Dr. Shantonio Birch is a thermal engineer, inventor, and Innovation Crossroads Fellow at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). As the Founder and CEO of ThermoVerse, he is modernizing the built environment by transforming commercial buildings into a massive 3 MWh thermal battery. Dr. Birch has secured $1.2M in non-dilutive funding and two patents for the world’s most compact in-unit thermal storage technology, designed to “hollow out” 20% to 60% of peak HVAC demand. He is also the architect of FACES (Forging & Advancing Careers in Energy Services), an award-winning workforce initiative upskilling graduates to partake in the smart city evolution. A 2026 BEYA Outstanding Young GEM Alumnus, Dr. Birch bridges the gap between lab-scale R&D and urban grid resilience, leading strategic pilots in Detroit to unlock hidden grid capacity in buildings.