People
TEAM
Business & Operations
We are a highly diligent team of dynamic self-starters with a diversity of strengths, skills, talents and insights that come together to solve incredibly complex problems. Our unified mission, is to put our varied skills together to solve humanitarian challenges by connecting new emerging technologies to market as quickly and effectively as possible.
Our goal is to make impact.
Frank Jao
Co-Founder
Notable Vietnamese American businessman and philanthropist. Emigrated with his wife and her small handbag to the USA aboard a C-130 with the help of the USAF during the Fall of Saigon. Appointed by George W. Bush in 2005 as head of Vietnam Education Foundation. Trustee for multiple universities, founder of 50+ businesses.
Dr. Daniel G. Aldrich, III Ph.D.
Co-Founder, Chair
30+ years of Senior Administrative and Leadership experience in the University of California System including Vice Chancellor and U.C. Office of the President.
Bjorn D. Simundson, MA
Co-Founder, CEO
Two decades of product development, management and business founding experience. Delivered numerous award-winning products to Apple, Blue Electronics, TransCanada, Kinder Morgan, DoD & more.
Kurt Francis, P.Eng.
Co-Founder, CTO
Over two decades of proven, product development, supply chain management, and strategic risk mitigation leadership experience. 12+ years at Raytheon, delivering advanced, engineered systems to Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, JPL, NASA, BAE Systems & more.
Julia Smart
Co-Founder, COO
17 years of television production, team management, procurement, logistics and founding team experience. Founding team member of Motor Trend Television and multiple shows now acquired by Discovery Networks.
Van Nguyen
Co-Founder, Operations
Operations management, logistics, financial projections, bookkeeping management, operational support, computer programming, database management and startup management. Formerly with Incipio Corp.
Ian Silverberg
Strategic Advisor
Over two decades of entrepreneurial, founding, investment, venture capital & executive management experience. Assists the Company with corporate strategy, asset protection, fundraising and hands-on management guidance.
John Smart
Creative Executive Lead
Two decades of creative direction, film production, location management, logistics, documentary film-making and team management, formerly with Warner Bros. Team-member and management for Pirates of the Caribbean, Shameless, and other notable productions.
Jonathan Hartley
Strategic Advisor
Broad commercial experience from living and working in five countries since 1975 together with transaction and JV experience in several other countries. Corporate leadership positions in banking, land, energy, airline, hospitality, telecommunications and nonprofits.
In the Spotlight
Publication & Citations
Publications
Citations
h-index
i10-index
TEAM
Research & Development
We are delighted to be working with some of the best and brightest minds in the materials research world at the University of Limerick, under the guidance and direction of Prof. Dr. Michael Zaworotko, Ph.D. to collaboratively develop the solutions to 21st Century problems today.
Prof. Michael Zaworotko, Ph.D.
Scientific Principal Investigator
Top 1% globally-ranked scientist. Bernal Chair of Crystal Engineering University of Limerick, Ireland. Member, Royal Irish Academy of Sciences, Science Foundation Ireland Researcher of the Year, Co–Director of the Synthesis and Solid–State Pharmaceutical Center (sspc.ie), internationally–recognized world leader in MOF, crystal engineering & sorbent research with over 400 peer–reviewed publications, 44,738 citations, h–index of 94 and i–10–index of 356.
Dr. Victoria Gascon-Perez
Water Sorption Team Lead
Award-winning Research Fellow Postdoctoral researcher specializing in Metal Organic Framework design, synthesis and intellecutal property development. Ph.D. Chemical Engineering, M.Sc Applied Chemistry, B.Eng Industrial Engineering, B.Sc Environmental Sciences.
Dr. Amrit Kumar, Ph.D.
Process Engineering Lead
Chemical engineering process and transfer lead. Focus in design and bulk scale synthesis of Metal Organic Frameworks and Hybrid Ultra Microporous Materials. Ph.D. Crystal Engineering, M.Sc. Chemistry.
Dr. Suresh Sanda, Ph.D.
Metal Organic Framework Design
Post-Doctoral Research Crystal Engineering Ph.D. Crystal Engineering, M.Sc. Chemical Engineering, M.Sc. Chemistry
Dr. Andrey Bezrukov, Ph.D.
Advanced Sorbent Identification & Modeling
Post-Doctoral Research Crystal Engineering, Ph.D. Chemistry, M.Sc. Chemistry
Dr. Debroto Sensharma, Ph.D.
Next-Generation Sorbent Development
Post-Doctoral Research Crystal Engineering, Ph.D. Crystal Engineering, P.G. Dip. Statistics, B.Sc. Chemistry
Dr. Shaza Darwish, Ph.D.
Scale-Up of Metal Organic Frameworks
Post-Doctoral Research Crystal Engineering Ph.D. Continuous Manufacturing Processes, M.Sc. Chemical Engineering, B.Sc. Chemistry
Dr. Varvara Nikolayenko, Ph.D.
Supramolecular Chemistry
Ph.D. Supramolecular Chemistry, M.Sc. Physical Chemistry, B.Sc. Chemistry, B.Sc. Chemistry & Chemical Technology
Daniel O’Hearn
Sorbent Development
Ph.D. Candidate, B.Sc. Chemistry