What the Eyes Can’t See

Carnegie Mellon University alumnus Pete Manautou had two goals when starting his company: fulfill a promise he made to his son and make a difference in people’s lives.

Pete is the founder of Scanit Technologies, which currently helps agricultural growers maximize yield and minimize crop loss through autonomous airborne pathogen detection. The company’s platform uses its patented SporeCam, a multi-modal miniaturized optical microscopic sensor, to capture, inspect and classify particles in the air, and then alert growers of the presence of harmful pathogen spores that can lead to disease.

“We have an ability to tell farmers and growers, both indoor and outdoor, that disease is coming their way,” Pete, a 1999 graduate of the College of Engineering, says. “We can see it two to three weeks before the human eye and current post-infection technologies can detect it.”

The data collected by the optical sensors empowers growers to mitigate disease before it’s too late. In the future, Pete hopes to expand the technology to other industries where early detection could make a difference.

“Having access to that data, that amount of information early on, can equip the end user with the information they need to make better decisions,” he says. “That's what we're doing at Scanit — improving quality of life.”

Keeping his Promise

Scanit’s vision — to dramatically improve quality of life by knowing what's in the air — is personal to Pete. He founded the company in 2015 after his then 2 1/2-year-old son, Christian, died following a year-long battle with cancer.

When first diagnosed with cancer at 18 months old, Christian spent four straight weeks in the hospital undergoing treatment that compromised his immune system. When he was discharged, the doctors issued a warning to Pete and his wife.

“They said ‘Keep him away from things that will make him sick,’” Pete says. “So my wife and I had a discussion with the doctors. We said, ‘How do we know what's going to make him sick?’ And they're like, ‘Definitely anything with fungus. If you think there's black fungus in your home, which you would usually see around windows with high condensation or humidity, there's probably some fungus out there.’”

Pete and his wife began looking for something they could use to instantly identify fungus or other harmful particles in their home.

When they couldn’t find a solution, he decided to invent one.

“I was surprised we could not find anything,” Pete says. “So I told her, ‘I think I can build something based on what I know that can tell me what the actual particle is. Not that there is a particle, or the size of the particle. I want to classify that particle we are breathing and being exposed to. I want to know if the particle is friendly or if it’s a foe that is going to make me sick.’”

A few months after Christian’s death, Pete quit his full-time job to focus on Scanit Technologies. It was an easy decision, because it meant fulfilling a promise he made to Christian on the day he was discharged from the hospital.

“It was just me and him and the EMTs [riding home] in an ambulance,” Pete says. “I was holding him the entire ride, knowing this would be his last going home. And I told him that I'm going to do something that will hopefully make a difference in people's lives. And that was it.”

Building a Blueprint

Pete faced a major challenge when he started Scanit. He wasn’t adapting technology that already existed — he was inventing something completely new.

“If a technology already exists in the market and somebody already went through all the kinks and twists and troubles of figuring it out, you have a blueprint to do something better,” he says. “In our case, there was nothing that could tell us what's in the air. Specifically, classifying the actual particle that's in the air. And when you're first at doing something that the world hasn't seen, it’s going to take some time to figure out all the science and the engineering behind it.”

Still, he felt he had the background, from his Carnegie Mellon education, and experience necessary to make it work.

During his third year at CMU, Pete received a Small Undergraduate Research Grant to test cyclic fatigue of spinning rods.

“I had to use a lot of the knowledge from different disciplines that I took courses on,” says Pete, referring to various electrical and mechanical engineering subjects. “There were so many things that came into play.”

His research led to two internships at Aristech, the former U.S. Steel’s chemicals division, which manufactured chemicals used across multiple industries, and then a full-time job at DaimlerChrysler doing design work on autonomous rail systems. He worked there for about a year before deciding to switch careers.

“With autonomous trains, you're working with a lot of government agencies and you're super busy at times and then not so busy sometimes,” Pete says. “I wanted to do something a little more active and exciting.”

He contacted the CMU Alumni Association, which helped him set up interviews and land a job in the semiconductor inspection and process control industry in San Jose, California.

“That's what catapulted me into learning so much about so many different disciplines,” Pete says.

He stayed in the industry for more than 15 years, focusing on defect detection, process control and metrology, and sensor development, which involves studying the physical, chemical, material and electrical properties of semiconductor devices. The experience gave him the confidence he needed to start Scanit and develop a detection device of his own.

Creating a Legacy

Pete credits Carnegie Mellon for the success he’s achieved in his career.

“I wonder, had I not gotten that SURG grant, where would I be today?” he says. “Because that led to the two internships, then my first job from those internship experiences, then where I'm at now. It propelled my career. Being able to connect so many skillsets to solve problems, not just to learn the theory behind them, but to solve problems, is an incredible experience. I don't think I would be here without that, honestly.”

In 2014, he and his wife established the Christian J. Manautou Andrew Carnegie Society Legacy Scholarship in honor of their son. Through the scholarship, they are able to assist a student enrolled in a designated school or college. The gift immediately benefits the student, much like the SURG grant benefited Pete.

It also honors Christian’s life in a touching way.

“He didn't get to see the world,” Pete says. “And I feel that if I can make a difference in someone's life through that scholarship, there's a little piece of Christian in them out in the world, and hopefully they will make an impact on someone's life as well.

“I feel that if I make a difference, there's a little piece of Christian out there doing the same.”