Barrow Green was born out of FedTech, a Department of Defense (DoD)–sponsored program that accelerates the commercialization of breakthrough technologies developed in DoD labs. During the program, our team conducted extensive customer discovery across the full scope of our licensed technologies, confirming their strong commercial potential in multiple high-growth markets.
Following this work, we launched Barrow Green to transform those insights into action. Since our founding, we have established a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the U.S. Army Research Laboratory and secured both Phase I and Phase II SBIR awards with the U.S. Army. In addition, we have been awarded multiple subcontracts supporting NASA missions, further demonstrating the broad applicability and impact of our technology.
Barrow Green continues to build on this foundation, advancing next-generation thermal management solutions that will enable the industries of the future.
For decades, engineers and scientists have pursued alternatives to vapor-compression cooling, a 100-year-old technology that is heavy, inefficient, and reliant on explosive refrigerant gases. Among the most promising candidates has been elastocaloric cooling—a process that harnesses stress-induced phase changes in shape memory alloys, such as nickel-titanium (NiTi), to absorb and release heat. The U.S. Department of Energy and other research leaders have identified elastocaloric cooling as the top contender to replace vapor compression.Yet, commercialization has remained elusive. The obstacle has always been the amount of force required to trigger the phase changes in NiTi. Stretching or compressing the alloys demanded forces so large that systems became impractical, limiting elastocaloric cooling to the laboratory.Barrow Green has solved this problem. Our breakthrough innovation is to drive shape memory alloys in a bending mode, rather than stretching or compressing them. By bending NiTi ribbons in a continuous loop, powered by commercial off-the-shelf motors, we have dramatically reduced the force required for phase transformation.This simple yet powerful shift unlocks the long-sought potential of elastocaloric cooling. By lowering the mechanical barrier, Barrow Green’s system achieves:
The result is more than a scientific achievement—it is a commercial breakthrough. Barrow Green’s bending-mode elastocaloric technology takes elastocaloric cooling out of the lab and into the real world, enabling applications that vapor compression could never support.Barrow Green is not just improving on existing systems—we are redefining what’s possible in cooling technology, clearing the final barrier to adoption of the world’s most promising alternative to vapor compression.
Most companies working on elastocaloric cooling are betting on incremental replacement — retrofitting or competing with existing systems in appliances, HVAC, or refrigeration. We believe that’s the wrong market to chase.
Barrow Green is focused on the industries of the future: wearables, robotics, directed-energy systems, and high-powered compute at the edge. These sectors are on the verge of rapid scaling as artificial intelligence and autonomous systems proliferate. Unlike legacy markets, they are not constrained by entrenched infrastructure — they demand new solutions that deliver breakthroughs in size, weight, energy efficiency, and resiliency.
Together, these industries represent a combined market opportunity of hundreds of billions of dollars by the end of the decade, putting them on a trajectory comparable to the smartphone revolution of the early 2000s. Just as that era was defined by the indispensable component suppliers — Qualcomm with its chips, Corning with Gorilla Glass, and ARM with its chip architectures — the next wave will be defined by the enabling technologies that allow advanced systems to scale.
Barrow Green is not building the end products. We are building the thermal management backbone that makes those products possible. This is the classic “picks-and-shovels” strategy: rather than fight for share in saturated legacy markets, we are positioned to scale alongside the exponential growth of next-generation industries, establishing Barrow Green as a foundational supplier in multi-billion-dollar ecosystems.
At Barrow Green, our strength lies in the people driving our innovation. Our technical team brings together decades of expertise in mechanical engineering, thermal sciences, materials science, machine design, and product commercialization. Collectively, we have built spacecraft, combat vehicles, energy systems, and consumer products—and now we are channeling that knowledge into revolutionizing thermal management through elastocaloric cooling.
Dan Levick – Engineering Director & Principal Investigator
Dan leads the engineering team with more than a decade of experience designing rugged, reliable electronics and machinery systems. His background spans engineering analysis, requirements development, and advanced thermal/structural simulations. Dan holds a Master’s in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Virginia, giving him both academic rigor and practical product-development experience.
Stefan Ioana – Chief Engineer, Machine Design
Stefan brings over 35 years of R&D leadership across clean energy, defense, and aerospace—including contributions to hydrogen-powered gensets, NASA spacecraft, and the U.S. Marine Corps’ Amphibious Combat Vehicle. He is an inventor on multiple patents related to energy conversion, heat recovery, and thermal systems. Stefan earned his Master’s in Mechanics and Automation from Transylvania University in 1990.
Frankie Pereda – Mechanical Engineer, Mechatronics
With a career spanning space systems and thermal innovation, Frankie has worked on projects ranging from 18-meter parabolic antennas to benchtop elastocaloric heat pumps. His expertise lies in integrating electromechanical systems and validating their performance through rigorous testing. Frankie holds a Master’s in Aeronautics and Astronautics from Washington University and a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Miami.
Adrianna Johnson – Mechanical Engineer, Product Design
Adrianna specializes in product design and design-for-manufacturing. She previously helped bring dozens of consumer power tools from concept to market, sharpening her ability to translate engineering ideas into reliable, user-ready products. A graduate of Vanderbilt University with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, Adrianna joined Barrow Green in 2024 to help commercialize elastocaloric cooling.
Dr. Darin Sharar – Consultant
A co-inventor of elastocaloric technology, Dr. Sharar is a renowned mechanical engineer and material scientist with expertise in thermal management and phase-change heat transfer. Formerly a senior scientist at the Army Research Laboratory (ARL), he now advises Barrow Green while also co-founding TauMat, LLC. He holds a Ph.D., M.A., and B.A. in Mechanical Engineering (Thermal Sciences) from the University of Maryland.
Dr. Brendan Hanrahan – ARL Scientist & CRADA Partner
Barrow Green’s Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with ARL enables us to work directly with Dr. Hanrahan, another co-inventor of elastocaloric cooling. Dr. Hanrahan is a mechanical engineer and material scientist specializing in thermal management materials and energy conversion. He holds a Ph.D. and M.S. in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Maryland, and a B.S. in Ceramic and Materials Engineering from Clemson University.
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