Dr. Birgitt Boschitsch is the co-founder and CEO of spotLESS Materials Inc. She earned her PhD in Mechanical Engineering from The Pennsylvania State University and her B.S.E. in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from Princeton University (2013). Dr. Boschitsch has published 10 peer-reviewed papers in top journals including Science Advances, Nature Communications, ACS Nano, Advanced Materials, PNAS, the Journal of Fluid Mechanics, and Physics of Fluids. She has also authored a book chapter on wetting science and nature-inspired surface design and holds several issued and pending U.S. and international patents.

Her accomplishments include recognition as an NSF Graduate Research Fellow, recipient of the Materials Research Society (MRS) Graduate Student Gold Award and Nowick Graduate Student Award, the Penn State Alumni Association Dissertation Award and Distinguished Doctoral Scholar Medal, as well as early career awards from both the Penn State Mechanical Engineering Society (PSMES) and the Penn State College of Engineering. As co-founder of spotLESS, she has served as Principal Investigator for NSF SBIR Phase I, II, and IIB awards and leads both R&D and commercialization initiatives. A Y Combinator alumna, she was also recognized as a Forbes 30 Under 30 in Science honoree in 2020.