Claus Daniel is Associate Laboratory Director for Advanced Energy Technologies (AET). He leads an organization of scientists, engineers, and analysts working to develop globally needed solutions to deeply decarbonize the economy.

AET solves the most pressing energy, mobility, materials, and manufacturing challenges by using the laboratory’s world-class scientific and engineering expertise and facilities. The AET team collaborates with internal and external partners on cutting-edge research, development, demonstration, and deployment of clean energy technologies.

Dr. Daniel came to Argonne from the Carrier Corporation, where, as the Senior Director for Engineering Partnerships and Sustainability, he led academic, start-up, and government partnerships and the company’s strategy for sustainability focusing on the decarbonization of its product portfolio.

He has more than 20 years of experience in developing and advancing technologies in materials, manufacturing, and sustainability. He spent 16 years at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), where he held numerous leadership roles including leading the lab’s automotive and mobility research and applied energy programs. He has also held a professorship at the University of Tennessee (UT), Knoxville and continues to be an appointed friend of the UT Bredesen Center. He was the founding Director of the U.S. Department of Energy Battery Manufacturing Research and Development Facility at ORNL.

Dr. Daniel holds a doctorate and a master’s degree in materials science from the Saarland University and a master’s degree in materials science and engineering from the École Européenne d’ingénieurs en Génie des Matériaux. He was awarded a number of prizes including the Gilbreth lectureship award from the National Academy of Engineering, the Battelle Distinguished Inventor Award from ORNL, the Carl-Eduard-Schulte-Prize from the Association of German Engineers, the Eugene P. Wigner Fellowship Award from ORNL, the Werner Köster Prize from the German Materials Society, the Martin Koester Prize from the Saarland University, and others. He is a Kavli alumnus with the National Academy of Science. In 2015, he was part of the U.S. delegation to the Council of Academies of Engineering and Technological Societies Convocation in India.

Dr. Daniel is the editor of the second edition of Wiley-VCH’s ​“Handbook of Battery Materials”, has published over 100 peer-reviewed international journal publications, holds over two dozen patents, and is a member in the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Materialkunde, Materials Research Society, Society of Automotive Engineers, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.