Alexander Shearer
CTO, Arinna
Alexander Shearer joins the Breakthrough Energy Fellows program from Arinna, Inc in Palo Alto, CA. Alexander is a chemical engineer and graduating PhD student from Stanford University. His expertise is in materials synthesis and characterization for semiconductor devices. As CTO at Arinna, Alexander is developing and integrating the scalable processes that will be used for fabrication of Arinna’s innovative solar cell technology.
Arinna is developing a flexible, power-dense solar panel technology to meet the demands of emerging yet rapidly growing markets such as satellites, electric vehicles, IoT and wearable electronics. Arinna’s proprietary technology – based on ultrathin 2D materials recently developed by the semiconductor industry – has the potential to achieve 10x higher power density than incumbent solar technologies while maintaining a competitively low cost.
Alexander received a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering and a Bachelor of Arts in the Plan II Honors program at the University of Texas at Austin. He will soon receive his PhD from Stanford, as well as a PhD minor in Electrical Engineering. Outside of the lab, Alexander loves to play volleyball, relax by the water, play new board games, and read about the history of science and innovation.
Q&A
What is your favorite word and why?
Critical – to solve any tough problem, you have to be open-minded yet critical; by doing so, you will find hidden opportunities.
What did you want to be when you grew up?
I wanted to be an architect. I always wanted to build something of my own. I thought I would be building with brick and mortar, but it turns out it will be with atoms and bonds.
What beliefs drive you?
Ecological stewardship is justice. Work hard at work worth doing
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