Shortly after coming to NASA Jonathan formed the Protein Nanotechnology Research Group and became an Adjunct Professor at UC Santa Cruz in the Dept. of Bio molecular Engineering.

 

 

In 2007, with support from Google, he shifted his research focus to Global Research into Energy and the Environment at NASA (GREEN) and in 2008 he invented OMEGA (Offshore Membrane Enclosures for Growing Algae). He raised $10.8M from NASA and the California Energy Commission to evaluate the feasibility of the OMEGA system to provide sustainable biofuels from wastewater and CO2 without competing with agriculture for water, fertilizer, or land; to provide solar electricity from the offshore platform; to recycle wastewater as potable water, and to supplement food supplies by providing an infrastructure for aquaculture. He is now leading the “OMEGA Global Initiative” to establish the first OMEGA demonstration project in a protected bay somewhere in the world.  His Global TED talk can be seen here.

 

In addition to work at NASA and UC Santa Cruz, Jonathan is an adjunct professor at Tokyo University for Agriculture and Technology in Japan and a lifetime fellow of the California Academy of Science.  He has been identified as one of the PE100 – the Purpose Economy 100

  

tag: Green, Energy