Jonathan Trent

As NASA's lead scientist on the perfection of microalgae as an energy source, Jonathan Trent's keynotes are often highly informative in the are of biofuels and as well as the system he created in order to utilize microalgae, OMEGA.

OMEGA, which stands for Offshore Membrane Enclosures for Growing Algae, is a method in which Jonathan Trent devised to utilize clean wastewater along with carbon dioxide to breed microalgae, one of the smallest yet fastest growing ornganisms, as a new energy source. Despite being a scientist, Jonathan Trent's keynotes often reflect a more realistic side to him and his projects as he often takes into consideration realistic events that his discoveries could impact as such as environmental and economical issues as opposed to purely focusing on the perfection of the project.

The NASA scientist graduated from the University of California with a B.A. in Biology and a Ph.D. from Scripps Institution of Oceanography in Biological Oceanography. He also held three postdoctoral positions studying Molecular Biology of Extremophiles at the Max Plank Institute of Biochemistry, Microbiology at the University of Copenhagen and Microbial Physiology at Yale University's School of Medicine.