Allen J. Bard Award
Debra R. Rolison
Tuesday, October 14 | 1330h
Salon A-5 (Lower Level, Hilton Chicago)
We Are Leaving Power & Energy on the Table: Electroanalytical & Architectural Insights
by Debra R. Rolison
Debra R. Rolison heads the Advanced Electrochemical Materials section at the US Naval Research Laboratory (NRL). Her team designs, synthesizes, characterizes, and applies 3D-structured, ultraporous, multifunctional, hold-in-your-hand nanoarchitectures for rate-critical applications such as catalysis and energy storage/conversion. Dr. Rolison was a Faculty Scholar at Florida Atlantic University, receiving her BS in Chemistry in 1975 and the Undergraduate Award in Analytical Chemistry. She completed her PhD in Chemistry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (1980) with Prof. Royce W. Murray, then joined NRL as a Staff Scientist.
Dr. Rolison is a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors, American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Chemical Society, Materials Research Society, and Association for Women in Science. Her major awards include the 2024 ECS Battery Division Technology Award (with Drs. Joseph Parker and Jeffrey Long); 2018 William H. Nichols Medal; 2017 E. O. Hulburt Award; 2015 Department of the Navy Dr. Dolores M. Etter Top Scientist & Engineer Team Award (with Drs. Joseph Parker and Jeffrey Long); 2012 Charles N. Reilley Award of the Society for Electroanalytical Chemistry; 2011 ACS Award in the Chemistry of Materials; and 2011 Hillebrand Prize. Her editorial advisory board service includes Advanced Energy Materials, Analytical Chemistry, Journal of Electroanalytical Chemistry, and Encyclopedia of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology. Dr. Rolison also writes and lectures widely on issues affecting women (and men!) in science, including proposing Title IX assessments of science and engineering departments. The author of over 275 articles, she holds 49 US patents.
Carl Wagner Memorial Award
Paul J. A. Kenis
Tuesday, October 14 | 1600h
Conference Room 4C (Fourth Floor, Hilton Chicago)
Electrochemical Approaches for Chemical Manufacturing
by Paul J. A. Kenis
Paul J. A. Kenis is a Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) where he holds the Elio E. Tarika Endowed Chair. He presently serves as Director of the School of Chemical Sciences. His research focuses on (1) electrochemical approaches for chemical manufacturing including ammonia oxidation and water electrolysis for hydrogen production, CO2/CO reduction, and glycerol oxidation, often from renewable resources such as CO2, air, flue gasses, and biomass, e.g., crude glycerol; and (2) autonomous/automated synthesis, purification, and characterization of inorganic nanomaterials.
Prof. Kenis received a BS in Chemistry from Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen and PhD in Chemical Engineering from the Universiteit Twente. Before joining UIUC, he completed a postdoc at Harvard University. The author of >220 publications and 14 patents, he received a Xerox Award; 3M Young Faculty Award; NSF CAREER Award; ECS Energy Technology Division Research Award; and Industry Project Award from the Institution of Chemical Engineers. Prof. Kenis is a Fellow of The Electrochemical Society and International Society of Electrochemistry. He coauthored reports on the prospects of CO2 utilization at scale issued by the US National Academies, Royal Society, and global Mission Innovation consortium. Prof. Kennis is the Journal of The Electrochemical Society Technical Editor for Electrochemical Engineering, chairs the Society’s Industrial Electrochemistry and Electrochemical Engineering (IE&EE) Division, and serves on the ECS Finance Committee.
Olin Palladium Award
Arumugam Manthiram
Tuesday, October 14 | 1030h
Salon C-2 (Lower Level, Hilton Chicago)
The Triumph with Oxide Chemistry in Energy Storage
by Arumugam Manthiram
Arumugam Manthiram is currently the George T. and Gladys H. Abell Endowed Chair of Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin (UT-Austin). His research focuses on electrochemical energy technologies.
Prof. Manthiram received his PhD in Chemistry from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras in 1981 followed by postdoctoral research at the University of Oxford and UT-Austin. He joined UT-Austin’s Department of Mechanical Engineering in 1991 and served as Director of the Texas Materials Institute and the Materials Science and Engineering Program there from 2011 through 2022. The author of more than 1,000 journal articles with 132,000 citations and an h-index of 176, Prof. Manthiram provided training to more than 300 students and postdoctoral fellows, including graduating 77 PhD and 30 MS students. Some 60 of his graduates are faculty; others hold leading battery industry positions around the world.
