Keiana Cavé facts for kids

Keiana Ashli Cavé is an amazing American entrepreneur, scientist, and public speaker. She is known for her smart ideas and inventions. In 2016, she received a large amount of money, $1.2 million, from Chevron for her research. Chevron even bought her company in 2017!

Keiana's Early Life

Keiana Cavé grew up in New Orleans, Louisiana. She went to Lusher Charter High School. In 2017, she returned to her old school to give a speech to the graduating class.

When she was younger, Keiana enjoyed ballet, track, and cheerleading. But she decided to focus on science instead. She became very interested in nanotechnology, which is about working with tiny materials.

Keiana says her early interest in engineering came from the Project Lead the Way (PLTW) Program. She later became a national ambassador for this program. In 2014, she won $10,000 in a competition called "Trust Your Crazy Ideas Challenge." This competition was hosted by famous NFL Quarterback Drew Brees.

Research on Oil Spills

In 2015, Keiana won second place at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair. This was for her research on the effects of the BP Oil Spill. Because of her important work, NASA and MIT Lincoln Laboratory named a minor planet after her! It is called "2000 GD136."

Keiana started her research at the University of New Orleans when she was only 15 years old. Her work was funded by GOMRI (Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative). Her research helped the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency find harmful substances called nanotoxins. These toxins can form in seawater after oil spills.

Keiana's method later became a new project at Tulane University in 2016. During this time, Keiana traveled to Panama with her lab. They did research with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute.

Keiana's Career Journey

Keiana Cavé studied Chemical Engineering at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. She later decided to leave college to focus on her career. In 2017, she was named Student of the Year.

Keiana is also a member of the Entrepreneurs Leadership Program and The Kairos Society. These groups help young leaders and business owners.

She has given many talks about her work. In 2017, she spoke at TEDx Barcelona. She gave more talks at TEDx UofM in 2018.

Mare: Solving Oil Spills

In 2016, Keiana attended a special program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. There, she created a new molecule to help clean up oil spills. She received US$1.2 million from Chevron to continue her research on this idea.

Keiana became a co-founder of Mare. Mare is a research group that works to find solutions for big problems, like oil spills.

Keiana has received many awards for her achievements. In 2017, she was named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list. This list highlights 30 successful people under 30 years old. She was also on Magic Johnson's 32 Under 32 list.

In 2018, Glamour Magazine named Keiana one of their College Women of the Year. She was also featured on Entrepreneur Magazine's 2018 Young Millionaires List. This happened after Chevron bought her company, Mare, in late 2017.