The MIT Startup Exchange Lightning Talks and Startup Exhibit listed below are part of the full agenda for 2022 MIT Sustainability Conference - Technologies and Industry.
Here at MIT, sustainability can mean many things. New materials for everything from electronics to infrastructure which are both functional and kind to the environment. “Green” government and corporate policies which regulate energy and greenhouse gas production. Innovative urban planning for a city of the future which is efficient, but also accessible and abundant. Whether stated in economic, environmental, social, or technological terms, sustainability is the capacity to endure – to consume, grow, and thrive – but not to be consumed and perish in the process. Join us for 2022 MIT Sustainability Conference: Technologies and Industry which explores how MIT and its community of researchers and corporate members are leading the way in sustainability research.
Program Manager, MIT Startup Exchange
Ariadna Rodenstein is a Program Manager at MIT Startup Exchange. She joined MIT Corporate Relations as an Events Leader in September 2019 and is responsible for designing and executing startup events, including content development, coaching and hosting, and logistics. Ms. Rodenstein works closely with the Industrial Liaison Program (ILP) in promoting collaboration and partnerships between MIT-connected startups and industry, as well as with other areas around the MIT innovation ecosystem and beyond. Prior to working for MIT Corporate Relations, she worked for over a decade at Credit Suisse Group in New York and London, in a few different roles in event management and as Director of Client Strategy. Ms. Rodenstein has combined her experience in the private sector with work at non-profits as a Consultant and Development Director at New York Immigration Coalition, Immigrant Defense Project, and Americas Society/Council of the Americas. She also served as an Officer on the Board of Directors of the Riverside Clay Tennis Association in New York for several years. Additionally, she earned her B.A. in Political Science and Communications from New York University, with coursework at the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey in Mexico City, and her M.A. in Sociology from the City University of New York.
David Heller is Co-Founder and Head of Operations at C16 Biosciences where he has served multiple roles since the company’s inception in 2018. His responsibilities include bioprocess development and scaling, build out and oversight of C16’s facilities, and team growth and development. Before founding C16, David received his S.B. in biological engineering from MIT. There he was a member of the Langer Lab designing drug delivery systems to combat gastrointestinal diseases. He met his Co-Founders, Shara Ticku and Harry McNamara, in 2016 at the MIT Media Lab.
Dr. Leonardo Bonanni is the founder and CEO of Sourcemap, the supply chain transparency platform. Leading brands and manufacturers use Sourcemap software to trace their products to the source and ensure that corporate standards are met every step of the way, including zero-deforestation, zero-child labor, and the highest standards for raw materials such as recycled, fair trade and organic. You can see Timberland and The North Face, Mars and Hershey, all publishing their Sourcemap-verified supply chains on open.sourcemap.com, the world's largest supply chain disclosure website. Leo developed Sourcemap as part of his PhD at the MIT Media Lab and has been named among America's 100 Most Influential People in Business Ethics and America's Most Promising Social Entrepreneurs.
Bio coming soon.
Dan Nguyen, Strategic Partnerships Manager for Stationary Power at Amogy, is passionate about cultivating new ideas and working towards a more sustainable future. He has led many projects in the industrial chemicals space being responsible for over $80M of CAPEX spending including new construction and pollution reduction. After 7 years of Project Management he transitioned to sales and business development in commodity and specialty chemicals. B.S. in Chemical Engineering '12 from UCLA and M.S. in Biotechnology '18 from Johns Hopkins University.
Stephen Conant is the Vice President for Commercial at VEIR, leading the company’s effort to introduce a new, innovative transmission technology to the market. Prior to joining VEIR Steve was a Partner at Anbaric Development Partners, a developer of high voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission projects, including submarine projects to support offshore wind development. Steve has expertise in site acquisition and environmental permitting and has managed multi-discipline teams for the development of electric transmission projects. Steve’s energy career includes electricity market price forecasting and environmental due diligence on major energy infrastructure projects. Earlier in his career he worked in the public sector as an environmental regulator and as the District Director for a United States Congressman. A fourth-generation resident of Lowell, Massachusetts, Steve is the founder of the Lowell Parks & Conservation Trust, one of the few non-profit urban land trusts in the United States. In 2021 he was recognized as a Distinguished Alumni of his alma mater Lowell High School for his work in environmental conservation.
Daniel is co-founder and CEO of Electrified Thermal Solutions, Inc. Electrified Thermal is building the Joule Hive™ thermal battery: a new technology that converts and stores cheap, renewable electricity as high-temperature heat, hot enough to replace fossil fuels in even the hottest furnaces, boilers and kilns across industry. Prior to launching Electrified Thermal, Daniel earned his Master’s and PhD in the MIT Nuclear Science and Engineering Department and worked for six years under the direction of Dr. Charles Forsberg developing the Joule Hive technology, known academically as “FIRES” (Firebrick Resistance-heated Energy Storage).
Karim is the Co-Founder and CTO of Infinite Cooling, a start-up disrupting the way power plants and industrial processes use water. Infinite Cooling’s technology has won numerous awards including the MassChallenge Diamond Award and the US Department of Energy National Competition. Karim has a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from MIT where his research in the Varanasi Research Group focused on thermal fluid systems and capillarity. The research utilized nano-engineered surfaces to bring about efficiency enhancements of large-scale industrial processes, with a focus on energy and water systems. Karim did his undergraduate work at Duke University, with a major in Mechanical Engineering and Material Science and a concentration in Energy & the Environment. Karim has received several awards for his work at Infinite Cooling including Forbes 30 Under 30 in Energy, a World Technology Award, and the first prize at the Collegiate Inventors Competition.
Richard E. Riman is a distinguished professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. Professor Riman is a leading scholar in materials science/engineering and a globally recognized entrepreneur, elected to the National Academy of Inventors (NAI) in 2016. He was named the Inventor of the Year by the New Jersey Inventors Hall of Fame in 2014. Academy fellows include 94 presidents and senior leaders of research universities, as well as 28 Nobel Laureates. He has authored more than 225 publications, 275 patent applications, and patents and delivered over 500 presentations. His work earned him the titles of academician in the World Academy of Ceramics and a fellow of the American Ceramic Society. He received research recognition awards early in his career. These include the National Institute of Health National Science Foundation, Office of Naval Research, Alcoa, DuPont, Johnson & Johnson, and R&D 100. His academic research uses thermodynamics as a tool for engineering hydrothermal-solvothermal crystal growth methods for materials relevant to biomedical, electronic, and structural applications. His research focuses on areas where the material itself solves a problem of enormous importance to society and promotes sustainable manufacturing practices. For example, in the structural field, he created the first green cement adopted by the cement and concrete industry on a commercial production scale (2000 t/day) while reducing cement cost, reducing energy usage by 30%, and CO2 emissions by 70%. He continues to focus on greenhouse gas-reducing technology via a variety of novel materials-based initiatives. He has now turned his attention toward manufacturing carbon-negative advanced composite materials to replace carbon-positive materials such as wood, steel, ceramic, plastics, and fiber-reinforced resins. His research has created 4 startup companies, two of which are Solidia Technologies and RRTC, Inc.
Disclaimer: MIT Startup Exchange can make introductions that ideally provide open ended discussions in order to share mutual interests and potentially create common ground that incite the parties to collaborate. MIT Startup Exchange introductions may eventually lead to mutual partnerships, but that is not in any way guaranteed by MIT, MIT Corporate Relations, MIT Industrial Liaison Program (ILP) or MIT Startup Exchange, which takes no responsibility for these outcomes and no formal part in such discussions following our introduction. MIT Startup Exchange and its activities and events are not for purposes of soliciting investment or offering securities.