CEE 200: Environmental and Water Resources Engineering Seminar

Speaker:
Affiliation:

CEE 200: Environmental and Water Resources Engineering Seminar

Innovation Pathways in the Water Ecosystem: The PAX Water Story

Dr. Peter S. Fiske

Director – Water-Energy Resilience Research Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab

Abstract: Research in environmental sciences and water resources is motivated by the potential to make important breakthroughs and innovations that can translate into technologies and methods to enable sustainable use of our natural resources.  But while we spend years training our early-career environmental scientists and engineers to understand the latest developments the physical and life sciences, we provide them with little training or preparation in how scientific innovations make their way to commercialization and industry adoption. And we provide them with even less preparation to make the journey of commercialization themselves. In this seminar, I will discuss my own journey from scientist to entrepreneur, and the stochastic process of taking early-stage technologies through the commercialization process through the story of PAX Water Technologies, Inc., a water technology start-up based on biomimicry that made it all the way to profitability and acquisition by a major water technologies company. Ironically, science-trained individuals are better prepared to succeed in entrepreneurship than they realize. A small amount of preparation can make all the difference.

Biography: Dr Peter S. Fiske is the Director of the Water-Energy Resilience Research Institute at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and a frequent lecturer on the subject of entrepreneurship for early-career scientists and engineers. From 2008-2017, Fiske was the CEO of PAX Water Technologies, Inc. which developed a suite of technologies to improve drinking water quality in municipal water distribution systems. Fiske received his Ph.D. from Stanford University and his MBA from UC Berkeley.

Tuesday, May 7, 1 PM to 2 PM, 5249 Boelter Hall

Date/Time:
Date(s) - May 07, 2019
1:00 pm - 2:00 pm

Location:
Boelter Hall 5249
UCLA, Boelter Hall 5249 Los Angeles CA 90095