Innovation

Microalgae as Bio-Cement

Anonymous — Mon, 10 Jul 2023 06:00:00 +0000

Microalgae as Bio-Cement Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 07/10/2023 - 00:00

Joshua Rhoten

Formed by researchers at 91�Թ�� in 2021, Prometheus Materials is becoming a leader in an ongoing effort to decarbonize the construction industry in the face of climate change. Inspired by nature, the company uses living microalgae to produce bio-cement. This new product offers an alternative to the traditional cement-making process, which currently accounts for 8% of annual global carbon dioxide emissions and consumes 9% of annual industrial water on a global basis.

When mixed with aggregate, the bio-cement forms a zero-carbon bio-concrete with mechanical, physical and thermal properties that rival those of traditional cement-based concrete. It also emits little to no CO2 and recycles 95% of the water used during its production. It can even sequester embodied carbon, which represents emissions released during the lifecycle of building materials, including extraction, manufacturing, transport, construction and disposal throughout its lifespan.

The effort dates to 2016 when a team of 91�Թ�� researchers began work on an engineered-living materials project for the Department of Defense. Associate professor Wil Srubar led that research from within the civil, environmental and architectural engineering department and the materials science and engineering program. He serves as co-founder and chief technology advisor for the company and pointed to Venture Partners at 91�Թ�� — the university’s commercialization arm — as a key resource in bringing it to life.

“Not only were the terms of licensing the IP from CU very founder-friendly, Venture Partners provided matching funds for us to continue R&D at CU,” he said.

Srubar is enthusiastic about the interest so far.

“I’ve dedicated my career to transforming buildings in carbon sinks by blurring the boundaries between the built environment and the natural world,” said Srubar. “Prometheus is the first of hopefully many other impactful contributions my work will have on healing the planet.”

Submit feedback to the editor

Photos by Glenn Asakawa

91�Թ�� spinout Prometheus Materials is becoming a leader in sustainable building materials.

Traditional

Summer 2023

White

The Fashion Industry, Unspun by CU Alum

Anonymous — Mon, 11 Jul 2022 06:00:00 +0000

The Fashion Industry, Unspun by CU Alum Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 07/11/2022 - 00:00

Christie Sounart

Perfect-fitting jeans exist.

Unspun, a fashion and robotics company co-founded by Kevin Martin (MechEngr’16), makes personalized pants in custom colors, fabrics and styles — and uses 30,000 infrared data points from an iPhone body scan to create an individually tailored fit.

After a person chooses their pants, which cost around $200, and scans their lower body using an app, Unspun gets to work. And as soon as this year, the jeans will be spun in 10 minutes with a 3D-weaving machine, eliminating nearly every aspect of the traditional manufacturing process for a pair of pants.

The company earned recognition on Time magazine’s best inventions list twice — in 2019 for its body-scanning technology and in 2021 for its 3D process.

Martin and fellow co-founders Beth Esponnette and Waldon Lam — Stanford friends and fashion industry innovators — have an ambitious goal with Unspun: to reduce the world’s carbon emissions by 1%.

“It costs $150 billion a year to make stuff, move it across the world and then light it on fire,” said Martin, 27, who grew up in Colorado Springs and moved to San Francisco in 2017. “And that’s just wasted product.”

The EPA estimates that of the 13 million tons of clothing and footwear produced in 2018 (the latest year with data), only 1.7 million were recycled.

Unspun, based in San Francisco with a store in Hong Kong, hopes to eliminate the mass-production model for clothing and, instead, offer personalized products through its 3D-weaving technology and partnerships with major fashion labels.

“We were inspired by the Tesla model of doing things,” said Martin, who was hired by Esponnette and Lam in 2016 after he responded to a job ad seeking an engineer to help start their new company. “We said, ‘Let’s figure out how to automate apparel manufacturing.’”

Martin’s experience at 91�Թ�� became the foundation for the company’s early production model, with roots in the university’s Idea Forge — a prototyping, design and innovation lab.

As a senior, Martin took a capstone course held in the Idea Forge. After joining Esponette and Lam in 2016, he sponsored the same class, engaging CU students — including Unspun’s first employee, Brian Gormley (MechEngr’17) — to build a 3D-weaving machine for the company. Gormley drove the machine in a U-Haul from Boulder to San Francisco in the summer of 2017.

Martin’s longtime friend Stephen Thoma (CompSci’16) joined Unspun as software director and created the scanning algorithm and software, first funded by a National Science Foundation Small Business Innovation and Research grant.

HAX, a venture capital firm in Shenzhen, China, was also an early Unspun supporter and trained Martin and Gormley for four months in China in the fall of 2017 to help build a more advanced 3D-weaving machine.

H&M became an early collaborator in 2018, offering a line of customizable jeans. By 2019, customers could purchase jeans directly from Unspun’s website, and the company gained traction.

This year, with more than $7.5 million in seed funding and 20 employees, Unspun aims to unveil its 3D-weaving technology in partnership with yet-to-be-announced major fashion labels.

The founders keep their 1% goal at the forefront of the business.

“To get to the impact and scale that we want, we need to become the new standard in apparel manufacturing,” said Martin.

Submit feedback to the editor

Photo by Patrick Campbell

Kevin Martin hopes to transform the waste-heavy manufacturing process of the fashion industry, starting with made-to-order pants.

