About spotLESS Materials
Our founding team is comprised of world-class experts in liquid-repellent materials and nature-inspired engineering. They have been recognized by the White House, Forbes, MIT Technology Review, and R&D 100 for their scientific and technological achievements. Our team has a combined 30+ years of experience in repellent coating technology.
Meet our Founders
Birgitt Boschitsch, PhD
co-Founder and CEO
Dr. Birgitt Boschitsch is a co-founder and CEO of spotLESS Materials Inc., a startup spinning out Penn State technology and dedicated to commercializing anti-fouling coating technologies to consumers and across various industries. Birgitt received her PhD in mechanical engineering from The Pennsylvania State University, where her research focused on bio-inspired self-healing materials. She received her B.S.E. degree in mechanical and aerospace engineering from Princeton University, where she conducted research in bio-inspired propulsion. Birgitt has published 10 peer-reviewed publications in leading journals including Science Advances, Nature Communications, PNAS, Advanced Materials, and the Journal of Fluid Mechanics. She has also published a book chapter on nature inspired surface design and currently holds 5 issued and 11 pending US and international patents. She is a recipient of the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, Materials Research Society (MRS) Graduate Student Gold Award, MRS Nowick Graduate Student Award, and the Penn State Alumni Association Dissertation Award and Distinguished Doctoral Scholar Medal. As a co-founder of spotLESS Materials, she serves as the principal investigator of the NSF SBIR Phase I and Phase II grants, is co-PI on an Office of Naval Research contract , and leads a number of commercial R&D and business efforts. She is a Y Combinator alumna and was recognized as a 2020 Forbes 30 Under 30 in Science.
Tak-Sing Wong, PhD
co-Founder and CTO
Dr. Tak-Sing Wong is a co-founder and CTO of spotLESS Materials Inc. Dr. Wong is also a Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Biomedical Engineering and the inaugural holder of Wormley Family Early Career Professorship in Engineering at The Pennsylvania State University. Dr. Wong’s research focuses on surface and interfacial engineering, micro- and nanomanufacturing, as well as bio-inspired materials design with applications in health, water, and environmental sustainability. Dr. Wong has published over 40 peer-reviewed publications including papers in Nature, Nature Materials, Nature Sustainability, Nature Communications, Science Advances, and PNAS. Dr. Wong currently holds 64 issued and pending US and international patents. His work on bio-inspired materials has been recognized with a number of national and international awards including a R&D 100 Award, a NSF CAREER Award, a DARPA Young Faculty Award, a NAE Frontier of Engineering Invitee, the IEEE Nanotechnology Council Early Career Award, the IEEE NANOMED Innovator Award, and the ASME Sia Nemat-Nasser Early Career Award. Dr. Wong has been honored by the White House with the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), as well as named one of the world’s top 35 innovators under 35 by MIT Technology Review for his contributions in nanotechnology, surface engineering, and bioinspired surface engineering.
