Lisa Dyson

Last updated
Lisa Dyson
Alma mater Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Imperial College London
Brandeis University
Scientific career
Fields Physics
Biotechnology
Institutions Stanford University
University of California, Berkeley
University of California, San Francisco
Princeton University
Thesis Three lessons in causality : what string theory has to say about naked singularities, time travel and horizon complementarity  (2004)
Doctoral advisor Leonard Susskind

Lisa Dyson is an American scientist, physicist, and entrepreneur. She is the founder and CEO of Kiverdi, a biotechnology company that uses carbon transformation technologies to develop sustainable products for commercial applications, including agriculture, plastics, and biodegradable materials. [1] [2] She is also the founder and CEO of Air Protein, a spin-off company from Kiverdi, which seeks to produce sustainable meat alternatives from elements found in air. [3]

Contents

She earned a PhD in theoretical high energy physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 2004. [4] [5] She is a TED speaker in residence and was the fourth Black woman (and one of only six) to earn a PhD in theoretical high energy, nuclear, or quantum gravity physics. [6] [7] [8]

Early life and education

Dyson grew up in Southern California and completed degrees in physics and mathematics at Brandeis University in 1997. After meeting several physics professors at Brandeis, she became more interested in pursuing physics research. She was a Fulbright Scholar at Imperial College London, where she studied quantum field theory and earned a Masters of Science degree in physics. [9]

Dyson earned her PhD at the MIT Center for Theoretical Physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 2004, working with Leonard Susskind on quantum gravity, general relativity, and string theory. [9] [4] [5] She also worked with Susskind and Matthew Kleban on the Boltzmann Brain problem, publishing on the topic in the Journal of High Energy Physics in 2002. [10] [11] She was the fourth black woman to earn a PhD in theoretical high energy physics. [8]

For her PhD thesis, Dyson conducted a study explaining how the string theory can be used to talk about general relativity and theoretical physics concepts like naked singularities, time travel, and horizon complementarity. For instance, in her analysis of time travel, she explained how general relativity allows the possibility of time travel, but such an event would introduce geometries that violate causality, a fundamental physical law. However, she then explained that there are causality-violating regions that would allow for time travel but they can not be constructed due to the stringy effects in the string theory. In short, Dyson's work tackled the complex relationship between fundamental physics principles and the theoretical consequences arising from string theory. [5]

Career

After completing her PhD, Dyson joined the University of California, Berkeley and worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Stanford University, University of California San Francisco, and Princeton University.[ citation needed ] She worked as a management consultant at Boston Consulting Group between 2004 and 2006, where she helped multi-national companies manage and run their business. [9] [7] She has worked with the chemical, energy, transportation, travel, automotive, packaging, and telecommunications industries. [12] [7]

In 2008 she co-founded Kiverdi with Dr. John Reed, a biotechnology company that uses microbes to turn carbon dioxide and carbon-rich waste, such as wood and agricultural residue, into alternative fuels, protein replacements, oils, and biodegradable materials for applications such as food and agriculture. [9] [13] The technology is based on a space-age technology developed by NASA in the 1960s, where astronauts used microbes called hydrogenotrophs to convert carbon dioxide in exhaled breath into nutrient rich crops. [2] [14] She started to grow the microbes in her lab, working with manufacturers to scale-up their technology. The company did not really grow until 2011, when they first received grants from the U.S. Department of Energy and formed partnerships with many chemical manufacturers. [15] Kiverdi now has over 40 patents granted or pending, [7] and a second company, Air Protein, which was established to focus on sustainable food production. [14] [13] Dyson serves as the CEO of Air Protein.

Media and speaking appearances

She has delivered several TED talks, including "Turning CO2 into Oil" at TEDxFulbright in May 2014, and "A forgotten Space Age technology could change how we grow food" in July 2016, which has been viewed over one million times. She has spoken about carbon recycling, [16] and appeared on the PBS Nova program Decoding the Weather Machine in April 2018.

