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ORNL Welcomes New Entrepreneurial Fellows to Innovation Crossroads
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(l-r) Don DeRosa, Shane McMahon, Justin Nussbaum, Megan O'Connor, Matthew Smith
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Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) recently announced that five new entrepreneurial fellows will be joining Innovation Crossroads as part of Cohort 2. "We are pleased to welcome the second group of entrepreneurs to Innovation Crossroads," said ORNL Director Thomas Zacharia. "We look forward to supporting these young innovators as they work to advance their early science to benefit American manufacturing and clean energy.”
Please join us in welcoming:
Don DeRosa
Co-founder, Eonix
Eonix is developing a high voltage electrolyte that would significantly lower the cost and size of ultracapacitor modules. The technology can be used in tandem with lithium ion batteries to dramatically improve the efficiency, range, and longevity of hybrid and electric vehicles. Don earned his PhD in nanoscale science and engineering at the State University of New York Polytechnic Institute.
Shane McMahon
Founder, Lux Semiconductors
Lux Semiconductors is developing a novel thin-film recrystallization process capable of producing highly crystalline semiconductor substrates in a flexible roll-to-roll format. The substrates will serve as a next generation platform for flexible electronic devices, including thin-film transistors, sensors, displays, lighting, and photovoltaics. Shane received his PhD in nanoscale science and engineering at the State University of New York Polytechnic Institute.
Justin Nussbaum
Founder, Ascend Manufacturing
Ascend Manufacturing is focused on developing a new polymer additive manufacturing system, called Large Area Projection Sintering, that offers many advantages over current additive manufacturing technologies. Components can be created faster, with superior mechanical properties and with more materials than are possible with other powder bed fusion technologies. Justin earned his PhD in mechanical engineering from the University of South Florida
Megan O’Connor
Co-founder, Nth Cycle
Nth Cycle is developing a recycling technology that utilizes carbon nanotube membranes to separate and recover solid rare earth and specialty element oxides. This technology will provide an alternative to the conventional energy-intensive processes currently used to obtain these metals for manufacturing. Megan earned her PhD in civil and environmental engineering from Duke University.
Matthew Smith
Co-founder, TCPoly
TCPoly’s new class of thermally conductive plastic composite materials can significantly improve heat dissipation, and also exhibit the unique ability to be 3D printed, allowing engineers to rapidly and inexpensively prototype thermal solutions that cannot be manufactured using traditional methods. This breakthrough will permit improved performance and reliability of LEDs, motors, batteries and heat exchangers at lower costs. Matt earned his PhD in materials science and engineering from the Georgia Institution of Technology.
“Innovation Crossroads and our other Lab-Embedded Entrepreneurship Programs help promising innovators harness the capabilities of the national labs to turn their discoveries into viable products and American businesses,” said AMO Director Rob Ivester. “We want to encourage advanced technology innovation that in turn spurs economic growth and new jobs in the United States.”
Innovation Crossroads is one of three DOE Lab-Embedded Entrepreneurship Programs. These programs, funded by the Advanced Manufacturing Office (AMO) within DOE's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), address critical gaps in human capital by providing fellowships and two-year institutional homes where talented innovators become first-time entrepreneurs.
The Cohort 2 fellows will onboard at ORNL on May 7, 2018.
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Cohort 1 recently had the opportunity to visit with representatives from the Qatar Foundation to learn more about the organization’s education, science and research and community development activities. Fellows are pictured with the Qatar Foundation delegation along with Innovation Crossroads leadership.
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Over the past year, Innovation Crossroads’ Cohort 1 inaugural group has made great progress in growing their energy-focused start-up companies. Fellows onboarded at ORNL last May and quickly began working with mentors at the laboratory and throughout the entrepreneurial community to advance their technologies, develop business models and become investment ready.
Anna Douglas, co-founder of SkyNano , is developing a scalable process for making carbon nanotubes, a super-material widely desired in many markets but constrained by high production costs. The process utilizes only carbon dioxide as a feedstock gas, and doesn’t rely on energy-intensive techniques currently used by competitors. Since becoming an Innovation Crossroads Fellow, Douglas has been accepted into the Tennessee Mentor Network which is comprised largely by experienced investors in the state. She has submitted SBIR proposals to NSF, NASA and DOE, and a concept paper to the ARPA-E OPEN 2018 call to further her company’s development. Douglas recently returned from the MIT Global Startup Workshop in Bangkok, Thailand, where she was an invited panelist speaking on Energy Technologies.
Yellowstone Energy co-founders Sam Shaner and Matt Ellis are developing an advanced modular nuclear reactor with integrated thermal energy storage that maximizes use of existing supply chains to enable near-term deployment of a cost-effective, economic, and passively safe clean energy source. Shaner and Ellis submitted a full proposal as the lead applicant for ARPA-e's MEITNER (Modeling-Enhanced Innovations Trailblazing Nuclear Energy Reinvigoration) program. Yellowstone Energy also partnered with another team to submit a second ARPA-e MEITNER proposal. They recently traveled with colleagues from MIT to participate in an experimental reactor physics course at the Jozef Stefan Institute (JSI) in Ljubljana, Slovenia to learn more about designing and conducting experiments for testing reactor components, and also visited Deggendorf, Germany to meet with the MAN Diesel and Turbo Manufacturing Facility.
Mitchell Ishmael co-founder of Active Energy, has been designing and building a unique energy storage technology that captures, stores, then utilizes waste heat from industrial sources. Ishmael traveled recently to meet with researchers at the University of Leige in Belgium, who have unique experience in building small scale power production systems. These researchers will also visit ORNL this summer to continue discussions about potential collaborations. Active Energy is also building a dynamic management team. Grady Iliff joined as an Applied Research Experience Fellow in January, and co-founder Levon Atoyan recently completed his PhD at Cornell and has joined the team full-time. A fourth team member, Ivan Beentjes, will join Active Energy in May.
“Innovation Crossroads gives ORNL researchers the opportunity to help guide these young scientists and engineers and accelerate their path to commercialization,” said Tom Rogers, Director of Industrial and Economic Partnerships at ORNL. “Our innovators have been busy enhancing the science behind their technologies and working on prototypes, and constantly testing their business models with potential customers, partners, and investors.”
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Entrepreneurial Speaker Series Continues...
Dr. Lee Martin, founder of IPIX and other successful ventures, recently gave an inspiring lecture about his entrepreneurial journey, which included a six-year stint at Oak Ridge National Laboratory early in his career. Other speakers this year have included Dan Close of 490 BioTech, Ed Pershing of PYA, Eric Mayer of EDP Biotech, Graham Taylor of T&T Enterprises, and Harvey Abouelata, vice president of commercial solar at Solar Alliance. A new entrepreneurial speaker series will begin in June with another group of veterans sharing their experiences with the entrepreneurial fellows at Innovation Crossroads.
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