I had a surreal experience this week. For nearly half my life, I’ve been running along the Rice Outer Loop—the crushed gravel trail shaded by 100-year-old live oaks circling the perimeter of campus—with podcasts streaming through my earbuds. But this time was different: I was listening to MYSELF on Rice University’s “Beyond The Hedges” podcast while retracing those familiar steps. There’s something profoundly circular about hearing your own voice discussing Rice University’s contributions to carbon nanomaterials and climate technology while running the same path where many of those ideas first took shape.
I was invited to join the podcast alongside the brilliant Professor Haotian Wang to discuss how Rice University is advancing carbon nanomaterials for climate technology and building a robust innovation ecosystem in this space.
The conversation, moderated by David Mansouri (current President of the Association of Rice Alumni), covered everything from my journey after Rice to the revolutionary carbon nanomaterials we’re developing at DexMat. Below are some key moments from our discussion that highlight the critical intersection of academic research, entrepreneurship, and climate action.
Rice University’s Legacy in Carbon Nanomaterials Development
When David asked about my journey from Rice degrees to nanotechnology work, I reflected on how my three degrees in Computer Science and Electrical & Computer Engineering might seem disconnected from my current work with advanced carbon materials. But the seeds were actually planted during my time at Rice University, particularly through the visionary work of Dr. Rick Smalley, Nobel laureate and pioneer in nanotechnology who put Rice on the map for carbon nanomaterials research.
Smalley’s influence at Rice steered me toward entrepreneurship with a focus on energy and climate solutions. Like any entrepreneurial journey, mine has included both successes and failures, but each venture reinforced my conviction that we need deeptech solutions to address our most pressing climate challenges.
This realization led me to found Third Derivative, where we built the world’s largest climatetech innocation ecosystem. From that vantage point, evaluating thousands of promising climate technologies, I became increasingly convinced that transformational materials and chemicals would be essential to achieving our climate goals. That’s what ultimately brought me back to Rice University’s innovation ecosystem through DexMat, which is commercializing carbon nanotechnology co-invented by none other than Rice’s own Rick Smalley—bringing my journey full circle back to where it all began.
Rethinking the Building Blocks of Modern Society with Carbon Nanomaterials
One of the most compelling segments of our conversation focused on why we’re working to replace conventional materials like steel, copper, and aluminum with carbon-negative alternatives. I explained that modern society is built on billions of tons of metals annually, but their production comes with tremendous challenges:
- Enormous greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption
- Resource-intensive processes that convert tons of mined rocks into kilograms of usable materials
- Limited potential for decarbonization even with green hydrogen (which remains expensive and constrained in scale)
- Significant air pollution and toxic liquid waste generation
- Critical conductors like copper increasingly becoming bottlenecks for electrification and digitization/AI infrastructure
At DexMat, we’ve taken Rice’s first-principles approach—focusing not on materials themselves but on the properties we need. By engineering carbon at the nanoscale, we’re producing Galvorn: the strongest, lightest, most sustainable, and ultimately most cost-effective conductor on Earth. These carbon nanomaterials represent a fundamental shift in how we can build our future infrastructure.
Rice University’s Role in Commercializing Carbon Nanomaterials for Climate Technology
David asked perhaps the most crucial question facing any deeptech innovation: How do we move promising technologies like carbon nanomaterials from research labs into real-world climate solutions?
I emphasized that it takes a village to grow a startup, especially when navigating the notorious “valleys of death” in technology commercialization. While faculty researchers at Rice University create groundbreaking innovations in carbon nanomaterials, commercialization typically isn’t their best use of time or expertise.
What works best is an ecosystem approach involving:
- Experienced entrepreneurs who can translate technical innovations into market opportunities
- Diverse sources of capital appropriate for different stages of development
- Strategic partnerships with established companies for development and deployment
- Universities like Rice taking a more active role in bridging the first valley of death
This is where I see tremendous opportunity for Rice University and the broader Houston innovation ecosystem to excel—by co-creating the future through deliberate collaboration between researchers, entrepreneurs, investors, and industry partners focused on bringing climate technologies like carbon nanomaterials to market.
Rice’s Unique Role in Climate Innovation
We closed by discussing Rice University’s distinctive position in the climate and energy technology landscape. Situated at the intersection of energy, medicine, and aerospace industries in Houston, Rice has unique advantages for driving innovation in carbon nanomaterials and climate technology.
I’ve been fortunate to serve as an Entrepreneur in Residence at Rice, helping to commercialize promising technologies. This experience has reinforced my belief that universities like Rice can play a transformative role in addressing climate challenges by fostering collaboration between researchers, entrepreneurs, and industry partners who are developing breakthrough climate technologies like carbon nanomaterials.
Final Thoughts
The podcast ended with some lighthearted rapid-fire questions. My favorite spot on campus? The historic Rice Stadium, where JFK delivered his moonshot speech—a fitting symbol for the climate moonshots we’re undertaking today with carbon nanomaterials. The best book I’ve read recently? The “Remembrance of Earth’s Past” trilogy (starting with “The Three-Body Problem”), which offers fascinating perspectives on humanity’s future challenges.
When asked what image I would include in Rice’s application “Box” question, I described the iconic scene of Luke Skywalker gazing at the binary sunset on Tatooine—a perfect representation of the call to adventure and the quest for a life of purpose and impact that has guided my journey developing transformational climate technologies.
What questions do you have about Rice University’s contribution to carbon nanomaterials and their role in addressing climate challenges? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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