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Chris Reyes
CTO & Co-Founder · Material Hybrid Manufacturing
Dr. Christopher Reyes PhD, is the CTO of MATERIAL Hybrid Manufacturing, which he cofounded in 2023. Born and raised in South Texas, he is a first-generation university graduate. Dr. Reyes created the first, completely 3D lithium-ion batteries at Duke University in 2016, doing so using low-cost off the shelf printers & materials. He then joined the Additive Lab in Rice University where he developed advanced hybrid manufacturing process for industrial partners. In his professional career as a senior device scientist in the e semiconductor industry, he designed and built advanced MEMS and photonic device prototypes utilizing cutting edge technologies. He has spent the past 7 years developing this technology for commercializing the next generation of 3D-printed lithium ion batteries, culminating with the founding of MATERIAL.
Jon Vardner
CTO & Cofounder Still Bright · Still Bright
Jon completed his Ph.D. in chemical engineering at Columbia University where he was an NSF Graduate Research Fellow. He continued his postdoctoral studies at Columbia to develop and co-invent Still Bright’s copper production process. In 2022, Jon was awarded an Activate fellowship to spin out the company and start building Still Bright.
Miguel Modestino
Director · Sunthetics
Miguel A. Modestino is the Director of the Sustainable Engineering Initiative and the Donald F. Othmer Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering at New York University (NYU). Miguel obtained his B.S in Chemical Engineering (2007) and M.S. in Chemical Engineering Practice (2008) from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley (2013). From 2013-2016, he was a post-doctoral researcher at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL). He is a winner of the Global Change Award from the H&M Foundation (2016), the MIT Technology Review Innovators Under 35 Award in Latin America (2017) and Globally (2020), the ACS Petroleum Research Fund Doctoral New Investigator Award (2018), the NSF CAREER Award (2019), the Inaugural NYU Tandon Junior Faculty Research Award (2020), and TED Idea Search Latin America (2021).
Susan Schofer
Partner & Chief Science Officer · HAX
Susan Schofer is a Partner at SOSV global venture capital firm and serves as Chief Science Officer at HAX, the world’s premier venture program accelerating early stage hard tech startups. She works with new startups via early stage investment, defining key milestones and go-to-market strategies, and is responsible for scientific oversight and building capabilities to support portfolio companies. Prior to joining HAX, Susan served as SVP Business Development for Modern Meadow and a member of the executive leadership team for over 7 years, developing new sustainable materials inspired by leather without any animals, where she led product, partnership, and go-to-market strategy and execution from early ideation through to commercialization. Before that, Susan spent 10 years in Silicon Valley working in roles spanning R&D, product development, product management, and business development for Amyris, a pioneer in synthetic biology, and Symyx Technologies, utilizing proprietary high-throughput robotic workflows to accelerate polymer and material discovery and development. Susan also worked as an analyst for management consulting company Mitchell Madison Group. Her passion is working closely with scientific and technical innovation to craft product and business strategy and partnering with founders and the broader ecosystem to implement and commercialize solutions to make a positive impact on people and planet. Susan was an NSF Postdoctoral Fellow at Stockholm and Uppsala Universities, where she worked to develop catalyst systems for artificial photosynthesis. She holds a Ph.D. in chemistry from Caltech and an Sc.B. in chemistry from Brown.
Will Purvis
Co-founder & CEO · Kaio Labs
Will Purvis is Co-Founder & CEO of Kaio Labs, combining his research in chemistry and machine learning to accelerate catalyst discovery for sustainable chemical production. With machine learning training from Cambridge and research experience in materials discovery at the University of Toronto, Will leads Kaio Labs in bridging the gap between chemistry and AI—driving innovation in electrocatalysis for a more sustainable future.