Ann Marie Sastry facts for kids

Ann Marie Sastry is an American engineer, a teacher, and a business leader. She was the President of Sakti3, a company that made solid-state batteries in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Before that, Sastry was a special professor at the University of Michigan from 1995 to 2012. She taught about mechanical, biomedical, and materials science engineering.

Ann Marie Sastry's Life

Ann Marie Sastry earned her first college degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Delaware. She was a special student there, called a Eugene I. DuPont Scholar. Later, she got her PhD degree in mechanical engineering from Cornell University.

In 1995, she joined the University of Michigan as a professor. While at the university, she started and led a special program. This program focused on advanced batteries for cars and energy systems.

What Ann Marie Sastry Researched

Sastry has worked on many different topics in her research. She studied composite materials, which are materials made from two or more different substances. She also looked into how things spread through materials, known as percolation.

Her work also included studying diabetes and, very importantly, battery materials. She focused on how to design and make batteries better. As of 2022, her research has been mentioned by other scientists over 11,000 times. This shows her work has been very important in her fields.

About Sakti3

Ann Marie Sastry helped start the solid-state battery company Sakti3 in 2008. It grew out of her lab at the university, and some of her students joined her. The company received money from the State of Michigan to help it grow. They hoped Sakti3 would create new jobs in Michigan. The company also got funding from the U.S. government.

Sakti3 once said it had many patents, which are special rights for inventions. In October 2015, a company called Dyson bought Sakti3. Dyson hoped Sakti3's battery technology could help them make electric cars.

However, by April 2017, Dyson decided that Sakti3's patents were not useful. Dyson then stopped using all of Sakti3's patents. Ann Marie Sastry left Dyson a few months later. In October 2019, Dyson announced that they had stopped their electric car project completely.

Some reports showed that the batteries Sakti3 made were only able to power very small devices.

Awards and Honors

Ann Marie Sastry has received many awards for her work.

• In 1997, she won the NSF PECASE Award. This is a special award for young scientists and engineers.
• In 2007, she received the Gustus L. Larson Memorial Award from the ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineers).
• In 2011, she won the Frank Kreith Award, also from the ASME.
• She was named an ASME fellow in 2004. This means she is recognized as a distinguished member of the ASME.