It wouldn’t be atypical for any recently graduated college student to be a bit unsure about their next step.
But that wasn’t the case for Emily Molstad. Upon receiving her master’s degree from Worcester Polytechnic Institute in 2019, she quickly got to work tackling the issue of sustainability by co-founding VALIS in 2022. The company seeks to use software to enable the remnants of past industrial endeavors to be recycled into the machinery and technology driving today’s economy. VALIS’ scrap metal sorting technology has potential to meet the growing need for valuable metals while helping cut emissions caused by metal production. Molstad has shown know-how in both the technical and financial sides of the business, participating in efforts to bring the company’s flagship software product to market while attracting funding from both private and public sources, including more than $5 million in funding from the National Science Foundation, NASA, and the U.S. Department of Energy. In between all that (and making the 2024 Forbes 30 Under 30 list), Molstad finds time to volunteer to support the next generation of engineering and business students at WPI.
For a year, would you rather give up your cell phone or your favorite food? Cell phone. I can’t live without Thai Time’s red curry
Best coffee in Central Massachusetts? Acoustic Java
If you wrote a book of business advice, what would the title be? “Entrepreneurship & Breathing”
Who’s career would you most like to emulate? Diran Apelian, a leading material science and engineering researcher and professor formerly of WPI
