Applying Learnings from MIT to Develop Innovative Plastic Alternatives at Atacama

Paloma Gonzalez-Rojas, who completed the MCSC’s Impact Fellows Program in 2023, is an entrepreneur and material scientist with extensive experience in machine learning. She is now the CEO and co-founder of Atacama Biomaterials, a startup developing plastic alternatives that can be made from diverse, local biomass while remaining cost-effective. The skills Paloma is using in this role are ones she developed through many years of research, collaborations, and conversations with faculty, industry, peers, and students.

The science behind Atacama’s products began at MIT when Paloma was exploring emissions, life-cycle assessments, and advanced manufacturing as a doctoral researcher. She worked alongside MIT Professor Neil Gershenfeld, who is also director of MIT’s Center for Bits and Atoms (CBA), where she built the knowledge and learned about the foundation for the product she is now using at Atacama. Before that, she collaborated with Professors Svafa Gronfeldt and Regina Barzilay, who guided her dissertation. She went on to work closely with MIT Professor Gregory Rutledge of Chemical Engineering as a postdoc alongside her work in the MCSC – where she helped with the prototype of the algorithm for scaling model/engine that is used as part of the science and technology at Atacama today.

“Beyond the operational aspects of running a business, I absolutely love the science side of things,” said Paloma. “The material that we use was created with a lot of research and empirical testing, enhanced by AI.”

During her time working with the MCSC, Paloma gained experience in working directly with industry. She learned how to effectively gather feedback from member companies to understand how they approach large-scale climate and sustainability challenges and use their perspectives to inform her work. Beyond working directly with member companies, one highlight of Paloma’s time working with the MCSC was managing several students through MIT’s Undergraduates Research Opportunities Program (UROP).

“Working with undergraduates through the MCSC sharpened my management experience and helped me learn about effectively building teams,” said Paloma. Her UROP students helped with finishing a paper about the foundation of machine learning for chemical engineering applications that she presented at the International Conference of Machine Learning (ICM) in July 2023. “I also loved learning from the other Impact Fellows, and remaining close friends.”

Paloma’s time as an Impact Fellow allowed her to merge her interests in climate and polymer development, which are two topics at the heart of Atacama.

“I would highly recommend that anyone looking to get into the climate space try to combine their different passions to build a diverse skill set. In particular, from working on the business side, I have seen how important skills in management and economics can be. Take advantage of opportunities to develop your own diverse, well-rounded skill set,” concluded Paloma.