Dr. Michel Fouré is the founder of Berkeley Interview Consulting, a firm dedicated to help applicants pursuing technical and scientific careers (in Industry, National Labs and Academia) to hone their interview skills and help them to find the career of their dreams.

Michel joined Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley, California http://www.lbl.gov/) in 2010. He was the BATT Program Manager for the Batteries for Advanced Transportation Technologies (BATT) Program in the Energy Storage & Distributed Resources Division. Funded by the Department of Energy (Office of Vehicle Technologies), the BATT Program (now renamed Advanced Battery Materials Research Program) is the premier fundamental research program in the U.S. for developing high-performance, rechargeable batteries for electric vehicles (EVs) and hybrid-electric vehicles (HEVs). (see http://batt.lbl.gov/ for details). He also served as the Research Operations Deputy for the Energy Storage & Distributed Resources Division. In this capacity, Michel assists the Division Director with tasks related to Department Strategy, Human Resources, Financial Management, Space and Facilities, Operations Safety, and Communications.

Prior Experience

Prior to joining LBNL, Michel spent his career in Industry in the chemical branch of oil and gas companies Elf, then Total, and finally Arkema (a $7 billion chemical company that was spun off from Total) where he was Director of R&D for various divisions of Arkema Inc. Over the years, his areas of responsibility involved Fuel Cells, Corporate Research, Hydrogen Peroxide & Hydrazine, Fluorochemicals, Fluoropolymers, Functional Polymers as well as Polymer Additives. He was the architect and PI of three major DOE proposals that yielded in excess of $15M of funding for Arkema and its partners. Prior to these assignments, between 1989 and 1993, he was President and Managing Director of Metablen Company B.V. (a then newly formed joint-venture between Elf Atochem and Mitsubishi Rayon). Based in Paris, France, under his leadership, the company grew from nearly zero to $20 million in sales within four years.

Education

Michel is a Chemistry and Chemical Engineering graduate from French “grande école”: Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Caen. He holds a Doctorate in Chemistry (Dr. rer. nat.) from Würzburg University, Germany. He did post-doctoral work at Osaka City University, Japan. He also holds an MBA from Fairleigh Dickinson University, New Jersey.

Selected Awards and Honors

– Full scholarship from French Ministry of Education at University of Caen and Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Caen (France)

– Graduated first in class at Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Caen (France)

– Full scholarship from DAAD (Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst / German Academic Exchange Service) at Würzburg University (Germany)

– Full scholarship from the French Ministry for Foreign Affairs at Osaka City University (Japan)

– Elf Aquitaine Innovation Trophy 1985

– Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Director Exceptional Achievement Award for Operations 2014

– Best Project Award with Sepion Team (as Industry mentor) U.C. Berkeley, I-Corps Program 2015

Service to the Berkeley Lab and to the Energy Technology Area

Michel gives regular talks particularly aimed at helping graduate students and postdocs:

- Interview Coaching. During his career in the Chemical Industry, Michel recruited over a hundred scientists from the best schools in the U.S. and in the world. To that effect he interviewed an estimated 1,500 candidates (and read well over 15,000 resumes!). In addition, Michel was also the lead campus recruiter at Princeton University during his tenure at Arkema, Inc. At the Berkeley Lab Learning Institute (BLI, http://www.lbl.gov/BLI/), twice a year, Michel walks the audience through the preparation, interview process and post-interview steps.

- Mentoring Program. Michel serves as a mentor for a group of Energy Technology Area young scientists and postdocs. Subtitled “Strategic Thinking for a Successful Career”, the program aims at helping junior scientists to actualize their full potential.

- Writing Successful Proposals. Michel shares his experience and insights on writing proposals. He was the architect and project leader for three major DOE proposals that yielded in excess of $15M in funding in the field of Fuel Cells when working for Arkema, Inc.