About
I am a Mechanical Engineer with a passion for renewable energy and mechanical design. My expertise includes prototype scale up, product design and development, material and product testing, manufacturing, injection molding, research and development, system modeling, CFD, FEA, and data analysis. I am also proficient in Autodesk Inventor, Vault, Python, Excel VBA, LTspice, and ANSYS simulation software. I hold an M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Oregon State University, where I studied wave energy converters, mechanical design, system modeling, and control systems. I spent the next decade at ESS, where I played a key role in the design and development of the iron redox flow battery cell stack, as well as system, manufacturing, and test equipment design projects. During my tenure, ESS grew from a startup of five engineers to a publicly traded company. I am the inventor on seven patents and have experience managing teams of engineers. In my free time, I enjoy biking, climbing, skiing, spending time outdoors, and traveling.
Experience
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Mechanical Engineer / Owner
Energy Scale, LLC · Self-employed
Feb 2023 –
Present
2 yrs
Oregon City, OR, United States
● Engineering and design services tailored to the clean tech sector
● Scale technologies from prototype to commercialization
● Reduce BOM cost by redesigning parts for high-volume production
● Analyze complex mechanical, fluid, and electrochemical systems using FEA, CFD, Design, and Analysis
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Principal Mechanical Engineer
ESS Tech, Inc. · Full-time
Aug 2022 –
Dec 2023
1 yrs 4 mos
Wilsonville, OR, United States
● Developed next generation designs for the all-iron redox flow battery.
● Modeled different battery architectures presenting trade-off studies of cost vs. performance gains.
● Prototyped various cost-reduced cell stack manufacturing technologies performing material testing of critical assembly joint areas.
● Proposed several high-value projects for the technology roadmap.
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Lead Mechanical Engineer
ESS Tech, Inc. · Full-time
Jan 2020 –
Aug 2022
2 yrs 7 mos
Wilsonville, OR, United States
● Increased battery form factor by six-fold, increasing energy and power density while simplifying manufacturing.
● Lead a product development team of engineers and technicians to bring the next generation cell stack from prototype to production.
● Developed manufacturing processes and work-instructions for next generation products as part of a cross-functional team of engineers and manufacturing technicians.
● Found root cause and corrective actions for a multitude of scale-up issues allowing a successful product launch.
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Senior Mechanical Engineer
ESS Tech, Inc. · Full-time
Oct 2016 –
Jan 2020
3 yrs 3 mos
Wilsonville, OR, United States
● Lead a cross-functional team of mechanical, electrical, chemical, and software engineers in the design of an updated, cost-reduced, containerized iron flow battery system.
● Scaled the organization by contributing to the development of the engineering change order (ECO) and engineering data management systems.
● Redesigned the flow cell battery stack to incorporate significant cost reductions transitioning metal machined parts to weldments and replacing o-ring seals with epoxy bonded joints.
● Lead root cause and corrective action initiatives on the manufacturing floor, leading a group of manufacturing engineers and technicians in the development of standard process documentation and reporting.
● Conceptualized larger format battery designs with trade-off studies for shunt currents, pressure drops, storage, and power.
● Gathered design consensus for next generation battery module with executives and engineers.
● Designed and prototyped early prototypes of the full-scale cell stack battery product bringing a six-fold increase in battery module size.
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Associate Mechanical Engineer
ESS Tech, Inc. · Full-time
Jul 2013 –
Nov 2015
2 yrs 4 mos
Wilsonville, OR, United States
● Developed new cell designs bringing the redox flow battery cell stack from the laboratory to prototype production scale.
● Increased battery scale from single cell to multi-cell, fulfilling DOE ARPA-E grants.
● Designed prototype battery test stand and equipment, allowing the first prototype production scale testing of the iron redox flow battery.
● Part of a cross-functional design team delivering the first:
Multi-stack redox flow battery system to be tested further fulfilling DOE ARPA-E grants; commercial iron flow battery system delivered to a customer.
Education
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Oregon State University
Masters of Science in Mechanical Engineering, Design, GPA: 3.82
2011 – 2013
● Magna Cum Laude
● Graduate Research Assistant for Northwest National Marine Renewable Energy Center (NNMREC)
● Thesis: Modeling, Simulation, and Analysis of Two Hydraulic Power Take-off Systems for Wave Energy Conversion- Oregon State University, June 6, 2013
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Oregon State University
Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, GPA: 3.80
2007 – 2011
● Magna Cum Laude
● Undergraduate Research Assistant- Wind Energy Lab
● Senior Project: Designed and fabricated a wave energy converter prototype.