Nina-Francesca Farac, PhD, is an applied chemist with expertise in materials development, carbon-based electronics, and circular economy strategies. Her research interests include life cycle assessments, global resource management, and systems-level decarbonization. At Project Drawdown, she focuses on assessing climate solutions in the industry sector.
Previously, Nina was an intern scientist at the startup Amber Molecular Inc., developing low-embodied-energy small molecules for energy-efficient OLEDs. She has also worked on interdisciplinary projects investigating waste mitigation of rare earth elements from spent EV batteries and catalysis for commodity chemicals manufacturing. She has served as the communications coordinator for the Green Chemistry Initiative (GCI) at the University of Toronto (UofT) and was a fellow at the ACS Summer School on Green Chemistry & Sustainable Energy at the Colorado School of Mines.
Nina earned her doctorate in Chemical Engineering & Applied Chemistry and her H.BSc in Materials Chemistry at UofT, where she received NSERC PGS D and Climate Positive Energy scholarships. Her thesis centered on synthesizing semiconducting dyes and pigments through hybrid and bio-sourced platforms for solar photovoltaics and lighting technologies.
Outside of work, Nina balances being an adventurer and homebody at heart and enjoys ice skating, cycling, and creating 3D sci-art in Blender.