science & Engineering at the Pennsylvania State University. He has 220+ journal publications, 33,000+ citations, an H-index of 100. He holds over 140 patents and has published two books, “Battery Systems Engineering” by Wiley and “Modeling and Diagnostics of Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cells” by Springer. His work on all-climate battery (ACB) was selected by 2022 Winter Olympic Games to power electric vehicles serving the Games, as well as adopted by several carmakers. His latest inventions on fast charging batteries (FCB) and safe, energy dense batteries (SEB) were highlighted in journals Nature and Science as well as covered by mainstream media such as USA Today, Popular Mechanics, The Guardian, AFP, Daily Mail, etc. Dr. Wang's expertise covers the transport, materials, manufacturing and modeling of batteries and fuel cells.
Brian Way, CTO, E-One Moli Energy (Canada) Ltd.

Brian Way has been working in the field of lithium batteries for 35 years since his first internship at Moli Energy in 1987. He completed his PhD in Physics with Jeff Dahn at Simon Fraser University in 1995, studying lithium intercalation in boron substituted carbons. After graduation he joined Moli Energy as an industrial post-doc studying the effect of salt selection on the thermal stability of LCO/graphite cells. Over the next 12 years, he worked on a range of materials and cell development projects at Moil Energy, before leaving for a 4 year term as Senior Research Manager at BAK Battery Canada. In 2012, Brian returned to lead the R&D operation at E-One Moli Energy (Canada), with a focus on the development of high power lithium ion cells.
Sheldon Williamson, PhD, Professor & Canada Research Chair, Electrical & Computer & Software Engineering, University of Ontario Institute of Technology

Sheldon S. Williamson (Fellow, IEEE) received the B.E. (Hons.) degree in electrical engineering from the University of Mumbai, Mumbai, India, in 1999, and the MS and PhD degrees (Hons.) in electrical engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, IL, USA, in 2002 and 2006, respectively. He is currently a professor with the Department of Electrical, Computer and Software Engineering and the Director of Smart Transportation Electrification and Energy Research (STEER) Group, Faculty of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Ontario Tech University, Oshawa, ON, Canada. His current research interests include advanced power electronics, electric energy storage systems, and motor drives for transportation electrification. He holds the prestigious NSERC Canada Research Chair in electric energy storage systems for transportation electrification.
Martin Winter, PhD, Director & Professor, Electrochemical Energy Technology, University of Muenster

Martin Winter holds a professorship for “Materials Science, Energy and Electrochemistry” at Muenster University, Germany. He is a Director of the MEET Battery Research Center at Muenster University and of the Helmholtz-Institute Muenster (HI MS) “Ionics in Energy Storage”, a branch of Forschungszentrum Julich. Martin Winter is the spokesperson of German Battery Research. He holds several president and chairmen positions in scientific societies and is the recipient of more than 50 awards and recognitions.
Craig Wohlers, Executive Director, Conferences, Cambridge EnerTech

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.
- Battery Power for Consumer Electronics
- Battery Intelligence
- Lithium-ion Battery Development & Commercialization
- Advances in Automotive Battery Applications
- High-Performance Battery Manufacturing
- Battery Management Systems
- Battery Recycling
- Global Supply Chain for Battery Raw Materials
- Battery Safety
- Grid-Scale Energy Storage
- Next-Generation Battery Research
Shanita Woodard, Product Marketing Leader, Honeywell Connected Industrial, Honeywell

Shanita Woodard, Product Marketing Leader at Honeywell Connected Industrial is focused on marketingstrategy for manufacturing execution system software solutions addressing industry priorities: operational excellence, quality management, operational safety and data management. She also heads the Battery Manufacturing vertical with 20+ years of experience spanning business development, marketing, strategy, commercial management, engineering, holding a BS Civil Engineering, Rice U and MBA, U of Pennsylvania.
John Wozniak, PhD, President, ESP Consulting

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.
Donald Wright, Vice President, Engineering, Unico, LLC

Don Wright has over 25 years of experience in the powertrain test business in roles ranging from system engineering to project management, product management, R&D development manager, business segment manager, and now VP of Engineering.
He has more than 15 years in EV testing with a focus on EV testing solutions for E-Motor, Inverter, E-Axle, E-Powertrain, Battery (Cell, Module, Pack), and Fuel Cell.
Billy Wu, PhD, Senior Lecturer Electrochemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Imperial College London

