Speakers

Atsuo Yamada is professor at the university of Tokyo since 2009, known as one of the earliest adaptor of olivine cathode research, having published the first report on room-temperature theoretical capacity operation of LiFePO4 in 2001. He has published over 280 refereed journal papers exceeding 40,000 citation, ranked as a Highly Cited Researcher. Among his many honors, Atsuo has been awarded the Spriggs Award and the Purdy Award from ACerS, the Scientific Achievement Award from ECS Japan, and IBA Research Award from International Battery Association, Battery Division Research Award from the Electrochemical Society, and Science &Technology award from MEXT Minister.

Dr. Boryann (Bor Yann) Liaw is a Guest Professor at Forschungszentrum Jülich, Germany. He received his Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from Stanford University in 1988. He was a Directorate Fellow and Department Manager at Idaho National Laboratory during 2016-2023. From 1989 to 2016, he was a tenured faculty member at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Dr. Liaw is a Fellow of the Electrochemical Society, recent recipient of the 2022 Electrochemical Society Battery Division’s Research award, 2020 International Battery Association’s (IBA) Technology award, and 2019 Asian American Engineer of the Year.

Brian Ostroff is a graduate of the University of Toronto (1986). He joined RBC Dominion Securities in 1987. In 1999, Ostroff joined the M&A advisory firm Goodrich Capital, where he was the Canadian managing partner, overseeing mandates across a spectrum of industries with a focus on display technologies and mining. In 2004, Ostroff moved to the trading side of the business as a proprietary trader with a large Canadian bank (and subsequently on his own for four years). Ostroff joined Windermere Capital in 2009 and remained there until 2022; his area of focus was the junior and mid-tier mining sector. Currently, he is the Chief Executive Officer at Arianne Phosphate Inc.

Chun Ann Huang is an Associate Professor in Energy Storage Materials at the Department of Materials, Imperial College London, UK. She completed her Bachelor’s degree in Materials Science and Engineering at Imperial College London and PhD degree in Materials Science at the University of Oxford. Her research focuses on new energy storage materials, and advanced processing and characterisation techniques of batteries. She has been awarded the European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grant, the UK EPSRC Innovation Fellowship, and the Faraday Institution Industry Fellowship. She is a co-investigator of the Faraday Institution “Battery Degradation” and “Battery Manufacturing” Research Programmes”.

Dongling Ma is a professor at the Institut national de la recherche scientifique (also known as INRS). Her research focuses on the development of novel, highly functional materials and structures on the nanometer scale, targeted at various energy, environmental, and biomedical applications. Her work contributes to advanced nanomaterials research by developing new synthetic routes leading to highly functional nanoparticles, gaining a deeper understanding of how structure, size, and properties are related, achieving precise control over nanoparticle properties, and exploring exciting applications of nanoparticles in the energy, environmental, and biomedical sectors.O

Dr. Khani is a Goodenough Fellow Research Assistant Professor in the Walker Department of Mechanical Engineering at the The University of Texas at Austin. Prior to his faculty appointment, he was a Research Associate in John B. Goodenough’s lab (2018–2021). He earned his Ph.D. in Chemistry (minor in Mathematics) from Mississippi State University in 2017, an M.S. from Kharazmi University in 2009, and a B.S. from Arak University in 2007. His group’s interdisciplinary research focuses on designing solid-state organic and inorganic ion-conducting electrolytes, developing high-performance battery electrodes and electrocatalysts, and conducting thermal, structural, and safety evaluations of next-generation batteries.

Dr. Jagjit Nanda holds the position of Distinguished Scientist at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and is the Executive Director of the joint SLAC-Stanford Battery Research Center. He is also an adjunct professor in Materials Science and Engineering Department, Stanford University and Scholar at Stanford’s Precourt Energy Institute. Dr. Nanda is an internationally recognized leader in batteries and energy storage materials with emphasis on beyond lithium-ion chemistries, solid-state and grid scale energy storage. Prior to joining Stanford in 2022, Dr. Nanda was the leader of the Energy Storage and Conversion group at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and a joint faculty in the Dept. of Chemical Engineering in University of Tennessee at Knoxville. He is a Fellow of Electrochemical Society (ECS), Materials Research Society (MRS), National Academy of Inventors (NAI) and is a Battelle Distinguished Innovator.

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 thus far. Dahn is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and an Officer of the Order of Canada.

