Cohort 2023
NATHAN GOOD
Project: RareTerra—Developing a one-step, acid-free microbial process to recover and separate REE using complex and waste sources.
Bio: Nathan Good is the CTO of RareTerra, which he co-founded with N. Cecilia Martinez-Gomez, an assistant professor at UC Berkeley. Good is a microbial physiologist with a Ph.D. in microbiology from the University of Washington. As a project scientist and Bakar Innovation Fellow in the Martinez-Gomez lab at UC Berkeley, he developed a bio-platform for rare earth element (REE) recovery and separation with support from ARPA-E. He ultimately aims to circularize the U.S. REE economy.
WILLIAM LIBERTI
Project: Morphosis—Developing wearable neurotech for real-time authentication and control of devices/technology.
Bio: William Liberti is the founder and CEO of Morphosis, a company developing cutting-edge wearable neural interfaces. His interests lie at the intersection of systems neuroscience and technology development. He earned his Ph.D. at Boston University, where he pioneered highly miniaturized, minimally invasive techniques to monitor neural activity at single-cell resolution over extended periods. His postdoctoral fellowship at UC Berkeley focused on brain-machine interfaces, optics, and the stability of neural coding.
MICHELLE LU
Project: Novel Farms—On a mission to produce cultivated meat cuts that match traditional meat in quality and affordability.
Bio: Michelle Lu is co-founder and chief science officer of Novel Farms, Inc. Previously, she was a postdoctoral scholar and associate project scientist at UC Berkeley in the lab of David Drubin. Lu earned her Ph.D. in biology at the University of Oregon in the lab of Ken Prehoda. She holds a B.A. in molecular and cell biology from UC Berkeley.
PATRICIA MCNEIL
Project: Westwood Aerogel—Delivers unparalleled performance and cost-effectiveness for all insulation needs.
Bio: Patricia McNeil is a materials science and engineering Ph.D. candidate at UCLA, where she also earned her B.S. She spearheaded the development of ambient drying for aerogels, which greatly improves the scalability of these materials. McNeil is a trainee in the National Science Foundation’s Innovation at the Nexus of Food, Energy, and Water Systems program, through which she obtained a “Leaders in Sustainability” certification.
JULIAN REES
Project: HOPO Therapeutics—Developing safe, effective, and orally available treatments for heavy metal poisoning.
Bio: Julian Rees is CEO and co-founder of HOPO Therapeutics. As a bioinorganic and radiochemist, his expertise is centered on the behavior of metal ions in biological systems, and he is working to create safe and effective treatments for heavy metal toxicity. Rees received his Ph.D. from the University of Washington, and he has held research fellowships at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Energy Conversion, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and UC Berkeley.
PALAK JAIN
Project: Vellex Computing—Accelerating computing for the future electric grid.
Bio: Palak Jain is the co-founder and CEO of Vellex Computing. As a senior research associate at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, she conducted foundational research in computing and grid technologies that led to the formation of Vellex Computing. She received her Ph.D. in electrical and computer engineering from the National University of Singapore, where she was part of the Berkeley Education Alliance for Research in Singapore program.
DREW LILLEY
Project: Calion Technologies—Eliminating the need for refrigerants using its new liquid and salt-based cooling and heat-pumping technology.
Bio: Drew Lilley is the founder and CEO of Calion Technologies. He is working to commercialize his doctoral research on ionocaloric heating and cooling for next-generation, zero-global-warming-potential refrigeration, and heat pumping technologies. Lilley is a thermal scientist with core expertise in thermal transport and thermodynamics. He earned his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from UC Berkeley in 2023.
NIEVES MARTINEZ MARSHALL
Project: Novel Farms—On a mission to produce cultivated meat cuts that match traditional meat in quality and affordability.
Bio: Nieves Martinez Marshall is co-founder and CEO at Novel Farms. Previously, she was a postdoctoral researcher in Jeremy Thorner’s lab at UC Berkeley. She received her Ph.D. in molecular and cell biology from the Humboldt University of Berlin and, before that, completed her master’s thesis as a research scientist at Max Delbrueck Center, also in Germany. She earned an M.S. in biochemistry and a B.S. in chemistry from the University of Zaragoza in Spain.
