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Academic Credentials
  • Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering, Vanderbilt University, 2018
  • B.S., Physics, Tufts University, 2011
Professional Honors
  • NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, National Science Foundation, 2015-2018

Dr. Cohn is an experienced materials scientist specializing in battery technology. At Ä¢¹½tv, he leads a team focused on helping clients navigate challenges across the entire life cycle of their batteries and battery-powered products, including projects focused on technology due diligence, battery cell and pack quality evaluations, cycling studies, charging protocol analysis, customized abuse testing, root cause failure analysis, and product recalls involving the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). He supports clients across a range of battery sectors, including consumer electronics, electric vehicles, portable battery back-up systems, and residential and utility battery energy storage systems (BESS). Dr. Cohn is a member of the standard technical panel for UL 2743 Portable Power Packs. He has also guest lectured at University of California schools on lithium-ion battery technology and failure analysis techniques.

 Dr. Cohn has led a range of battery intellectual property (IP) litigation projects with experience analyzing batteries from the macro scale down to the atomic scale. He has experience supporting IP litigation related to battery manufacturing, electrode design, separator design, mechanical properties of current collectors, and nanoscale conductive additives and active material coatings. He has also conducted dozens of inspections and battery fire investigations.

Dr. Cohn has experience working on current and emerging battery chemistries, including lithium ion (NMC, NCA, LCO, LFP), rechargeable lithium metal, lithium thionyl chloride (Li/SOCl2), and lithium manganese dioxide (Li/MnO2). He has led the analysis of a large variety of cell types, including different 314 Ah and 628 Ah prismatic LFP cells for BESS applications. He is experienced at analyzing batteries using X-ray imaging, CT scanning, cell teardowns, cryo resistance, cryo hipot, reference electrode testing, cycling, electrical and thermal abuse testing. He is also skilled at characterizing battery materials using Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDS), scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM), focused ion beam (FIB), and particle size analysis techniques.

As a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow at Vanderbilt University, Dr. Cohn's research was focused on the design, development and characterization of new battery chemistries, including sodium-ion and sodium metal systems for low-cost stationary energy storage. To help better understand underlying battery mechanisms, he conducted in-situ studies of intercalation and electrochemical plating processes. He also gained experience with a range of synthesis and deposition techniques, including sol-gel synthesis, wet-chemical synthesis, hydrothermal synthesis, solid-state synthesis, aluminum anodization, chemical vapor deposition (CVD), and atomic layer deposition (ALD).