Algae jobs - Phycal Hires Engineers and Biologists

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Four young companies that are hiring like crazy are Contain Energy, Phycal, SolarWinds and BreakingPoint. The four private players continue to hire even as the recession digs deeper into the overall economy.

Phycal, an energy startup founded by Kevin Berner, has not slowed its fast-paced hiring in recent months.

Berner is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point who earned a Ph.D. in economics from MIT. After working at consulting firm McKinsey & Co. as a partner, running North American manufacturing practices, he founded Contain Energy. The Cleveland firm is developing carbon fuel cells.

Carbon fuel cells give off carbon dioxide. So in 2006 Berner founded Phycal, which grows algae using the carbon dioxide emitted by the carbon fuel cells. Algae uses the gas in the photosynthesis process to make sugars. Phycal will then extract it for refining into fuel for cars and trucks.

Berner expects to have a carbon fuel cell pilot plant up and running in the first quarter of 2010. He says he has raised several million dollars in venture capital and gotten a similar amount from government grants.

To entice top talent, Berner says a company must make a product that makes a difference.

"What we're trying to do is bring into the world the ability to grow oil at a cost that is competitive with petroleum. That's a big deal," he said.

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