Academic Credentials
  • Ph.D., Chemistry, Carnegie Mellon University, 2012
  • B.A., Chemistry, Colgate University, 2006

Dr. McGann is a physical chemist with a background in energy storage systems. He primarily provides consulting support for issues related to lithium-ion batteries and battery-containing systems. 

Dr. McGann advises clients in a variety of industries, including consumer electronics, energy storage systems, power tools, and e-mobility, covering small to large form factor batteries. His battery expertise spans the life cycle of a battery, from design, product integration and manufacturing quality control, through performance testing, abuse testing and failure analysis. He also supports clients in recall situations and litigation matters such as trade secret and intellectual property cases.

Dr. McGann also routinely provides consulting support to clients requiring nondestructive analysis using computed tomography (CT) X-ray scanning for polymeric, metallic or composite components and systems, microscopic and macroscopic. He applies his experience to a range of project types, including litigation support, product design, defect detection, part to CAD analysis, failure analysis, quality control, accident investigations and many others.

Prior to joining Exponent, Dr. McGann was a postdoctoral associate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he worked on the development of solar thermal fuels, a class of organic molecules that store solar energy for future on-demand use as heat. His graduate research at Carnegie Mellon University was centered on highly-ordered nanoporous carbon materials derived from the pyrolysis of block copolymer precursors for improved energy storage devices, including lithium-ion batteries and supercapacitors. Using a combination of characterization studies and computational modeling, he developed a multi-scale understanding of the heterogeneous material that was employed to optimize its performance in devices. Dr. McGann also has worked at Bayer MaterialScience, where he worked on the processing of carbon nanotubes as well as polymeric materials for antifouling coatings..