Meredith Perry
Born	August 5, 1989 Princeton, New Jersey
Alma mater	University of Pennsylvania
Occupation(s)	CEO, Elemind Technologies, Inc.
Known for	Invention of ultrasonic wireless power
Board member of	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.^[1] Perry is currently^[when?] the co-founder and CEO of Elemind, a company developing noninvasive neurotechnology.

Biography

[edit]

Career

[edit]

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.^[2]

Perry won the University of Pennsylvania's Invention Competition,^[3] "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.^{[citation needed]} Perry attracted controversy and criticism when she claimed, as part of a TED X talk,^[4] 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. ^[5]

Perry announced through a tweet in 2019^[6] 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.^[7]^[8] 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.^[9]

Awards and recognition

[edit]

Perry was recognized as one of Fast Company's "Most Creative People",^[10] and has been included in Fortune's “40 Under 40” Mobilizers,^[11] Forbes' “30 Under 30”,^[12] and Vanity Fair's “The New Establishment”.^[13] Perry is the recipient of Elle magazine's Genius Award.^[14]

References

[edit]