Off

Traditional

White

The Imig of Innovation

Anonymous — Thu, 18 Mar 2021 06:00:00 +0000

The Imig of Innovation Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 03/18/2021 - 00:00

Kelsey Yandura

91�Թ��’s College of Music celebrated its 100th birthday in style last year with a stunning 64,000-square-foot, $57 million expansion funded by numerous private donors and a university matching capital grant.

The Imig Music Building expansion was a long time coming. Students struggled to find enough practice rooms, and rehearsal and concert spaces were too tight.

The expansion includes brand-new rehearsal and recital facilities, an upgraded chamber hall, a rehearsal-performance space with retractable seating, a state-of-the-art recording studio and a dance studio.

Innovation was at the forefront of this project, with spaces specifically devoted to exciting new arms of the department: Entrepreneurship, wellness, music technology and interdisciplinary collaboration.

Showing off 91�Թ��’s trademark sandstone brick, limestone trim and red clay roof tile, the new building offers beautiful gathering places for students, faculty and music lovers complete with sweeping views of the iconic Flatirons.

Construction broke ground in early 2019 and wrapped just in time for students to cross the new sandstone entrance on 18th Street to start the Fall 2020 semester.

Photos by Skylar Miller

Off

Traditional

White

Hello, I'm Mark Kennedy

Anonymous — Tue, 01 Oct 2019 06:00:00 +0000

Hello, I'm Mark Kennedy Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 10/01/2019 - 00:00

Mark Kennedy

CU's new president, a former congressman who later led the University of North Dakota, talks about his small-town youth, the future of work and his vision for CU.

Early bird or night owl?
Early bird. During high school, I worked summers in a small-town bakery starting at 1 a.m. Since then, I have always found it valuable to get an early jump on things.

Coffee or tea?
Coffee. Born caffeinated, I did not start drinking coffee until later in life. I now find it indispensable to the start of every day.

Favorite ice cream?
Häagen-Dazs’ rum raisin.

Book you can’t forget?
I am haunted by Kai Fu Lee’s AI Superpowers. I am left with grave concerns that the United States is not taking the actions necessary to preserve our innovative edge, and that losing that edge will have profoundly negative consequences for our prosperity and security. This leaves me even more motivated to work hard to ensure America has the talent and the discovery necessary to keep our technological lead.

How would you describe yourself in one word?
360° — I have always striven to gain an ever-broader view.

Is there a “Colorado thing” you’re still getting used to?
I may never get used to driving along cliffs with no guardrails.

We hear you grew up in a small town...
I began life in Murdock, Minn., population less than 300, and at age 4 moved to Pequot Lakes, population around 450. I began working at age 14 picking strawberries, washing dishes and pumping gas. I was in band, choir, plays, student government, Boy Scouts and played in the area jazz ensemble. I lettered in basketball, track and field, setting a school record in the mile run, and managed the football team. In 4-H, I won trips to the state fair with my beef, electric and photography exhibits. My wife and I met as 4-H Ambassadors. It is hard to match the breadth of experiences available in a small town.

You served in Congress. What do you and don’t you miss?
I miss being in the midst of the debate on the most serious issues facing our nation. I enjoy raising money and advocating for policies I believe are important, both of which I do in my role as president of CU. I don’t miss purely partisan groups poised to attack every time you reject the extremes.

What about you tends to surprise people?
Those who travel by car with me are surprised that I regularly sing during the journey, normally beginning with “I am just a plain old country boy...”

If you could go to college again, what would you do differently?
Focus a little less on extracurricular activities and a lot more on striving for A’s. As a first-generation college graduate, I had no one to coach me. My undergraduate activities included work-study, dishwashing in the cafeteria and shelving books in the library, touring with the chorus, playing in the pep band, organizing an undefeated co-ed volleyball team, being captain of an intramural basketball team and serving on the student senate. My acceptance to Michigan’s MBA program provided a second chance. I took off Friday or Saturday evening, never both.

What do you think CU should do more of?
With most of today’s students likely to work during their lifetime in jobs not yet invented, it is ever more important that CU cultivates students’ critical thinking, team-working skills and cultural awareness by getting students to wrestle with difficult questions and fostering an environment of inquiry and debate. We should seek every opportunity to embrace adaptive learning technologies that supplement classroom dialogue led by knowledgeable professors with digital offerings that know what learners already understand, what they struggle with, how they respond to different teaching methods, what incentives drive them to excel. Today’s digital natives will increasingly rebel against being forced to learn at the same speed, in the same way, at the same place and at the same time.

What do you want to be remembered for?
As a president who called CU to stay true to its heritage of taking bold steps into the future, challenging it to not be trapped by rigid historical constraints, but instead to embrace technology to enhance the quality of a CU education, to make it more accessible and to keep it affordable.

Condensed and edited. Read the full interview here .

Illustration by Sean McCabe

CU's new president, a former congressman who later led the University of North Dakota, talks about his small-town youth, the future of work and his vision for CU.

Off

Traditional

White

Innovation

Microalgae as Bio-Cement

Related Articles

The Fashion Industry, Unspun by CU Alum

Off

The Imig of Innovation

Off

Hello, I'm Mark Kennedy

Off