Adam is the co-inventor of ChemFinity’s foundational tech, blending his fascination for materials chemistry with his expertise in chemical separations. He has served as a Principal Investigator on >10 grants and led projects building hardware across four continents to efficiently recover resources from wastes, such as gold, water, and chemical commodities. Adam earned his B.S. in Chemical Engineering (summa cum laude) with three minors from Penn State University and his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley, supported by NSF, AIChE, NAMS, AWWA, and Philomathia fellowships. He is a Breakthrough Energy Fellow and Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree.

Ever is a co-inventor of ChemFinity’s foundational technology, leading the technology and scale-up developments from the laboratory toward industrial deployment. He is driven by curiosity and purpose to translate cutting-edge research into transformative solutions that advance resource recovery. Ever earned his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Florida State University, graduating summa cum laude with honors in the major. As an NSF Graduate Research Fellow, he completed his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, where he specialized in the design and development of new materials for molecular separations that offer significant enhancements in energy efficiency and performance. These new materials included plasticization-resistant membranes, porous inorganic materials, porous polymers, phase-change adsorbents, and metal–organic frameworks. He is a Breakthrough Energy Fellow and a Newlab fellow.

Maria earned her Ph.D. in Chemistry in 2022 from the University of California, Berkeley, where she studied porous materials for chemical separations. Maria is also passionate about climate justice and policy solutions and was the VP of Finance for the UC Berkeley Science Policy Group during graduate school. In her free time, Maria sings with the NY Choral Society.

Ravi is an expert in polymer and membrane technologies with a Ph.D. and 18+ years of industrial experience in these areas. He has pioneered groundbreaking advancements in forward osmosis and reverse osmosis membranes, thin-film composites, block copolymer self-assembly, anti-fouling coatings, self-healing polymers, controlled release applications, and membrane distillation technologies. With broad hands-on experiences and unwavering dedication to polymer innovation, Ravi is a proven leader in the polymer sciences.

Alyssa is a process engineer at ChemFinity, leading different parts of the development and testing of ChemFinity’s highly selective separation prototypes. She was previously a semiconductor engineer at IBM and a chemical engineer at Amogy. As Amogy’s first employee, Alyssa wore many hats and contributed to several successful demonstrations of their technology, which utilizes ammonia as an energy source. She is highly interested in tackling environmental and climate concerns. Alyssa earned her B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of South Carolina. 

Andy earned his Ph.D. in Organometallic Chemistry from the University of Rochester, where he focused on C-H bond activation and catalyst design for dehydration reactions. He later worked as a postdoctoral fellow at Rutgers-Newark, where he developed iron-based catalysts for hydrogen production. With a broad set of skills in synthetic chemistry, Andy is passionate about applying his expertise to green technology applications.

Zoran is Lead Hydrometallurgist at ChemFinity and brings more than 25 years of industrial experience in mining and metals. His work spans the extraction of metals, including nickel, cobalt, copper, gold, lithium, and rare earth elements from both primary and secondary resources. His expertise covers a wide range of hydrometallurgical unit operations, including leaching, solid–liquid separation, precipitation, solvent extraction, ion exchange, and adsorption. Zoran holds a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Toronto, with a research focus on the pressure acid leaching of nickel laterites. He is passionate about advancing novel technologies for the sustainable extraction of critical metals.

Will is an Operations Specialist at ChemFinity and brings a unique background working in advanced materials startups across technical, administrative, and strategic roles. He has experience contributing to many areas within early-stage deep tech companies, including lab operations, program management, IP protection, and securing government funding to help accelerate transformational technologies from lab to pilot scale. Will earned his B.S in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Maryland.

Shantal Risk is an accomplished strategic and detail-oriented administrative professional with experience providing leadership development, consultation, and direction for both grassroot and corporate organizations. She has significant experience in supporting organizational transformation at the structural level, particularly in operations, HR, marketing, and project coordination. She most recently honed these skills as the Sales and Recruiting Coordinator for Beacon Hill Staffing Group. Shantal holds a B.S. degree in Communications and Rhetorical Studies with minors in both Business Marketing and Spanish from Syracuse University.

Drew Barber is a Senior Process Engineer at ChemFinity focused on scale-up and deployment of critical mineral systems. He brings 5 years of experience designing and operating modular pilot projects across Europe and South America, with expertise in reactor design, separations, solids handling, and automation. Drew holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering and is passionate about building practical, sustainable technology.

Shivani leads our core R&D efforts, driving the development of novel sorbent technologies and their scale-up to pilot level. She holds a BS from the University of Delhi and an integrated MS–PhD from IISER Pune, supported by a CSIR Fellowship. During her doctoral research, she discovered a passion for designing atomically tailored networks and applying them to sustainability challenges. In her postdoctoral work at the University of Cambridge and the University of California, Berkeley, supported by a Fulbright-Nehru Postdoctoral Fellowship, she extended this expertise to challenges including direct air capture of carbon dioxide and the capture of critical metal ions.

Dan Russell is Head of Strategy at ChemFinity, bringing over 40 years of technical and operational leadership experience spanning Fortune 100 companies and deep tech startups. His work has focused on scaling advanced manufacturing in the energy and materials sectors, including serving as Chief Operating Officer at the critical minerals recycling startup Ascend Elements, where he led global capacity expansion efforts that contributed to the company’s growth from a $20M to a $1.6B valuation in four years. He previously held executive roles in the EV battery, opto-electronic materials, and solar industries, including Vice President of International Operations at Evergreen Solar, where he oversaw the establishment of fully integrated photovoltaic manufacturing facilities across the U.S., Europe, and Asia.