Innovators
Emily Barber
Emily Barber earned a PhD from Purdue University in mechanical engineering. Her research on radiative cooling paints has received a SxSW Sustainability Award and resulted in an international patent application. Her work has been supported by prestigious funding, including the NSF GRFP, the Purdue Ingersoll-Rand Fellowship, and the TRACER Grant. As a key part of her passion for new technology, Barber has taken many leadership and mentorship roles while at Purdue University as well as at the National Laboratory of the Rockies, where she spent 10 months as a visiting student to perform collaborative work.
Jacob Bhoi
Jacob Bhoi is the co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Aura Life Science. He has nearly a decade of experience studying and manipulating molecular circadian clocks. Bhoi is currently completing his PhD at Northwestern University, where his research focuses on understanding the photoreceptors which set the mammalian circadian clock. He was a member of the Energy and Sustainability Cohort of the mPOWER program at mHub, a Chicago hardtech incubator, as well as the inaugural Alchemist Chicago cohort where he has been developing his business and entrepreneurship skills.
Daniel Nothaft
Daniel Nothaft obtained a PhD in geology from the University of Colorado, where he studied the carbon geochemistry of magnesium silicate rocks in Oman. He went on to hold postdoctoral and staff researcher positions in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania where his experiments on metals extraction from silicate rocks showed that scarce metal extraction could improve the economics of carbon storage. He founded Uplift Geosystems in 2023 to commercialize electrochemical processes for metals separation with the aim of decreasing carbon dioxide emissions associated with metals production.
Stephen Rudisill
Stephen Rudisill is a print and ink technology expert and co-founder of Captis Materials. Holding a PhD in materials chemistry from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, he has a decade of experience in industrial R&D and formulation/product design at both large corporations and startups. He is an inventor on over 35 patents in inks, colloids, print technology, composites, optical materials, and energy storage.
Benjamin Rupert
Benjamin Rupert is a PhD chemist with 13 years of experience in the battery industry. He was the first employee at solid state battery company, Blue Current, where he served as the Director of Electrolyte Development and took sulfide solid-state electrolytes from lab to pilot scale production. He is a co-author on eleven academic papers spanning a range of topics and is an author on over twenty patents (including provisional patents). He co-founded PowerNaP Energy to enable low-cost, domestically produced batteries suitable for a wide range of applications.
Nathan Arnold
Nathan Arnold is the co-founder and CEO of Photon Queue, an Illinois-based quantum hardware company specializing in free-space quantum memory technologies. Arnold, who holds a Ph.D. the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, has experimental expertise in quantum optical systems. He honed diverse skills through more than 5 years of work at Sandia National Laboratories. Having spent his graduate studies developing Photon Queue’s core technology, Arnold is the foremost expert on this technology and leads the company’s efforts in design, applications, and commercialization. Beyond his technical contributions, he is committed to advancing quantum technologies for societal benefit while balancing a fulfilling family life.
Ryan Cardiff
Ryan Cardiff holds a Ph.D. in Molecular Engineering from the University of Washington. Before UW, he studied at Stanford and worked at a climate-biotech startup. He is an inventor on three patents and an author on eight publications related to carbon-conserving metabolic engineering and synthetic biology. He has worked closely with several DOE National Laboratories throughout his Ph.D. on projects funded through BETO, BER, ABF, and ARPA-E programs. His company, C1 Bio, has participated in several startup programs including Nucleate Activator, NSF I-Corps, UW Gap Fund, and the Alaska Airlines Environmental Innovation Challenge, where they won the Climate Impact Award.
Brandon Grinkemeyer
Brandon Grinkemeyer earned his Ph.D. from Harvard University, where as part of the Lukin group, his research focused on developing photonic interfaces for neutral atom quantum systems. Grinkemeyer’s work has led to significant contributions in atomic physics, quantum optics, and quantum information, including a recently submitted paper demonstrating a photonic interface for neutral atoms and collaborations on state-of-the-art methods for fabricating high-finesse optical cavities with the Loncar and Yang labs. He has also co-authored a proposal for modular quantum computing with the Vuletic group. Grinkemeyer is passionate about advancing quantum technologies and fostering collaborations that bridge fundamental science with practical innovations.
Kyle Matthews
Kyle Matthews is the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of MXene Inc. and a leading innovator in the scalable production of MXenes, a groundbreaking class of 2D nanomaterials. With over four years of experience developing MXene technologies during his Ph.D. studies at Drexel University, Matthews led advancements that enable high-quality, large-scale synthesis of MXenes. His work has already secured major defense sector partnerships and commercial/exclusive IP rights, positioning MXene Inc. as a leader in advanced materials innovation. Matthews is passionate about bridging the gap between research and commercialization, driving transformative solutions that address critical industry challenges and foster innovation.
Moha Shahjamali
Moha Shahjamali is Co-founder and CEO of HidrogeniCs, where he is working to develop a revolutionary technology to produce clean hydrogen and value-added carbon materials (graphene, carbon nanotubes and synthetic graphite). Shahjamali has spent the last 20 years tackling challenges in energy-related topics including catalytic hydrogen generation as well as energy storage topics like advanced graphitic nanocomposites for Li-ion battery anodes. Shahjamali worked on nanomaterials for energy applications at Harvard University and Northwestern university as a senior postdoctoral fellow (2013-2020) and holds a Ph.D. degree with honors in Materials Science and Chemical Engineering from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
Angela Feldhaus
Angela Feldhaus took a leave of absence from a Ph.D. program in applied mathematics at Harvard University to co-found MicroAvionics. Her graduate studies were also focused on photophoretic levitation. She has earned Master’s degrees in applied mathematics, materials science, and economics from Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University, and Oxford University, respectively. She earned her B.S. in physics and mathematics from the University of New Mexico and has over 10 years of nanofabrication experience. She worked at Sandia National Labs, including the Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies, for five years.
