Entrepreneurship

Dr. Birgitt Boschitsch is co-founder and CEO of spotLESS Materials Inc., a startup spinning out Penn State technology and dedicated to commercializing anti-fouling coating technologies to consumers and across various industries. Birgitt received her PhD in mechanical engineering from The Pennsylvania State University, where her research focused on bio-inspired self-healing membranes and materials. She received her B.S.E. degree in mechanical and aerospace engineering from Princeton University (2013), where she conducted research in bio-inspired propulsion. 

Birgitt has published 10 peer-reviewed publications in leading scientific journals including Science Advances, Nature Communications, ACS Nano, Advanced Materials, PNAS, the Journal of Fluid Mechanics, and Physics of Fluids. She has also published a book chapter on wetting science and nature inspired surface design and currently holds 5 issued and 11 pending US and international patents. She is a recipient of the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, Materials Research Society (MRS) Graduate Student Gold Award, MRS Nowick Graduate Student Award, the Penn State Alumni Association Dissertation Award and Distinguished Doctoral Scholar Medal, and the Penn State Mechanical Engineering Society’s (PSMES’s) Early Career Award. 

As a co-founder of spotLESS Materials, she serves as the principal investigator of Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I and Phase II grants from the National Science Foundation, is co-PI on a contract with the Office of Naval Research, and leads a number of commercial R&D and business efforts. She is a Y Combinator alumna, and was recognized as a 2020 Forbes 30 Under 30 in Science. Birgitt co-founded spotLESS Materials in an effort to transform technology with great potential into technology with great impact, aiming to fulfill her personal goal of addressing pressing global needs through technology.

www.spotlessmaterials.com