Dr. Ariel Jackson is a leading expert in aluminum-water chemistry and will lead the R&D efforts of the company towards commercialization of its breakthrough technology.
Found Energy, a Boston-based company that develops green aluminum-based fuels for heavy industries, welcomes Ariel Jackson as the Vice President for Research and Development. Dr. Jackson was previously a senior scientist at L3Harris Technologies - Open Water Power where he was a subject matter expert on aluminum-water chemistry and brings over a decade of experience in energy storage and conversion to the Found Energy team.
“Ariel will help build and lead both the research and engineering teams at Found Energy,” said Peter Godart, Found Energy CEO. “His unique background and experience will help take Found Energy’s technology from the lab to market”.
Found Energy began the search for its strategic R&D leadership position after moving to its new Charlestown HQ and building its in-house lab and prototyping facility. Given his role in the aluminum fuel ecosystem, Dr. Jackson was on the company’s short list. He received a PhD in materials science and engineering from Stanford university in 2014, and continued his academic career as a postdoc working with Yet-Ming Chiang at MIT before moving to industry. In his free time, Dr. Jackson previously served as the head coach of the Boston Women's Ultimate Frisbee team.
“I’m very excited to work with the highly professional and mission-driven team at Found Energy,” said Dr. Jackson. “Their unique technology and approach towards the fight against climate change solves numerous pain points in renewable energy and creates the perfect environment to succeed in the mission”.
Dr. Jackson will join Found Energy September 1, 2022 and will be responsible for building out the in-house lab, leading the development of the company’s first kW-scale hydrogen generating reactor, and setting longer-term research goals. The company has set ambitious R&D goals for itself and plans to initiate live commercial demonstrations by the second half of 2023.
Found Energy has set a goal to decarbonize some of the heaviest industries on earth. The company was founded in early 2022 by Peter Godart, CEO, and Gadi Ruschin, CBO, based on an extension of Peter’s PhD research at MIT using aluminum waste to generate hydrogen gas. The company’s breakthrough technology recovers the energy originally stored in the aluminum as a part of the aluminum smelting process as heat and hydrogen, while producing a valuable input for the aluminum smelting industry. The company plans to initially utilize non-recyclable aluminum waste in order to provide clean power to industries ranging from aluminum smelting to maritime shipping. As primary aluminum smelting decarbonizes, the company plans to position aluminum, which is the third most abundant element on Earth, as a global energy carrier to replace fossil fuels.
