The Southwest Research Institute is hosting the Automotive Corrosion Symposium on May 18-19, 2026, at the Ford Presidential Library in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Speakers and panelists cover a wide spectrum of expertise spanning automotive OEMs, material suppliers, paint suppliers, Tier 1 suppliers and others in the automotive industry.
Keynote Speaker
Brian Okerberg
PPG Industries
We are pleased to announce that Brian Okerberg, Senior Research Associate at PPG, will be the keynote speaker at the 2026 Automotive Corrosion Symposium. Okerberg is an experienced materials scientist with a demonstrated history of working in the coatings industry. He holds a Ph.D. focused on Materials Science from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Okerberg was recently presented with the Industry Achievement Award by the American Coatings Association where he has helped grow readership the CoatingsTech publication. He serves as Chair of the Publications Subcommittee for ACA’s Science & Technology Committee.
Panel Speakers
Bryan Arnold
Toyota
Bryan Arnold attended Iowa State University, where he graduated with a degree in chemical engineering. He went on to help operate Sunrayce, the collegiate solar car racing competition in North America, for several years, before joining Toyota in 2000. At Toyota, he was the paint designer for the 2004 Solara and 2006 Camry, led the localization, development, support and troubleshooting of sealers, adhesives, pre-treatments, electrocoats and waxes used in all shops of every one of Toyota’s North American Manufacturing Centers. He currently works in the anti-corrosion group at Toyota Motor North America R&D.
Christopher Dendis
Honda
Christopher Dendis is an Associate in Honda’s Technical Leadership & Research organization, based in Raymond, Ohio. Throughout his 30-year career at Honda, Chris has worked in body and chassis reliability testing, chassis performance testing, and is most recently in charge of anti-corrosion vehicle testing, market corrosion research activities, and corrosion related market service campaigns. As a panelist, he looks forward to sharing practical, experience based insights on automotive corrosion challenges, testing methodologies, and industry lessons learned.
Ullrich (Ulli) Haus
GM
Ullrich Haus is the Technical Integration Engineer (TIE) at General Motors' Corrosion Engineering and Laboratory division. During his international career spanning nearly three decades he developed extensive expertise in coatings, materials, sealing, and corrosion protection. Ullrich's journey began in 1995 as a Paint Engineer at Opel Russelsheim plant in Germany, advancing to roles including Corrosion Engineer at Opel and an assignment at the Proving Grounds at GM North America. Following his return to Germany, he assumed leadership positions, including Lead Engineer for Coating Systems at Opel and Group Manager for Paint Materials at SAAB in Sweden. In 2006 he returned to Corrosion Engineering GM North America where he took on an assignment as Senior Design Release Engineer with Sealing and Adhesives before transitioning to his current role as TIE. Ullrich holds a Master of Science in Chemical Engineering from the Technical University Darmstadt, Germany.
Keyan Matar
Lucid
Keyan Matar is a Materials Engineer at Lucid Motors, serving as the corrosion subject matter expert across all current and future vehicle programs, including the Lucid Air, Lucid Gravity, and upcoming Midsize and autonomous platforms. In this role, he oversees initial design/material selection, part-level validation, and full-vehicle testing. Prior to joining Lucid, Keyan worked in corrosion engineering at Tesla, Rivian, and SpaceX, and completed his Master’s degree in electrochemistry from The Ohio State University, where he was advised by Dr. Jerry Frankel.