Staff Sheehan Chief Technology Officer Air Company

Dr. Stafford Sheehan is an American scientist, inventor, and entrepreneur who has emerged to sit at the forefront of work deemed revolutionary within the realm of science and technology. His expertise is guided by a Bachelor’s in Chemistry from Boston College and a Ph.D in Physical Chemistry from Yale University. Dr. Sheehan’s work landed him on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in Energy in 2016 for discovering an industrial material called a heterogenized homogeneous catalyst; has had him recognized  as Chemical & Engineering News Talented 12 in 2017; and in 2020, he was named on Boston College’s 40 Under 40 alumni list.

Throughout his career, Dr. Sheehan has explored opportunities within carbon dioxide conversation technologies, which would play an integral role in his development of a proprietary and patented technology system that converts captured carbon dioxide into high-purity alcohols. Currently, Dr. Sheehan serves as the Co-founder and CTO of AIR COMPANY, a New York-based company that uses this technology to address climate change by creating consumer products and fuels from CO2. As CTO, he is responsible for overseeing all technological operations while working to continue to push the boundaries of his technology. His ingenuity has paved the way for a number of distinguished awards for AIR COMPANY, including TIME Best Inventions, Fast Company World Changing Ideas, the NASA CO2 Conversion Challenge, R&D World’s R&D 100, and most recently, the Keeling Curve Prize.

Dr. Sheehan’s work is only just beginning, however, as this technology can be applied across a number of verticals from glucose to space exploration. If scaled, this technology has the potential to repurpose nearly 10% of global CO2 emissions, highlighting the wider impact of the work he’s committed to.