Meet The MIT Professor With Eight Climate Startups And $2.5 Billion In Funding

Forbes

Yet-Ming Chiang’s research on materials science might seem esoteric. But he’s used it to build an array of companies in areas like batteries, green cement and critical minerals that could really help mitigate the climate crisis.  Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/amyfeldman/2024/09/19/meet-the-mit-professor-with-eight-climate-startups-and-25-billion-in-funding/  Subscribe to FORBES: https://www.youtube.com/user/Forbes?sub_confirmation=1  Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:  https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript  Stay Connected Forbes newsletters: https://newsletters.editorial.forbes.com Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes More From Forbes:  http://forbes.com  Forbes covers the intersection of entrepreneurship, wealth, technology, business and lifestyle with a focus on people and success.

Transcript

00:00Today on Forbes, meet the MIT professor with 8 climate startups and $2.5 billion in funding.

00:09Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Yat-Ming Chang likes to fish.

00:14And it was through fishing, back in the early 1990s, that he started to notice that the

00:19New England waters were warming.

00:22During a call from his office with a Japanese-style fish print of a striped bass he'd caught

00:26behind him, he said, quote,

00:28We used to catch lobster in Cape Cod.

00:31Now we catch mahi-mahi.

00:32It's really nuts.

00:35That glimpse of the real-world impact of climate change, with tropical and subtropical fish

00:40appearing in waters where they don't belong, was pivotal for Chang, who has used his research

00:45lab to co-found 10 startups.

00:49Eight of them are focused on energy and sustainability, including Form Energy, which has raised nearly

00:55$1 billion for its iron-air battery products, and Sublime Systems, which in April received

01:00$87 million from the Department of Energy to build a commercial plant to make low-carbon

01:06cement.

01:07As the climate crisis has become increasingly urgent, Chang's research and his ability to

01:12spin out real-world applications from it offers hope, and landed him a spot on Forbes' inaugural

01:18sustainability leaders list, released just last week.

01:22Chang holds some 110 patents and has written more than 300 scientific articles in fields

01:28like battery technology and electrochemical production of industrial materials.

01:33Perhaps more important, he has used that research to launch companies to replace current carbon-based

01:38technologies with commercially scalable green and low-carbon alternatives.

01:43To date, his startups have raised more than $2.5 billion to build batteries, decarbonize

01:49cement, and find more environmentally friendly ways to mine the critical minerals that are

01:54key to electrification.

01:56He is not CEO of any of these startups, but he often maintains a role, for example as

02:01chief science officer at both Form Energy and Sublime Systems.

02:06He said, quote,

02:07People worry about, can you do something by 2050, and what if you can't?

02:11Let's not spend time worrying about it.

02:13There's plenty to do.

02:14I'm an optimist.

02:16It's not as if we arrive in 2050 and say, we didn't do it all in time, let's give up.

02:22Chang, who is 66 years old, immigrated from Taiwan with his family when he was six, after

02:27his dad received an engineering degree at Oklahoma State University.

02:31He grew up in New Jersey and Connecticut, where, for a time, his parents ran a store

02:35that sold Asian foods, including homemade egg rolls.

02:39He went to MIT as a college freshman and never left, receiving a doctorate in ceramics in

02:451985 and joining the faculty.

02:48By 1990, at age 32, he had tenure.

02:53While Chang always worked on research related to energy, he was, he notes, a high schooler

02:58during the 1970s energy crisis.

03:01It wasn't until the mid-2000s that he made climate and sustainability his focus.

03:06Today, that's all he does.

03:09He said, quote,

03:10When students come in and say they'd like to research with me, I tell them all I do

03:14is climate.

03:16Chang's research group typically numbers 25, including grad students and postdocs.

03:22He launched his first startup, American Superconductor, which makes high-temperature superconducting

03:27wire for energy and power applications, in 1987.

03:32Known as a superstar in the field of battery research, he's since co-founded four battery

03:36companies, including Form Energy, launched in 2017.

03:41And he's more recently started companies in areas that include cement and engines for

03:45electric aircraft.

03:47All told, he said, he's worked in five different technology areas with the potential for decarbonization

03:52of multiple gigatons of greenhouse gases per year.

03:57Carmichael Roberts, co-founder of Boston-based venture firm Material Impact, which invests

04:02in materials science innovation, said, quote,

04:06Yet is one of MIT's most prolific academic inventors and has been a force in energy

04:10materials for several decades.

04:13He's one of the best in the world at his craft.

04:16Dana Grayson, co-founder of Construct Capital, who has known Chang for years, said, quote,

04:22Yet Ming has created one of the more prolific portfolios of our time.

04:26He has a really big appetite for how impactful things can be.

04:32For full coverage, check out Amy Feldman's piece on Forbes.com.

04:37This is Kieran Meadows from Forbes.

04:40Thanks for tuning in.

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