Jonathan Cedar W-179
Founder and CEO, BioLite
About Jonathan Cedar
SEA Semester year: 2002
College: Dartmouth
Major: Engineering & Environmental Science
Jonathan Cedar is helping to light up the world – with renewable energy. In 2009, he launched Bio-Lite, a high-tech start-up that produces clean-burning wood stoves and rechargeable LED lights for off-grid communities around the world, and helps address climate change in the process.
Jonathan credits SEA Semester with teaching him how to bridge theory and hands-on application in a team environment, and with providing him with engineering experience that was the foundation of this highly successful venture.
“While the technical skills I acquired at SEA continue to inform my work, I frequently find myself calling on the principles of community and teamwork that underpinned our ships community. On our best days, BioLite feels to me a lot like an intimate ship’s company, with the coordinated actions of our team and the support of our technology efficiently carrying us forward.”