Bjørnulf Østvik

I like fixing things that are broken.

Some things about me:

• I have advised PE firms, technology companies, and financial institutions
• I spent a few years at Lockheed Martin building the New Ventures advanced technologies group, where I started my own programs in areas like synthetic fuels and mobile power systems
• I founded a technology company, a civil engineering firm, and a capital/technology development firm
• I have been issued 100+ patents as inventor or co-inventor, including 15 separate patent families in the U.S.
• I discovered EGS-6, a novel polymeric composite material that can be reliably derived from mixed carbon waste resources
• I developed a subfield I call “Constructive Thermochemistry,” the controlled application of heat to build complex molecular constructs rather than break them down as in conventional destructive processes like pyrolysis
• I built a company and engineering team and together we developed and deployed a modular recycling system capable of processing over 50,000 pounds of municipal waste per day. We showed it can replace landfills without costing communities any more, and often saving them money
• My economics research into over 13,000 school districts showed how income inequality has a statistically relevant relationship that drives housing prices, spending patterns, and pressure on local budgets like school funding. I developed an original spatial-geometric math model to capture the relationships among the key variables; the findings received press attention and I was hired as an economics research analyst.
• I partnered with Cornell economist Robert Frank to support his broader framework on positional externalities; my research was cited in his book Falling Behind: How Rising Inequality Harms the Middle Class
• I was Vice Chairman of a Sandia National Laboratory-led business incubator (National Energy Systems Technology Center)
• I testified as a witness for the U.S. Government in a major public integrity trial
• I was inspired in my early 20s by internships at the U.S. Senate, the New York State Office for People With Developmental Disabilities, and a constitutional law internship at a major Washington think tank
• I received my JD from George Washington University Law School and focused especially on international law and constitutional law
• I went to Cornell University for undergraduate and graduate school; I concentrated in economics and quantitative policy analysis for the graduate work
• As a kid, I loved building things. At age 10 I built a treehouse by myself. We didn’t have a lot of money so I shadowed contractors around my town who would give me scrap materials. I also built go-carts, model cities, and various other projects.
• I played soccer and was on a ski team; they say Norwegians are born with skis on their feet and that’s basically true
• When I was a teenager I built my own lab and did plant research supervised by my school and got approved by the state to do some interesting R&D on curing plant diseases
• I took a few months off from academia to work as a tech at a veterinary clinic; I've always loved animals and helping people with their pets was some of the most rewarding time I've spent