Innovation Crossroads: Accelerating Advances in Energy and Emerging Technologies

Описание: Dan Miller, director of Innovation Crossroads at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL); Alec Readel, founder and CEO of Applied 2D Materials, and Evan Stacy, founder and CEO of Lumios Materials

Abstract
Innovation Crossroads is a two-year fellowship program that focuses on energy and advanced manufacturing technologies. Through an annual national call and competitive stage-gate process, top entrepreneurial-minded fellows are selected to join the program. Selected innovators receive a fellowship that includes a personal living stipend, a health insurance stipend, a travel allowance, a substantial grant to use on collaborative R&D with researchers at ORNL, and comprehensive mentoring assistance to help the new entrepreneurs build a sustainable business model. Below are examples of two new technologies that are being commercialized as emerging companies.

Applied 2D Materials
Applied 2D Materials develops barrier protective coatings using a licensable innovation from ORNL to synthesize hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) for direct deposit onto target substrates in an economical, scalable, and environmentally benign manner. The technology uses safe and abundant solid precursors instead of hazardous liquids or gases, enabling the manufacture of cost-effective, high-quality coatings. The technology is targeted toward energy, industrial, aerospace, and defense applications that operate in extreme environments such as steam, molten salts, hydrogen, and corrosive acids.

Lumios Materials
Lumios Materials has developed an aqueous photoiniferter (aqPI) polymerization process for synthesizing polyacrylonitrile (PAN)-based precursors of carbon fiber. The technology serves the carbon-fiber manufacturing industry, including sectors such as aerospace, construction, automotive parts, sports equipment, and medical devices. It addresses the critical need for sustainable production of high-performance precursors, offering both environmental and economic benefits over traditional solvent-based methods.

Biographical sketches
Dan Miller serves as the director for Innovation Crossroads at ORNL, where he coordinates the review and selection process for new cohorts, leads efforts to help innovators develop and execute Cooperative Research and Development Agreements with ORNL, and leads the effort to connect innovators with potential customers and investors throughout the region. Prior to Innovation Crossroads, Dan started and led several public-private partnerships focused on commercializing ORNL technologies. Previously, Dan was a licensing associate at Rice University and a mechanical design engineer at Wright Industries. He has a master of business administration (M.B.A) degree from the University of Tennessee and worked in technology transfer at Rice University before joining ORNL in 2010.

Alec Readel, founder and chief executive officer of Applied 2D Materials, brings a versatile background in manufacturing, engineering, and advanced materials synthesis. His career began in manufacturing, where he developed expertise in mechanical engineering design and fabrication. He then joined a graphene start-up as its first employee, where he developed industrial graphene synthesis techniques and leveraged his manufacturing background to collaborate with scientists and scale their lab processes to commercial volumes. Subsequently, Alec worked in industrial automation, assisting companies in automating their processes. As founder of Applied 2D Materials, he focuses on commercializing industry-viable 2D material applications.

Evan Stacy, founder and chief executive officer of Lumios Materials, was born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky. He graduated from Hanover College, where he majored in chemistry with minors in biology and business. He earned a Ph.D. from the University of Southern Mississippi’s School of Polymer Science and Engineering. There, under the guidance of Professor Tristan Clemons, Evan’s research focused on the development of photo-initiated, controlled, radical polymerization methods and materials needed for the production of enhanced carbon-fiber precursors. As founder of Lumios Materials, Evan is commercializing this technology.