During my time at urban agriculture company Grove, I went from an Ecology Research Engineer to Director of Ecology. My focus was on home-scale aquaponics, the practice of growing fish, nitrifying bacteria, and plants together in a recirculating system where fish waste provides nutrients which are processed by the bacteria and filtered from the water column by the plants.
I helped develop prototypes of many sizes and scales, built and programmed sensor arrays and data loggers and gather data to inform design revisions, and developed proprietary products including tap water conditioner and fish-safe fertilizer.
One of the original Grove Ecosystem "early adopter" aquaponics systems as seen in a customer's home. In aquaponic systems like the Ecosystem, fish waste provides nutrients which are broken down by bacteria and filtered by plants, then returned to the aquarium purified.
During my time at Grove, I went from an Ecology Research Engineer to Director of Ecology. Along the way, I helped develop prototypes of many sizes and scales, built and programmed sensor arrays and data loggers and gather data to inform design revisions, and developed proprietary products including tap water conditioner and fish-safe fertilizer.
The second generation "Grove Ecosystem" smart aquaponics system, with acrylic aquarium, media grow bed, custom spectrum-controllable lights, built-in solids filtration, automated fans & airflow control, water level sensor, and integrated work surface.
One of the original prototypes of the updated "Kickstarter" revision of the Grove Ecosystem Aquaponics system being tested for viability in a fellow team member's home, run according to guidance and notifications from the companion App.
While working at Grove, I had the pleasure of being a member of the amazing community of innovators at Greentown Labs, the largest cleantech incubator in the United States. Their support made it possible to get mentorship, collaborate with other creators, and have the tools to make prototyping painless
This picture was taken during the setup for an Urban Agriculture meetup hosted at our Greentown Labs workspace.
Exploring the use of multiple substrates to control water flow and increase bio-filtration capacity in the Early Adopter revision Ecosystem. This bed was initially designed to hold water rather than solid media.
3 prototype aquaponics systems exploring different forms of lighting, water and nutrient circulation, and form factors.
An IBC based experimental aquaponics system run to gather data on how the growth of tomatoes grew in response to different light spectrums. This system produced edible fish (trout) as well as vegetables.
Large scale (400 gallon) aquaponics system to explore larger scale systems capable of substantial output for offices and restaurants.