Austin Sendek is the founder and CEO of Aionics, Inc., a Silicon Valley startup that harnesses machine learning to accelerate materials R&D, with an emphasis on applications in electrochemical energy storage materials. Aionics (the name being a portmanteau of "A.I." and"ionics") has commercialized a machine learning software platform and commonly provides expert consulting to its clients, which range from small U.S.-based battery startups like Form Energy to international materials suppliers like Showa Denko. During his seminar, Austin will talk about his journey from his undergraduate days at UC Davis (Applied Physics B.S., '12) to his graduate career at Stanford (Applied Physics Ph.D., 2019) to his unexpected but ultimately enjoyable diversion into entrepreneurship.