Concentrating on the synthesis and processing of high-performance carbon materials, Aaron is a global expert on the move to engineered materials solutions for clean technology. Aaron co-founded EnerG2 and has written and spoken extensively on nanotechnology topics. He has led the company’s technology development from inception at the labs of the University of Washington in 2003 to a venture-backed business today. Aaron is also the custodian of EnerG2’s Carbon Technology Platform and provides guidance and technical direction for the company, including the strategy and execution of EnerG2’s intellectual property strategy.
Under Aaron’s technical leadership, EnerG2 closed it’s first large sales and implemented it’s products in a commercial setting. This was the result of many people’s hard work and, in addition to reinforcing EnerG2’s vision, it showed that the company could deliver a genuine cost benefit for its customers as well as a really useful solution. EnerG2 has never been about science for science’s sake; instead it’s about developing products that people can actually use to improve the world.
Prior to Aaron’s focus on nanotechnology, he was a project manager and engineer for Boeing’s Design for Environment / Manufacturing initiative. He also worked in a manufacturing engineering capacity on all of Boeing’s commercial airplanes. Aaron currently serves on the Board of Advisors at the University of Washington’s Materials Science and Engineering Department.
Aaron received a BS from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and a PhD in Materials Science from the University of Washington.
“Energy storage materials have an enormous impact on our ability to store energy effectively. Renewable energy generation capability is advancing more rapidly than energy storage technology, making energy storage a huge bottleneck in our migration from fossil fuels to renewable energy. The only way to continue on a positive trajectory is to break the energy storage bottleneck. Materials research has developed to the point of individual assembly of molecules and atoms, so our ability to fine tune exactly the way these materials interface is continually advancing and growing. This continual effort puts materials research, development and manufacturing at the forefront of our global transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy.
I’m fascinated by the concept that, within my lifetime or at least my children’s lifetimes, if we keep working hard to address these challenges with renewable generation and effective storage, energy generation and storage costs (including environmental costs) may be so low that energy could become virtually free. What mankind would do with such ubiquitous low cost energy is a very interesting concept and something that could enable a complete shift in the trajectory of our planet.