# Ara Knaian

> Ara Knaian is an MIT-trained electrical engineer and inventor on more than 36 U.S. patents who now runs Acceleron Fusion, a Cambridge company chasing energy from muon-catalyzed fusion - a route that runs closer to 1,000 degrees C instead of the 100-million-degree plasmas everyone else fights. Before fusion he co-founded the product-design firm NK Labs, architected Google's modular Project Ara phone, tuned the drive waveforms behind Amazon's Kindle, and built the Milli-Motein, a self-folding robot chain at MIT's Center for Bits and Atoms. Acceleron raised a $24M Series A led by Lowercarbon Capital and Collaborative Fund and logged over 100 hours of continuous fusion at the Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland.

- **Role:** Co-Founder and CEO at Acceleron Fusion, Inc.
- **Organizations:** Acceleron Fusion, Inc., NK Labs, MIT Center for Bits and Atoms, MIT Media Lab
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** Ph.D., Electrical Engineering (Electrodynamics and Energy Systems), Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Advanced degrees in Electrical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- **Known for:** Inventor on more than 36 U.S. patents, Co-founded Acceleron Fusion and raised a $24M Series A plus $2.5M in ARPA-E grants, Logged over 100 hours of continuous fusion operation at the Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland

## Career timeline

- **2010** — Completed Ph.D. at MIT in electrodynamics and energy systems
- **2012** — Built the Milli-Motein, a self-folding chain of programmable matter, at MIT's Center for Bits and Atoms with Neil Gershenfeld and Kenneth Cheung
- **2010s** — Co-founded NK Labs, a product-design engineering firm in Cambridge, MA, as Principal Engineer and Managing Partner
- **2010s** — Architected Google's modular Project Ara phone; developed drive waveforms for Amazon Kindle / E Ink displays; built electrical systems for Formlabs 3D printer
- **2020** — Spun Acceleron Fusion out of NK Labs with co-founder Seth Newburg after winning a $2M ARPA-E grant
- **2023** — Won an additional $500,000 in ARPA-E funding
- **2024-10** — Operated fusion machine at higher pressures than previously measured for muon-catalyzed fusion
- **2024-12** — Closed $24M Series A led by Lowercarbon Capital and Collaborative Fund

## Achievements

- Inventor on more than 36 U.S. patents
- Co-founded Acceleron Fusion and raised a $24M Series A plus $2.5M in ARPA-E grants
- Logged over 100 hours of continuous fusion operation at the Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland
- Built the Milli-Motein, a self-folding robot enabled by electropermanent wobble stepper motors that hold their shape with zero power
- Architect of Google's modular Project Ara smartphone concept, chipset architecture, and connectors
- Developed drive waveforms and display-controller architecture for Amazon Kindle and E Ink displays
- Invented a wireless magnetic traffic sensor deployed in Palo Alto and other cities
- Collaborated on the world's smallest modular robots for DARPA

## Latest updates

- **2024-12** — Acceleron Fusion closed a $24M Series A led by Lowercarbon Capital and Collaborative Fund to scale its muon-catalyzed fusion research.
- **2024-10** — Reported operating its fusion machine at record pressures for muon-catalyzed fusion and collecting data from over 100 hours of continuous operation.

## Links

- Website: https://acceleron.energy
- LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/ara-knaian-61a82b95

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/ara-knaian
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-07-01