BrIAS Batteries 2025 - Keynote speakers
Prof. Anna Stefanoupoulou - University of Michigan
Anna is the Director of the Energy Institute, and the William Clay Ford Professor of Manufacturing at the University of Michigan. She has been on the faculty of the Department of Mechanical Engineering since 2000. She obtained her Diploma (1991, Nat. Tech. Univ. of Athens, Greece) in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering and her Ph.D. (1996, University of Michigan) in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. She served as the Director of the Automotive Research Center a multi-university U.S. Army Center of Excellence in Modeling and Simulation of Ground Vehicles (2009-2018). She was an assistant professor (1998-2000) at the University of California, Santa Barbara and a technical specialist (1996-1997) at Ford Motor Company where she developed nonlinear and multivariable models and controllers for advanced engines; her algorithms were implemented and tested in experimental vehicles.
Anna has been recognized as a Fellow of three different societies; the ASME (08), IEEE (09), and SAE (18). She is an elected member of the Executive Committee of the ASME Dynamics Systems and Control Division and the Board of Governors of the IEEE Control Systems Society. She is the Founding Chair of the ASME DSCD Energy Systems Technical Committee and a member of a U.S. National Research Council committee on the 2025 US. Light Duty Vehicle Fuel Economy Standards. She is a recipient of the 2017 IEEE Control System Technology award, the 2012 College of Engineering Research Award, the 2009 ASME Gustus L. Larson Memorial Award, a 2008 Univ. of Michigan Faculty Recognition award, the 2005 Outstanding Young Investigator by the ASME DSC division, a 2005 Henry Russel award, a 2002 Ralph Teetor SAE educational award, a 1997 NSF CAREER award and selected as one of the 2002 world’s most promising innovators from the MIT Technology Review.
She has co-authored a book, 20 US patents, and more than 250 publications (5 of which have received awards) on estimation and control of internal combustion engines and electrochemical processes such as fuel cells and batteries.
Prof. Alejandro Franco - Université de Picardie Jules Verne
Alejandro is a Full Professor at the Université de Picardie Jules Verne in the city of Amiens, France, and an Honorary Member of the Institut Universitaire de France.
Alejandro has 23 years of experience in the field of multiscale modeling of electrochemical energy devices. He leads the Theory Open Platform at the ALISTORE European Research Institute. Prof. Franco has been awarded an ERC Consolidator Grant for his pioneering ARTISTIC project, focusing on battery manufacturing digitalization through multiscale modeling and artificial intelligence. Additionally, he has received an ERC Proof of Concept grant for his innovative SMARTISTIC project, aimed at assisting battery manufacturers with digital technology. He has actively participated in numerous European projects and bilateral collaborations with the battery and fuel cell industry. Prof. Franco serves as the Chairman of the Expert Group “Digitalization, Measurement Methods, and Quality” in the European LiPLANET battery pilot lines network. In 2019, he was honored with the French Prize for Pedagogy Innovation for his utilization of Virtual Reality in teaching battery sciences. He has an extensive publication record, including over 160 publications, 12 invited book chapters, 3 edited books, and 23 patents. Prof. Franco is frequently invited to deliver plenary, keynote, and invited oral presentations in international conferences, totalling more than 135 invited lectures, as well as over 60 invited seminars in prestigious universities, institutes, and companies. He also coordinates the Erasmus+ i-MESC International Master Programme (Interdisciplinarity in Materials for Energy Storage and Conversion). Moreover, he is co-creating a startup that offers unique digital solutions, leveraging the pioneering research and expertise of his research group, to strongly support the battery .
Dr. Marja Vilkman - VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland
Marja is a Principal Scientist at VTT in Finland. She has a MSc. degree in chemical engineering and DSc. degree in physics, both from Aalto University.
Marja has worked with functional materials and their processing for 20 years. She develops materials and processing methods for sustainable next generation batteries, such as solid-state batteries and batteries that use more abundant or even bio-based materials. Marja is a coordinator of two EU projects about batteries, a recently ended HIDDEN project and an ongoing SOLiD project, which aim at producing Li-metal batteries with long lifetime and high energy density. She is also the research chair of the Batteries Europe/BEPA Working Group of Raw Materials and Recycling.
Dr. Jan Richter - Batemo
Jan studied electrical engineering and information technology at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). He focused on electric mobility and the fields of electrochemical energy storage, power electronics, and electrical machines. During his studies, he spent half a year working for the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics in China and for Mercedes-Benz Research & Development North America in the USA. Afterwards, he completed his doctorate on modelling, parameter identification and control of highly-utilized synchronous machines at the Institute of Electrical Engineering (ETI) at KIT, graduating summa cum laude. For his research he received the PCIM Young Engineer Award. As part of his activities, he developed a model-based development tool for power electronics and electrical machines for a Tier‑1 automotive supplier. During his undergraduate and graduate studies, he received a scholarship from the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes.
Along with Dr Michael Schönleber, Jan founded the company Batemo in March, 2017 in Karlsruhe, Germany. After a year-long product development, the Batemo Cells software was introduced to the market in March 2018. Since then, Batemo works with companies from different industries such as power tools, light mobility, automotive, aerospace, industrial and cell manufacturing sectors.
At the beginning of 2021, Batemo went into a strategic partnership with AVL. This is how all Batemo products are available for the AVL simulation and testing solutions to specifically service the automotive.
Batemo received the Stellantis Supplier Award 2021 in the category of innovation for their ability to propose breakthrough technical solutions and new value-creating services.