Bianca Datta, Ph.D.

Bianca works to grow the size, diversity, and interconnectedness of the alternative protein research community. She was previously a food scientist at Black Sheep Foods, specializing in the use of biopolymers to improve plant-based meat texture and functionality. Her formal academic training is in material science and engineering. She received her bachelor’s from the University of Pennsylvania and her master’s and Ph.D. from the MIT Media Lab, where she studied material design and fabrication of bio-inspired structural color. Bianca is passionate about community-building, science communication, and mentorship, and enjoys finding the connections and synergies between disparate disciplines, worlds of thought, and stakeholder communities. She also brings a strong interest in sustainability, conservation, and circular material systems to our work at GFI. She is based in San Francisco, CA and her outside-of-work loves include writing, running, and ceramics.