Dr. Vivek Murthi, is the functional leader for Propulsion Research at Nikola Corporation encompassing Fuel Cell and Battery materials technology development activities, including accelerated stress test (AST) development efforts for heavy-duty truck applications. As the technical director and principal investigator, he has secured multiple US DOE awards for the development of highly durable novel membrane and MEA components tailored for heavy duty fuel cell trucks. Dr. Murthi has over eighteen (18) years of experience in fuel cell materials development and has also led product development and quality lab services teams for electroactive materials development for applications in industrial electrolysis and corrosion protection. Dr. Murthi started his career in the industry at UTC Power, as a senior scientist leading a multi-million-dollar fuel cell catalyst development project funded by the U.S. DOE and shortly after that was the release engineer for advanced gas diffusion layers for automotive fuel cell products. Prior to coming to Nikola, he was at De Nora Tech, where he was the lab services supervisor and later, as application specialist in the business development group. He led new application and product development efforts for De Nora E-TEK™ electrodes. Dr. Murthi is also a full member of the electrochemical society and an active contributor to the AST-working group which is responsible for developing ASTs for the DOE’s HFTO fuel cell program. Dr. Murthi is also a reviewer for DOE-HFTO and the New Mexico TRGR initiative.