Subhash C. Singhal, Battelle Fellow and Director, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, USA
Biography: Dr. Singhal worked as a Battelle Fellow and Director, Fuel Cells at PNNL from 2000 to 2013 and provided senior technical, managerial, and commercialization leadership to the laboratory’s extensive fuel cell and clean energy programs. Before that, he worked for over 29 years, initially as a scientist and later as Manager-Fuel Cell Technology at the Westinghouse Electric Corporation. While at Westinghouse (that later became part of Siemens), he conducted and/or managed major research, development, and demonstration programs in the field of advanced materials and energy systems including steam and gas turbines, coal gasification, and fuel cells. From 1984 to 2000, as manager of Fuel Cell Technology there, he was responsible for the development of solid oxide fuel cells for stationary power generation. In this role, he led an internationally recognized group in fuel cell technology and brought this technology from a few-watt laboratory curiosity to fully-integrated 200 kW size power generation systems. He has authored 100 scientific publications, edited 17 books, received 13 patents, and given over 325 plenary, keynote and other invited presentations worldwide.
Dr. Singhal has also served as an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Utah, and a Visiting Professor at the China University of Mining and Technology-Beijing and the Kyushu University-Japan. He serves on the Advisory Boards of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Florida, Florida Institute for Sustainable Energy, Division of Materials Science and Engineering at Boston University, Materials Research Science and Engineering Center at the University of Maryland, Center on Nanostructuring for Efficient Energy Conversion at Stanford University, and the Fuel Cell Institute at the National University of Malaysia.
Dr. Singhal is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering and the Washington State Academy of Sciences; a Fellow of four professional societies (American Ceramic Society, The Electrochemical Society, ASM International, and American Association for the Advancement of Science); and a senior member of the Mineral, Metals & Materials Society (TMS). He served on the Electrochemical Society’s Board of Directors during 1992-94, received its Outstanding Achievement Award in High Temperature Materials in 1994, and continues as the Chairman of its International Symposium on Solid Oxide Fuel Cells held biennially since 1989. He served as President of the International Society for Solid State Ionics during 2003-2005. He received the American Ceramic Society’s Edward Orton Jr. Memorial Award in 2001; an Invited Professorship Award from the Japan Ministry of Science, Education and Culture in 2002; Christian Friedrich Schoenbein Gold Medal from the European Fuel Cell Forum in 2006; Fuel Cell Seminar Award for outstanding leadership and innovation in the promotion and advancement of fuel cell technology in 2007; and the prestigious Grove Medal in 2008 for sustained advances in fuel cell technology.
Dr. Singhal serves on the Editorial Board of the Elsevier’s Journal of Power Sources and was an Associate Editor of ASME’s Journal of Fuel Cell Science and Technology. He has also served on many national and international advisory panels including those of the National Academies, Materials Properties Council, National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Energy, NATO Advanced Study Institutes and NATO Science for Peace Programs, United Nations Development Program (UNDP), United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), International Energy Agency (IEA), and the European Commission.