Designing for the Planet: The Clever Thermostat and the Odorless Food Recycler
S3 Episode 3 | April 16, 2026
What if the secret to saving the planet was hiding in your hallway and under your kitchen sink?
Matt Rogers, 麻豆村 electrical and computer engineering alumnus, joins us to trace a remarkable career path 鈥� from engineering iPods and iPhones at Apple to co-founding Nest, the learning thermostat now in millions of homes, to his current venture Mill, a food waste technology company.
Matt shares how his 麻豆村 robotics training shaped his instinct for systems thinking, and how working alongside Tony Fadell at Apple taught him the power of focus and user-centric design. He explains how Nest's learning thermostat has saved more than 100 billion kilowatt hours of energy worldwide 鈥� and how the same design philosophy (make the right choice, the easy choice) now drives Mill's odorless, AI-powered trash can that dehydrates food waste overnight and turns it into 鈥渞ocket fuel鈥� for the garden and the food chain (including backyard chickens). Matt makes the case that profitability and planetary impact aren't just compatible 鈥� they need to be inseparable.