Jinhyuk Lee is an Assistant Professor of Materials Engineering and William Dawson Scholar at McGill University, specializing in rechargeable battery materials. He earned his Ph.D. from MIT and conducted postdoctoral research at UC Berkeley and MIT. His work combines experiments and computation to develop sustainable Li-ion and Na-ion battery materials, with notable publications in Science, Nature, Nature Chemistry, and Nature Communications. A finalist for the 2019 Volkswagen–BASF Science Award and a 2020 NSERC Accelerator recipient, he leads the JINfinity Energy Lab and advises Neo Battery Materials Ltd.

John Passalacqua is an international business strategist with over 35 years of extensive technology and capital markets experience. In 1998, John gained the title of a top 50 international business strategist on the early internet. He is involved in private and public market planning for companies in nascent, visionary industries. Currently, he is the Chief Executive Officer at First Phosphate Corp., a mineral exploration and development company focused on extracting and refining phosphate for the LFP battery industry. First Phosphate’s goal is to produce at a high purity level, at full ESG standard and with a low carbon footprint.

Martin Z. Bazant is the E. G. Roos (1944) Professor of Chemical Engineering and Mathematics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a member of the National Academy of Engineering. He holds a Ph.D. in Physics from Harvard (1997), and his awards include the ISE Kuznetsov Prize in Theoretical Electrochemistry and the AIChE Acrivos Award in Chemical Engineering. He serves as President of the International Electrokinetics Society, Director of the Center for Battery Sustainability, Chief Scientific Advisor for Saint-Gobain Research North America, and Chief Scientist and co-founder of Lithios, Inc., an MIT startup commercializing Advanced Lithium Extraction.

Margret Wohlfahrt-Mehrens is senior advisor at the Center for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research, Baden-Württemberg (ZSW) in Ulm, Germany. From 1995 until her retirement in June 2023, she was head of the Department of Accumulators Materials Research at ZSW. She is member of the Board of Directors of the Helmholtz Institute Electrochemical Energy Storage Ulm (HIU). Her research focuses on the development of sustainable batteries, from materials research to cell production processing. She is coauthor of more than 300 scientific publications and various international patents. She received the IBA Technology Award from the International Battery Association in 2020.

Dr. Penghao Xiao is an assistant professor in the Department of Physics and Atmospheric Science at Dalhousie University in Halifax, NS Canada. His research focuses on simulation of materials from first principles, with a particular interest on the atomistic kinetic processes that dictates materials’ synthesis, performance, and degradation. Dr. Xiao obtained his Ph.D. from The University of Texas at Austin in 2014. He did his postdoc trainings at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and then at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California before joining Dalhousie in 2021.

Stefano Passerini is Senior advisor at Austrian Institute of Technology and Distinguished Senior Fellow at KIT. His research focuses on the development of materials for high-energy batteries with the goal to create environmentally friendly and sustainable energy storage systems. Co-author of almost 800 scientific papers (Scopus H-Index: 126; > 58,000 citations), a few book chapters and several international patents. He has been awarded the following: Research Award of the ECS Battery Division (2012); Fellow of the International Society of Electrochemistry (2016) ; Fellow of the Electrochemical Society Inc (2020); Member of the Leopoldina German Academy of Science.

Dr. Venkataraman Thangadurai is a full professor and Chair in Energy at the School of Chemistry, University of St Andrews, Scotland, UK. He is the first UK’s Faraday Institution Adjunct Professor at the University of St Andrews. He is elected Fellows of the Royal Society of Chemistry (UK), Royal Society of Canada, and the Electrochemical Society (USA). He has published more than 260 peer-reviewed papers in journals (H-index of 70). He has received the Keith Laidler Award from the Canadian Chemical Society (CSC) in 2016 and Research Excellence Award in Materials Chemistry from CSC in 2021. His current research activities include the discovery of novel solid-state electrolytes and electrodes for advanced batteries and solid oxide fuel cells.

Professor Venkat R. Subramanian is currently the Ernest Dashiell Cockrell II Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin. Subramanian is an elected ECS Fellow and a past elected chair of the IEEE Division of the Electrochemical Society. He is also a former elected technical editor of the Electrochemical Society, and a former elected chair of Area 1e: (Electrochemical Engineering) of AIChE. Subramanian’s group aims to be visible in the area of model-based Battery Management System (BMS) and model-based design of current and next-generation energy storage devices. He is a co-founder and CTO of Battgenie Inc., a student startup aiming to commercialize model-based BMS algorithms.

