Daphne Fuentevilla serves the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Research Development Test and Engineering as the Deputy Director of Operational Energy for the Department of Navy. Dr. Fuentevilla serves as the focal point for all matters pertaining to Operational Energy. Prior to this assignment, Dr. Fuentevilla spent two years detailed to OUSD R&E as the acting Director of Ground and Sea Platforms and staff specialist for energy, and fourteen years as a power system specialist with the Naval Surface Warfare Center on projects focused on batteries, capacitors, fuel cells, and alternative energy systems. Dr. Fuentevilla conducted applied electrochemical research to improve and assure battery safety across Navy programs and operations and was engaged by DoD and other government agencies to investigate lithium battery failures.
Dr. Fuentevilla holds Ph.D., M.S., and B.S. degrees in Chemical Engineering from the University of Maryland, College Park, and received the Department of Defense (DoD) Science, Mathematics, and Research for Transformation (SMART) Scholarship. Dr. Fuentevilla is the author and co-author of several technical papers and a book chapter and is an Associate Professor of thermodynamics at the University of Maryland College Park.