Honors and awards

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Freeman Dyson</span> British theoretical physicist and mathematician (1923–2020)

Freeman John Dyson was a British-American theoretical physicist and mathematician known for his works in quantum field theory, astrophysics, random matrices, mathematical formulation of quantum mechanics, condensed matter physics, nuclear physics, and engineering. He was professor emeritus in the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton and a member of the board of sponsors of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics</span> Research institute in Waterloo, Canada

Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics is an independent research centre in foundational theoretical physics located in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. It was founded in 1999. The institute's founding and major benefactor is Canadian entrepreneur and philanthropist Mike Lazaridis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lisa Randall</span> American theoretical physicist

Lisa Randall is an American theoretical physicist and Frank B. Baird, Jr. Professor of Science at Harvard University. Her research includes the fundamental forces of nature and dimensions of space. She studies the Standard Model, supersymmetry, possible solutions to the hierarchy problem concerning the relative weakness of gravity, cosmology of dimensions, baryogenesis, cosmological inflation, and dark matter. She contributed to the Randall–Sundrum model, first published in 1999 with Raman Sundrum.

General Atomics (GA) is an American energy and defense corporation headquartered in San Diego, California, that specializes in research and technology development. This includes physics research in support of nuclear fission and nuclear fusion energy. The company also provides research and manufacturing services for remotely operated surveillance aircraft, including the Predator drones, airborne sensors, and advanced electric, electronic, wireless, and laser technologies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clean technology</span> Any process, product, or service that reduces negative environmental impacts

Clean technology, also called cleantech or climatetech, is any process, product, or service that reduces negative environmental impacts through significant energy efficiency improvements, the sustainable use of resources, or environmental protection activities. Clean technology includes a broad range of technology related to recycling, renewable energy, information technology, green transportation, electric motors, green chemistry, lighting, grey water, and more. Environmental finance is a method by which new clean technology projects can obtain financing through the generation of carbon credits. A project that is developed with concern for climate change mitigation is also known as a carbon project.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology</span> White House advisory board

The President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) is a council, chartered in each administration with a broad mandate to advise the president of the United States on science and technology. The current PCAST was established by Executive Order 13226 on September 30, 2001, by George W. Bush, was re-chartered by Barack Obama's April 21, 2010, Executive Order 13539, by Donald Trump's October 22, 2019, Executive Order 13895, and by Joe Biden's February 1, 2021, Executive Order 14007.

The Energy Biosciences Institute (EBI) is an organization dedicated to developing new sources of energy and reducing the impact of energy consumption. It was created in 2007 to apply advanced knowledge of biology to the challenges of responsible, sustainable energy production and use. Its main goal is to develop next-generation biofuels—that is, biofuels that are made from the non-edible parts of plants and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gubkin Russian State University of Oil and Gas</span> Public university in Moscow, Russia

The Gubkin Russian State University of Oil and Gas is a public university in Moscow, Russia. The university was founded in 1930 and is named after the geologist Ivan Gubkin. The university is colloquially known as Kerosinka, meaning 'kerosene stove'.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adam Kolawa</span>

Adam Kazimierz Kolawa was CEO and co-founder of Parasoft, a software company in Monrovia, CA that makes software development tools.

Issues relating to biofuel are social, economic, environmental and technical problems that may arise from biofuel production and use. Social and economic issues include the "food vs fuel" debate and the need to develop responsible policies and economic instruments to ensure sustainable biofuel production. Farming for biofuels feedstock can be detrimental to the environment if not done sustainably. Environmental concerns include deforestation, biodiversity loss and soil erosion as a result of land clearing for biofuels agriculture. While biofuels can contribute to reduction in global carbon emissions, indirect land use change for biofuel production can have the inverse effect. Technical issues include possible modifications necessary to run the engine on biofuel, as well as energy balance and efficiency.

Signature BioScience Inc. was the first biotechnology company based in San Francisco. It was formed in 1998 but closed in 2003 due to lack of funding. Before Signature was dissolved, it had just completed Phase II trials on Digitoxin, which the company was pursuing as an anti-cancer compound. However, the company's core competency was developing biotechnology tools that would be used to identify highly qualified pre-clinical leads.

