Join us at the home of Tough Tech for a special event for graduate students, postdocs, and MBAs with an entrepreneurial mindset.
Frontier Forum is an event series by Engine Ventures that brings together leading expert voices in tough tech, rising innovators from our Fellows program, and community members eager to explore how boundary-pushing ideas transform into real-world impact. Forums are invitation-only, and comprised of high-value presentations and facilitated open discussions about whitespace in tough tech.
Each forum features bite-sized presentations from Engine Ventures Fellows, domain experts, and industry veterans, diving into everything from advanced materials and compute architectures to solutions for the energy transition and next-gen biotech. After hearing these insights on stage, attendees can connect over refreshments, sharing experiences, exchanging contact info, and laying the groundwork for future partnerships.
We aim to shine a spotlight on the nascent ideas and breakthroughs that other forums often overlook. By creating a venue for engineers, scientists, investors, and entrepreneurs to collide, we spark new collaborations to ensures every session is a catalyst for bold thinking and real connections. This event offers a valuable opportunity to connect with like-minded peers and the Engine Ventures team, while gaining deeper insights into the earliest stages of company formation, the investment process, and ways to get involved.
The Engine Ventures Fellowship is a part-time program for current graduate students to become embedded in the team. You will hear insights from the current Fellows on opportunity areas they have identified from their vantage point. Learn more about the Engine Ventures Fellowship.
Aaron Gabriel Sandoval is a fourth-year medical student at Harvard Medical School pursuing dermatology. He works in a lab generating pluripotent stem cell-derived skin organoids to study a rare genetic skin disease called epidermolysis bullosa. At Engine Ventures, he is focused on novel stem cell therapies and regenerative medicine approaches.
Catherine Della Santina is a PhD candidate at MIT where she develops tools to improve delivery and visualization of genetically encoded dynamic sensors in stem cell models of cardiac development. At Engine Ventures, she is working on emerging biomarker discovery and detection technologies related to neurological disorders.
Ivan Pires completed his PhD in Chemical Engineering at MIT and is now a postdoctoral fellow at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, where he works on methods to deliver and control immunotherapies. At Engine Ventures, he evaluates tools and techniques that monitor and modulate the immune system for therapeutic and diagnostic uses.
Phillip Clauer is a PhD candidate in MIT’s Department of Biological Engineering, where his research bridges synthetic biology and agriculture with an emphasis on biological nitrogen fixation. At Engine Ventures, he is investigating emerging technologies in therapeutic natural products and macrocyclic peptide space.
Trent Weiss is a PhD candidate in the MIT Department of Chemical Engineering, where he develops new electrochemical energy storage technologies, focusing on the design and fabrication of alternative lithium-ion battery electrodes and cell formats. At Engine Ventures, he evaluates critical mineral recovery technologies, with an emphasis on rare earth element extraction.
Matthew completed his PhD in Chemical Engineering from Stanford University and is now a postdoctoral fellow in Chemical Sciences at MIT, where his research has spanned from wastewater valorization to advancing thermocatalytic reactions. At Engine Ventures, he is exploring the evolving market needs and emerging solutions for PFAS remediation.
“At a technical level -- the space for innovation in AgTech and thermal power delivery is so much larger than I had imagined, but can't be accessed easily with a conventional venture model with shorter funds. More generally, it was really interesting to learn about how Engine Ventures is structured, how it seeks to differentiate itself from other deeptech firms, and how fellows help provide insight and act as a resource to the investment team.”
“One key takeaway from the evening’s program was how deeply embedded the fellows are within the investment team—it was clear that they’re not just observers but actively contribute to the firm’s investment strategy and decision-making process. Additionally, in the AI biotech program, I found the discussion on how companies prioritize different aspects of AI-driven innovation particularly insightful. The framework distinguishing between companies that focus on "relevance" (e.g., optimizing AI models for drug discovery) versus those that prioritize "context" (e.g., integrating real-world patient data for clinical applications) was a valuable way to think about the evolving landscape.”
