Pritam Bhattarai

Pritam Bhattarai has a long history of working in various roles across multiple companies. From 2013 to present, they have worked for Autonomous Materials Systems Research Group, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, The Clorox Company, Therapalz, and VentureFuel.

At Autonomous Materials Systems Research Group, they worked as an Undergraduate Research Assistant, where they researched breakthrough technologies in a self-healing materials research group. Pritam then moved on to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where they held the roles of Course Director for ENG 100 Materials Science Sections (Lead ELA), Course Instructor of ENG 100 (Engineering Learning Assistant), and Undergraduate Teaching Assistant of ENG 198.

In 2015, they returned to The Clorox Company as an R&D Product Development Intern, where they conducted consumer one-to-one interviews, used patents, textbooks, research papers, and fundamental science to develop technical solutions and experiments, and assessed the feasibility, manufacturability, technical roadblocks, intellectual property landscape, and consumer need for product ideas. Pritam then moved on to Therapalz as a Product Development Engineer Intern.

Finally, in 2022, they moved to VentureFuel as Director of Innovation and Partnerships. Throughout their career, Pritam has implemented various innovation tools company-wide, developed large order strategic initiatives and capabilities, and collaborated with senior business leaders on the discovery of new opportunities. Pritam has also consulted on 30+ innovation projects focused on Kingsford, GLAD, Hidden Valley Ranch, Brita, Packaging/Sustainability, Cleaning/Disinfection, and Cat Litter.

Pritam Bhattarai attended St. Mary's International School in Tokyo, Japan from 2008 to 2010, Carbondale Community High School from 2010 to 2012, and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign from 2012 to 2016, where they earned a Bachelor's Degree in Materials Science and Engineering.