INNOVATION, ENTREPRENEURSHIP, AND IMPACT - Part I

Panelists bio

Angeliki Diane Rigos

Dr. Angeliki Diane Rigos is a scientist, educator, and consultant interested in working across disciplines to promote sustainable solutions to global problems.  She is the Associate Director for Graduate Programs at the MIT Energy Initiative (MITEI) where she runs the MITEI Energy Fellows Program.  She also teaches a leadership course in the MIT LEAdership and Professional Skills and Strategies (LEAPS)Program.Dr. Rigos began her career as a Principal Scientist at Physical Sciences Inc. where she worked ondefense and energy contracts.  She transitioned to an academic position as Associate Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Merrimack College where she taught courses in chemistry, women in science and sustainable energy and science and energy policy. For twelve years, she also worked as an energy consultant at Levitan & Associates, Inc. with a focus on power price forecasting, LNG, fuel cells, and renewable technologies including onshore / offshore wind and solar photovoltaics.  In 2017, she became the Executive Director of the MIT Tata Center for Technology and Design.  In 2021, she founded the nonprofit Epistimi, Inc to expand the leadership training of women in STEMM globally. Dr. Rigos holds a B.A. in Chemistry from Cornell University, a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an M.B.A. from Northeastern University.

Ayse Asatekin

Ayse Asatekin joined Tufts in 2012. She received bachelor's degrees in chemical engineering and chemistry from the Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Turkey. She went on to receive her Ph.D. in chemical engineering through the Program in Polymer Science and Technology (PPST) at MIT. She then served as a post-doctoral researcher in Prof. Karen Gleason's group at MIT. She is the co-founder and scientific advisor of Clean Membranes, Inc., a start-up company that commercialized a fouling-resistant membrane technology that she began developing during her doctoral research. More recently, she serves as the Senior Scientific Advisor for ZwitterCo, Inc., a start-up spun out of Tufts to commercialize novel, extremely fouling-resistant zwitterionic membranes developed in her lab.

Ayse Asatekin's research focuses on designing novel membranes for water treatment, removal of multiple types of pollutants, small molecule separations, and energy-efficient smart filtration processes. She is also interested in systems that combine separation with catalysis and bioprocessing, surface modification of microfluidic devices, and self-cleaning materials with controlled wetting. The design of self-assembling polymers to create nanostructure and modulate surface chemistry provides a strong tool for developing materials for these applications. Through interdisciplinary collaborations, she also works on novel polymers for energy storage applications, improved biomaterials and microfluidic devices, and improving water treatment approaches in emergency response and lower and middle income countries.

Leila Deravi

Leila Deravi, is an Associate Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Northeastern University and co-Founder of a new startup, Seaspire Skincare. She is the recipient of the National Science Foundation’s early CAREER award, the American Chemical Society Polymer Materials Science and Engineering Young Investigator Award, and the Undergraduate Research Mentorship Award in Chemistry, Chemical Biology. Before she started her independent faculty career, Leila received her BS in Chemistry at the University of Alabama, and her Ph.D. in Chemistry at Vanderbilt University. She subsequently completed her postdoc in Bioengineering at Harvard University.

Registration fee: Free to members and non-members

Registration deadline: Friday March 1st,  2 pm EST

Register here

Check here for Part 2 of the series!