Professor Desirée Plata’s startup company, Nth Cycle LLC, was awarded the Department of Energy’s Innovation Crossroads award, a $0.5M entrepreneurial traineeship. The award was granted to Megan O’Connor, co-founder of Nth Cycle LLC and current postdoc in Plata’s lab. Nth Cycle LLC aims to help transition the United States away from their reliance on primary mining and refining of metals overseas, toward the recycling of rare earth and specialty metals domestically. Plata officially joins CEE in July.