Billy Wu is an associate professor (senior lecturer) at Imperial College London, where he co-leads the Electrochemical Science and Engineering group. He works at the interface between fundamental science and engineering application of batteries, fuel cells, and supercapacitors. Cross-cutting activities include: materials development, microstructural/continuum modelling, thermal management, pack design, control, and techno-economics. He is also on the editorial boards of Energy & AI and Scientific Reports.
Kevin Wu, Scientific Principal, Thermal Management Technologies, Henkel

Kevin Wu, PhD, who has +20 years’ experience in R&D and thermal management technologies, joined The Bergquist Company in 2010 as research scientist to develop thermal gap pads and gap fillers for electronics. Following Henkel’s acquisition of The Bergquist Company in 2014, Kevin continued to his leading work in Henkel’s thermal product development team where he has focused on developing one part and two part thermal fillers for Auto Application. Currently, Kevin, as Principal Scientist in PD team of the Henkel Adhesive Automotive Components, works as the lead of thermal gap filler and adhesives for EV battery and ADAS applications.
Huolin Xin, PhD, Professor, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Irvine

Xin is a full professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at UCI. He is an expert in 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).
Jun Xu, PhD, Associate Professor, Mechanical Engineering & Engineering Science, University of North Carolina, Charlotte

Dr. Jun Xu is an Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering & Engineering Science at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He is the director of Vehicle Energy & Safety Laboratory (VESL, formally known as AVRC) since 2014. He has successfully secured more than 3 million USD research funding as PI from both government and industries (e.g., Jaguar Land Rover, Altair, Dassault, CosMX, GAC). He earned his PhD degree from Columbia University in 2014 (under the supervision of Professor Xi Chen), and he was appointed as Professor at Beihang University, China from 2014 to 2018. Recently, he moved his group to the University of North Carolina at Charlotte to continue his academic career. His research expertise sits on Lithium-ion battery safety and impact dynamics. Dr. Jun Xu now serves as the Chair of Energy Conversion & Storage Committee, and Vice Chair of Multifunctional Materials Committee, American Society of Mechanical Engineering (ASME). He is the Founder and Chair of Automotive & Battery Safety Conference (ABSC). He has so far published more than 90 peer-reviewed papers in top journals including Energy Storage Materials, Journal of Material Chemistry A, Journal of Power Sources, Journal of Electrochemical Society, Advanced Materials, Carbon, International Journal of Impact Engineering, International Journal of Mechanical Sciences, Composite Part A/B, with more than 2700 citations, H-index=30.
Gui-Liang Xu, Chemist, Chemical Sciences & Engineering, Argonne National Laboratory

Dr. Gui-Liang Xu is currently a chemist under the division of Chemical Sciences and Engineering at Argonne National Laboratory. He received his Bachelor (2009) and PhD (2014) in the Department of Chemistry at Xiamen University. He has over 10 years' research experience in the development of advanced batteries including lithium-ion batteries, sodium-ion batteries, lithium-sulfur and solid-state batteries for electric vehicles and stationary application. He is interested in cutting-edge synchrotron characterization techniques to elucidate in-depth mechanistic understanding on the relationship between structures and the performance, and to provide guidance and approaches to design and synthesize new battery materials with higher energy and better safety. He has published 110+ peer-reviewed papers in Nat. Energy, Nat. Nanotechnol., Nat. Commun., JACS, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., Energy Environ. Sci., Adv. Energy Mater., Nano Letters, Nano Energy, and etc. He also holds 3 granted patents and 4 pending patent applications.
Chao Yan, PhD, CEO and Founder, Princeton NuEnergy

Dr. Chao Yan is CEO and Founder of Princeton NuEnergy (PNE), and co-inventor of lithium-ion battery direct recycling technology based on low-temperature plasma-assisted separation. As research scientist at Princeton University, his research is mainly focused on energy conversion, fuels, and batteries. He is a leading expert in physical chemistry and battery materials and has published over 30 high-impact publications. In business, he has administered and operated a serial enterprise since 2014.
Yang Yang, PhD, Associate Professor, Nanoscience Technology Center, University of Central Florida

