Today I sucessfully defended my PhD thesis “Molecular Elucidation of Reaction Mechanisms in Aluminum and Lithium Metal Batteries by Solid-State NMR Spectroscopy and Electrochemical Methods”. My PhD journey has been a greatly enjoyable 5 years and I have far too many people to thank for getting me to this point. However, I must acknowledge my committee members, Prof. Alex Couzis, Prof. Ruth Stark, Prof. George John, Prof. Elizabeth Biddinger, and my advisor Prof. Robert Messinger for their great support today. Special thanks to Rob for all the hard work we put in together!