19 Y/O•Alameda, California, United States•Manufacturing
Hooman Reza Nezhad
Filed a space/Mars patent at ~16-17; conducted university-level research as a high school student; co-founded Solcoa at ~17-18; youngest Thiel Fellow 2025; Forbes 30U30 2026 at age 19 as one of 3 youngest on the list.
What they built
From Waterloo, Canada. As a high school student, conducted pioneering research at the University of Waterloo on low-temperature Mars In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) — developing molten-salt electrochemical cells to extract oxygen and metals from Martian regolith. Filed a US patent (No. 63/579,004) in August 2023 at approximately age 16-17. Co-founded Solcoa Industries (2024, age ~17-18) with Artem Iurkovskyi to produce green, American rare earth metals. Thiel Fellow 2025.
View ProjectThe F18 Thesis
Verified track record
- Solcoa valued at $100M; built California pilot plant (1 of only a few Western rare earth metal production facilities); Thiel Fellow 2025 ($100K grant); Forbes 30U30 2026; Solcoa Alameda plant targeting 500 tonnes/year by mid-2027.
- Foresight Institute profile (high school senior) (source)
- Instagram (18yr-old Thiel Fellow 2025) (source)
- Forbes 30U30 2026 (source)
- Solcoa (source)
Updated July 8, 2026