The ECS Detroit Section held its 2022 Officer Election from May 13-June 3, 2022. Thank you to all ECS members who supported their regional community by voting, and to the new officers for serving their section.
The new officers’ terms of office are for two years or until their successors have been qualified. Their terms begin at 0800h ET on January 1 of the calendar year following the election.
Please join us in congratulating our new ECS officers and wishing them well in their new endeavor!
The results are in!
ECS Detroit Section Officers
- Chair: Erik Anderson, American Battery Solutions
- Vice Chair: Tobias Glossmann, Mercedes-Benz R&D North America
- Secretary: Jiazhi (Emily) Hu, General Motors
- Treasurer: Vikram Patil, Freudenberg Battery Power Systems
- Counselors:
- Kris Inman, Freudenberg Battery Power Systems
- Dennis Corrigan, Oakland University
- Scribe: Eleni Temeche, Mercedes-Benz R&D North America
- Ambassador: Ankun Yang, Oakland University
- Members at Large:
- Vishal Mahajan, Stellantis
- Nick Irish, General Motors
ECS Detroit Section officer bios
Erik Anderson, American Battery Solutions – Chair
Erik Anderson is the Director of Technology, Validation, and Testing at American Battery Solutions (ABS). There he leads multiple teams working on cell technology, advanced development, and validation/testing of ABS products. Erik has over 10 years of experience in the battery industry and holds multiple patents on battery pack and cell design. His knowledge extends from the materials level to the full pack/system level. Erik has worked with multiple battery technologies including lithium ion chemistries like NMC, LTO, NCA, and LFP, and even with lead acid batteries. Prior to ABS, Erik worked on battery research and development, testing, and commercialization at XALT Energy and Energy Power Systems. He is an active member of the ECS Detroit Section’s leadership committee where he previously served as Vice Chair. Erik obtained a BSc and MSc in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Michigan.
Tobias Glossmann, Mercedes-Benz R&D North America – Vice Chair
Tobias Glossmann has more than 20 years of experience in battery R&D at Mercedes-Benz. He holds advanced degrees in Electronics/Mechatronics engineering from Hochschule Esslingen, and Chemistry from Oakland University. He is currently pursuing a PhD in Biomedical Sciences. Through his career, he has gained experience in a broad spectrum of technology, mostly related to batteries. His current research interests include the study of interfaces in batteries and electrochemical sensors and advanced battery materials. Over the years, Tobias has served on the ECS Education Committee and as an officer of the ECS Detroit Section.
Jiazhi (Emily) Hu, General Motors – Secretary
Jiazhi (Emily) Hu is a senior researcher at General Motors Global R&D. She has seven years of experience in lithium ion battery technology. Jiazhi received her PhD from the University of Kentucky in Materials Engineering with a focus on Si based anode.
Vikram Patil, Freudenberg Battery Power Systems – Treasurer
Vikram Patil is an early career ECS member of the ECS Detroit Section. He currently works as a Battery Lifetime Analyst at Freudenberg Battery Power Systems. Vikram received his MSc of Statistics and PhD in Mechanical Engineering from North Carolina State University. His work and research experience include areas of lifecycle analysis of alternate fuel vehicles, compressed air energy storage, lifetime modeling of batteries, and data science application to energy systems.
Kris Inman, Freudenberg Battery Power Systems – Counselor
Kris Inman has served as an officer in the ECS Detroit Section since 2017 and previously was a longtime student member. He has over a decade of experience in lithium ion battery technology and currently is the Director of Cell Modeling and Characterization at Freudenberg Battery Power Systems. Kris received his PhD from Oakland University in Mechanical Engineering with a focus on PEM Fuel Cell technology. His work and research experience also includes wind energy generation along with FCEV and BEV vehicle design.
Dennis Corrigan, Oakland University – Counselor
Dennis Corrigan has been active in ECS and the Detroit section for over 40 years and served as Chair several times. He is a PhD electrochemist whose career has focused on electrochemical power systems for electric and hybrid vehicles at GM, ECD Ovonics, Wayne State, TARDEC, XALT, and Oakland University.
Eleni Temeche, Mercedes-Benz R&D North America – Scribe
Eleni Temeche is a Battery Engineer at Mercedes-Benz. Her PhD in Material Science and Engineering is from the University of Michigan. She is interested in optimizing battery chemistry and cell designs to enable next-generation technologies.
Ankun Yang, Oakland University – Ambassador
Ankun Yang is Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Oakland University. He received a PhD in Materials Science and Engineering from Northwestern University and completed a postdoc at Stanford University. Ankun has explored several research areas including photonics, energy storage, and 2D materials. He has published more than 40 articles in peer-reviewed journals (> 3400 citations, h-index 32) and serves as a reviewer for journals including Nano Letters, Advanced Materials, Advanced Optical Materials, ACS Photonics, Optics Express, Nanoscale, Journal of American Ceramics Society, and others.
Ankun’s current research focuses on developing platforms to visualize and probe electrochemical transformations on site and during operations. These platforms will integrate a range of advanced testing methodologies and characterization techniques to allow simultaneous visualization, sensing, and analysis. With these in situ (i.e., on site) and operando (i.e., during operations) platforms, Dr. Yang’s team aims to understand, predict, and ultimately control energy materials and their electrochemical transformations in their native environments and at the most fundamental levels. This research will impact the design and performance of energy-storage devices, which are critical for many important technologies including portable electronics, transportation, and integration of renewable energy.
Vishal Mahajan, Stellantis – Member at Large
Vishal Mahajan is a Product Release and Validation Manager at Stellantis, North America. His current work focuses on cell engineering and validation for Stellantis vehicles across North America, Europe, and China. He has extensive experience in lithium ion cell technology verticals from materials development, cell design, development, and testing, as well as automotive battery pack integration. Before joining Stellantis, Vishal worked as Senior Technology Specialist at Samsung SDI where he managed the BEV, PHEV, and HEV cell development programs. He also worked as a research manager in XALT Energy before joining Samsung. There he developed high energy density cathode materials and lithium ion cells for automotive application. He was also a team member of EV Innovations Inc., which designed the X-Prize award-winning EV Wave-II. Vishal has 15 years of experience in lithium ion batteries. He is the author of 20 peer-reviewed papers and holds an MSc and PhD in Materials Engineering from the University of Nevada, Reno.
Nick Irish, General Motors – Member at Large
Nick Irish has more than 20 years of experience at General Motors characterizing electrochemical systems utilizing physicochemical measurements in all phases of the cell lifecycle—from manufacturing, to use, to end-of-life recycling. He holds a BSc in Chemistry with a Minor in Physics from the University of Michigan-Dearborn and MSc in Energy Systems Engineering from the University of Michigan. His current hobby is road tripping on weekends in his Chevrolet Bolt to see how much of the countryside can be explored in an electric vehicle!
ECS sections
ECS sections offer many opportunities for members to engage and expand their professional networks. Not a section member? Email customerservice@electrochem.org and ask to join your region’s ECS section.
