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WPI alumni and researchers were named amongst the movers and shakers honored in TIME’s list of America’s Top Greentech Companies for 2024 – 250 companies that are taking action and reducing environmental impact.
Join us on Tuesday, January 14 at 7:00 PM EST for a virtual panel discussion with three members of the WPI community whose companies are leveraging innovation and new business models to curb greenhouse-gas emissions, displace unsustainable materials, and reduce the demand for nonrenewable natural resources.
This event features:
- Julie Bliss Mullen ’12, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Aclarity
- Sahag Voskian ’11, Co-Founder and Chief Science Officer of Verdox
- Yan Wang, WPI’s William Smith Foundation Dean's Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Co-Founder and President of AM Batteries and Co-Founder and Chief Scientist of Ascend Elements
The panel discussion will be moderated by Bogdan Vernescu, Vice President and Vice Provost for Research and Innovation, and Professor of mathematical sciences.
Advanced registration is required – registrants will be provided with the Zoom link to attend in advance of the event.
About Our Speakers
Julie Bliss Mullen ’12
Julie Bliss Mullen earned her BS/BA from WPI in Environmental Engineering, Environmental and Sustainability Studies, and is the Founder and CEO of Aclarity, the PFAS Management Company whose mission is to Destroy PFAS "forever chemicals" Forever. Julie has successfully raised $20M in venture capital funding and has scaled Aclarity's core technology to deploy commercially at industrial facilities. Julie invented Aclarity's primary technology in 2017 as a PhD Candidate at UMass Amherst where she studied innovative water treatment technologies. Previously, she worked at the US EPA's Drinking Water Unit in Region 1 in engineering and policy development. She has been recognized as a 2019 Forbes 30 Under 30 recipient in Science, 2019 Lemelson-MIT Award recipient, and 2018 Innovator of the Year by NEWIN/NEWEA. Her most rewarding role yet is being a mom to her three children.
Sahag Voskian ’11
Dr. Sahag Voskian is the co-founder of Verdox, a carbon capture company which uses a unique electrochemical technology to remove carbon dioxide from industrial emissions and air. He is the inventor of Verdox’s Electro-Swing Adsorption (ESA) and other core technologies. He is also an inventor on over 20 patents and patent applications in the areas of electrochemically mediated separations and catalysis. Dr. Voskian developed Verdox’s core technology during his PhD in Chemical Engineering at the Hatton Group as an MIT Energy Initiative fellow.
Dr. Voskian also serves as an advisor to a number of startups and scientific initiatives in various technical fields. Previously, he was also a post-bac research associate at Dartmouth College working on molecular machines and switches. Dr. Voskian received his bachelor’s degree in both Chemical Engineering and Chemistry from WPI working on synthesis and applications of low symmetry Metal-Organic Frameworks.
Yan Wang
Yan Wang is the William Smith Foundation Dean’s Professor of Mechanical & Materials Engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI). His group studies fundamental electrochemistry and electrochemistry-based technologies including electrolysis, lithium-ion batteries, cathode materials, anode materials, solid electrolyte, battery recycling, etc. He has published >100 peer-reviewed papers, applied more than 15 patents and co-founded Ascend Elements Inc (focus on lithium-ion battery recycling) and AM Batteries Inc (focus on electrode fabrication with additive manufacturing). His research is currently being funded by DOE, NSF, USABC, Army Research Laboratory, Argonne National Laboratory, Mass Clean Energy Center, and a few companies.
Bogdan Vernescu, Moderator
Bogdan Vernescu is currently Professor of Mathematical Sciences and the Vice President and Vice Provost for Research and Innovation at WPI.
His research is in applied mathematics for multiscale materials sciences, focusing on the characterization of material properties of composites, porous media, suspensions, emulsions and electrorheological/magnetorheological materials. He has published over 60 research papers, a monograph and a proceedings volume. He has held visiting positions at MIT, the University of Metz, University of Nancy, University of Savoie, University of Rouen, University of Sorbonne Paris Nord, University of Rome La Sapienza Rome, and at the Institute of Mathematics of the Romanian Academy.
He was appointed to the position of vice president and vice provost for research and innovation in 2016, with the goal of enhancing faculty research efforts and increasing support for research at WPI from government agencies, corporations, and foundations. His responsibilities include supervising the operation and non-financial support of WPI’s research enterprise, including oversight of university-wide research institutes and centers, and the offices that administer research sponsorship and compliance and intellectual property and innovation.
Vernescu originally joined WPI in 1991 as a faculty member in the Mathematical Sciences department, where he co-founded the Center for Industrial Mathematics and Statistics in 1997, and subsequently served as department head from 2003 to 2013. Before arriving at WPI, Vernescu was a researcher at the Institute of Mathematics of the Romanian Academy. He earned BS and MS degrees in applied mathematics from the University of Bucharest, and a PhD in mathematics from the Institute of Mathematics in Romania.