Molly Morse

Molly Morse is a prominent American civil engineer and the CEO and co-founder of Mango Materials, a San Francisco Bay Area start-up focused on producing biodegradable plastics from waste methane. She holds a Ph.D. in Civil & Environmental Engineering from Stanford University, where her research emphasized anaerobic biodegradation of biocomposites for the building industry. She also earned her B.S. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Cornell University.123

Under her leadership, Mango Materials has developed a process that utilizes methane gas to cultivate bacteria that manufacture a biopolymer known as polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA). This innovative approach not only addresses the environmental issues associated with traditional plastics but also aims to create biodegradable alternatives that can decompose naturally, even in marine environments.24

Morse's work has garnered significant recognition; Mango Materials was named one of the Next 50 Companies to Disrupt the World by Biofuels Digest in 2022, and she received the 2018 US Clean Energy Education and Empowerment (C3E) Initiative Entrepreneurship Award.24 Her commitment to sustainability and innovation positions her as a key figure in the movement towards environmentally friendly materials in the plastics industry.