Dr. Manthiram is a Fellow of The Electrochemical Society, National Academy of Inventors, and five other societies, and an Academician of the World Academy of Ceramics. ECS awarded him the Battery Division Research Award and Technology Award, Henry B. Linford Award for Distinguished Teaching, and inaugural John Goodenough Award. He received the International Battery Materials Association Research Award and Yeager Award; Indian Institute of Technology Madras Distinguished Alumnus Award; Billy and Claude R. Hocott Distinguished Centennial Engineering Research Award; and a university-wide Outstanding Graduate Teaching Award. He delivered Professor John Goodenough’s 2019 Chemistry Nobel Prize Lecture in Stockholm.
After joining ECS in 1995, Prof. Manthiram served the Society in positions including Chair of the ECS Texas Section (2006-2007) and ECS Battery Division (2010-2012), on the ECS Board of Directors (2010-2012), and on ECS committees including the Editorial Advisory Board, Symposium Planning Advisory Board, Interdisciplinary Science and Technology Subcommittee, and various award subcommittees. He founded the ECS UT-Austin Student Chapter in 2006 and continues as its Faculty Advisor today. ECS awarded Prof. Manthiram with Life Membership in 2020.
2023-2024 ECS Toyota Young Investigator Fellowship
Yaocai Bai
Sunday, October 12 | 1400h
Salon A-1 (Lower Level, Hilton Chicago)
Solvent-Based Defluorination for Direct Electrode Recycling
by Yaocai Bai
Yaocai Bai is an R&D Associate Staff Scientist pursuing postdoctoral research at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) under the supervision of Dr. Ilias Belharouak in the Emerging and Solid-State Batteries Group. Dr. Bai is the focus area lead for the Advanced Resource Recovery research thrust in DOE’s ReCell Center for Advanced Battery Recycling. His research centers on accelerating the world’s transition to sustainable energy through materials innovation and developing efficient and cost-effective processes for lithium ion battery recycling, specifically with respect to electrode/metal separation and direct cathode regeneration.
Through the ECS Toyota Young Investigator Fellowship, Dr. Bai will address binder removal, the key challenge associated with direct recycling of battery materials today. Direct recycling represents the highest potential value gain toward reclaiming cathode materials from spent batteries. He will investigate effective and green processes to separate active materials from delaminated cathodes, a sustainable low carbon footprint approach with the elimination of hazardous materials.
Dr. Bai received his BS in Materials Chemistry from the University of Science and Technology of China in 2010 and MS in Materials Science in 2012 from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology. He completed his PhD in Materials Science under Prof. Yadong Yin at the University of California, Riverside, in 2017. He worked as Postdoctoral Researcher under Dr. Ilias Belharouak at ORNL from 2019 through 2021 before being named to his current position. The author of 52 articles with an h-index of 25 and four books/book chapters, Dr. Bai has one granted patent and seven patents pending. He served as Guest Editor for Batteries and Clean Technologies and Recycling. Dr. Bai joined ECS in 2020 and chaired/cochaired four sessions at ECS meetings.
2024-2025 ECS Toyota Young Investigator Fellowship
Zheng Chen
Thursday, October 16 | 1400h
Salon A-1 (Lower Level, Hilton Chicago)
Sustainable Binder Design for Aqueous Processing of Lithium-Ion Battery Electrodes
by Zheng Chen
Zheng Chen is Professor of Chemical and NanoEngineering at the University of California, San Diego. His research focuses on materials development for applications in electrochemical energy, flexible devices, and a sustainable environment. Through the ECS Toyota Young Investigator Fellowship, Dr. Chen will study water-soluble binders offering potentially high-value gain in cathode processing and addressing key concerns of anticipated PFAS-free material regulation. He will provide a realistic approach to investigating CO2 conversion mechanisms and performance while addressing two key aspects of conversion: catalyst identity and CO2 binding.
Prof. Chen received his BS in Chemical Engineering from Tianjin University where he received the 2007 Talented Science Student Award. He completed a PhD at the University of California, Los Angeles in 2012 under the supervision of Prof. Yunfeng Lu in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. His PhD work related mainly to the design and synthesis of nanostructured materials for electrochemical energy storage devices. From 2013 through 2016, he was a Postdoctoral Associate working with Prof. Zhenan Bao and Prof. Yi Cui at Stanford University, focusing on functional polymer materials for enhanced energy density, longer cycling lifetime, and improved safety of batteries.
