Academic Credentials
  • Ph.D., Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, University of Pennsylvania, 2019
  • M.S., Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, University of Pennsylvania, 2017
  • B.S., Chemical Engineering, Bucknell University, 2013
Licenses & Certifications
  • Professional Engineer Chemical, California, #7066
  • Professional Engineer Chemical, Massachusetts, #59631
  • Professional Engineer Chemical, New York, #110464
  • Certified Fire and Explosion Investigator (CFEI)
Professional Affiliations
  • National Association of Fire Investigators
  • NattBatt Battery Safety Committee
  • American Institute of Chemical Engineers

Dr. Synodis is an experienced chemical engineer that specializes in energy storage and battery powered systems. At Exponent, he leads a team that focuses on the failure analysis, safety testing, and quality analysis of lithium-ion batteries and investigates complex technical issues involving battery safety and performance. He supports clients across a range of sectors, including electric vehicles, micromobility, residential and utility energy storage systems, as well as consumer electronics and wearables.

As a professional engineer (PE) and a Certified Fire and Explosions Investigator (CFEI), Dr. Synodis has led numerous product liability litigation investigations. He has conducted dozens of scene and laboratory inspections related to battery failures and fires, and he is experienced with a range of failure analysis techniques, including utilizing X-ray imaging, computed tomography (CT) scanning, cell teardowns, cryo-resistance, optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy.

In the transportation space, Dr. Synodis has led fire investigations spanning single vehicle incidents to issues impacting large electric bus fleets, and he has supported clients through product recall scenarios and communications with regulatory agencies such as NHTSA. He also has experience in the micromobility space, where he has assessed e-bike and e-scooter battery packs in the context of product development, insurance claims, and litigation. He has performed battery pack design reviews, manufacturing quality evaluations, and cell quality assessments.

Dr. Synodis is skilled at performing large-scale battery abuse testing to identify potential failure mechanisms, assess risk, and offer guidance to help clients design for prevention of hazards in the field. He has performed customized abuse tests as well as standards-guided testing (e.g., UL 1642, SAE J2464, UL 2580).

Prior to joining Exponent, Dr. Synodis was a graduate research associate at the University of Pennsylvania, where he completed his PhD. In his time at Penn he developed processes based on MEMS techniques for the fabrication of micro-lithium-ion and micro-zinc-air batteries for use in high rate and on-chip power applications. Dr. Synodis has expertise with micro-fabrication technologies, including electrodeposition, sputter deposition, lithography, evaporative deposition, and laser micromachining. His thesis contained work on developing optimized electro-polymerization conditions of conductive polymers for use laminated multilayer microstructures. 

Dr. Synodis also previously worked in manufacturing for L'Oreal USA in Piscataway, NJ, where he focused on optimizing line efficiencies and improving supply chain flexibility.