Meet Our Graduates: Anna Douglas
While at Vanderbilt, Anna began her studies developing nanostructured materials that can improve the performance of energy storage devices including lithium and sodium ion batteries. During her graduate studies, Anna co-invented a novel electrochemical synthesis method to produce high quality carbon nanotubes from carbon dioxide, and subsequently spun out a startup company called SkyNano in an effort to commercialize the technology. Since it’s founding in 2017 with Prof. Cary Pint, Anna has served as SkyNano’s CEO and has grown the team to 11 scientists and engineers, and raised $16M in non-dilutive funding. Anna was a part of the inaugural cohort of ORNL’s prestigious Innovation Crossroads program, where she learned business skills that aided in her transition of the technology from the lab to the marketplace. Anna was named a 2020 Forbes 30 Under 30 in the Energy category, and SkyNano’s underlying technology has received a 2020 R&D100 award, a 2021 TechConnect Innovation Award, and has to date served a variety of customers ranging from batteries to tires and coatings through the sale of electrochemically-produced carbon nanotubes. “The IMS program being part of the broader Vanderbilt community has been instrumental in my professional development and the success of SkyNano,” Anna said. “…many of our collaborative projects and funding opportunities have resulted from connections made within the Vanderbilt alumni community.”