Meredith Perry
{{short description|American inventor, entrepreneur, and scientist}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Meredith Perry
| image =
| birth_date = August 5, 1989
| birth_place = Princeton, New Jersey
| occupation = CEO, Elemind Technologies, Inc.
| known_for = Invention of ultrasonic wireless power
| alma_mater = University of Pennsylvania
| boards = Elemind Technologies, Inc., J. Craig Venter Institute
}}
Meredith Perry (born August 5, 1989) is an American inventor, entrepreneur, and scientist, best known for the founding of failed startup uBeam, an alleged wireless charging system based on ultrasound.{{Cite web|url=https://fortune.com/2014/12/30/meredith-perry-ubeam/|title=She's an inventor. She's 25. And she wants to make true wireless charging a reality|website=Fortune}} Perry is currently{{when|date=January 2024}} the co-founder and CEO of Elemind, a company developing noninvasive neurotechnology.
Biography
= Career =
Perry studied paleobiology and astrobiology at the University of Pennsylvania and conducted astrobiology research with the NASA Ames Research Center and the NASA Astrobiology Institute. She is a NASA Astrobiology Institute Research Scholarship Recipient and NASA Pennsylvania Space Grant Recipient. She co-authored two astrobiology research papers with Christopher McKay of NASA Ames Research Center.{{Cite journal|title=Near-Infrared (NIR) Raman Spectroscopy of Precambrian Carbonate Stromatolites with Post-Depositional Organic Inclusions|first1=Zuki|last1=Tanaka|first2=Meredith|last2=Perry|first3=George|last3=Cooper|first4=Suning|last4=Tang|first5=Christopher P.|last5=McKay|first6=Bin|last6=Chen|date=August 1, 2012|journal=Applied Spectroscopy|volume=66|issue=8|pages=911–916|doi=10.1366/11-06523|pmid=22800768|bibcode=2012ApSpe..66..911T|s2cid=478919}}
Perry won the University of Pennsylvania's Invention Competition,{{cite web |url=https://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/blog/peter-key/2011/04/team-with-wireless-charger-for.html |title=Team with wireless charger |date=2011 |website= www.bizjournals.com|access-date=2020-07-24}} "PennVention" in 2011 for her ultrasonic wireless power transmission system, which she named "uBeam". Perry founded uBeam in 2011 and raised $40M from Founders Fund, Andreessen Horowitz, Mark Cuban, Marissa Mayer and other prominent investors.{{cn|date=May 2021}} Perry attracted controversy and criticism when she claimed, as part of a TED X talk,{{YouTube |ukgnU2aXM2c |How to be a technology innovator: Meredith Perry at TEDxNashville}} that Engineers are inherently linear thinkers and that she was able to solve problems that many experts said impossible by simply googling and asking basic questions. She ignored criticism from experts who called out that her proposed technology was impractical and cannot be used on a commercial scale. She stepped down as CEO in 2018 after multiple missed deadlines and failed attempts to create a viable commercial product. {{cite web|url=https://techcrunch.com/2018/09/20/ubeam/|work=Tech Crunch|title=UBeam's wireless power's CEO Meredith Perry steps aside amidst B2B pivot|first=Josh|last=Constine|date=September 21, 2018|access-date=May 12, 2021}}
Perry announced through a tweet in 2019{{cite web|url=https://twitter.com/meredithperry/status/1186020591607996416 |title=Tweet |website=twitter.com |access-date=2020-07-24}} that she is developing a new neurotechnology with Ed Boyden, and subsequently announced in 2020 a new company co-founded for this purpose, Elemind Technologies.{{cite web|url= https://www.linkedin.com/company/elemind|title=Elemind Technologies, Inc.|website=linkedin.com|date=February 2021 |access-date=2021-09-19}}{{cite web | url=http://www.elemindtech.com/team/ | title=TEAM }} On February 6, 2024, Elemind emerged from stealth mode, with Perry saying that the company's wearable device can "stop tremor for people with essential tremors” as well as "induce sleep, faster than leading sleep drugs. [And] we can induce memory formation and increase pain threshold" but that the company was not ready to release an image of the device.{{cite news |url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/2024/02/06/business/elemind-bill-gates-jeff-bezos-reid-hoffman-neurotech-wearables/ |title=This Cambridge startup, bootstrapped by billionaires, is developing ‘neuro-tech’ wearables |newspaper=The Boston Globe |date=2024-02-06 |access-date=2025-01-12}}
Awards and recognition
Perry was recognized as one of Fast Company{{'}}s "Most Creative People",{{Cite web|url=https://www.fastcompany.com/person/meredith-perry|title=Meet Meredith Perry, one of Fast Company's 100 Most Creative People 2014|website=Fast Company}} and has been included in Fortune{{'}}s “40 Under 40” Mobilizers,{{Cite web|url=https://fortune.com/2012/10/11/more-under-40s-mobilizers/|title=More under 40s: Mobilizers|website=Fortune}} Forbes{{’}} “30 Under 30”,{{Cite web|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/christopherhelman/2016/01/04/30-under-30-in-the-energy-sector/|title=Forbes 30 Under 30 In The Energy Sector|first=Christopher|last=Helman|website=Forbes}} and Vanity Fair{{'}}s “The New Establishment”.{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.vanityfair.com/news/photos/2015/09/new-establishment-list-2015|title=The New Establishment 2015|first=Nick|last=Bilton|magazine=Vanity Fair|date=8 September 2015}} Perry is the recipient of Elle magazine's Genius Award.{{Cite web|url=https://www.elle.com/life-love/society-career/genius-awards-2012|title=Genius Awards 2012|first1=Seth|last1=Plattner|first2=Allison P.|last2=Davis|first3=Catherine|last3=Straut|first4=Elyse|last4=Moody|first5=Diana|last5=Kapp|first6=Justine|last6=Harman|date=June 29, 2012|website=ELLE}}
References
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Category:21st-century American inventors
Category:American women inventors
Category:American businesspeople
Category:American astrobiologists
Category:Businesspeople from Princeton, New Jersey