Semi-finalists Chosen for Cohort 6

Thirty-two individuals comprising 28 startups were chosen to advance to the semi-finals and compete to join Chain Reaction Innovations’ Cohort 6. A broad range of energy innovations are represented in this year’s applicants, including energy storage and generation, water, decarbonization, circular economy, quantum, manufacturing, and materials.

Responding to a nation-wide call for proposals, 199 applications were collected by the October 31 deadline. After reviews by CRI staff and Argonne scientists to narrow the field, the semi-finalists were chosen.

The 32 will pitch their startups’ technology in a 30-minute interview to a review panel over five days during the first two weeks of December. From this group, approximately 15-18 finalists will be chosen to pitch at the virtual final competition on February 22-23rd, 2022.

Congratulations to Cohort 6 Semifinalists

Gabrielle Abizeid, Hydrogen Sensor/Safety Device

Sergey Antipov, Laser Microfabrication and Customization of NV-centers in Diamond for Quantum Sensing

Zachary Berquist, Transparent Refractory Aerogels

Ryan Goethals, Metal-Air Harvester

Kristian Gubsch, Low-cost, Low Carbon Acrylonitrile

Ryan Hackler & Robert Kennedy, Chemical Recycling of Plastic Waste to Higher Value Lubricants

Thomas Horseman, Solar-powered Water Treatment Technology

John Howard & Matthew Shieh, Enabling Commercial Hypersonic and Reusable Launch Vehicles through Scalable Manufacturing of Smart Composite Thermal Protection

Brandon Howe, High Critical Field Strength Ultrawide Bandgap Gallium Oxide for Energy-Efficient High-Power Electronics

Malek Ibrahim, Hydrogen Production from Hydrogen Storage Organic Molecules

Rong Jiang, Proton-conductive Polymer Membranes for Iron-titanium Redox Flow Batteries

Jason Jordan, Mobile Solar Micro Grid

Kwaku Jyamfi, FTF Biomass Electricity Generator

John Krzeminski, High Power, Light Weight, Range Extender Internal Combustion Engine

Tae Hwan Lim, Distributed Direct Air Capture System

Paula Moon, Biotechnology to Select Optimal Strain for Biomethane

Christopher Nicholas, Bio-based Acrylics from Lactic Acid

Vikas Nandwana, Oleophilic Hierarchical Multi-functional (OHM) Membrane

Manas Pathak, Long Duration Energy Storage

Harrison Paul, OleoSponge Oil Sorbent

Joanne Rodriguez, Mycoremediation of Waste into New Materials

Michelle Ruiz, Valorization of Wastewater for Nutritious Food Product Production

George Sadler, Magnetic Induction for Industrial Thermal Processing

Manish Kumar Singh & Sean Sullivan, Silicon-compatible Integrated Platform for Quantum Communication

Ever Valasquez & Adam Uliana, Ion Solutions – Advanced Adsorbents and Multifunctional Membrane Separation

Tony Valayil Varghese, Multiprinter compatible Nanomaterial Inks for Additive Manufacturing

Steve Xiao, Flexible Aluminum Smelter for Grid Stabilization

Pei Zhang, Microbial Clean Tech Metal Oxide Manufacturing and Decarbonization

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Chain Reaction Innovations (CRI) is a two-year program for innovators focusing on energy and science technologies. Through an annual call for innovators, four to six teams will be selected to join CRI. Program participants will receive the financial and technical support needed to perform early-stage research and development (R&D) that may launch energy or manufacturing businesses in the future.

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