Dr. Yang Yang is an associate professor at the University of Central Florida (UCF) and studies surface and interface engineering of advanced materials for energy and sustainability. He obtained his Ph.D. from Tsinghua University in 2010. From 2010 to 2012 he was the Alexander von Humboldt Postdoctoral Fellow and worked with Prof. Patrik Schmuki at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany. From 2012 to 2015 he was the Peter M. & Ruth L. Nicholas Postdoctoral Fellow and worked with Prof. James Tour at Rice University. Since 2015 he has started his independent research at the Department of Materials Science & Engineering, Department of Chemistry, NanoScience Technology Center, Renewable Energy and Chemical Transformation Cluster, UCF. His current research interests cover materials science, nanomanufacturing of metallic and carbon materials, interface engineering of energy materials, energy conversion and storage devices with a particular focus on aqueous electrochemical systems such as aqueous batteries, direct ethanol fuel cells, electrolyzers for H2 production and CO2 reduction. He has published almost 120 peer-reviewed articles, including Nature Energy, Nature Communications, Advanced Materials, JACS, Angewandte Chemie, Energy & Environmental Science, etc., with a total citation of over 8000 and H-index of 47. His lab website is http://www.yangyanglab.com.
Rachid Yazami, PhD, Founding Director, KVI PTE, Ltd. Singapore; Visiting Scholar, California Institute of Technology

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.
Jianchao Ye, PhD, Staff Scientist, Materials Science Division, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

Jianchao Ye is a staff scientist in Materials Science Division, Lawrence Livermore National Laborotary (LLNL). Before he joined LLNL in 2011, he got bachelor and master degrees in materials science from Shanghai Jiao Tong University and PhD degree in mechanical engineering from Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Jianchao Ye’s primary research interests lie in the application of additive manufacturing technologies in renewable energy storage and environment protection, such as lithium ion batteries, solid state batteries, CO2 absorption, and fusion energy application. Jianchao Ye holds 52 peer-reviewed publications and multiple patent applications.
John Zhang, PhD, CTO/CSO, Asahi Kasei SSBU Polypore, Celgard LLC

John is recognized as the leading authority on lithium-ion battery safety and separators. He is a leader in establishing lithium-ion battery industry standards (P1625, P1725, and CTIA) through the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). He has chaired and/or organized more than 60 international conferences and delivered more than 60 invited keynote or plenary speeches at various international conferences. John has published more than 110 patents, papers, and books, including the first ceramic coating separator patent (US 6, 432, 586) and some of the most cited papers (Chem. Reviews, 2004 and Li-ion safety papers 2006-now). Dr. Zhang received his Bachelor of Science Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Shanghai University. He holds a Master of Science Degree in Electrochemistry from Shandong University, and a Ph.D. in Material Chemistry from the University of California, Santa Barbara. He has also completed additional Post Doctorate studies in Nuclear Interactions.
- Battery Power for Consumer Electronics
- Battery Intelligence
- Lithium-ion Battery Development & Commercialization
- Advances in Automotive Battery Applications
- High-Performance Battery Manufacturing
- Battery Management Systems
- Battery Recycling
- Global Supply Chain for Battery Raw Materials
- Battery Safety
- Grid-Scale Energy Storage
- Next-Generation Battery Research
Gordon Zhang, PhD, Senior Software Manager of TWS Technology, Advance Technology, TWS Technology, LLC

Gordon has extensive Embedded Software and BMS experiences from General Electric Company and other EV related fields. He had been active in the research and development in the Battery Management System for medium to large side energy storage systems. Gordon holds a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from University of Illinois. He is focusing on the efficient management of large scale ESS using latest technologies.
Peng Zhao, PhD, Associate Professor, Mechanical, Aerospace & Biomedical Engineering, University of Tennessee

Dr. Peng Zhao is an associate professor in the Department of Mechanical, Aerospace and Biomedical Engineering and Space Institute of the University of Tennessee. He obtained his PhD from the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Princeton University in 2015. From 2015-2020, he was an assistant professor of Mechanical Engineering at Oakland University. His research interests primarily focus on fundamental-based and application-oriented problems in the frontier areas of combustion, propulsion, energy conversion and fire safety. His current research activities include reacting flow, open-source multi-physics modeling, Li-ion battery safety and thermal management, alternative fuels, advanced engine combustion strategy, etc. He has published around 50 peer-reviewed articles in leading combustion and energy journals and 1 book chapter. He is a Bernard Lewis Fellow of the International Combustion Institute, session chair of the International Combustion Symposium, session organizer of SAE world congress on advanced propulsion and powertrain, member of the Early Career and Diversity Development Committee of the US Combustion Institute.
Jigang Zhou, PhD, Senior Industrial Scientist, Industry Services, Canadian Light Source, Inc.