Algenol, founded in 2009, headquartered in Fort Myers, Florida, Algenol is an industrial biotechnology company that is commercializing patented algae technology for production of ethanol and other fuels. The technology enables production four of the most important fuels using a proprietary process involving algae, sunlight, carbon dioxide and salt water.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Viaspace</span>

Viaspace is a clean energy company focused on commercializing technologies from NASA, Caltech, University of Southern California and the United States Department of Defense. The company operates in the alternative energy, renewable energy, and chemical sensing sectors. The company is associated with the Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) and the California Institute of Technology through its CEO, Dr. Carl Kukkonen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barry Stevens (technology developer)</span>

Barry Stevens is an American technology business developer, scientist, author, speaker and entrepreneur in technology-driven enterprises; Founder of TBD America Inc., a technology business development group (1997).

Squid Labs was an American independent research and development company founded by a group of four MIT graduates. In 2004, Colin Bulthaup, Dan Goldwater, Saul Griffith, and Eric Wilhelm moved from the East Coast to California to found the company known as Squid Labs. During its years of existence from 2004 to 2007, Squid Labs added three more members to its team: Geo Homsy, Corwin Hardham and Ryan McKinley. Working out of a warehouse in Emeryville, the group adopted the slogan "We're not a think tank, we're a do tank." and created a handful of patents and inventions including an electronically sensed rope, portable pull-cord generators, and a machine that could manufacture eyeglasses of any prescriptions at extremely low cost. Squid Labs was also the birthplace for many companies still running today, such as Makani Power and Howtoons. Although the company no longer exists, Squid Lab's co-founder, Saul Griffith created a similar company in San Francisco named Otherlab.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Guy Wolynes</span> American theoretical chemist and physicist

Peter Guy Wolynes is an American theoretical chemist and physicist. Since 2011 he has been a Bullard-Welch Foundation Professor of Science and professor of chemistry at Rice University. He is widely recognized for his significant contributions to the theories of protein folding, glasses, and gene networks. Previously he was James R. Eiszner Professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and the Francis H.C. Crick Chair of Physical Sciences at the University of California, San Diego.

Alan T. Charlie Johnson is an American physicist and a professor in physics and astronomy at the University of Pennsylvania. Johnson currently serves as the founding executive editor of the scientific journal AIP Advances and the co-founder of Graphene Frontiers, LLC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Giulia Galli</span> American condensed-matter physicist

Giulia Galli is a condensed-matter physicist. She is the Liew Family Professor of Electronic Structure and Simulations in the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering and the department of chemistry at the University of Chicago and senior scientist at Argonne National Laboratory. She is also the director of the Midwest Integrated Center for Computational Materials. She is recognized for her contributions to the fields of computational condensed-matter, materials science, and nanoscience, most notably first principles simulations of materials and liquids, in particular materials for energy, properties of water, and excited state phenomena.

Bulbul Chakraborty is the Enid and Nate Ancell Professor of Physics at Brandeis University. She is recognized for her contributions to soft condensed matter theory studying systems far from equilibrium, such as granular materials, amorphous systems, and statistical physics. She is an elected American Physical Society and American Association for the Advancement of Science fellow.

