Scott Massey

Reciprocal Exchange Participant in Cameroon, Togo

Scott Massey graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering technology with a certificate in entrepreneurship from Purdue University, where he worked as a researcher on a NASA funded hydroponic cultivation system focused on developing more energy-efficient methods of crop cultivation for future space colonies.  After this profound research experience, Scott went on to work in the construction industry in El Paso, Texas, where he was exposed to a severe food desert that motivated him to develop a consumer hydroponic growing appliance that brought the point of healthy food cultivation as close to the consumer as possible.  Scott then founded an agricultural technology company called Heliponix, LLC (doing business as GroPod®) in 2016 to refine the system design with the backing of the Purdue University Research Foundation, the National Science Foundation through Phase I and II grants, and venture capital.  Today, the company employs 20 team members, has over a dozen pending patent applications, has raised significant investment capital, and is on track to become the world's largest farm without owning a single acre of land.  Scott has maintained involvement with the Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders as a triple Reciprocal Exchange Grant awardee (Togo, Cameroon, and Lesotho), American Impact Awardee, and USAID/USADF/Citi-Foundation Grant awardee for an aquaponic farm in Tanzania.

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