JARED O'LEARY
Project: SirenOpt—Real-time sensing and software platform that improves the manufacturing performance and yield of batteries, solar cells, and carbon conversion technologies.
Bio: Jared O'Leary is the co-founder and CEO of SirenOpt. O’Leary earned a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from UC Berkeley, where he investigated learning-based methods to characterize, model, and control advanced materials manufacturing processes. He co-founded SirenOpt to commercialize technology he helped develop during his doctoral work. Previously, O’Leary worked as an engineer and team lead at Theranos and earned a B.S. with honors and distinction in chemical engineering at Stanford.
JYOTI TANEJA
Project: Varada Agriculture—High-performing, targeted biological products to control agricultural pests in a way that’s sustainable and safe for the environment.
Bio: Jyoti Taneja is the founder of Varada Agriculture Inc. As a project scientist at UC Berkeley, she developed an RNAi fungicide for powdery mildew control in grapevines. Before that, Taneja completed a Ph.D. in life sciences at the National Institute of Plant Genome Research in New Delhi, and master’s and undergraduate degrees in biology and biotechnology at Chaudhary Charan Singh University in India. She has 15+ years of research experience with plant pathogens.
Cohort 2022
BILEN AKUZUM
Project: Aepnus Technology—Electrifying critical mineral refinement
Bio: Bilen Akuzum is the co-founder and CTO of Aepnus Technology. Previously, he was a postdoctoral fellow at the UC Berkeley Water Center. Akuzum's interdisciplinary academic path exposed him to a core foundation in metallurgy which expanded into elements of mechanical engineering, carbon materials, electrochemistry, and rheology as he pursued his Ph.D. at Drexel University. Akuzum is passionate about applying recent breakthroughs in electrochemical research to century-old problems in order to help decarbonize the manufacturing of critical materials.
BEHTASH BEHIN-AEIN
Project: Ludwig Computing—Building a next-generation probabilistic computer
Bio: Behtash Behin-Aein received his Ph.D. in electrical and computer engineering from Purdue University. His spintronics research was one of the rare theoretical publications in Nature Nanotechnology. Later, at GlobalFoundries, Behin-Aein led the development of device and compact models for STT-MRAM chips from concept to manufacturing 40Mb arrays. The decade-long pursuit of his passion, probabilistic computing, has led him to co-found a startup to actualize a new computing platform.
LUKAS HACKL
Project: Aepnus Technology—Electrifying critical mineral refinement
Bio: Lukas Hackl is the co-founder and CEO of Aepnus Technology, a company focused on the carbon-neutral production of commodity chemicals. Aepnus' advanced electrolysis process evolved out of Hackl’s Ph.D. research on electrochemical water desalination that he carried out at UC Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Prior to that work, he received a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from ETH Zurich. Hackl is deeply passionate about climate change mitigation coupled with entrepreneurship.
GJ IA O'
Project: Tyfast—Ultralong cycle life and ultrafast charging batteries to electrify high duty-cycle, mobile platforms
Bio: GJ la O’ is co-founder and chief executive officer of Tyfast. Before Tyfast, he spent a decade leading technology development and commercialization of grid-scale energy storage at Primus Power where he helped raise $100M in venture capital. At Tyfast, la O' leads product, market, and funding roadmaps. He has published over twenty articles and has been issued 23 patents. He is a material scientist and earned his bachelor’s degree from UC Berkeley and his Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
DANIELLE UCHIMURA PASCOLI
Project: VERDE Nanomaterials—Simple and scalable process for nanocellulose production from residues and waste
Bio: Danielle Pascoli completed her Ph.D. at the University of Washington (UW) where she built expertise in biomass conversion to biofuels and biomaterials with a focus on process development and sustainability. She earned a bachelor’s degree in biochemical engineering from the University of São Paulo in Brazil and a master’s degree from UW. VERDE Nanomaterials is a result of her doctoral research in which she developed a cost-effective process to manufacture nanocellulose using agricultural wastes.
