Address:
U.S. Department of Energy – Advanced Materials & Manufacturing Office
Room 5F-065, MS EE-5A
1000 Independence Ave, SW
Washington, DC 20585
AMMTO Leadership
Dr. Christopher Saldaña, Director
Dr. Christopher Saldaña is the director of the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office (AMMTO). As director of the office, Dr. Saldaña is leading the office's strategy, management, and execution to advance materials and manufacturing technologies for the energy industrial base.
Dr. Saldaña joined AMMTO from Georgia Tech's George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, where he served as the Ring Family Professor of Mechanical Engineering. Prior to that role, he held the Harold and Inge Marcus Career Professorship at the Pennsylvania State University and worked as a research engineer at M4 Sciences Corporation.
Dr. Saldaña has extensive experience in supporting both industry and government laboratories though visiting affiliations/positions with the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory, the Indian Institute of Science, Technische Universität Dortmund, Autodesk, and Sandia National Laboratories. Dr. Saldaña has received several awards, including an NSF CAREER award, the Robert J. Hocken SME Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer award and an R&D100 Technology Award. He serves on the editorial boards of Manufacturing Letters, Computer Aided Design and Applications, and the ASTM Journal of Smart and Sustainable Manufacturing. Dr. Saldaña's research interests are centered on establishing the processing science needed to realize next generation material systems and manufacturing processes. Dr. Saldaña received his B.S. degree from Virginia Tech, and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Purdue University.
Dr. Diana Bauer, Deputy Director
Dr. Diana Bauer is the Deputy Director of AMMTO. Dr. Bauer helps lead the strategic direction and execution of AMMTO’s funding to advance energy-related materials and manufacturing technologies to increase domestic competitiveness and build a clean, decarbonized economy.
Dr. Bauer has departmental and interagency leadership roles in energy storage and critical materials. Before joining AMMTO, Diana directed the Office of Energy Systems Integration Analysis within the Department’s Office of Policy, where she and her staff looked at the connection between energy and other systems. She was the lead author of The Water-Energy Nexus: Challenges and Opportunities in 2014. Also, in the policy office, she led the drafting of DOE’s 2010 and 2011 Critical Materials Strategy reports.
Before coming to DOE, Diana led the extramural sustainability research program at the Environmental Protection Agency, which focused on green engineering, green chemistry, green buildings, and transportation systems.
She has a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering with a concentration in green design and manufacturing from the University of California, Berkeley.
Dr. Kathryn Peretti, Secure and Sustainable Materials Program Manager
Kate Peretti is the Program Manager for AMMTO's Secure and Sustainable Materials subprogram. Prior to this, she was the Program Manager for the Advanced Manufacturing Office (AMO) Consortia pillar. She came to AMO as a AAAS Science and Technology Fellow in 2018, where she worked primarily on projects funded through the Rapid Advancement of Process Intensification Deployment (RAPID) Institute on process intensification and modularization. Her portfolio includes material sustainability where she works on material recyclability, particularly of plastics, and topics related to the circular economy.
Prior to arriving at DOE, she spent a decade in industry where she worked in chemicals research as a lab supervisor and product manager.
She graduated with a BA in Chemistry and Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania in 2002 and earned her PhD in Organic Chemistry from Cornell in 2007.
Dr. Huijuan Dai, Next Generation Materials and Processes Program Manager
Dr. Huijuan Dai serves as the Program Manager for AMMTO’s Next Generation Materials and Processes subprogram. Her portfolio encompasses smart manufacturing, cybersecurity for manufacturing, high-performance computing, additive manufacturing, composites, conductivity-enhanced materials, and materials designed for harsh service conditions. Dr. Dai’s responsibilities include oversight of three Manufacturing USA institutes: the Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation (IACMI), the Clean Energy Smart Manufacturing Innovation Institute (CESMII), and the Cybersecurity Manufacturing Innovation Institute (CyManII).
Before joining the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Dr. Dai spent over 15 years driving industry research and technology development across the aerospace, oil and gas, and renewable energy sectors. She played a key role in shaping the vision and technology strategies for advancing and implementing high-value advanced manufacturing and additive manufacturing opportunities across energy sectors. Huijuan also brings more than a decade of experience in program and team management, successfully leading multidisciplinary teams from idea generation, rapid prototyping to new technology/product introduction.
She has a Ph.D. in Materials Science from the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom, and an MBA with a specialization in Business Analytics from the University of South Carolina in the United States.
Dr. Seema Somani, Energy Technology Manufacturing and Workforce Program Manager
Dr. Seema Somani is the Energy Technology Manufacturing and Workforce Program Manager for AMMTO. She has over 20 years of experience in photonics, semiconductors, and capital equipment, having led product development from concept to commercialization.
Prior to joining AMMTO, Dr. Somani served as the head of advanced technology development at Thermo Fisher Scientific, where she provided strategic leadership for developing product and IP roadmaps to push the envelope in computing hardware and IoT. Additionally, Dr. Somani led a multidisciplinary team to design and deliver new products, solved complex problems leveraging business and technical acumen, directed translational R&D, and owned innovation portfolio and assessed product-market fit.
She has a Ph.D in applied physics and a minor in electrical engineering from Standford University, as well as an M.S. in microelectronics and an M.Sc in physics from the Indian Institute of Technology.
Kristen McDaniel, Program Manager for Technical Projects
Kristen McDaniel works as the Program Manager for the Technical Projects team. In this role, Kristen is responsible for the execution of AMMTO's activities through the Golden Field Office, including the competitive solicitation process and active project management of the research, development, demonstration and deployment (RDD&D) award portfolio. She also manages the AMMTO Technical Project Officers team. Prior to this, Kristen worked as a Technical Project Officer within AMMTO and its predecessor office, AMO. She also served as a technical contractor for several years within DOE.
Her portfolio/scope/area of expertise includes project management for RDD&D awards in innovative clean energy technologies, including AMMTO’s Manufacturing USA Institutes. She focuses on opportunities for collaboration and process improvement across AMMTO’s portfolio of active projects.
Before joining DOE, Kristen worked as an engineer and project manager for diverse industries, from oil and gas to nonprofit community development.
Kristen has a BS in Civil Engineering from Cornell University and a MS in Community and Regional Planning from the University of Texas at Austin. She is also a certified Project Management Professional (PMP).
Matthew Carnavos, Operations Supervisor
Matthew Carnavos serves as the Operations Supervisor for AMMTO. He serves as the principal advisor to the AMMTO Director/Deputy Director and senior management on Federal and Departmental goals, policies, programs, projects, and efforts on all aspects of planning/programming, budget, finance, and administration. He also manages the AMMTO operations team responsible for all operational activities that include program planning; budget formulation and execution; national lab performance; knowledge management; and staff hiring, retention and recruitment.
Before Joining AMMTO, Matthew worked in several program roles within DOE including serving on the team that started the DOE Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations, advising the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Operations in EERE on budget formation and analysis, and as the budget analysis lead for the DOE Office of Science in the Office of the DOE Chief Financial Officer. Matthew previously also held roles in the National Science Foundation within the Directorate for Engineering and Budget Office with a focus on portfolio analysis and budget formulation. He also worked at the Federal Emergency Management Agency where he oversaw the formulation and execution of the budget for the Flood Mitigation and Insurance Administration.
Matthew received both his Bachelor and Master of Engineering degrees from The Catholic University of America in biomedical engineering.
