spotLess Materials has a mission: address global challenges facing humanity by utilizing nature-inspired engineering. The team set out to develop a coating that could repel both liquids and sludge, their goal being to improve global sanitation, but found that their coating has applications across industries, from auto repair to medical. spotLess Materials has a vision of developing surfaces that don’t need water and detergent for constant cleaning and thereby fulfilling their their mission to make the world a better place. 

spotLESS Materials was co-founded in 2018 by Penn State mechanical engineering doctorate alumna Brigitt Boschitsch and her advisor, Tak-Sing Wong. Boschitsch began developing high-tech, sustainable sanitation products in Wong’s lab as a part of her dissertation, and founded spotLess Materials when she saw the potential her work could have both at home and in developing nations. In 2020, she was named one of Forbes’ 30 under 30 in science. Co-founder Wong is the Wormley Family Early Career Professor in Engineering and an associate professor of mechanical engineering and biomedical engineering at Penn State.