DANIEL SUN
Project: Sunchem—Developing nanofilters for selective metal capture
Bio: Daniel T. Sun is a San Francisco Bay Area native and the founder of Sunchem. He received his B.S. in chemistry at Loyola Marymount University in 2013 and his Ph.D. in chemistry and chemical engineering from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne in 2020. His objective is to revolutionize how critical metals are purified while also providing clean drinking water using Nano Filters.
MATTHEW ANDERSON
Project: Ọsọ Semiconductor—Ultra-low power and low-cost chips to supercharge the high-performance antennas of the future
Bio: Matthew G. Anderson is founder and CEO of Ọsọ Semiconductor, an innovative fabless semiconductor company selling ultralow-power, low-cost, performance microchips to supercharge the antennas of the future. Previously, he was an electrical engineering and computer science Ph.D. student at the University of California, Berkeley, specializing in low-power wireless microchip design. Anderson has more than six years of industry experience at Apple and other tech companies as well as a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and physics.
KATHERINE FRENCH
Project: BluumBio—Developing next-generation bioremediation technologies to degrade toxic chemicals in the environment
Bio: Katherine French is the founder and CEO of BluumBio. She is passionate about developing new solutions to clean up the environment and bringing together multiple disciplines, from ecology to synthetic biology, to achieve this goal. She completed her bachelor’s at Boston University, her master’s and Ph.D. at the University of Oxford, as well as two postdocs at UC Berkeley and the Joint Bioenergy Institute.
JAN KAISER
Project: Ludwig Computing—Building a next-generation probabilistic computer
Bio: Jan Kaiser is a co-founder of Ludwig Computing. He earned his Ph.D. in electrical and computer engineering as a Ross fellow in Supriyo Datta’s lab at Purdue University. His research focused on spintronic devices and probabilistic computing systems. He is passionate about novel physics-inspired computing approaches. Kaiser earned bachelor's and master’s degrees in electrical engineering from Ruhr-University Bochum in Germany.
HAODONG LIU
Project: Tyfast—Ultralong cycle life and ultrafast charging batteries to electrify high duty-cycle, mobile platforms
Bio: Haodong Liu is co-founder and chief technology officer of Tyfast. Before Tyfast, he was a project scientist at UC San Diego, where he earned his Ph.D. in material science. He is an expert in a variety of the electrochemical systems and in the design, synthesis, processing, and characterization of advanced electrode materials for Li-ion batteries and novel electrolytes for Li-metal batteries. He has also built a pilot line for fabricating 2 Ah pouch type Li-ion batteries. Liu has published more than 80 papers and has 5 patents.
SARAH PLACELLA
Project: Root Applied Sciences—Automated airborne pathogen monitoring for agriculture
Bio: Sarah Placella founded Root Applied Sciences after realizing that farmers struggle to get decision-critical information for pathogen management. She applies techniques she learned as a scientist and researcher to provide actionable insights to growers. Placella worked at startups in biotech and agtech before starting Root. She has a bachelor's degree in earth and planetary sciences from Johns Hopkins University, a Ph.D. in soil microbial ecology from UC Berkeley, and postdoctoral experience at Michigan State and INRAE, a national research institute in France.
Cohort 2021
ANTONIO BACLIG
Project: Inlyte Energy—Affordable Grid Batteries from Iron and Salt
Bio: Antonio Baclig is a Cohort 2021 Fellow in the Cyclotron Road Division. He has studied batteries for the last seven years as a Ph.D. then postdoc in the Stanford Materials Science & Engineering department (Chueh group), where he spearheaded the research of novel high-energy density electrolytes for flow batteries. Prior to that, he was one of the first employees at a venture-backed clean energy start-up (C12 Energy), working on a wide range of technical and business tasks. Baclig received his bachelor's degree from Harvard in chemistry and physics and grew up on Oahu, HI.
