- Developed research projects and external collaborations to identify opportunities to improve the fuel cell CL & GDL supporting the company’s objective– Managed a team of 3+ engineers & scientists for task allocation and prioritizing strategies for technology development– Responsible for securing research grants of over 650K CAD to aid in product and business development– Implemented material and process variations to improve the consistency and throughput of cathode CL coating processes by up-to 75% and cost reduction by up-to 50%– Developed in-house characterization methods for testing the catalyst degradation and GDL microstructure– Developed strategies to improve the cathode lifetime and battery SOC– Member of the internal patent review committee and served as point of contact with the IP agent

- Developed ink recipes to enhance CL porosity and improving in-situ performance for inkjet printed electrodes with reduced Pt loading- Developed tools to measure hydrophilic and total porosity of the CL/GDL structures using densometer setup- Fabrication and characterization of novel electrode structures- sub-scale MEA assembly, testing and data analysis- Contributing to preparation of reports/work procedures and presenting results to the team members

Ph.D topic: Development and Characterization of Inkjet Printed PEFC Electrodes- Successfully demonstrated inkjet printing as a tool for PEFC CL and MPL fabrication- Involved in extensive electrochemical characterization using ex-situ and in-situ methods- Optimized process parameters and in-depth analysis of kinetic and transport parameters with respect to catalyst loading and operating conditions to draw correlations- Developed a theoretical model for ink based on colloidal interactions to determine aggregate size distribution, effect of ionomer and its experimental validation

- Tested low loading PEM electrodes using a segmented PCB to analyze in-plane current density distribution and identify membrane pinhole - Carried out spectroscopic analysis using XPS for through-plane ionomer distribution in the CL and its variation with the type of carbon support

ALTE1155: Fuel Cells and Co-generation technologies course.- Taught a batch of 25 students for 1st year students of the Alternative Energy Technology program- Responsibilities included classroom teaching 3 hrs/week, conducting lab experiments (3 hrs/biweekly), coordinating group projects, assignments, midterm and final exams.

Worked at the Advanced Space Science and Technology (ASST) department at NASA ARC. Responsibilities:- Analyzed carbon nano-tube AFM tips using raman spectrometer for surface enhanced raman spectroscopy- Fabricated and characterized biocompatible silk substrates as potential membranes for energy conversion devices

Chemical Engineering Process Development (CEPD) division:- Worked on process involving autothermal reforming of methanol/LPG for hydrogen production to power a 5kW PEM fuel cell- Process involved optimizing the operation of the reactor using high/low temperature shift for steam reforming process and PrOx for CO reduction and water gas shift reaction

- Worked at the QC, manufacturing section and process line of the Brewery (Kingfisher) and the spirits (McDowell) division

- Was responsible for the quality testing and control of the mango pulp manufactured at SunSip, Bangalore, a supplier to PepsiCo- Work involved supervising the production workforce and testing of the product to meet the standards