Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering Elham Sahraei received the 2025 SAE International Award for Safety in Transportation honoring Arnold W. Siegel for her work researching the behavior of lithium-ion batteries during impact conditions.
From left to right: Jay Solomond (Chief operating officer, Performance Review Institute), Elham Sahraei, Robert Ireland (SAE International past president).
Photo courtesy of Elham Sahraei
Earlier this year, Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering Elham Sahraei received the 2025 SAE International Award for Safety in Transportation Honoring Arnold W. Siegel. The award recognizes those making an impact on transportation safety.
Sahraei received the honor for her and her team’s contributions to the crashworthiness of lithium-ion batteries, advancing the understanding of battery behavior under impact conditions and enabling safer designs and protection strategies.
She serves as director of both the Electric Vehicle Safety Lab and the Center for Battery Safety (CBS), conducting research on the safety of lithium-ion batteries in electrical vehicles. Additionally, CBS works with several industry member stakeholders, partnering academia and industry to conduct research that optimizes battery safety.
“It is a profound honor to receive the SAE International Award for Safety in Transportation Honoring Arnold W. Siegel, she said. “Looking at the distinguished leaders who have received this award over the past decades—such as Rolf H. Eppinger, Albert I. King, and Priya Prasad—the first names I encountered when I began reading papers and reports in vehicle crashworthiness and occupant protection, and whose contributions have shaped the safety of our transportation systems, I feel both humbled and inspired that my name now appears alongside theirs among the recipients of this award. This recognition motivates me to continue working hard and striving to be deserving of it.”
Last month, CBS held a workshop at Temple University Rome with participants ranging from electric vehicle and battery manufacturers to pack designers and software companies across several countries. Their next workshop will be at Main Campus on December 4, 2026.
Temple Now previously published a piece highlighting Sahraei’s research.
Full press release from SAE International here.