Speaker & Presentation Spotlights
Barry Brents
TE Circuit Protection, Field Application Engineering Manager
Barry Brents is a Field Application Engineering Manager with TE Circuit Protection, a business unit of TE Connectivity. A member of IEEE, and former US Navy nuclear submarine officer, he has been involved in the power and communications industry since 1989. Barry received his B.S.E.E. from Texas Tech University.
Mark Chrusciel
Cincinnati Sub Zero’s Director of Global Sales
Mark Chrusciel has approximately 31 years of experience with environmental chambers and ovens and currently is Director of Global Sales for Cincinnati Sub Zero His many years of experience in the quality, reliability and laboratory markets has allowed him to design and implement the proper thermal processing equipment for the application. Mark has a B.S in Natural Sciences from Xavier University, has served on the board for the last 5 years of the ASTR conference (Accelerated Stress Test and Reliability) and is a senior member of the IEST.
Laurie Florence
UL’s Principal Engineer
Laurie Florence joined UL in 1990 as an engineer in their engineering services department, evaluating products for safety certification. Laurie has worked in numerous categories in her years at UL including a variety of motor operated appliances, laboratory and information technology equipment, and gas and oil equipment. Since 2003, Laurie has been the Principal Engineer for the following categories: Batteries, Fuel Cells, Hydrogen Generators and Capacitors. As the Principal Engineer, Laurie has responsibility for technical input, determining technical competency criteria for UL staff and supporting UL’s certification programs for her categories of responsibility.
Brian Fritz
Intel Corporation’s Power Source Engineer – PC Client Group
Brian Fritz is a Power Source Engineer in the PC Client Group at Intel. His main focus is on the integration of batteries into portable electronics. The use of Smart Battery Data and Smart Chargers allows him to define systems that make better decisions about power, leading to better user experiences. Previous experience includes defining fuel gauging and safety IC’s for Maxim Integrated Products, and designing battery and charging systems at HP/Compaq.
Florence Fusalba Ph.D
CEA’s Battery Program Manager
Florence Fusalba (Ph.D) is Battery Program Manager at CEA. After seven years studying in Canada to graduate as Master M. Sc Chemistry and Ph. D Energy and Materials, on electrochemical storage devices (Lithium ion batteries and electrochemical supercapacitors), Florence Fusalba joins in 2000 STMicroelectronics as dielectric manager. In 2004, she is in charge of photovoltaic cells laboratory for CEA and since 2006, she is CEA program manager in the field of energy storage.
Carl Gallenson
iTECH’s Vice President of Engineering
Carl Gallenson is the Vice President of Engineering at iTECH, a leader in innovative design and manufacture of smart batteries, chargers and docking stations. He has 18 years of experience in the industry and provides leadership for the company’s technology strategy. Additionally, he oversees new product development, sustaining engineering, regulatory and product compliance. Mr. Gallenson holds Bachelor and Master Degrees in Electrical Engineering, as well as an MBA.
George Gerwe
RRC’s Director Bus. Development
George Gerwe is a director of business development at RRC power solutions Inc., which is focusing on developing highly efficient wireless (inductive) power solutions for the medical, industrial and military markets. He has more than 25 years of sales and marketing experience in the electronics industry. He has held several marketing and sales positions with ICC, Think Outside, Iomega, Energizer Power Systems a Division of Eveready Battery Company, Gates Energy Products and Power-Sonic Corporation. He earned a B.A. degree from the University of Iowa.
Sam Jaffe
Pike Research’s Senior Research Analyst
Sam Jaffe is a senior research analyst contributing to Pike Research’s Smart Energy practice, with a focus on energy storage technologies and applications. After a successful career in magazine journalism, Jaffe co-invented a novel compressed air energy storage technology and founded a company to commercialize it, Panea Energy. Before joining Pike Research, Jaffe spent 3 years at IDC Energy Insights as a senior analyst and a research manager, producing research reports on distributed energy technologies, providing custom research and consulting services to clients, and managing IDC’s Distributed Energy Strategies service. In 2012 he was selected as the second most influential global energy analyst in Text100′s annual survey of energy influencers.
Derek C Johnson, Ph.D.
Prieto Battery, Inc.’s Co-Founding Scientist
Dr. Johnson has extensive experience with 3-D electrochemical energy storage devices and electrodes from the synthesis of these materials to the assembly in solid-state devices. This is highlighted by his publication record which includes 17 peer-reviewed publications and patents as well as 36 presentations and associated abstracts, some of which have been invited, presented at internal conferences for professional societies such as ACS, AIChE, MRS, and ACerS. Dr. Johnson’s focus as director is on integrating all three battery components in a solid state 3-D architecture as well as optimizing process steps associated with the anode, cathode, and solid-state electrolyte. He developed the aqueous slurry chemistry that has enabled the direct application of the positive electrode onto the solid polymer electrolyte as well as contributed to the development and characterization of the solid electrolyte.
Christopher Lang
Group Leader, Energy Technologies, Physical Sciences, Inc.
Dr. Lang leads PSI’s Energy Technologies group. This group is focused on advancing and developing novel architectures, control systems, and materials for electrochemical energy generation and storage applications. At PSI, Dr. Lang has led or been involved in efforts to develop novel architectures and materials for batteries, electrochromic devices, and fuel cells. These efforts have led to the development and demonstration of materials that increase the performance and safety of lithium ion batteries.