References

  1. ↑ National Public Radio (NPR), All Tech Considered. "#RaceOnTech: How An Early Love Of Math Led Her To The Role Of CEO". NPR.org. Retrieved 2018-05-01.
  2. 1 2 3 "Lisa Dyson, Most Creative People 2017 | Fast Company". Fast Company. Retrieved 2018-05-01.
  3. ↑ "Team". AIR PROTEIN. Retrieved 2021-02-21.
  4. 1 2 "PhD Alumna Lisa Dyson Founder and CEO of Kiverdi | Office of Graduate Education" . Retrieved 2020-06-11.
  5. 1 2 3 Dyson, Lisa (2004). Three lessons in causality : what string theory has to say about naked singularities, time travel and horizon complementarity (Ph.D. thesis). Massachusetts Institute of Technology. hdl:1721.1/17744.
  6. ↑ Dyson, Lisa. "Lisa Dyson | Speaker | TED". www.ted.com. Retrieved 2020-06-10.
  7. 1 2 3 4 "About". Kiverdi, Inc. Retrieved 2020-06-10.
  8. 1 2 Prescod-Weinstein, Chanda (2015-05-24). "The Five Black Women PhDs of Theoretical High Energy Physics". Medium. Retrieved 2018-04-30.
  9. 1 2 3 4 "Harnessing the Power of Waste | Brandeis Magazine". Brandeis Magazine. Retrieved 2018-04-30.
  10. ↑ Overbye, Dennis (2008). "Big Brain Theory: Have Cosmologists Lost Theirs?". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2018-04-30.
  11. ↑ Dyson, Lisa; Kleban, Matthew; Susskind, Leonard (2002). "Disturbing Implications of a Cosmological Constant". Journal of High Energy Physics. 2002 (10): 011. arXiv: hep-th/0208013 . Bibcode:2002JHEP...10..011D. doi:10.1088/1126-6708/2002/10/011. ISSN   1126-6708. S2CID   2344440.
  12. ↑ "Circular - Closing the loop: how a forgotten Space Age technology could change how we grow our food - Mediachange - Casestudyourself!". mediachange.info. Retrieved 2018-04-30.
  13. 1 2 Peters, Adele (2019-11-12). "The newest fake meat is made from thin air". Fast Company. Retrieved 2020-06-11.
  14. 1 2 Greathouse, John. "Here's How Lisa Dyson's Startup Is Reducing World Hunger AND Combating Climate Change". Forbes. Retrieved 2020-06-11.
  15. ↑ "Food for thought: How to feed the world with old school NASA tricks – fruitworldmedia". fruitworldmedia.com. Retrieved 2018-04-30.
  16. ↑ Impact.tech (2016-08-06), Carbon Recycling - Lisa Dyson at Impact.tech at Google SF HQ , retrieved 2018-04-30
  17. ↑ Relations, Scoville Public (2012-03-14). "World Biofuels Markets Announces Winners of Sustainable Biofuels Awards". GlobeNewswire News Room (Press release). Retrieved 2020-06-11.
  18. ↑ "Kiverdi, Inc. Wins Top Honors For Its Innovative Approach to Producing Sustainable Chemicals From Carbon-rich Waste - Bio-based News -". Bio-based News. 2012-03-14. Retrieved 2020-06-11.
  19. ↑ "Kiverdi Receives Energy Commission Funding for Its Pioneering Carbon Conversion Platform". GlobeNewswire News Room. Retrieved 2018-04-30.
  20. ↑ "Lisa Dyson:CEO, Kiverdi Inc". www.bizjournals.com. March 1, 2013. Retrieved 2020-06-11.
  21. ↑ "Lisa Dyson: Entrepreneurship Award Winner". c3eawards.org. Retrieved 2018-04-30.
  22. ↑ United States Department of Energy (2015). Bioenergy 2015 Speaker Biographies (PDF) (Report). United States Department of Energy. Retrieved 2024-08-02.
  23. ↑ The Academy of Natural Science at Drexel University (2018-04-02). "WINS Marks 35 Years of Making a Difference". ansp.org. Retrieved 2020-06-11.
  24. ↑ "Lisa Dyson is on Inc.'s 2019 Female Founders 100 list". Inc.com. 1970-01-01. Retrieved 2024-08-14.
  25. ↑ "Female Thought Leader of the Year". Stevie Awards. 2022-01-17. Retrieved 2024-08-14.
  26. ↑ "Most Innovative Woman of the Year". Stevie Awards. 2022-01-17. Retrieved 2024-08-14.
  27. ↑ "Influential Women 2022: Lisa Dyson of Air Protein". San Francisco Business Times. 2022-10-07. Retrieved 2024-08-14.
  28. ↑ "San Francisco Bay Area Power 100: The business people you need to know". San Francisco Business Times. 2023-02-23. Retrieved 2024-08-14.
  29. ↑ "Edison Awards Announces 2023 Lewis Latimer Fellows". Edison Awards. 2023-04-13. Retrieved 2024-08-14.
  30. ↑ "Lisa Dyson". The Clean Energy Education & Empowerment (C3E) Initiative. Retrieved 2024-08-02.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.