Dr. Smirnova, a Tenured Associate Professor at SDSMT, will serve as the Executive IUCRC CEPS Director. Her expertise is reflected in over 200 publications focused mainly on sustainable energy and energy generation and storage. Dr. Smirnova served as the PI on many national and international projects funded by ACS, NASA, DOE, DOD, and NATO. As the NATO project Director, Dr. Smirnova supervised an International NATO Science for Peace project “SOFCs for energy security” involving many US and European academic and industrial institutions. In 2020 Dr. Smirnova started a new graduate program, “Green and Sustainable Chemistry,” at SDSMT, emphasizing the importance of eco-friendly concepts of next-generation energy storage. She currently on the Editorial Board for the “Sustainability” journal and is actively involved in outreach activities including American Indian and minority students.

Dr. Duane Abata is the Co-PI and CEPS Coordinator. Dr. Abata serves as a Full Professor of mechanical engineering at SDSMT. His expertise is in thermosciences, combustion, physics, and chemistry. He served as a Director of the IUCRC ‘Center for BioEnergy Research and Development’ (2010 – 2015). In 2001-2003 Dr. Abata was an NSF Program Manager at and worked directly with Alex Schwarzkopf on the IUCRC program. Dr. Abata has held several administrative positions during his academic career, including Dean of Engineering at three institutions, and was a President of ASEE.

Dr. Numan-Al-Mobin is the Assistant Director of CEPS. He holds M.S. degree in Electrical Engineering and Ph.D. in Materials Engineering and Science, both from SDSMT. His research interests are focused on battery management systems, solid-state batteries, and additive manufacturing. His expertise is reflected in over 25 peer-reviewed articles. In addition to his research activities, he is proficient in CEPS networking and performs the overall control of the CEPS website.

Dr. Quinn Qiao is a CEPS Site Director and a Tenured Full Professor at Syracuse University. Prior to joining Syracuse University, Dr. Qiao was a Harold C. Hohbach Professor and Graduate Director at South Dakota State University (SDSU). He was the Director for the 3,300 ft2 class 1000 cleanroom facilities at SDSU. He is co-founder of Nano Tek, LLC, a spin-off start-up company to commercialize photovoltaics, biodevices, sensors, and lithium metal/ion batteries using advanced micro/nanofabrication approaches. He has published over 200 peer-reviewed articles in high-impact journals and, in recent years, received over $11M in research grants from many federal agencies and industrial corporations. Dr. Qiao chaired many national and international conferences, served as a primary organizer for ACS symposium “Organic, Perovskite and Hybrid Solar Cells” and is currently an Associate Editor for IEEE Access.

Dr. Mukerjee, a tenured Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, serves as the Northeastern University (NEU) Site Director. He is a Faculty Director of the Center “Northeastern University for Renewable Energy Technology” (NUCRET) that leads the national and worldwide efforts in developing fuel cells, as well as novel chemistries for advanced rechargeable batteries for real life applications ranging from portable power to large scale energy storage (lithium-ion, lithium-air, lithium-oxygen, sodium-air, and hydrogen-bromine).

Dr. Pann is an Executive Director for the NEU Renewable Energy Technology (NUCRET) center and the NEU Site Associate Director. brings to NUCRET over 25 years of combined academic, engineering, business, international collaboration, and entrepreneurial experience. His background is in the areas of materials science, physical metallurgy, technology development, characterization and deployment for non-equilibrium systems, powder metallic, ceramic and composites, intercalated battery materials and high temperature ceramic fuel cells.

Dr. George Langelett is the Managing Director and Corporate Liaison at CEPS. Dr Langelett is a Full Professor of economics in the Ness School of Management and Economics at South Dakota State University and brings to the IUCRC CEPS over 25 years of academic and business experience. Dr. Langelett has expertise in intellectual property and was formerly a General Partner at Dakota Financial Research, where he worked as a Forensic Economist and a Business Valuation Analyst. He currently is serving on the Dakotaland FCU Board of Directors.