Adrian Yao Email & Phone Number

Indianapolis, In, Us

Stanford, Ca, Us

Indianapolis, Indiana, Us

- Advising on company technology roadmap, intellectual property, Li-ion cell design (stack-level and cell-level), equipment ramp-up, and business development- Supporting talent acquisition of critical cell engineering and process engineering hires

Indianapolis, Indiana, Us

- Founder of startup commercializing next-generation Li-ion battery cell technology enabling fast-charge, high-energy density, and high-power for electric mobility- Developed a technology from lab to commercial scale. Customer qualification cells to commence in 2022 and product sales to commence in 2023 in newly acquired ~100k sqft U.S. cell manufacturing facility - Assisted in assembling technical team of 25 FTEs and overall company of 40+ employees and growing- Assisted in multiple fundraises – totaling >$20M committed to-date- Engaged with multiple major global automotive OEMs and BEV-adjacent market customers through technical evaluations. Shipped electrode and cell samples in multiple successful third-party evaluations- Won a 12-month DOE-USABC contract with $2M follow-on project awarded and commencing in 3Q 2022 - Led company intellectual property strategy execution – acquired 15+ granted Patents (covering a total of 5 jurisdictions) across 20+ families within 5-year timeframe via strategic filings- Primary lead in bring-up of various equipment in newly acquired 800MWh/y cell manufacturing facility, including (4) pilot and production slot-die coaters, large-format and prototype pouch cell assembly lines, dry-room dehumidification systems, and reliability testing- Custom-developed Cell Design Tool executable software GUI in Python/Tkinter to aid battery engineers in predicting full cell voltage curves, properly balance electrodes, and curve match against experimental data - Custom-developed Part Tracking/MES Database Software via 25k+ lines of code in Django Framework using Python, JavaScript, HTML, and interfacing with AWS RDS and S3- Established complete 5,500 sqft pilot cell R&D prototyping line (240 kWh/year) in Phoenix, AZ by sourcing all equipment from international vendors, domestic auctions, or building custom equipment for pouch cell assembly. Completed setup in under 6-months and $1M while obtaining UL-equivalent certification and permitting

Indianapolis, Indiana, Us

(Formerly known as Big Delta Systems, Inc.)- Worked closely with toll coaters around the U.S. to establish proof-of-concept of EnPower technology – de-risked technology approach prior to assembling pilot facility- Developed high-voltage continuous electrospray deposition process for high-viscosity electrode slurries to achieve <±2% coating uniformity for rapid prototyping of multilayer electrode architectures- Won two SBIR contracts/grants from DOD/NSF and a Small Business Voucher program from the DOE

Stamford, Ct, Us

- Evaluated roll-to-roll production process of glass fiber woven textiles for reinforced composites at micro- and macroscopic levels via surface characterizations and mechanical testing- Studied root causes for occasional failure in product line and developed potential solutions- Examined effects of leaner production cycles on products to reduce processing Takt time

Houston, Tx, Us

- Researched electrically conductive double-walled carbon nanotube wires in partnership with NanoRidge Materials, Inc. in the Barrera Group- Designed experiment apparatus that can measure changes in resistance in vitro while doping

Hsin Chu, Tw

- Conducted patent research on patent databases and presented the potentials and risks of the company entering a new field- Composed and edited supply agreements, non-disclosure agreements, and other legal documents

Materials Science & Engineering

Bachelor Of Science (B.S.), Materials Science & Engineering

High School