KEZI CHENG
Project: FLO Materials—Infinitely Recyclable Polymers, Enabling Circular Design
Bio: Kezi Cheng is a Cohort 2021 Fellow in the Cyclotron Road Division. She is a Ph.D. candidate at Harvard's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and FLO Materials’ COO and co-founder. She is an NSF graduate research fellow, a Harvard Graduate Energy and Environment Consortium fellow, and is on the organizing team for the inaugural Harvard Circular Economy Symposium. Cheng holds a bachelor's degree in materials science and engineering with a minor in management from MIT.
JAE YOONG CHO
Project: Enertia Microsystems—Fused Silica Gyroscopes: High-performance, Ultra-low-cost
Bio: Enertia Microsystems was started by Cho, who holds a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the University of Michigan, where he was a postdoctoral researcher from 2012 to 2015 and an assistant research scientist from 2015 to 2020. The area of his expertise is in micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) high-precision inertial sensors. During his Ph.D. and postdoctoral training, Cho co-invented a novel ultra-high precision MEMS gyroscope technology called the Birdbath Resonator Gyroscope (BRG). In 2017, Cho co-founded Enertia Microsystems Inc. (EMI) with his academic advisor, Khalil Najafi, to commercialize the BRG technology.
PETE CHRISTENSEN
Project: FLO Materials—Infinitely Recyclable Polymers, Enabling Circular Design
Bio: Peter Christensen is a Cohort 2021 Fellow in the Cyclotron Road Division. He is co-founder and technical lead of FLO Materials. While he was a postdoctoral researcher at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Christensen co-invented the infinitely recyclable polymers known as polydiketoenamines (PDKs). Christensen brings 12 years of research experience to the team as well as experience in project management, reverse logistics, and entrepreneurship. He holds a Ph.D. in materials chemistry from the University of British Columbia.
SAMUEL GREEN
Project: Semiotic AI—Negotiations automated
Bio: Sam Green is a Cohort 2021 Fellow in the Cyclotron Road Division and the co-founder and CTO of Semiotic AI. Green has developed expertise in cryptography and machine learning for the past decade. Previously, he was a senior member of technical staff at Sandia National Laboratories. At Sandia, he performed vulnerability assessments of cryptosystems and led related interdisciplinary research. He was also a lead instructor for Sandia's cryptographic engineering course. In 2019, he received his computer science Ph.D. under the supervision of Çetin Kaya Koç, from the University of California, Santa Barbara. His graduate work focused on co-design methods for efficient deep reinforcement learning.
AARON HALL
Project: Intropic Materials—Truly Compostable Plastic for a Circular Bioeconomy
Bio: Aaron Hall is a Cohort 2021 Fellow in the Cyclotron Road Division. He is the founder of Intropic Materials where he is currently working to solve the plastic waste problem from the inside out. Hall leverages his diverse set of professional experiences in consumer packaged goods R&D, consulting, and financial management, and strategy to guide his work. Hall earned his Ph.D. in materials science and engineering from UC Berkeley, where he led design and development of the novel enzyme stabilizing polymers at the core of Intropic, and a B.S. in chemistry from UC Santa Cruz. A Bay Area native and avid cook, Hall draws inspiration from the innovation culture and waste-not ethos of the kitchen.
BENJAMIN JENETT
Project: Metavoxel Technologies—Unlocking Metamaterials at the Macro Scale
Bio: Ben Jenett completed his Ph.D. at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Center for Bits and Atoms, where his doctoral research was supported by the NASA Space Technology Research Fellowship. There, he developed discrete mechanical metamaterials, as well as robotic methods for their construction, and demonstrated their real-world applications in transportation, aviation, and aerospace. He has industry background in large-scale digital fabrication and advanced structural engineering and holds a B.A. from UC Berkeley and an M.S. from MIT.
