Alan West received his PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of California and his BS from Case Western Reserve University. He is the Samuel Ruben-Peter G. Viele Professor of Electrochemistry, with appointments in the Department of Chemical Engineering and the Department of Earth and Environmental Engineering. Professor West has served for 8 years as Chair of Chemical Engineering, a department that has doubled in size from 2010-2020. He most recently stepped down as Chair in 2019 and is the co-director of the Columbia Electrochemical Energy Center, which has grown to eleven core faculty from five Engineering departments, of which the majority are relatively new hires. His research interests include batteries, electrochemical synthesis, and electrodeposition.