Veronica Augustyn
Associate Professor, Department of Materials Science and Engineering

• Research Focus
  • Battery materials synthesis and electrochemical characterization for lithium-ion and beyond lithium-ion batteries
  • In situ and operando electrochemical characterization of battery materials and interfaces

Nina Balke
Associate Professor, Department of Materials Science and Engineering

• Research Focus
  • Nanoscale characterization of energy storage systems including electric double layer capacitors, supercapacitors and batteries in aqueous electrolytes using novel methods based on atomic force microscopy

Amay Bandodkar
Assistant Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

• Research Focus
  • Developing non-toxic batteries with specific capacities (~75 mAh/g) that outperform commercial alkaline batteries (~50 mAh/g) and comparable to thin-film lithium-ion batteries (~100 mAh/g)

Subhashish Bhattacharya
Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

• Research Focus
  • Solid-state transformers [SST] and integration of battery and energy storage systems for EV charging infrastructure, data centers
  • Power conversion systems for battery and energy storage systems for applications in EVs, EV charging applications, DC microgrids
  • Modeling of battery SOH (state of health) and SOC (state of charge) to enable integration and control of multiple battery chemistries for DC microgrids

Aranya Chakrabortty
Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

• Research Focus
  • Dynamics, stability and control of power systems with large penetration of batteries
  • Optimal scheduling and charging control of batteries in electric vehicles (EVs)
  • Nonlinear dynamical control of battery models
  • Placement and design of large batteries for power oscillation control in bulk power grids

Alexa Easley
Assistant Professor, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

• Research Focus
  • Development of polymeric materials for metal-free batteries
  • In-situ characterization of energy and ion storage mechanisms for polymeric battery materials

Peter Fedkiw
Professor, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

• Research Focus
  • Electrode and separator materials for next-generation Li- and Na-based batteries
  • Polymer and gel electrolytes for next-gen cells
  • Multi-physics modelling of cells

Wei Gao
Associate Professor, Department of Textile Engineering, Chemistry and Science

• Research Focus
  • Fabrication, characterization and modeling of yarn-shaped batteries and supercapacitors for wearable and structural applications

Jacob Jones
Professor, Department of Materials Science and Engineering

• Research Focus
  • Oxide and related inorganic materials
  • X-ray and neutron scattering techniques for structural determination, including in situ and in operando techniques

Saad Khan
Professor, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

• Research Focus
  • Rheology of slurry materials for casting positive and negative battery electrodes
  • Electrospinning of battery separators
  • Electrolyte rheology

Srdjan Lukic
Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

• Research Focus
  • Design and control of power electronic converters with application to wireless power transfer, battery energy storage systems, and electric automotive systems
  • Power management of batteries and ultracapacitors in electric vehicles, battery sizing, integration of batteries in microgrids

Zeljko Pantic
Associate Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

• Research Focus
  • Battery modeling and application
  • Development of advanced state-of-charge (SOC) estimators for lead-acid and Li-Ion batteries
  • Modeling the impacts of SOC and temperature on battery dynamic parameters
  • Energy management of hybrid battery-supercapacitor energy storage systems for UAS and micromobility systems

Jim Pfaendtner

• Provost
• Professor, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

• Research Focus
  • Application of molecular and nanoscale modeling tools to the study of electrolyte structure, dynamics and chemical degradation at electrode interfaces

Benjamin Rachunok
Assistant Professor, Edward P. Fitts Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering

• Research Focus
  • Impact of natural hazards on communities and the role technology, society and policy have on mitigating natural hazard impacts
  • How EVs can use vehicle-to-grid technology to power homes and businesses during natural hazard Impact of vehicle electrification and battery technology on community resilience and well-being

Susmita Sarkar
Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

• Research Focus
  • Innovative design and manufacturing of next-generation energy storage devices
  • Applications of polymer materials for stretchable batteries for emerging applications in healthcare, robotics, etc.
  • Application of thermally safe batteries in power grids and electric vehicles

Martin Seifrid
Assistant Professor, Department of Materials Science and Engineering

• Research Focus
  • Synthesis, processing and characterization of organic mixed ionic-electronic conducting materials, which have potential applications as supercapacitor or battery interface materials
  • Machine learning and automated experiments to accelerate the design and discovery process for a wide variety of applications

Ray Unocic
Associate Professor, Department of Materials Science and Engineering

• Research Focus
  • Advancing and applying state-of-the-art scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) techniques—including aberration-corrected, analytical, in situ/operando and cryogenic STEM—to investigate and correlate atomic- to nanoscale interfacial structure and chemistry with battery performance and degradation mechanisms

Orlin Velev
Professor, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

• Research Focus
  • Application of soft dendritic polymeric materials, prepared by a high-shear phase-separation process, to prepare novel electrodes and separator structures for next-generation batteries

Cheryl Xu
Professor, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

• Research Focus
  • Innovative methods to synthesize high-performance battery materials, including novel cathode and anode materials that offer improved energy density and stability
  • Advanced techniques to characterize the structural, electrochemical and thermal properties of battery materials
  • Addressing thermal management challenges associated with high-energy-density batteries, aiming to enhance safety and performance under various operating conditions

Xiangwu Zhang
Professor, Department of Textile Engineering, Chemistry and Science

• Research Focus
  • Advanced, next-generation energy-storage technologies, including lithium-ion batteries, lithium-sulphur batteries, sodium-ion batteries and supercapacitors.
  • Fundamental materials studies such as synthesis and physical characterization, as well as system design and fabrication

Kaixiong Zhou
Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

• Research Focus
  • Generative AI for de novo design of electrolytes
  • Foundation AI modeling of molecule structure and properties

Mengmeng Zhu
Assistant Professor, Department of Textile Engineering, Chemistry and Science

• Research Focus
  • Laboratory experimentation to design, control and implement dynamic battery operations (charging and discharging)
  • Development of physics-informed prognostic models and optimal control policies using battery models, stochastic and machine learning for degradation analysis, fault diagnosis, estimation of state-of-health (SOH), state-of-charge (SOC) and remaining life, and safe and reliable battery operation.

Tao Gao
Associate Professor, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

Shelby Pillai
Assistant Teaching Professor, Department of Materials Science and Engineering