Bor Yann Liaw, PhD
Senior Faculty, Hawaii Natural Energy Institute
Dr. Bor Yann Liaw directs the Electrochemical Power Systems Laboratory at the University of Hawaii. His expertise is on advanced battery and fuel cell technologies. Recent work includes the evaluations of commercial batteries for mobile, transportation and stationary storage applications, from battery testing, evaluation, analysis, to battery management, using diagnostic, prognostic, modeling and simulation tools; in situ characterizations of interfacial properties of electrodes using spectroscopic imaging ellipsometry, QCM and electrochemical techniques; and, bio-fuel based energy conversion and storage, including sugar-air alkaline battery and fuel cells.
Monika Minarcin
Palladium Energy’s Senior Business Development Manager
Monika is a senior business development manager and program leader with Palladium Energy where she guides the company’s medium and large format positioning and development. Monika has over 17 years of electrical/controls engineering, project management and product development expertise, including battery and hybrid drive system experience through her positions at Thyssen Krupp, Toyota, Ford, General Motors, X-Prize Foundation and most recently Navistar. Monika has several patents under USPTO and globally in the fields of power electronics, energy (battery + fuel cell) management and propulsion systems.
Brian Morin
Dreamweaver International’s President and Co-Founder
Dr. Brian Morin is President and co-Founder of Dreamweaver International, an early stage development company using disruptive nanofiber technology in a versatile manufacturing process to improve rechargeable battery performance. Brian was founder and CEO of Innegrity LLC, a high performance fiber manufacturing company, from 2004 – 2010. Brian was co-founder and Chairman of Invenca LLC, which is dedicated to bringing best-in-the-world purification methods to markets where they have previously been cost prohibitive. Brian previously spent nine years in the Research Division of Milliken & Company, where he served as a Team Leader for the Advanced Yarns Team, as Intellectual Property Champion, and as Safety Chairman. Prior to working at Milliken, Brian received his Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in physics from The Ohio State University in Columbus Ohio. He received his B.S. degree in physics from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, NC and was a member of the fourth graduating class from the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics.
Tom O’Hara
Intertek’s Global Business Manager
Tom is the global business manager/advisory services for Intertek’s energy storage programs. Aside from his consulting role, Tom supports U.S. and European marketing and sales efforts and APAC CTIA certification efforts. As a 30-year veteran of the battery technology field, Tom has worked in Energizer Battery’s R&D sector and consulted with several start-up battery companies. He is also the co-inventor of the world’s first successful mercury-free zinc air button cell and holds seven U.S. patents. He obtained both a B.S. and M.S. in chemistry from Wake Forest University in North Carolina.
Bob Richard
Labelmaster Services Vice President of Government Affairs
Bob has been involved in the development and implementation of hazardous materials safety regulations for more than 25 years, and has been responsible for a broad range of domestic and international hazardous materials safety efforts, including the development of the current international and domestic infectious substances regulations. In his current role as Labelmaster Services Vice President of Regulatory and Government Affairs, Bob provides provide dangerous goods regulatory assistance to customers worldwide drawing on his vast experience, knowledge of the Hazardous Materials Regulations and a network of dangerous goods professionals.
Ryan Striker, P.E.
Logic PD’s Senior Electrical Engineer
Ryan Striker is a Senior Electrical Engineer at Logic PD with nearly 10 years’ of experience in systems engineering. His areas of expertise include battery safety, portable devices, and design for manufacturability and test. Ryan focuses on battery powered and multi-radio systems for clients in various industries.
Ofira Varga
1WEEE Services GmbH’s Senior Consultant
Ofira Varga is a Senior Consultant and former project manager with over 10 years of professional experience. She is an expert for electronics, battery and packaging take back and recycling as well as all auxiliary administrative proceedings such as registration and reporting. Her expertise covers the Member States of the European Union as well as North and South America.
Yevgenia Ulyanova
CFDRC’s Senior Research Scientist
Yevgenia Ulyanova is a Senior Research Scientist in CFDRC’s Biomedical and Energy Division. She received her B.A and M.S from Saint Louis University in Chemistry, specializing in Electrochemistry. After graduation she began her industry career at Crosslink Inc, where she worked on multiple projects ranging from development of anti-corrosion primer additives for aerospace industry to polymer-based capacitors to detoxification of chem/bio warfare agents. In her current role at CFDRC she manages daily activities of a technical team of scientists and contributes to the technical development and commercialization for a portfolio of energy technologies. Most of the development is done in direct collaboration with DoD (Army, Navy, Air Force, DARPA, DTRA, and CBD), DOE, NIH, and NASA agencies. Ms. Ulyanova has been involved in development of CFDRC’s Bio-Battery technology for the last three years including serving as the PI on an Air Force Phase I project.
Yandong Zhang
Texas Instruments’ Algorithm Engineer
Dr Zhang has worked with TI BMS since 2009. Since then, he had co-authored several patents for new battery management technologies. Before joining TI, he worked for hybrid vehicle’s battery management in GM R&D center.