Anna Douglas in a Vanderbilt University lab
Anna Douglas (‘14) has been selected for a prestigious entrepreneurial fellowship in the inaugural cohort of the Department of Energy Innovation Crossroads program at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
Ms. Douglas, an interdisciplinary materials science student working towards a doctorate at Vanderbilt University, is one of five students selected to participate. The program includes $350,000 in seed funding, two years of salary, unlimited access to ORNL resources, and access to experts in her field.
“I am extremely honored to have been selected for this opportunity,” said Ms. Douglas. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to spend two years at the world-class facilities at the national lab during the course of my PhD. To get to pursue a start-up company and gain business expertise throughout this journey is a truly unique experience. I am very grateful to my professors and advisors at Lee for their wonderful preparation and continued support throughout this journey.”
Ms. Douglas earned bachelors’ degrees in mathematics and chemistry from Lee. During her time at Lee, she was a Presidential Scholar, received tennis and leadership scholarships, interned at the NASA Glenn Research Center, and was a recipient of the Charles Paul Conn Award. She also served as captain for the Lady Flames tennis team, the president of Lee Prime, treasurer of Kappa Mu Epsilon Mathematics Honor Society, and president of Sigma Nu Sigma service club.
Ms. Douglas is CEO of SkyNano, LLC, a company she founded with Dr. Cary Pint, assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Vanderbilt and CTO of SkyNano, LLC. This year, Ms. Douglas has presented research at the American Vacuum Society Annual Meeting in Nashville; Celebration 2016 at Lee University in Cleveland, Tennessee; Air Force Research Labs in Dayton Ohio; Yellow Springs Carbon Nanotube Collaborators Workshop in Yellow Springs, Ohio; and the Gordon Research Conference on Batteries in Ventura, California. She is currently giving business presentations at the 36/86 Tech Conference in Nashville and the Megawatt Ventures Pitch competition in Orlando, Fla.
Outside of school, Ms. Douglas and her husband Scott, who is also a Lee alumnus, enjoy attending My Local, a startup church in Nashville.