Recognitions received by Dr. Chen include the 2023 ECS Battery Division Early Career Award; 2018 NASA Early Career Faculty Award; 2018 ACS PRF Doctoral New Investigator Award; 2017 LG Chem BIC Award; 2012 UCLA Department Outstanding Graduate Award; 2011 MRS Graduate Student Silver Award; and 2011 Chinese Government Award for Outstanding Self-Financed PhD Students Studying Abroad. Nanoscale (2021), Chemical Communication (2020), and Journal of Materials Chemistry C (2018) named him “Emerging Investigator.” Since joining ECS in 2008, Prof. Chen has organized and chaired ECS meeting symposia. He has seven patents, is an Associate Editor of Battery Energy, and author of three book chapters and 135 articles with an h-index is 58.
2024-2025 ECS Toyota Young Investigator Fellowship
Zhongyang Wang
Tuesday, October 14 | 1200h
PDR 4 (Third Floor, Hilton Chicago)
Synthesis and Assessment of Hydrocarbon-Based Proton Exchange Membranes for Advancing Fuel Cell Technology
by Zhongyang Wang
Zhongyang Wang is an Assistant Professor at The University of Alabama (UA). His research contributions include the investigation and deployment of bipolar membranes to advance the development of liquid-liquid fuel cells, and understanding mixed ionic/electronic transport in conjugated polyelectrolytes for renewable energy applications. Through the ECS Toyota Young Investigator Fellowship, Dr. Wang will advance the development of fuel cell technology by addressing the precision synthesis of fully saturated hydrocarbon-based proton exchange membranes to replace long-standing Nafion ionomers.
Dr. Wang joined ECS in 2015. He completed his PhD in Energy, Environmental, and Chemical Engineering at Washington University (WashU) in St. Louis in 2019 with advisor Vijay Ramani, followed by a postdoc co-advised by Paul Nealey and Shrayesh Patel at the University of Chicago (UChicago). His research has been recognized by the 2024 Hewson Faculty Fellowship; 2022 UChicago Maria Lastra Excellence in Mentoring Award for Postdoctoral Researchers; 2020 ECS Industrial Electrochemistry and Electrochemical Engineering Division H. H. Dow Memorial Student Achievement Award; and 2020 WashU Annual Research Impact Award. The author of 23 articles with an h-index of 17, he has three active and two pending U.S. patents.
2024-2025 ECS Toyota Young Investigator Fellowship
Juner Zhu
Monday, October 13 | 1400h
Continental Room C (Lobby Level, Hilton Chicago)
Interpretable Pressure-Based Analytics for Battery Assessment
by Juner Zhu
Juner Zhu is Assistant Professor at Northeastern University (NU) where his group maintains two labs, the Battery Sustainability Lab and Electro-Chemo-Mechanics Lab. In 2022, he co-founded the Center for Battery Sustainability, an NU and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) joint research program with industry support, and in 2023, BattSafe Solutions LLC where he is Chief Scientist.
Prof. Zhu’s research contributions include safety-focused testing methods and models for EV batteries; multi-scale electro-chemo-mechanical characterization of battery materials and cells; and scientific machine learning algorithms for battery materials and systems. Through the ECS Toyota Young Investigator Fellowship, he will investigate non-destructive techniques to identify common degradation modes in commercial Li-ion cells, presenting a quick and safe approach to end-of-life (EoL) cell defect identification, while also building a predictive machine learning (ML) library for future application.
Prof. Zhu graduated with a BS and MS from Tsinghua University, receiving the highest graduate student honor, the 2015 Top Grade Fellowship. With Prof. Tomasz Wierzbicki as supervisor, he completed his PhD in Mechanical Engineering at MIT (2019) where he was a postdoc (2019-2021) and Research Scientist (2021-2022), working jointly in the Departments of Mechanical Engineering and Chemical Engineering under Prof. Wierzbicki and Prof. Martin Z. Bazant. Prof. Zhu co-developed the 2020-2022 phase of the MIT Industrial Battery Consortium, acting as Executive Director and working with eight world-leading companies in the areas of EV, battery, and consumer electronics. He also worked as Materials Engineer at Ford Motor Company and Battery Analyst at Apple. Prof. Zhu joined NU’s Mechanical and Industrial Engineering faculty in August 2022. The author of 43 journal articles with an h-index of 27, he received the 2022 American Society of Mechanical Engineering Applied Mechanics Division Haythornthwaite Foundation Research Initiation Grant. Prof. Zhu joined ECS in 2023.