03/21/2014
3/21/2014 press release
ThermoVolt Solar, a New Jersey based start up company, has been selected by an expert group of judges from around the country to compete in the finals of the M.I.T. Clean Energy Prize in late April. The M.I.T Clean Energy Prize works in partnership with the M.I.T. $100K Entrepreneurship Competition. Since its launch in 1989, the MIT $100K has facilitated the birth of approximately 120 companies with aggregate exit values of $2.5 billion captured and a market cap of over $10 billion. These companies have generated approximately 2,500 jobs and received $600 million dollars in venture capital funding. M.I.T. Clean Energy Prize alumni have raised more than $200 million in funding from venture capital firms and other institutional investors including over $13 million from the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy.
ThermoVolt Solar is only one of seven companies from around the country to be selected this year in the Clean Energy division. M.I.T Clean Energy Prize is the first and largest student led clean energy competition. Over the years, MIT Clean Energy Prize has served as the model for the U.S. Department of Energy’s development of five additional clean energy competitions around the country. ThermoVolt Solar, and the other semifinalists, will appear at M.I.T. and compete for the grand prize on April 27th 2014.
ThermoVolt Solar founder and CEO, Todd Katz, worked on an independent study with the Materials Science and Engineering division at Rutgers during his undergraduate degree (2013) in electrical and computer engineering. Mr. Katz is now pursuing his Masters in Electrical Engineering at Rutgers Engineering. Dr. Vishnuvardhanan Vijayakumar obtained his Master's degree in Materials Science and Engineering (2010) and Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from Rutgers University (2013). Dr. Vishnuvardhanan Vijayakumar and Dr. Dunbar Birnie III are co-inventors of ThermoVolt’s patent pending technology.
