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 material scientist specializing in battery technology. At Exponent, he helps 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, product recalls, and intellectual property litigation. He supports clients across a range of battery applications, including consumer electronics, electric vehicles, portable battery back-up systems, and residential and utility energy storage systems. 

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 routinely analyzes batteries using X-ray CT scanning, cell teardowns, reference electrode testing, cycling, electrical and thermal abuse testing, and battery log data, using Python to analyze large data sets. 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), 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).