Academic Credentials
  • Ph.D., Chemical Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, 2019
  • B.S., Chemical Engineering, University of Colorado, Boulder, 2014
Licenses & Certifications
  • Professional Engineer Chemical, California, #7176
Professional Honors
  • Intelligence Community Postdoctoral Fellowship at MIT, 2020 – 2022
  • Certificate in Data Science, University of Washington, 2024
  • MIT Infinite Mile Award, 2022
  • Marilyn and Howard L. Anseth Outstanding Undergraduate Research Award, 2014
Professional Affiliations
  • American Chemical Society (ACS)
  • Society of Polymer Engineering (SPE)
  • Electrochemical Society (ECS)

Dr. Diederichsen specializes in the application of fundamental chemical engineering principals to understand the performance and failure of complex materials systems. With his background in polymer synthesis and characterization, chemical species transport, separations processes, battery technology, electrochemistry, and data analysis, he supports clients in a wide range of industries including building materials, construction, automotive, oil and gas, and consumer electronics.

Dr. Diederichsen has led and participated in investigations stemming from major litigation involving the analysis of plastic plumbing failures, chemical contamination, and industrial chemical processing. He has also assisted clients in proactive materials design and selection, and intellectual property evaluation.

Dr. Diederichsen is experienced with a range of characterization techniques to probe chemical, physical and thermal properties of polymeric and ion-containing materials, including thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), dynamic scanning calorimetry (DSC), gel permeation chromatography (GPC), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM).  He has built custom test systems for polymer characterization, flow electrochemistry, and gas absorption that combine fundamental understanding with engineering principles to illustrate solutions to multi-scale challenges and leveraged experience in Python and data science to automate and speed analysis.

Prior to joining Exponent, Dr. Diederichsen was a Postdoctoral Fellow at MIT where he worked with electrochemical carbon capture in continuous systems incorporating hollow fiber membranes, combining experience in flow electrochemistry and membrane contactor technology. His projects included finite element modeling and nondimensional analysis of separations systems. For his doctoral work, Dr. Diederichsen attended the University of California, Berkeley, focusing on the design and characterization of high transference number polymer — based electrolytes for lithium batteries including both solid polysulfone materials and polyelectrolyte solutions. His research interests have also included the self-assembly of block copolymer thin films for lithography.