Stafford W. Sheehan

Stafford W. Sheehan is an American scientist and entrepreneur, and is the founder and CEO of Project Omega, a company developing technology to recycle uranium and other materials from spent nuclear fuel. Prior to founding Project Omega, Sheehan was a co-founder and chief technology officer of Air Company, where he invented a heterogeneous catalysis process that converts carbon dioxide into hydrocarbons and alcohols to produce vodka and other consumer products, as well as jet fuel.

Early life and education Sheehan became interested in computer programming as a teenager. He originally intended to major in computer science with a minor in Arabic at Boston College but changed his concentration after taking a chemistry class his freshman year. As an undergraduate researcher in 2009, he was part of a team that developed a titanium nanostructure that provides greater conductivity and could be used to create more efficient solar panels.

Sheehan graduated with a degree in Chemistry from Boston College in 2011. He was subsequently a National Science Foundation graduate research fellow at Yale University where he worked on the development of gold-coated nanoparticles for solar cells and catalysts for artificial photosynthesis. His thesis titled "Photon Management and Water Oxidation Catalysts for Artificial Photosynthesis" was awarded Yale's Richard Wolfgang Prize which is given each year to the best doctoral theses by graduating chemistry students.

Career Sheehan founded Catalytic Innovations in 2015.

In 2017, Sheehan co-founded Air Company where he served as president and chief technology officer. Air Company produces ethanol-based products using heterogeneous catalysis to hydrogenate carbon dioxide to produce ethanol . Unlike other catalysts used in hydrogenation, this catalyst contains no precious metals and produces ethanol sufficiently pure enough for use in beverages, foods, cosmetics, cleaning products, and fragrances with oxygen and water as the only byproducts. Sheehan left Air Company in December, 2024.

Publications