Vito Di Noto is a Full Professor of Electrochemistry for Energy and Solid-State Chemistry in the Dpt of Industrial Engineering (DII) at the University of Padua. He is a Fellow of The Electrochemical Society (ECS) and a recipient of the ECS Energy Technology Division Research Award. He coordinates the Italian Chemical Society’s Interdivisional Group on Electrochemical Accumulation and Conversion of Energy (ACee) and is a Past President of the Society’s Electrochemistry Division. He in DII heads the ChemTech Section and leads from 35 years the CheMaMSE research group (https://research.dii.unipd.it/chemamse/). He is involved in EU and national commissions such as EERA-FCs&H₂, Batteries Europe, BEPA, and Hydrogen Europe Research, and has organized several major international scientific events. His research focuses on materials for sustainable energy transition, including lithium and beyond lithium batteries, fuel cells, electrolyzers, supercapacitors, and solar cells. In the past three years, he has coordinated more than 10 national and international projects, securing more than €6 million in funding. He has published over 360 peer-reviewed publications (h-index 57), 13 book chapters, 1 book on electrocatalysis for fuel cells, and holds 30 industrial patents. He collaborates worldwide with leading research organizations and companies. This work has earned him recognition as one of the top 2% of scientists worldwide according to a subject-wise analysis by Stanford University.

Dr. Yong Yang is distinguished professor at Xiamen University since 1997. He now serves as the President of International Battery Materials Association (IBA) and Board Member of International Meeting of Lithium Battery (IMLB). He published 500+ papers in referred journals (H=99, Google Scholar) and leading editor of two books. He obtained Technology award from Battery Division, ECS (2020), and Technology Award from International Battery Materials Association (2014). His main recent research interests are Solid-State batteries and Li-ion Battery Ageing and Degradation Analysis for Power and Storage Applications.

Haiming Xie is a professor of Department of Chemistry at the Northeast Normal University and the Director of National & Local United Engineering Laboratory for Power Battery. He received his Ph.D. degree from Northeast Normal University in 2008. His main research interests include lithium iron phosphate cathode materials and heat-resistant separators for high safety and high-power lithium-ion batteries, low-temperature power batteries and all-solid-state electrolytes for lithium batteries.

Yaser Abu-Lebdeh is an internationally recognized scientist leading a multidisciplinary team of scientists, engineers, and technicians. He is conducting groundbreaking research focused on advanced functional materials and processes for Li-ion battery technology and other energy conversion and storage devices. Recently, he was announced as one of the Principal Investigators for the Killam NRC Paul Corkum Fellowship, under which his research will focus on the use of nickel in lithium-ion battery technology. Currently, he is a Senior Research Officer and Leader of the Battery Materials Innovation team at the National Research Council Canada and a part-time professor at the University of Ottawa.

For over 15 years, Jasmin has been actively developing battery cathode materials. He leads efforts in scaling up and manufacturing various LiFePO₄ chemistries. Jasmin began his career at Phostech Lithium (now Nano One) in 2007. He contributed to the development of the first generation of LiFePO₄-C and gained expertise in cathode material synthesis. He also has in-depth knowledge of the production process and quality control of these materials.
Since 2019, he has been managing the LFP manufacturing initiative in Quebec, aiming to produce high-quality, industrial-scale LiFePO₄-C for the automotive market. At Nano One, the same team is leading the piloting efforts at the Candiac plant, with the goal of commercializing Nano One’s One-Pot cathode materials. Jasmin holds a bachelor’s degree in physics from the Université de Sherbrooke and a master’s degree in materials science from the Université de Trois-Rivières.

Josh Rhoades is currently Key Account Manager at Contemporary Amperex Technology USA Inc, overseeing strategic client relationships in the energy storage sector. Previously, he served as Advanced Customer Service Engineer, developing technical solutions that enhanced product performance and satisfaction. As the most senior Solar Advisor at Vermont’s 2nd-largest residential solar firm, he led sales and installations, driving adoption of renewable energy across the region. Earlier roles include Inside Sales Representative and Business Owner, where he honed skills in customer engagement and operations. Holder of expertise spanning technical service, renewable energy advisory, and account management, he delivers value at the intersection of clean energy and client success.