FATMA KAPLAN
Project: Pheronym—Effective, Sustainable Bio-control
Bio: Fatma Kaplan is a Cohort 2021 Fellow in the Cyclotron Road Division. She is the CEO and chief science officer of Pheronym and has a background in both biology and chemistry. While earning a Ph.D. in plant molecular and cellular biology, she identified the role of beta-amylase and maltose during cold and heat shock. As a post-doc, she was trained in natural product chemistry with a focus on isolating biologically active compounds. She discovered the first Caenorhabditis elegans sex pheromone and published it in Nature in 2008. Then she discovered that pheromones regulate other behaviors in both parasitic and beneficial nematodes. She conducted the first agricultural biocontrol experiment in space at the International Space Station in 2020.
DAVID MACKANIC
Project: Anthro Energy—Revolutionizing Electronics with Flexible Batteries
Bio: David Mackanic is a Cohort 2021 Fellow in the Cyclotron Road Division. He is the founder and CEO of Anthro Energy, a company inventing next-generation polymer materials to create batteries that are flexible, safe, and high performance. He earned his Ph.D. in chemical engineering from Stanford University with a focus on polymer science and electrochemistry. At Stanford, Mackanic was supported by the Stanford Graduate, and National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowships. He was listed on Forbes 30 Under 30 in Energy for 2021, and was awarded the MRS Gold Award and the ACS Bright Science Award. Additionally, Mackanic previously worked in venture capital as an Investment Partner at the Dorm Room Fund.
AHMET OZCAN
Project: Semiotic AI—Negotiations automated
Bio: Ahmet S. Ozcan is a Cohort 2021 Fellow in the Cyclotron Road Division. He is the co-founder and CEO of Semiotic AI. Previously, he was the machine intelligence department manager at IBM Research in California. He led brain-inspired AI algorithm research and the development of the IBM Neural Computer. He received his Ph.D. in physics from Boston University (2003) and joined IBM in 2006 after a postdoctoral appointment. He worked at IBM Microelectronics and contributed to the development of advanced CMOS technology nodes. An IBM Master Inventor, Ozcan holds over 60 patents and 85 pending patent applications. He has authored and co-authored more than 50 peer-reviewed articles and one book chapter.
KARL SCHILLER
Project: Pheronym—Effective, Sustainable Bio-control
Bio: Karl Cameron Schiller is a Cohort 2021 Fellow in the Cyclotron Road Division and the COO of Pheronym. He has a B.A. in economics and an M.Sc. in pharmaceutical economics. Prior to Pheronym, he was a consultant in pharmaceutical product development, cost-effectiveness analysis, modeling, and statistical analysis. His clients included the University of Florida, the University of Alabama, Florida Medicaid, and at Pfizer. At Pheronym, he has been working on extracting pheromones from in vivo grown nematode cultures. Along with Fatma Kaplan, he conducted the first agricultural biocontrol experiment in space at the International Space Station in 2020.
Cohort 2020
AANINDEETA BANERJEE
Project: ReSource Chemical—Plastic from CO2 & inedible biomass
Bio: While studying chemistry in Prof. Matt Kanan’s lab at Stanford, Aanindeeta Banerjee invented a new process for carbon dioxide utilization with applications in polymer and commodity chemical production. After earning her Ph.D. she continued developing the technology and co-founded ReSource Chemical with Matt Kanan to replace plastics made from petroleum with carbon-dioxide-derived plastics that offer superior performance at lower cost.
NOEMI BONESSIO
Project: METAseismic—Advanced seismic metamaterials
Bio: Noemi Bonessio invented a novel class of materials with advanced vibration-control properties for the seismic protection of equipment, buildings and infrastructure. She has worked as project scientist at UC Irvine’s mechanical and aerospace engineering department, postdoctoral scholar in the structural engineering department at UC San Diego, and as research affiliate at the Caltrans SRMD testing facility. Bonessio holds a Ph.D. in structural engineering from Sapienza University of Rome.