Haining Gao
Haining Gao was mostly recently a Postdoctoral Associate in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). She received her Ph.D. (’22) in Materials Science and Engineering from MIT. She is the co-inventor of the proposed technology (patent pending) and lead author on all related publications. She is a recipient of the MIT Kavanaugh Translational Innovation Fellowship (2022) and the MIT Graduate School of Engineering Evergreen Innovation Fellowship (2021). She was also the team lead of an MIT Deshpande Center project and was the entrepreneurial lead in an NSF I-Corps Teams project. She co-founded Halogen Technology based on her postdoctoral research.
Berk Diler Kovos, Graduated
Berk Diler Kovos received his Ph.D. in Quantum Science and Engineering—one of the first in the nation—from the University of Chicago’s Pritzker School for Molecular Engineering. During his tenure, Kovos worked on transition metals as optically addressable qubits in the Awschalom Lab and later worked on commercializing this technology. To that end, Kovos formed SynthBits, recruited team members, and led them through I-Corps and Compass accelerator programs. Currently, Kovos was previously employed by Quantum Machines, one of the fastest-growing quantum startups as a solutions engineer, to lead technical sales operations all across the quantum ecosystem.
Jhana Porter
Jhana Porter is CEO of frakktal, Inc., a Houston, TX-based materials company developing polymers built from plant overages as an alternative to fossil fuel-based feedstocks, specifically for the built environment. Porter has more than 20 years in the biotech industry with a focus on building processes and systems and matching technology with business needs. She was selected as a member of the IMPEL+ 2023 cohort and presented at the 2023 Peer Review of the Building Technologies Office (BTO) as well as the 2023 U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Innovative Housing Showcase. She holds an M.B.A. from Houston University.
Scott Svadlenak
Scott Svadlenak received his Ph.D. from Oregon State University. Along with Konstantinos Goulas, he co-authored a patent for upcycling PVC waste and published the findings in Applied Catalysis B. Svadlenak also participated as team leader in two accelerator programs, the OSU Advantage Accelerator and VentureWell E-team programs. During these programs he led student teams focused on identifying the challenges to scaleup for their PVC recycling technology as well as business model development for a PVC recycling startup. He now serves as the Research Director at the startup company Renewcat.
Tim Fairley-Wax
Tim Fairley-Wax is the CEO of Aquora Biosystems, a spinout from the University of Michigan focused on revolutionizing biofilm filtration to drastically reduce cost and improve efficiency of waste treatment. While earning a B.S. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from UCLA, he worked with the R&D group at L.A. County Sanitation District’s largest wastewater treatment facility to evaluate feasibility of emerging technologies. He then earned an M.S.E. in Environmental Engineering from the University of Michigan and continued as a research area specialist where he is responsible for co-managing two DOE-funded projects with $4.5 million dedicated to developing patented dynamic membrane filtration technology for improved treatment of municipal wastewater, food waste, and sewage sludge and scaling the technology to two pilot installations in partnership with local utilities. He is simultaneously leading the commercialization of this technology through Aquora, focusing efforts on near-term, high growth markets such as dairy manure treatment. In summer 2022, he led Aquora to be one of six national finalists in the CleanTech Open pitch competition.
Alexis Peña
Alexis Peña is a material innovator with over 10 years of experience in tissue engineering and biomaterials. She completed her Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering at Johns Hopkins University in May 2023, training in the lab of Dr. Jennifer Elisseeff at the Translational Tissue Engineering Center. Peña’s doctoral research focused on characterizing human cell/tissue therapies and biomaterials for musculoskeletal injuries and disease. She led the Phase 2 clinical testing for an off-the-shelf, ECM-based biomaterial for soft tissue reconstruction by managing the manufacturing of the tissue biologic product, conducting the laboratory analysis of clinical samples, and supporting the biomaterial technology’s regulatory and grant documentation (IRB, HRPO, FDA, DoD). She helped secure government funding for her translational research, an NSF-GRFP, and a DoD CTA to advance the clinical evaluation of biomaterial technology. Peña has 3 years of technology transfer experience through her internship at Johns Hopkins Technology Ventures on the Corporate Partnerships team. To date, she has co-authored 9 publications spanning regenerative medicine strategies and in vitro cell platforms to ultimately provide tissue engineering and regenerative medicine solutions. Peña will apply her expertise in manufacturing and tissue engineering strategies to innovate materials for the textile industry.
Rawand Rasheed, Graduated
Rawand Rasheed holds a Ph.D. from Rice University and while there was a research fellow for the Department of Energy. He holds several patents and has over five years of experience at NASA, where he served as a Life Support Systems Engineer. His work on filtration has been published in a top 5 percent journal and forms the basis of his company, Helix Earth Technologies. He is also an active member of Rice’s inaugural cohort of innovation fellows, where he is honing his business and entrepreneurship skills. He recently won first place at the Napier Rice Launch Challenge for his company, among other awards.
Laura Stoy
Laura Stoy is an experienced entrepreneur, inventor, and scientist passionate about onshoring critical mineral supply chains. She earned a B.A. in Chemistry from Vanderbilt University and a Ph.D. in environmental engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology, where she developed a now patent-pending rare earth element recovery technology. She founded Rivalia Chemical Co. to commercialize that technology and completed Energy Techstars in Birmingham, Alabama, in the fall of 2022. Prior to founding the company, she worked for the Environmental Protection Agency and with the Federation of American Scientists on critical mineral supply chains.
