Molly Morse Mango Materials

Dr. Molly Morse is an innovator, inventor and entrepreneur who lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. She is the CEO and co-founder of Mango Materials, a startup company that uses methane-fed bacteria to produce an affordable biodegradable polymer. She has engineering degrees from Cornell University and Stanford University and is excited about how innovation and science can transform the world, leaving it a better place. Molly is a bioplastics and biocomposites engineer who has experience in construction management and has contributed to multiple patents in the bioplastics and biocomposites industry.

While working extensively with Engineers for a Sustainable World, she traveled to the Andaman Islands, India where she saw firsthand the use of temporary building materials in provisional shelters in the wake of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami. Seeing how these temporary materials were briefly used motivated her to investigate and develop sustainable, biodegradable material alternatives. This resulted in her Ph.D. in Civil & Environmental Engineering–with an emphasis on anaerobic biodegradation of biocomposites for the building industry–from Stanford University While consulting for a venture capital company, Molly realized the capabilities start-up companies have to transform the world and became extremely excited about starting her own. She launched Mango Materials based off of intellectual property from her Ph.D. research and currently works with long-time and new colleagues in the quest to locally manufacture environmentally friendly plastics.

In addition to being resourceful, strong-willed, and hard-working, Molly is extremely passionate about the environment and has her sights set on producing a truly green, affordable bioplastic that will do its part to have a positive environmental impact.