The CESET Advisory Board unites distinguished leaders from electrochemical industry, venture capital, and corporate/philanthropic sectors to guide the center’s strategy and amplify its impact.
As thought partners and ambassadors, board members help refine CESET’s priorities to align with technological advances and societal needs; provide external validation of our research, education, and partnerships; expand strategic connections to industry, investors, policymakers, and donors; and mentor our community to accelerate translation from lab to real-world application.
Through regular engagement and targeted fundraising—including support for the dedicated CESET floor in Heathcock Hall—the Board helps ensure CESET thrives as a global leader in electrochemistry within UC Berkeley’s innovation ecosystem.
- Dr. Peter Foller, Board Chair — Electrochemist/engineer, semi-retired R&D Executive, start-up investor, and UC Berkeley Chemistry BS and PhD alumni. https://www.linkedin.com/in/peter-foller-80826426/
- Dr. Noël Bakhtian — Former Director of Tech Acceleration at the Bezos Earth Fund and inaugural head of the Department of Energy's Berkeley Lab Energy Storage Center. https://www.linkedin.com/in/noelbakhtian/
- Dr. Micha Ben-Naim —An investor at Clean Energy Ventures who leads technical due diligence on early-stage climate tech startups. Stanford electrochemistry PhD. https://www.linkedin.com/in/micha-ben-naim/
- Dr. Fadl Saadi — Working with Science for America, a cross-sector “solutions incubator” backed by leading foundations, and with experience across innovation and ARPA-e. Caltech electrochemistry PhD. https://www.linkedin.com/in/fadl-saadi/
- Dr. Jonathan Tan — Co-founder and CEO of Coreshell Technologies, which is scaling nanolayer battery coatings from lab to pilot production. Berkeley Chemical Engineering alumni. https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathan-tan-coreshell/
- Dr. Jake Christensen — Director of Energy Technologies and Chief Battery Modeling Engineer at Bosch Research North America. Berkeley electrochemical engineering PhD alumni.https://www.linkedin.com/in/jake-christensen-31a7a5/