A cleaner path to rare earth metals

AI Summary

MIT alumnus Tomás Villalón Jr. describes how witnessing air pollution in Monterrey, Mexico, shaped his motivation to develop a cleaner approach to producing rare earth metals. The article connects metal-making pollution with efforts to reduce the environmental impact of mineral processing.

Tomás Villalón Jr. ’14 was raised in San Antonio, Texas, but vividly remembers smog hanging over the city his family came from—Monterrey, Mexico, a steel manufacturing and metal fabrication hub. Even as a child, he realized it was problematic to breathe that air.  “I’m motivated because I’ve seen what metal-making does,” says Villalón, who majored…