Fellow:Kelly Schutt
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Before college, I worked with two friends to start a Google Partner Company. We used analytics, focus groups, and digital tools to increase online sales and marketing return on investment. The work was fun and challenging, and we were fortunate to work with great clients. Unfortunately, we were driven by results and profit rather than purpose. The majority of ecosystems on Earth are in decline due to human activity, and I wasn't comfortable contributing to consumerism. I decided to enroll at Boise State University so that I could contribute to sustainability.Here, I've contributed to DNA nanotechnology research as part of a collaborative grant between Micron Technologies, Harvard University, and Boise State University. Currently, I'm working on preliminary data for a NASA grant that seeks to learn how DNA crystals grow differently in the International Space Station. DNA provides a massively parallel and cost-effective means for fabricating nanomaterials, and may eventually provide novel methods of energy harvesting and storage. Last summer, I started a perovskite solar cell project to research new materials that may reduce solar cell costs by nearly 90%.I was recently awarded a Marshall Scholarship, and look forward to doing research that will help bring perovskite solar cells into commercial production. On long time scales, energy, wealth, and sustainability are inseparable. Driving the costs of renewable energy down will help developed nations become more sustainable, and will alleviate poverty in areas of the world that lack reliable electric grids.
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Spring 2016:
