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Asegun Henry
Founder & CTO / MIT Professor
Asegun Henry is the Founder and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Fourth Power, a thermal battery energy storage company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts.23 He is also a Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at MIT, where he directs the Atomistic Simulation & Energy (ASE) Research Group.14
Dr. Henry's expertise lies in heat transfer, with a focus on understanding energy transport, storage, and conversion at the atomic level.2 He has made significant contributions to several fields within energy and heat transfer, including:
- Solar fuels and thermochemistry
- Phonon transport in disordered materials and at interfaces
- Development of the highest temperature pump on record, using an all-ceramic mechanical pump to pump liquid metal above 1400°C1
His research has led to breakthroughs in high-temperature energy systems, such as methane cracking for CO2-free hydrogen production and a grid-level energy storage approach called "Sun in a Box".1
Dr. Henry's academic background includes:
- B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Florida A&M University
- M.S. and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from MIT14
Prior to founding Fourth Power in June 2023, Dr. Henry held positions at:
- Georgia Tech as an Assistant Professor (2012-2018)
- Oak Ridge National Laboratory as a postdoc in the Materials Theory group
- Northwestern University as a postdoc in the Materials Science Department
- Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E) as a fellow1
Throughout his career, Dr. Henry has received numerous awards and fellowships, including the National Science Foundation Career Award, the ASME Bergles-Rohsenow Young Investigator Award in Heat Transfer, and the 2018 World Technology Award for Energy.1




