Shreya Dave

Shreya Dave

Shreya Dave - Ph.D. She believed that her research had no practical application. Shreya Dave graduated from MIT with a PhD in Mechanical Engineering and currently serves as CEO of Via Separations.

It used graphene oxide molecular filter membranes, which are cheaper and less prone to degradation than the polymers and ceramics used today, but her method was too expensive for the water industry.

Then a paper in Nature convinced her that the technique could save huge amounts of energy in the industrial processes used to separate chemicals for food, drink, medicine, and fuel. It turns out that these processes account for 12 percent of all energy consumption in the United States.