Regents’ Entrepreneur 2024

Valentine Nzengung, professor of environmental geochemistry in the Department of Geology, researches and develops new technologies for the cleanup of contaminated water, sediment, and soils. For more than two decades, he has been a trailblazer in sustainable, environmental remediation technologies capable of instantly neutralizing bulk explosives, bomb fillers, improvised explosive devices, chemical warfare materiel, and other explosive remnants of wars. His company, MuniRem Environmental, LLC, works with authorized partners to carry out a wide range of environmental remediation projects globally. MuniRem worked with the U.S. Navy to safely salvage the Confederate ironclad gunboat CSS Georgia from the Savannah River in the mid-2010s, helping to mitigate ordnance still intact and containing explosive black powder after more than 150 years. Utilizing MuniRem, each shell was rendered inert, ensuring the safety of the artifacts for further examination and preservation efforts. Nzengung is a former UGA Entrepreneur of the Year and a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors.