ACTIVEcharge is a University of Maryland technology startup developing a self-powered system to monitor hard-to-reach locations. The system is integrated with predictive analytics software engine to detect structural and operational issues before they result into catastrophic events. The solution provides actionable insights, which can be autonomously implemented, resulting in significant increase in equipment uptime, and ultimately resulting in increased profitability over equipment’s lifetime.

Located in Washington D.C./Baltimore area, we are collaborating with multiple federal/state agencies, research labs, and industrial partners.

Pranay Kohli Pranay P. Kohli, Chief Executive Officer, is an internationally experienced energy sector executive and consultant. Has advised Fortune 100 corporations, the German, Swedish, Saudi Arabian, Turkish, and Indian Governments, The European Commission, The World Bank, and the US Department of Energy (DOE) on Energy issues. Pranay has served on the Advisory Board of Maryland Clean Energy Center (MCEC), Board of Directors of Maryland-DC-Virginia Solar Energy Industry Association (MDV-SEIA), and has been an Adviser to Washington DC-based Institute for Energy and Environment Research (IEER). Pranay has earned MS (Physics) and MTech (Energy Systems) degrees from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi; he has worked as an energy scientist at the Technical University of Munich (Germany), and studied business administration at Stockholm University (Sweden).

Soobum Lee Soobum Lee, Chief Innovation Officer, received his Ph.D. degree from the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon, South Korea, in 2007. He worked with Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute as a Researcher, with the University of Maryland at College Park as a Postdoctoral Fellow, and with the University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana, USA, as a Research Assistant Professor. He is currently an Associate Professor at the University of Maryland Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD. His main research interests include energy harvesting device design, structural topology optimization, and robust, reliability-based design optimization.

In addition to the initial team members, the company is in an excellent position to leverage its university association around Washington DC and Baltimore area for high-quality interns and employees. The company plans to recruit experienced professionals as the business grows via industry meetings, personal recommendations, and proactive search on professional networks. The field test of ACTIVEcharge harvester is underway with widely connected local/global collaborators from academia and industry.