Meet Yi Chao: Oceanographer and Former NASA Scientist Empowering Remote Ocean Data Collection | Wave Makers

In this episode, host Tamara Kahn speaks with Dr. Yi Chao, CEO and Founder of Seatrec Inc., about their efforts to accelerate ocean research with a unique energy harvesting solution. Listen to hear about his journey from NASA JPL to commercializing ocean technology. And learn about the power of temperature differences! What a diver feels as a temperature change as they explore deeper into the wild blue, Seatrec engineers see as thermal energy that can be turned into energy. And harvesting this unlimited supply has the potential to make ocean data more available to the many stakeholders that rely on it.  From improved hurricane and weather predictions to better farming of marine food supplies, powering oceanic drones and sensors in an efficient way reduces cost and increases the rate of data acquisition. Yi talk about how his NASA experience and funding from sources like the US government have helped commercialize this innovation, addressing the bottleneck of energy in the efforts to better observe our ocean.