At 17-years-old, Nivatha isolated microbes from soil samples from across Montreal that had the potential to be useful in bioremediation...which basically means they could help clean up oil spills. This discovery kick-started Nivatha’s research and entrepreneurial journey. She earned a bachelor's degree in physiology and international relations from McGill and founded Dispersa, a clean-tech company that she currently leads as CEO. Dispersa is focused on decarbonizing the chemicals industry. On today’s episode, Nivatha talks about spaces in clean-tech that students should look into, what projects Dispersa is working on, and the specific differences between conducting research in academia versus industry.

This episode was made possible by the generous support of the University Students' Council at Western University. 

Producer: Jay 

Timestamps:

(2:08); Educational background

(8:51); Finding and isolating the bacterial strain in high school

(12:51); Why an undergrad degree in physiology?

(16:55); Undergrad experiences

(20:20); Defining clean-tech and Dispersa 

(21:27); Biggest learning curve with starting Dispersa

(24:06); How to start a company to solve a large problem

(28:32); Industry vs. academia 

(30:43); Research in industry vs. academia 

(38:07); Juggling building the technology and the business side of a startup 

(44:23); Problems for undergrads to focus on

(47:15); How students can get involved in the clean-tech space

(49:05); Advice for undergrads