SAM CALISCH
Project: Elmworks—Next-generation electric motors
Bio: Sam Calisch earned his Ph.D. from Massachusetts Institute of Technology at the Center for Bits and Atoms, developing technologies aimed at decarbonizing the transportation and manufacturing sectors. Before MIT, he worked at engineering R&D firm Otherlab, building analytical and computational tools for advanced manufacturing and energy projects. Calisch also holds a M.S. from MIT and a B.A. from Grinnell College.
JOEL EDWARDS
Project: Zanskar —Big data meets geothermal exploration
Bio: Joel Edwards is a geophysicist with extensive industry experience and a background in subsurface imaging and geothermal exploration. He holds a Ph.D. from the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at UC Santa Cruz and an M.S. from the Department of Geological Sciences and Engineering at the University of Nevada Reno.
CHRISTOPHER EIBEN
Project: Perlumi—Crafting better seeds for a better future
Bio: Prior to founding Perlumi, Chris Eiben was a postdoctoral researcher specializing in metabolic engineering and enzyme engineering for sustainable chemical production. Long interested in reducing the environmental impacts of commodity production, his current focus is increasing agricultural productivity. Eiben received a Ph.D. in bioengineering jointly awarded by UC Berkeley and UC San Francisco under Professor Jay Keasling’s direction.
CARL HOILAND
Project: Zanskar —Big data meets geothermal exploration
Bio: Carl Hoiland is an exploration geologist with experience researching the effects and timescales of plate tectonic interactions—including how those interactions control natural resource distributions—for both industry and academia. He holds a Ph.D. from the Dept. of Geological Sciences at Stanford University where he was an NSF Graduate Research Fellow and currently serves as visiting scholar as part of a geothermal research collaboration with the TomKat Center for Sustainable Energy.
LUKE LATIMER
Project: ZestBio—Biobased products from food waste
Bio: Luke Latimer is co-founder and CSO of ZestBio. In this role, he has led strain engineering efforts and helped secure research grants including an NSF SBIR award. Prior to founding ZestBio in 2017, Latimer earned his B.S. in chemistry from Pacific Lutheran University and his Ph.D. in chemistry from UC Berkeley. His graduate work focused on engineering microbes for biofuel production and sustainable indigo dying methods and he is an author on two patents related to this work.
JOSH MCENANEY
Project: Nitricity—Renewable on-site nitrogen fertilizer
Bio: Joshua McEnaney received his Ph.D. in chemistry from The Pennsylvania State University where he developed novel nanocatalyst materials for water electrolysis. As a postdoctoral researcher at Stanford University he developed several new nitrogen fixation and conversion technologies. He believes Nitricity, which he co-founded with Jay Schwalbe, provides an outstanding opportunity to mitigate up to gigaton-scale global CO2 emissions.
RYAN PROTZKO
Project: ZestBio—Biobased products from food waste
Bio: Ryan Protzko is co-founder and CEO of ZestBio, where he has secured investment and research grants. Protzko is an expert in microbial metabolism of pectin-rich fruits and vegetables. Prior to founding ZestBio in 2017, he earned his B.S. in biology from Salisbury University and his Ph.D. in molecular and cell biology from UC Berkeley. His work has been published in Nature Communications and he has earned prestigious awards and funding, including an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship.
JAY SCHWALBE
Project: Nitricity—Renewable on-site nitrogen fertilizer
Bio: Jay Schwalbe received his B.S. in chemical engineering from Cornell University and, fueled by a desire for bigger mountains and more science, moved west for a Ph.D. at Stanford. There, he joined the Cargnello Lab to study nitrogen fixation technologies. He and Nitricity co-founder Joshua McEnaney have been collaborating on related projects for the past several years and are now focused on bringing the best nitrogen tech to market.
AMANDA STILES
Project: Trophic—Plant-based ingredients from the ocean
Bio: Amanda Stiles is a plant biochemist with a mission to transform our food production towards plant-based protein and away from factory farmed animals. Prior to Trophic, she led the research team at Ripple Foods, a plant-based dairy startup, where she developed and patented the process for making Ripptein, a highly purified pea protein. Stiles has a Ph.D. in plant molecular biology from Virginia Tech, where she also earned her B.S. in biology. She joined Trophic as co-founder with CEO Beth Zotter in 2019.
