Jeremy Fryer-Biggs: Mythbuster, Mentor, and Innovator in Business

By Caitlin Jennings, Communications Coordinator, Society for Science & the Public 

Since bringing his engineering project, “Biomechanical Motion and its Application in Hydrogen Fuel Cells,” to the Intel ISEF in 2001, SSP Alumnus Jeremy Fryer-Biggs has been busy.

After earning a biology degree at the University of Chicago, he followed some friends’ advice and, on a whim, emailed the co-host of the show Mythbusters Jamie Hyneman and asked for a job. To Jeremy’s surprise, Jamie emailed him right back and asked him to fly out to California for an interview. Jeremy got the job and spent the next several months working on projects like building a mechanical shark (for shark week) and seeing if Indiana Jones could flip a motorcycle over by jamming a stick in the wheel.

Jeremy left the show to pursue his M.E. degree in biomedical engineering at Tufts University. While there, he submitted a proposal for a new nonprofit to the 2009 Tufts University Social Entrepreneurship Competition and won the top prize of $50,000. With that money, he created his proposed nonprofit, the Strivers Foundation, which provides business skills training to Ugandans. They will open their first school in Kampala, Uganda this summer.

Jeremy has also launched Innovent, L.L.C where, as the Chief Technology Officer, he works to “find everyday health related problems and create novel, user-friendly solutions” such as the Handi-Grip, a more comfortable handle for wheel chairs. He also shares his passion for science with low-income students in Boston through a group called WhizKids. He says it is important for kids to hear from scientists about their jobs because it “brings a lot of energy” to science education.

Despite Jeremy’s numerous projects and resulting busy schedule, he told us he made time to reconnect with SSP because Intel ISEF has been very important to him. He gained a lot from the science fair process and the week-long event, which, he says, was “a really great experience.”

Are you an SSP Alumni? Let us know what you have been up to!