Brian Pinkard
Brian Pinkard is CTO and Co-Founder at Aquagga, Inc., and serves as Affiliate Assistant Professor at the University of Washington College of Engineering. He founded Aquagga, a startup focused on PFAS destruction, where he remains active, and his expertise includes converting organic fluorine to inorganic fluoride.
Uncommon Thinkers 2025: Solar spacecraft, sci-fi biology, destroying PFAS, beyond AI chatbots, and better social media
On this special episode of the GeekWire Podcast, recorded backstage at the GeekWire Gala at the Showbox Sodo, we sit down with five of the inventors, scientists, and entrepreneurs selected as the Seattle region's 2025 Uncommon Thinkers, in partnership with Greater Seattle Partners. Jeff Thornburg spent years building rocket engines for Elon Musk at SpaceX and Paul Allen at Stratolaunch. Now, as CEO of Portal Space Systems, he's moved past chemical rockets to revive a concept NASA studied decades ago but never pursued — a spacecraft powered by focused sunlight. He calls it a "steam engine for space." Read the…
Organizations
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Aquagga Executive Officer, Director 2023–present, CTO & Co-Founder 2019–present, Co-founder · current
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University of Washington College of Engineering Affiliate Assistant Professor 2021–present, Research Scientist 2021–2022, Postdoctoral Commercialization Fellow 2020–2021, Graduate Research Assistant 2016–2020 · current
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Intelligent Energy Systems Mechanical Engineer 2019 · past
Education
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University of Washington College of Engineering Doctor of Philosophy - PhD, Mechanical Engineering · 2016–2020
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University of Washington College of Engineering Master of Science - MS, Mechanical Engineering · 2016–2018
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Lafayette College Bachelor of Science - BS, Mechanical Engineering · 2012–2015
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Puyallup High School 2009–2012