GRAYSON ZULAUF
Project: Resonant Link—Making wireless power matter
Bio: Grayson Zulauf is co-founder and CEO of Resonant Link, a company building the world’s highest performance wireless chargers. He received his Ph.D. in electrical engineering at Stanford University with a focus on semiconductors for next-generation power electronics, and received the Stanford Graduate, NSF Graduate Research, and ThinkSwiss Research fellowships. Previously, Zulauf was product manager at Motiv Power Systems and received B.A. and B.Eng. degrees from Dartmouth College.
Cohort 2019
JESSE ADAMS
Project: Synopic—A new perspective on smart imaging
Bio: Jesse Adams earned his Ph.D. in applied physics from Rice University where he designed and tested novel cameras using computational imaging for both photography and microscopy with applications ranging from three-dimensional imaging to recording neural activity to face detection. While at Rice University, he worked with Professor Ashok Veeraraghavan with whom he co-founded Synopic to continue developing ground-breaking, computationally driven imaging technology.
ADRIAN ALBERT
Project: Terrafuse—AI for climate and weather risk forecasting
Adrian Albert passed away on June 5, 2020.
Bio: Adrian Albert founded Terrafuse to improve climate and weather risk prediction infrastructure. Before that, he was a machine learning research scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, designing machine learning algorithms incorporating physical knowledge for scientific applications. Albert earned his Ph.D. in electrical engineering at Stanford. At startup C3.ai, he worked on AI methods for energy and industrial systems.
AMIR ATABAKI
Project: NuSight Photonics—Accessible material analysis
Bio: Prior to founding NuSight Photonics, Amir Atabaki was a research scientist at Research Laboratory of Electronics, MIT, where he researched photonic and optoelectronic devices and microsystems for applications in communications, computing, sensing, and biomedical devices. He received his Ph.D. from Georgia Tech, where he did postdoctoral research on photonic devices and materials for optical signal processing in microwave-photonics microsystems. Atabaki received his M.S. and B.S. in electrical engineering from Sharif University of Technology, Iran.
CARA BEASLEY
Project: Aligned Carbon—Enabling 1000x improvements in computing
Bio: Cara Beasley is an expert in carbon materials, particularly single-walled carbon nanotube growth. As a process engineer at Applied Materials, she spent four years learning about the semiconductor industry and process tool development, while also continuing her work on new materials. Beasley holds a Ph.D. in physical chemistry from Stanford University and a B.S. in biochemistry from the University of California, Santa Barbara.
RAJ BHAKTA
Project: Funxion—From atoms to apparel
Bio: Raj Bhakta studied smart textiles in Jesse Jur’s research group at the North Carolina State University’s Wilson College of Textiles, where he and Funxion co-founder Hasan Shahariar earned their doctorates in fiber and polymer science. They honed the startup’s vision at the NSF-funded Advanced Self-Powered Systems of Integrated Sensors and Technologies (ASSIST) research center. Bhakta earned a B.S. in physics from the University of Texas-Austin and sees textiles as a huge white-space opportunity for innovation.
CHRISTINA BOVILLE
Project: Aralez Bio—Green enzymes for chemical manufacturing
Bio: Christina Boville received her bachelor's degree in molecular biology from the University of Colorado. After working at Amgen for two years, Boville returned to the University of Colorado and earned her Ph.D. in biochemistry in Hubert Yin's group. She then joined Nobel laureate Frances Arnold's lab at Caltech as a Resnick Prize Postdoctoral Fellow. Her current research focuses on using directed evolution to train enzymes that make useful products in a sustainable way.
CODY FINKE
Project: Brimstone Energy—Cleaner ways to make industry proven materials
Bio: Cody Finke earned a Ph.D. in environmental science and engineering under Prof. Michael Hoffmann at Caltech. His research has specialized in electrochemistry and techno-economic modeling of economically efficient ways to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Finke also helped commercialize an electrochemical wastewater treatment technology for applications in low-income countries.
