Max Braun Email & Phone Number

San Francisco, Ca, Us

United States

As Senior battery engineer, I lead efforts with customers & cell manufacturers to validate cell design and product solutions for the continued & successful implementation of Sila’s novel material in commercial products. Using formal design of experiment (DOE), I worked to understand & optimize performance as a function of various cell parameters & chemistries. Additionally, I would use DOE to troubleshoot & perform root cause analysis of early cell failures. I also served as interim product manager to help establish product specification requirements. This was achieved through acquiring and consolidating customer & market data, in addition to coordinating fundamental performance analyses. As the lead engineer of Sila’s only programs with commercially deployed products, I was responsible for ensuring Sila’s product complied with all current and future quality agreements. This was accomplished through continuous collaboration with the quality, packaging, and materials development teams to create shelf life data packages and lead efforts to mitigate risk during product development. Finally, I served as a member of the Battery Safety Team. Safety is of utmost importance at Sila, and it was an honor to collaborate on efforts to increase safety and mitigate any risk to the physical well being of Silazens.

I served as technical lead for projects and programs in both customer support and development, all geared towards advancing the proliferation of next generation plasma etch tools. This included direct interaction with the production and R&D clients as the designated technical liaison, establishing and communicating customer needs for current and future product development. I also lead and collaborated on multifunctional teams to develop and provide robust solutions to advanced problems with state of the art plasma etch tools. As engineering lead of theses CFTs, I designed and executed robust test plans & analyzed data to validate solutions, as well as first-in-fab products and features.

Fremont, California

I supported internal and customer projects as the key engineer driving solutions to complex problems with advanced plasma processing tools. This was achieved through working directly with customers and account teams to increase productivity & efficiency while decreasing issues and failures through product revision and development.

Fort Collins, Colorado Area

I worked with Colorado State's Catalysis Collaboratory for Light-activated Earth Abundant Reagants (C-CLEAR) to develop prototype photocatalytic reactors for the conversion of wasted flare gas (~140 cubic meters per year) to liquid fuel

Fort Collins, Colorado Area

My graduate research with the Prieto group was focused on the understanding and control of a materials fundamental chemistry and physics and how those fundamental characteristics affect a materials physical properties. This understanding ultimately led to the investigation different device engineering approaches to uncover a materials applicable performance. Technical Instrument Experience: XRD, SEM, TEM, STEM, EDS, STEM, XPS UV-Vis-NIR Spectroscopy, Pair Distribution Function Analysis (synchrotron total scattering), Rietveld Refinement (synchrotron XRD), RAMAN, NMR, SS-NMR, Profilometry, DSC, TGA, GC-MS, Hall probe electrical measurements, Electrochemical measurements and deposition, PV-device performance measurements, Li-ion battery half-cell cycling measurements, Gas-solid adsorption/desorption kinetics measurements

Fort Collins, Colorado Area

As one of the primary users on CSU's JEOL 1400 120 keV Transmission Electron Microscope, when someone in the Chemistry Department was in need of TEM imaging, I would perform the microscopy for them. Additionally, I would train new users to learn how to use the instrument.

East Lansing, Mi

I worked as an undergraduate research assistant in both horticulture and chemistry under the tutelage of Dr. Tom Fernandez, Dr. Viktor Poltavets, and Emeritus Professor Dr. James Dye. The majority of my research experience took place under Dr. James Dye, where I was given the task of investigating the reductive cleavage of the N-O bond in Weinreb amides by sodium in alumina and silica gels. Additionally, I helped collect data for SigNa Chemistry, Inc. for their products producing energy from environmentally friendly reactions with water.

Doctor Of Philosophy - Phd, Chemistry

Ph.D. in Chemistry with a focus in inorganic materials for energy production and storage. Advisor: Amy Prieto

Bachelor Of Science (Bs), Chemistry