Pascal CTO Seo Jin-young draws attention in the US

A Korean chief technology officer at a US startup working to transform the cooling industry with solid refrigerants has drawn significant attention in the United States.

Seo Jin-young is the CTO and co-founder of Pascal, a Boston-based energy startup. She was recently named to MIT Technology Review's "Innovators Under 35" list, which recognizes 35 outstanding innovators annually.

Seo earned her doctorate in chemistry from Harvard University, where her graduate research focused on solid materials that change temperature and thermal energy in response to shifts in pressure. To translate that research into a next-generation cooling technology, she co-founded Pascal in 2023 alongside Harvard colleagues Adam Slavney and Jarad Mason.

In conventional vapor-compression cooling systems, a refrigerant cycles between liquid and gas states through compression and expansion, absorbing and releasing heat in the process. Pascal recognized that solid materials exhibiting the same heat-absorption and heat-release behavior under pressure changes could serve the same function. The company is developing new cooling cycles using solid refrigerants — cycles that would be difficult to achieve with conventional gas refrigerants — and is testing whether this approach can deliver high-efficiency cooling systems.

Pascal is initially targeting commercial refrigerators and beverage cooling systems, aiming to verify performance, durability and manufacturability in relatively compact systems before expanding into air conditioning and industrial thermal management. The company is currently conducting technology validation with a partner in the refrigeration sector.

"The next challenge is making solid refrigerants not just a subject of academic papers but a technology that works in real industry," Seo said.

She also expressed hope for collaboration with Korean companies in related supply chains.

"Korea has world-class supply chains in functional materials, compressors and motors, heat exchangers, precision machining, and home appliance and refrigeration manufacturing," she said. "Pascal will explore a wide range of collaboration opportunities, including materials and component design, production, and reliability testing."