Daniela Eugenia Blanco Jimenez

Born: Unknown

Country of Birth: Venezuela

Nationality: Venezuelan

Ethnicity: Hispanic

Universidad Simon Bolivar BS Chemical Engineering 2016; NYU MS 2018 & PhD 2020 both in Chemical Engineering

"“Don’t be afraid of what you don’t know; you’re capable of learning anything,” she answers. “In fact, don’t be afraid, period.” (engineering.nyu.edu/news/); I think the main thing that makes me a do-er is just that I go after what I want to see accomplished. I actually don't get stuck in the little details of the things that I don't know yet; on the “what if something goes wrong?”, on the fear of something, maybe, not going exactly the way that I had planned. I just find really hard I focus on what I want to do, and I just trust that if I work really hard and I don't give up, I'll be able to figure everything out. So with that mindset, I have been able to actually not just move to the U.S., complete my Ph.D., start a company, pivot in the company a bunch of times until, you know, I make sure that I have the right solution for what is needed in the market. And now that's the way that I continue to commercialize that solution." (uspto.gov); "And then I started asking people, “Okay, what if I can give you AI that you can use, not just for nylon, but for other processes? And you can make them equally as sustainable. You can make them solar-powered, you can make them faster, you can make them better?” And then we saw an in, then we saw like true motivation from people to start implementing it, and they were asking for it. So, we made a pivot. And after I graduated from my Ph.D., I focused on developing a machine-learning platform that would be reaction-agnostic that you can implement for nylon, for medicine, for cosmetics, for basic chemicals, for anything you want — to be able to develop processes that are more sustainable, faster, and overall more efficient." (uspto.gov); " I would say, especially for girls, remember that nobody can make you feel any less, unless you let them do that to you. People can say whatever they want. People can think whatever they want. If you know your value, if you know your worth, if you trust your knowledge and your motivation and your hard work, then you have nothing to fear, and you have nothing to fight or be upset about. That's the way that I handle it whenever I get a comment that makes me uncomfortable or that I don't agree with. Whenever I find something that doesn't believe in me, just because I'm fairly, I'm a girl or I'm too young or anything similar, it's not worth a fight. It's not worth getting upset. It's just more motivation to work hard and to show them that they were wrong. You don't have to do anything, let actions, let results, speak for you." (uspto.gov); " I'm most proud of when I didn't give up when things were really hard. Once you have made it through that hard stage and things are going well, awards come and prizes and recognition comes, because you've worked really hard and you have built something huge. I am proud that I didn't give up. I'm proud that I kept fighting for my dreams. I think I am most proud of the fact that every day when things get complicated in the startup, I don't give up. I keep fighting for it. And, and I'm proud of the fact that I think every day I'm building a better version of myself, not just on the personal level, but intellectually, you know. I know more today than I knew yesterday, because every day I'm working on something so new, so different, so scary, but I figure out a way to do it. And then every time I do that, every time I figure that little thing out, it gives me this sense of satisfaction and it makes me really proud." (uspto.gov); "

— Daniela Eugenia Blanco Jimenez

Field of Study: Chemical Engineering; AI

Institution/Corporation: NYU; Sunthetics

Degrees & Memberships: None found

Awards: 2020 named 1 of Forbes 30 Under 30 in Energy North America; 2020 Top Innovator Under 35 in Latin America, MIT Technology Review; 2020 Top Female Founder, Inc Magazine; 2020 Top Graduate Inventor, Lemelson-MIT; 2019 Global Student Entrepreneur Champion; 2019 Brightest AI-CI Mind, MIT Center for Collective Intelligence; 2021 NSF SBIR Awardee; 2019 NYU Tandon MVP; 2018 Eirich Moraivetz Prize

Achievements: c0-founder & CEO of Sunthetics is a startup company that develops machine learning platforms that leverage very small data to enable scientists throughout the chemical industry to make new chemicals, medicine, and materials, up to 15 times faster; her innovative method uses water, plant waste, and solar energy to manufacture nylon, instead of the fossil fuel commonly used; her solar-powered reactor uses 50% less energy and less raw material, while producing less waste and removing 20% of carbon emissions; invented an optimized system for clean energy storage and hydrogen production, which could be used in situations such as natural disasters when backup power is needed;