Workshop on Advanced Battery Testing & Safety and High Performance Organic Photovoltaics // Athens, July 12-13, 2016

Professor Sanjeev Mukerjee

Professor Sanjeev Mukerjee is a Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Analytical Biology in Northeastern University, Boston, and the Director of Northeastern University Center of Renewable Energy Technology. He graduated with a Master of Science from the Indian Institute of Technology in New Delhi, India, in 1984, and a Master of Technology from the Indian Institute of Technology in Kharagpur, India, in 1986. He obtained his Ph.D in Analytical Chemistry from the Department of Chemistry, Texas A&M University in 1994. He became an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry in Northeastern University in 2004 and a Professor in 2006.

Professor Mukerjee’s areas of professional expertise include electrocatalysis (understanding of electrocatalytic pathways in complex reaction centers), intercalation compounds (understanding charge compensation in complex structures as a function of intercalation), in situ synchrotron spectroscopy (development of new methodologies for X-ray absorption and scattering methods), and transport phenomenon in polymer electrolytes. He has made around ninety publications in internationally recognised journals.

In 2008, Professor Mukerjee founded the Northeastern University Center for Renewable Energy Technology, with the aims of leveraging the multifaceted capabilities at the university and state levels for fostering an education, research and entrepreneurial initiative aimed at cleaner and more efficient energy conversion and storage. He also co-founded two startup ventures in Boston: Protonex Corp., which deals with the development of manufacturing technology for small and medium scale PEM fuel cells, and Encite LLC., which focuses on the development of MEMS based micro fuel cells.

Full CV: http://www.northeastern.edu/cos/faculty/sanjeev-mukerjee/

Dr. Brett Lucht

Dr. Brett Lucht primary research interest is on the development of novel electrolytes for lithium ion batteries. Much of this research is focused on improving the performance of electrolytes for electric vehicles. He is investigating electrolytes designed to perform over a wide temperature range (-30 oC to 50 oC), wide electrochemical potential window (0 - 5 V vs Li) and be stable in the presence of different electrode materials.

His research has several focus areas including the preparation of novel salts, solvents and additives. With his team they test the performance of the novel electrolyte in small cells and investigate the mechanism of reaction of the electrolyte with the surface of the electrode materials. Upon developing an understanding of the performance limiting reactions of the electrolyte, we modify the formulation to optimize performance. Some of the areas that they are currently investigating include: extending the calendar life of lithium ion batteries, improving the performance of novel high capacity or high voltage electrode materials, and developing a non-flammable electrolyte.

Full CV: http://www.chm.uri.edu/blucht/blucht_cv.pdf

Dr. K. M. Abraham

Dr. K. M. Abraham is Research Professor at Northeastern University Center for Renewable Energy Technologies, or NUERC. He is also the principal of E-KEM Sciences, a battery consulting company in Needham, MA. He was previously President of Covalent Associates, Inc, Woburn, MA, and Senior Scientist, Group Leader, Vice President and Director of Battery Research and Development at EIC Laboratories, Inc., Norwood, MA.
Dr. Abraham received his undergraduate education in chemistry, physics, and mathematics from St Berchmans’ College of Kerala University, India, where he was a gold medallist and a National Merit Scholarship winner.
He received his Ph.D. degree in Chemistry from Tufts University, Medford, MA, and conducted post-doctoral research at Vanderbilt University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Dr. Abraham received the Battery Research Award from the Electrochemical Society in 1995 for outstanding research on primary and secondary lithium batteries. In 2000 he was elected a Fellow of the Electrochemical Society. He was Chair of the Battery Division of the Electrochemical Society and serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Power Sources.

Full CV: http://www.northeastern.edu/leap/energystorage.html

Dr. Vasilis Gregoriou

Dr. Vasilis Gregoriou is the Director and Chairman of the Board at the National Hellenic Research Foundation (NHRF).  Dr. Gregoriou is an internationally known scientist with research and managerial positions in both Greece (NHRF, FORTH-ICEHT) and the US (Advent Technologies, Northeastern, MIT, Polaroid, Princeton) over his 25 year research career so far. 

His research activity extends over a wide area of subjects that include the areas of flexible photovoltaics based on organic semiconductors, optically active materials based on conjugated oligomers and polymer nanocomposites.  Previous subjects included the characterization of polymeric liquid crystals, the orientation characteristics of ionic polymer multilayers on patterned self-assembled monolayers and the subject of chemometrics.  He is the coauthor of 3 books, 6 chapters in books, 69 refereed research papers and 133 research presentations and the co-inventor of 8 patents. 

His academic teaching experience spans in both undergraduate level in the US (University of Massachusetts) as well as at the graduate level in both the USA  (University of Connecticut) and Greece (University of Patras).  He has also served as the President of the Society for Applied Spectroscopy (SAS) in 2001.

Full CV: http://www.eie.gr/presidentprofile-en.html

Dr. Efstratios Kamitsos

Dr. Efstratios Kamitsos is Director of the Theoretical and Physical Chemistry Institute and Member of the Board of the National Hellenic Research Foundation (NHRF) since 1997, having served also as Director and Chairman of the Board of NHRF (3/2012-10/2013).

He earned a diploma in Chemistry from the University of Athens (1978) and a Ph.D. in Physical-Inorganic Chemistry from Brown University in USA (1983), where his Ph.D. thesis was awarded the Potter Prize in Chemistry (1984). He has served on numerous international and national scientific committees, including the Advisory Panel on Physical and Engineering Science and Technology of the ΝΑΤΟ Science Committee (11/2002-6/2004), the International Board of Advisers of the International Materials Institute for New Functionality in Glass, USA (2004-2007), and the Scientific Committee on Natural Sciences of the National Council for Research and Technology (ESET) in Greece (06/2011-).   

He has been visiting researcher at many academic institutions in Europe and the US. He has established and directed major research programs in spectroscopy and materials science with substantial funding from national and European competitive programs.

His research activities involved synthesis, structural and dynamic studies of materials with technological interest, including low-dimensional charge transfer compounds, polymeric and organometallic conductive materials, as well as oxide and chalcogenide glasses. Spectroscopic techniques like Brillouin, Raman, Fourier-transform infrared, UV-Vis and fluorescence have been employed to study dynamic, structural and optical properties of materials in a broad frequency range. Spectroscopic studies are combined with dielectric spectroscopy to establish structure-property relationships in ionic conducting glasses. Modes of materials preparation, including laser- and electron-beam processing (ablation, phototransformation and crystallization), were investigated to modify materials properties for new technological applications. Emphasis is placed upon preparing and studying materials in thin film forms.

His current research interests include structure and dynamics of ion conducting glasses, nanostructured glassy and organic-inorganic hybrid materials with advanced electrical and optical functionalities, and ion-exchange and thermal-poling processes to induce optical functionalities in inorganic glasses.

Full CV: http://www.eie.gr/nhrf/institutes/tpci/cvs/cv-kamitsos-en.pdf

Michael G. Mauelian

Mechanical Engineer / Quality Control Manager, NETZSCH INSTRUMENTS NORTH AMERICA, LLC

Michael is a graduate of Providence College with a degree in Engineering Physics. He has spent the last 10 years working on new product design and qualification of thermal analysis instrumentation. His experience includes multiple projects in the area of calorimetry, including instrumentation for battery development and battery safety, chemical process safety, and energetic materials. Prior to working as a member of the development teams, Michael worked in the thermal applications laboratory as an applications engineer. His role was to help customers measure and analyze accurate data from their test samples.