Kevin W. Gao
2026- Senior Cell Engineer, Tesla2025-26 Senior Scientist, Sonocharge Energy
2022-25 Staff Battery Scientist, Blue Current
2022 Ph.D. Chemical Engineering, University of California, Berkeley
2017 B.S. Chemical Engineering, Caltech
2016 Summer Undergraduate Research Fellow, MIT
2013 Intern, Los Alamos National Lab
I will be starting work at Tesla as a Senior Cell Engineer on the In House Cell Development team. Previously, I was a Senior Scientist at Sonocharge Energy, working on modeling the effect of acoustics on battery performance. Prior to that I was a Staff Battery Scientist on the R&D Anode team at Blue Current, working on silicon anodes for next generation solid state batteries.
My PhD is from the University of California, Berkeley where I was a member of the Balsara Lab, a member of the Joint Center for Energy Storage Research (JCESR) Solid Solvation Thrust, and affiliated with Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. My graduate research focused on the ion transport and thermodynamic properties of polymer blend electrolytes for application in lithium batteries and beyond. More broadly, my interests encompass energy storage, alternative energy solutions, and optimization of processes.
Please contact me via email if you would like to collaborate, brainstorm ideas, or learn more about my work.
In my free time, I play soccer, and volunteer as an assistant coach and financial officer for Born to Run Track Club, a non-profit youth track club in the Bay Area. I also help my wife sell track and field safety hurdles at PRS Athletics.
My resume is available here.
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6794-1265Contact: kevin.wu.gao@gmail.com