Skip to main content Skip to secondary navigation
Main content start

2018-19 Innovation Transfer Awards

Innovation with Impact
Innovation Transfer Grantee, Lauren Dunford from Safi Analytics, discusses her project with a TomKat Mentor

The TomKat Center for Sustainable Energy’s Innovation Transfer Program helps researchers externalize their innovations; moving sustainable energy solutions from the laboratory to real-world settings. Each year the program funds between 10 and 15 new projects at the intersection of energy with food, water, transportation, human health, and the environment. Below are thirteen projects that received funding from the TomKat Center during the 2018-19 academic year.


12 Tides aims to develop high-value consumer product applications for seaweed that will help drive the industry forward. Team: Pat Schnettler (MBA), Prof. Harikesh Nair (GSB/PI)


The Frost.d unit provides ice sellers catering to the fishing industry in the Philippines with a low-cost, reliable, and energy efficient way to store ice. Team: Maya Ambady (BA Hum Bio), Kaitlyn Olah, (BS Product Design, MS ME), Quint Underwood (MS EE), Ganesh Ramakrishnan (MBA GSB), Prof. Jim Patell, (GSB/PI)


HighTide quantifies the financial and socioeconomic impacts of climate-driven natural disasters to generate actionable information on asset climate risk. Team: Arnav Mariwala, (BS Phys, MS GeoPhys) Ian Bick (MS CEE), and Adrian Santiago Tate (PhD GeoPhys), Prof. Jenny Suckale (GeoPhys/PI)


Pulsar is developing a fully-automated monitoring system for industrial production management. Team: Matias Castillo (MBA, MS EE), Juan Cristobal Ruiz-Tagle, Professor Hau Lee (GSB/PI)


LaderaTech’s goal is to adapt, optimize and deploy biomimetic and environmentally-benign fire retardant mobilization agent(s), enabling preventative treatments on landscapes at high risk fire areas. Team: Anthony C. Yu (PhD MSE). Jesse Acosta, Prof. Eric Appel (MSE/PI)


Nitricity is developing a device that produces carbon-free, low-cost ammonia using a novel metal-cycling process. Team: Joshua McEnaney (Post Doc, Chem E), Nico Pinkowski (PhD, ME), Brian Rohr (PhD Chem E), Prof. Thomas Jaramillo (Chem E/PI)


Ohi is developing a distributed warehousing system, enabling storage of e-commerce goods significantly closer to consumers, improving both delivery and return times and markedly reducing the number of delivery miles driven. Team: Ben Jones (MBA), Prof. Seungjin Wang (GSB/PI)


PeroPure has developed a portable, electrochemical hydrogen peroxide generating water purification device with the goal of deploying it in the developing world as a reliable and scalable solution for low-cost, clean energy water purification. Team: Zhihua Chen (PhD Chemistry), Shucheng Chen (PhD Chem E), Fan Yang (PhD AA, University of Illinois), Prof. Tom Jaramillo (Chem E/PI)


ReGen Partners is a habitat restoration venture that proposes to collect seed from the remaining wild groves of the Moringa peregrina tree, start a domestication program in Baja, Mexico, and be the first to produce it at commercial scale in 1400 years. Team: Neal Spackman (MSx), Prof. Hau Lee (GSB/PI)


ReSource’s goal is to produce economically competitive commodity plastics using COas the carbon source. The team has invented a chemical technology to produce FDCA from waste biomass and CO2 that enables drastic cost and GHG reduction. Team: Aanindeeta Banerjee (PhD, Post doc, Chemistry), Amy Frankhouser (PhD, Chemistry), Prof. Matthew Kanan (Chem/PI)


SunAsAService's technology will enable drones to fly continuously, improving existing technology and enabling more ambitious applications such as an infrastructure-free wireless broadband internet. Team: Yonatan Weintraub (PhD BioPhys), Kent Lee (PhD BioPhys), Prof. Adam de la Zerda (Structural Biology/PI)


Suryodaya developed and is deploying a new high-performance and affordable solar drying system for chili farmers in India. Their goal is to pilot a drying-as-a-service business. Team: Michael Machala (PhD MSE, Post Doc ERE), Andrey Poletayev (PhD MSE), Frederick Tan (BS ME), Rushil Prakash (MBA GSB, MS E-IPER), Prof. Sally Benson (ERE/PI)


WindBorne is developing balloons which fly 60 times longer than usual and fill gaps underserved by existing atmospheric data tech. Team: Paige Brown (BS MSE), Kai Marshland (MS MS&E) John Dean (MS EE), Andrey Sushko, Prof. John Pauly (EE/PI)