As a Senior Industrial Scientist of the Industry Services group at Canadian Light Source (CLS), Jigang Zhou contributes extensive advanced materials characterization experience with the renewable energy industry. Through collaboration with fellow scientists and industrial clients, he has achieved a high level of notoriety in pioneering applications of advanced X-ray characterizations among the battery and fuel cell community. Prior to joining the CLS, Jigang completed his PhD at Western University (Canada) with a focus on electrochemistry, nanaomaterials and spectroscopy. An electrochemical engineer by training, he completed his undergraduate and Master’s degrees in electrochemical engineering at Harbin Institute of Technology (China). Following his Master’s degree, Jigang gained valuable experience working as a research scientist in the electrochemistry industry in China. His move to Canada and experiences at Western University led him to the discovery of synchrotron applications to the renewable energy sector. Jigang continues his affiliation with Western University as an adjunct professor. With a total citation of 15000 in last six years, Jigang is the recipient of highly cited researcher by Web of Science (2019,2020). Jigang’s publications can be found through https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=GvT3fGQAAAAJ&hl=en.
Hanwei Zhou, PhD, Purdue University

Hanwei Zhou is a doctoral candidate in the School of Mechanical Engineering at Purdue University. He received his bachelor’s degree in engineering from Zhejiang University, China, in 2017, and his master’s degree in science from Carnegie Mellon University, United States, in 2019. His research focuses on understanding the fundamental thermo-electrochemical interactions and thermal safety challenges of lithium-ion batteries and beyond.
Yu Zhu, PhD, Professor, Polymer Science and Polymer Engineering, University of Akron

Yu Zhu is currently a professor in the School of Polymer Science and Polymer Engineering and the Deputy Director of Akron Functional Materials Center at The University of Akron. He is also Editor-in-Chief of journal Colloid and Polymer Science published by Springer Nature. He earned his PhD in Physical Chemistry at the University of Cologne, Germany in 2007. After his post-doctoral training at Rice University, Dr. Zhu joined the Department of Polymer Science at The University of Akron in 2012. His research group is dedicated to advancing the understanding of structure-property relationship of soft materials, particularly in the area of electrochemical energy storage. He is a recipient of ACS PRF Doctoral New Investigator Award, NSF CAREER Award, Journal of Materials Chemistry A Emerging Investigators, Air-Force Summer Faculty Fellowship, and Outstanding Researcher Award at The University of Akron.
Sumin Zhu, PhD, Co-Founder & CEO, Ampcera, Inc.

Sumin Zhu received PhD in materials science and engineering (ceramics) from Missouri University of Science and Technology in 2008. He also completed the strategic marketing MBA-level program from Cornell University. In his professional career, Sumin worked at several multi-national companies in various roles in R&D, product development, marketing and sales, and business management. Sumin and his cofounders started Ampcera Inc. with the mission to commercialize advanced solid electrolyte materials and accelerate the development of next-generation high-performance lithium batteries. Sumin is an author of more than 20 peer-reviewed journal papers and 25 patents and patent applications.
Bob Zollo, Strategic Portfolio Planner / Solution Architect for Battery Testing, Automotive & Energy Solutions, Keysight Technologies

Bob is a Solution Architect for battery testing responsible for Keysight’s battery test roadmap. He began his career at Hewlett-Packard in 1984 and now has 38 years with HP, Agilent, and Keysight. He has worked on power supplies, electronic loads, power analyzers, data acquisition equipment, and test systems. He holds a degree in EE from the Stevens Institute of Technology and works out of Keysight’s Power Center in Budd Lake, NJ.
Scott Zwierlein, Coating Process Engineer, Frontier - a Delta ModTech Company

Scott works directly with customers to develop solution-based coating and drying equipment. Solutions span a variety of industries, including batteries and capacitors, fuel cells and medical parts. Scott has extensive problem-solving experience in the coating industry, he has been with Frontier for the past 20 years. His background includes both engineering and R&D. He attended the University of Pittsburgh and currently resides in rural western New York with his family.
Walter van Schalkwijk, PhD, Affiliate Professor, University of Washington; Principal, Battery Sciences, Inc.

Dr. van Schalkwijk has almost 40 years of experience in the battery industry in research, product development, manufacturing, battery electronics, applications engineering, battery system design, and business development for batteries and battery materials. Dr. van Schalkwijk built what has been reported as the first manufactured design of lithium-ion batteries in 1986 under contract to Asahi. At present he is a senior advisor to Ionic Materials, Inc. He is also an affiliate professor of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Washington in Seattle.