The Future Is Now: Priyanca Ford Of Kronos Fusion Energy On How Their Technological Innovation Will Shake Up The Tech Scene
An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis
Be patient. For me personally, there is no greater enemy than my own impatience.
Surround yourself with people who challenge you.
Believe in yourself.
You are the average of the 5 people you surround yourself with.
Work really hard. There is no substitute for hard work.
As a part of our series about cutting-edge technological breakthroughs, I had the pleasure of interviewing Priyanca Ford.
Priyanca is a Harvard Business School alumnus. She also attended the Innovation and Entrepreneurship program at Stanford University & Game Theory at Yale University. Her educational foundation was when she took up a BS in Economics and Applied Mathematics at the University of California, where she dropped out when deployed with the US Army. She has an extensive background in Global Product Management, solving large problems through structuring large data sets and applying tried and true management consulting methodologies. Priyanca is also used to drive multiple full-cycle data, Algorithms & Machine Learning Infrastructures at Fortune 25 companies.
Additionally, she is an expert in Product Development, Statistical Data Analysis, Machine Learning, and Managing Executive team priorities. Priyanca has been a founding partner in several companies that have been acquired: 3Dbuildbot, Hautcloth, Brain-mix Capital, and Short Girl Films. Her drive to commercialize fusion energy began when she worked on building end-to-end simulations
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dive in, our readers would love to learn a bit about you. Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
I have always loved school, specifically math and combining it with my passion to make Earth better makes my work so much easier. I want to be able to make this planet as clean as possible for my child and all children, which prompted me to pick this career.
Can you tell us about the cutting-edge technological breakthroughs that you are working on? How do you think that will help people?
Kronos is developing Algorithms & Machine Learning Simulations to enable the building of Fusion Energy Generators and many more clean fusion energy products that will make a difference for future generations. Kronos Fusion Energy Incorporated has announced that it will build the first-ever National Fusion Energy Commercialization Center to commercialize S.M.A.R.T (Superconducting, Minimum-Aspect-Ratio Torus) and launch a series of applications and simulations built in their Arlington, Virginia campus.
How do you think this might change the world?
Focusing on investing into fusion energy will result in a Clean & Limitless Energy Source. Having clean energy can have a significant positive impact in the environment. With fusion energy using deuterium & helium-3, there will be no harmful elements being released in the environment.
Keeping “Black Mirror” in mind, can you see any potential drawbacks of this technology that people should think more deeply about?
From my research, I see no other big drawbacks with fusion energy. If anything, it will have a greater impact on not only the environment, but also in the economy by creating thousands of jobs as well as investment opportunities. Fusion Energy has been the first clean source of energy the oil & gas industry is heavily investing in. In the future, we will need to power de-carbonization plants, de-salivation plants & hydroponic gardens to feed the world. We will then need to power Elon’s future where we are multiplanetary species. For now, we are creating a clean + efficient heat source that plugs into existing infrastructure.
Was there a “tipping point” that led you to this breakthrough? Can you tell us that story?
Although I was planning on building over the next decade, I didn’t think we would need it so quickly. Humanity’s bet on Quantum Computing paid off in the form of Quantum Algorithms. Our partner SavantX played a big part in this breakthrough. The most powerful magnet technology was announced at the end of 2001. The person that designed this record breaking magnet, Carl Weggel, is one of our co-founders and has joined the Kronos team to head up the design.
What do you need to lead this technology to widespread adoption?
To bring this technology to fruition, we are utilizing some of the brightest minds of our time to bring this amazing, never before commercially accomplished technology to life, which include scientist, mathematicians, physicists, programmers, Military Veterans, engineers.
What have you been doing to publicize this idea? Have you been using any innovative marketing strategies?
We want our products to speak for themselves and use our money developing our energy generators. We have partnered with a gaming company to build our simulations. This way we build the kind of technology that a new generation of humans are used to working with.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
So Many people have helped me get to where I am now. Professor Scott Snook, at Harvard business school taught me the formlessness of leadership. My drill sergeant Valdevia from basic training in Ft.Jackson South Carolina showed me how to harness my unlimited potential, and most recently, Stewart Baker, for helping me understand how government systems are organized and why we need to make practical technology products for US defense capabilities which tend to inevitably lead to commercialization.
How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world?
I am doing this. At Kronos, we hope here to solve this world problem, bringing us a clean energy source that is sustainable for generations to come.
What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why?
- Be patient. For me personally, there is no greater enemy than my own impatience.
- Surround yourself with people who challenge you.
- Believe in yourself.
- You are the average of the 5 people you surround yourself with.
- Work really hard. There is no substitute for hard work.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)
My passion is clean & limitless energy and to make a difference in our world. I would love for my work to speak for itself and inspire the next generation to get into this field.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
“He who learns must suffer, and, even in our sleep, pain that cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, and in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom to us by the awful grace of God.” Aeschylus
Some very well-known VCs read this column. If you had 60 seconds to make a pitch to a VC, what would you say? He or she might just see this if we tag them :-)
The financials, ROI & historicals in terms of energy returns & 50 years of fusion energy research speak for themselves. I Would start by letting them know that clean limitless energy is possible, and strategically attainable. Then proceed to discuss how fusion energy is the answer to a clean planet and economic growth.
How can our readers follow you on social media?
https://www.linkedin.com/in/priyancaford/
Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational.
