ECS Battery Workforce Development Course
This course is directed at professionals/students who have already earned an MS and/or PhD in a related technical field—ideally with an advanced graduate-level engineering background—whose goal is to develop skills to work in the expanding battery industry.
Course format
The course comprises instruction on the basic course material and training providing real-world experience and a robust assessment of student learning.
Topics covered
The course addresses electrochemical techniques and diagnostics for batteries including:
- Motivating Li-ion batteries, a brief history, where we are/where we’re going
- Introduction to battery terminology and electrochemical analysis techniques
- Li-ion battery thermodynamics, kinetics, transport
- How to safely perform battery testing
- Commercial Li-ion battery chemistries and degradation
- Electrochemical voltage spectroscopies, history, and theory; modeling; application
- Materials characterization Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy
- Galvanostatic intermittent titration technique
- Current interrupt and self-discharge measurements
- Detection of Li plating during fast-charging using a combination of electrochemical techniques
- Role of atomistic modeling in battery electrochemistry
- Virtual electrochemical analysis and diagnostics at General Motors
- The future of electric vehicles
- Battery open access tools and analytic platforms
About the instructors
Wesley (Wes) Chang is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics and a Faculty Affiliate in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Drexel University. He completed his BS (2014) and MS (2016) in Chemical Engineering at Stanford University, and his PhD (2021) in Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science at Princeton University. Dr. Chang continued working on lithium metal batteries as a postdoc at Columbia University in collaboration with electric vehicle companies. He spent the following year (2022-2023) as the Beckman Postdoctoral Fellow at the California Institute of Technology, where he worked on lithium-mediated electrochemical ammonia synthesis. He is the recipient of the ECS F. M. Becket Fellowship and Arnold O. Beckman Postdoctoral Fellowship. He also worked in the battery industry and management consulting for energy and utilities, and regularly serves as a technical advisor to energy-focused startup companies and investment firms.
Jeffrey (Jeff) Lowe is a Modeling Engineer in Battery Cell Electrochemistry at General Motors (GM). His work focuses on developing atomistic modeling of materials for batteries and fuel cells. He earned his BS at the Michigan Technological University in 2012 and PhD from the University of Michigan (U-M) College of Engineering in 2018. As a Lillian Gilbreth Postdoctoral Fellow at Purdue University College of Engineering in 2018, he used a combined computational/experimental approach to develop structure-property relationships for electrocatalysts. Previously, Dr. Lowe received the Harold and Vivian Shapiro/John Malik/Jean Forrest Award from the U-M Rackham Graduate School in 2014. He volunteers for STEM and community outreach projects and has managed undergraduate and graduate students.
Matthieu Dubarry is an Assistant Researcher with the Hawai’i Natural Energy Institute (HNEI). His work focuses on battery diagnostics via high fidelity analysis and modeling. He completed a BTech at the Institut Universitaire de Technologie du Limousin, Université de Limoges (1998), MEng at the École Nationale Supérieure de Création Industrielle (ENSCI) (2001), MS at the Université de Limoges – Science (2001), and PhD at the Institut des Matériaux de Nantes Jean Rouxel (2004). He was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Hawai’i from 2005-2007, then Research Engineer there from 2008 to 2010 when he was promoted to his current position. He received a 2011 University of Hawai’i Faculty Travel Fund Award; 2004 International Battery Association Best Poster Award 3rd Prize; 2007 ECS Travel Grant; and 2004 ICPES2 Best Poster Award 1st Prize.
Lifelong learning opportunities
Interested in other continuing education opportunities? Visit https://www.electrochem.org/education/ to learn more about the ECS Webinar Series, Short Courses, and Professional Development Workshops.