PARKER GOULD
Project: Inchfab—Democratizing micro- and nanofabrication
Bio: Parker Gould completed his Ph.D. at MIT’s Microsystems Technology Laboratory last year. He received a B.S. in electrical engineering from Vanderbilt University, and a M.Phil. in micro- and nanotechnology enterprise from the University of Cambridge. At MIT, he focused on the design, development, and characterization of low-cost fabrication tools and processes for "more-than-Moore" micro- and nanoscale devices. He co-founded Inchfab in 2019 to commercialize these tools and capabilities and provide a new, flexible alternative to existing manufacturing options.
MITCHELL HSING
Project: Inchfab—Democratizing micro- and nanofabrication
Bio: Mitchell Hsing earned a Ph.D. in the Microsystems Technology Laboratory at M.I.T. Born and raised in California, Hsing completed his undergraduate education at the University of California, Irvine with a B.S. in electrical engineering and physics. At MIT. he focused on the development of a set of low-cost fabrication tools for the production of micro-/nano- devices. He co-founded Inchfab in 2019 to commercialize his research with the ultimate goal of changing the manufacturing paradigm of the microelectronic industry.
RYAN PEARSON
Project: Cypris Materials—Paintable optical coatings
Bio: Cypris Materials co-founder Ryan Pearson earned a Ph.D. in materials chemistry at Colorado State University, where his thesis work focused on synthetic polymer chemistry, catalysis, and computational directed discovery. Pearson's drive to lead a start-up is rooted in his efforts to promote green chemistry and bring sustainable technologies from academic ideas to market. Pearson earned a B.S. in chemistry from Penn State University.
J PROVINE
Project: Aligned Carbon—Enabling 1000x improvements in computing
Bio: J Provine is an expert in nanofabrication and interfacial engineering. His research is focused on future-generation electronic and optical devices, nano/micro-scale sensors for chemical, biological, and mechanical interactions, and energy conversion and storage. Provine worked as a senior research scientist at Stanford University for a decade. Prior to that, he held a post-doctoral fellowship at Berkeley Sensor Actuator Center. Provine received his Ph.D. at Cornell University and B.S./B.A. from Rice University.
MATTHEW RYAN
Project: Cypris Materials—Paintable optical coatings
Bio: Matthew Ryan earned a Ph.D. in materials chemistry at the Colorado State University. At Cypris Materials, he leads technical development of paintable nanostructured materials to enable do-it-yourself energy retrofitting. His expertise encompasses catalysis, organic chemistry, and polymer-based photonic crystal materials. He holds a B.S. in biochemistry and molecular biology from the University of California, Santa Cruz.
NISHITA DEKA
Project: Sonera Magnetics, Cohort 2018
Current Role: Co-founder and CEO, Sonera Magnetics
DOMINIC LABANOWSKI
Project: Sonera Magnetics, Cohort 2018
Current Role: Co-founder and CTO, Sonera Magnetics
MIGUEL SIERRA AZNAR
Project: Noble Thermodynamic Systems, Cohort 2018
Current Bio: Co-founder, Noble Thermodynamic Systems
DAVID BIERMAN
Project: Marigold Power, then Antora Energy, Cohort 2017
Current role: Co-founder, Antora Energy
ZACHARY SUN
Project: Synvitrobio, Cohort 2016
Current role: Chief Executive Officer, Tierra Biosciences (formerly Synvitrobio)
Project: Mosaic Materials, Cohort 2015
Current position: Manager, Advanced Materials, Apple
Project: Mosaic Materials, Cohort 2015
Current position: Chief Executive Officer, Mosaic Materials
Project: Spark Thermionics, Cohort 2015
Current role: Engineering Program Manager, Apple
Project: Spark Thermionics, Cohort 2015
Current role: Chief Executive Officer, Spark Thermionics
Project: polySpectra, Cohort 2015
Current role: Chief Executive Officer, polySpectra