Tim Schnabel

Dr. Tim Schnabel is a scientist, bioengineer, entrepreneur, and Forbes 30 under 30 honoree in social impact. He is currently serving as the Founder and CEO of Switch Bioworks, a biotechnology company located in San Carlos, California, focused on engineering microbes that produce cost-effective, sustainable fertilizer to tackle climate change.

Originally from Germany, Tim came to the US to study chemical engineering and economics at Stanford University (’15). Under the guidance of Professor James Swartz, he researched the biological production of hydrogen fuel from sunlight and received Stanford’s Kennedy Thesis Prize, the highest university recognition for undergraduate research. Tim’s research also won the Mason Award and Firestone Medal, and his academic recognition include the President’s Award, Terman Engineering Award, and Tau Beta Pi – the National Engineering Honor Society, of which Dr. Schnabel served as President (CA G chapter) and Advisory Board Chair.

Following his early training in biotechnology, Tim pursued a MS ’17 and PhD ’21 in bioengineering at Stanford, advised by Professor Elizabeth Sattely. He was awarded a BioX Bowes Fellowship for interdisciplinary research. Dr. Schnabel’s PhD thesis titled “Engineering Ammonia Production in Free-Living Diazotrophs for Plant Fertilization” is published in two single-author papers (patents pending), one of which was featured on the cover of ACS Synthetic Biology. Tim was also a scholar (’19) of the highly competitive Accel Leadership Fellows, a program that accelerates entrepreneurship training of PhD candidates in engineering.

Transitioning through an “Entrepreneur in Training” Postdoc ’22 in the Stanford Bioengineering Department Chair’s lab, Professor Jennifer Cochran, Tim founded Switch Bioworks – “the living fertilizer company” – of which he is CEO and on the Board of Directors.

In his free time, Tim is a beekeeper, homebrewer, and author of “Wake up! A young person’s guide to spirituality.”