ULRI GEM Fellows Earn National Recognition at 2025 GEM Conference

For the second consecutive year, GEM Fellows across various fields of study and research were recognized by the National GEM Consortium for their work at UL Research Institutes.

UL Research Institutes is proud to announce that 2025 GEM Fellows Michael Henderson and Zahin Ritee were awarded first and third places for presentations on their research at The National GEM Consortium’s 2025 Annual Board Meeting and Conference in San Diego earlier this month. This national award recognizes their impactful research and dedication to our organization’s mission of working for a safer and more sustainable world.

Michael Henderson, 2025 GEM Fellow with the Electrochemical Research Safety Institute, earned first place in the Master’s and Early Ph.D. Technical Competition for his presentation, “Safety Characterization of the Vanadium Redox Flow Battery.”

Henderson, who recently completed his second GEM Fellowship with ESRI, researched the safety and performance of next-generation flow batteries — providing new insights into how these systems behave under stress. He also examined strategies to reduce thermal runaway risks in lithium-ion batteries.

Zahin Ritee, 2025 GEM Fellow with the Fire Safety Research Institute, earned third place in the Master’s and Early Ph.D. Technical Competition for her presentation, “Implementation of TDLAS Technique for Water Vapor Measurement in CAPA Exhaust.”

Ritee used her time at FSRI to advance fire safety research by upgrading tools to better measure water vapor in the combustion process. Through her work, she helped generate insights into fire behavior that can help inform future research at the institute.

This marks the second year in a row that a ULRI GEM Fellow has been recognized at the national level. In 2024, GEM Fellow Britney Mack won first in the poster competition for her work with the Materials Discovery Research Institute on atmospheric water harvesting.

Growing GEM Fellowships at ULRI and ULSE

Throughout summer 2025, UL Research Institutes and UL Standards & Engagement hosted seven GEM Fellows and 21 interns to our organizations. Since becoming a GEM partner in 2021, the number of sponsored GEM Fellows has more than tripled across ULRI and ULSE — helping to broaden understanding of, and participation in, safety science and standards development careers.

Fellowship disciplines at ULRI and ULSE