Speaker

Jeff Sakamoto joined UC Santa Barbara’s College of Engineering faculty in 2024 with joint appointments in the Mechanical Engineering and Materials Departments. He has 25 years of experience studying and translating electrochemical materials into energy storage technologies.

Prior to joining the UCSB faculty, Sakamoto spent nine years at the University of Michigan, where he served as director of Michigan’s Department of Energy Frontiers Research Center, called the Mechano-chemical Understanding of Solid Ion Conductors), MUSIC. Last year, Sakamoto also served as the faculty lead in a successful push to establish the EV Center at Michigan, testifying before state representatives about the importance of developing next-generation batteries, manufacturing state-of-the-art Li-ion batteries, and educating and training battery scientists and engineers.

Sakamoto also spent six years as a faculty member at Michigan State and seven years as a senior engineer at NASA/Caltech/Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He is a Kavli Frontiers of Science Fellow, a recipient of the Major Space Act Award from the NASA Inventions and Contributions Board, the primary contributor on nearly three dozen patents, and founded and co-founded three startups. Sakamoto received his PhD in materials engineering from UCLA and served four years in the U.S. Army.

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