As an undergrad, William Duhe never realized that one day he’d be able to walk into Monroe Hall and enter the code on the automated door lock to his own personal lab.

Duhe, A’14, founder of Yotta Technologies Inc., is doing research and development in the fields of aeroponics, and virtual reality, a growing field of interest in the world of technology that can be used to increase efficiency in labs like his. Duhe left his graduate physics program at Tulane in order to manage the company at Loyola.

Duhe operates out of a lab in Monroe Hall in return for student research internships. Rebecca Walker, environmental biology senior, and Alex Burch, business senior are two of his interns.

Burch makes everything happen behind the scenes, and with her background in business she helps to manage the company.

“Duhe and I became friends about three and a half years ago, but it wasn’t until this time last year that I found out he needed a business intern for his new company, so I took the chance to get involved immediately,” Burch said.

Walker helps to engineer aeroponic systems for the company, and said she uses this research for schoolwork.

“Duhe and I started working in the beginning of last year after being friends. We talked about him leaving the Ph.D. program and focusing on research while also helping undergrads as well,” Walker said.

Duhe said his Loyola interns have really helped the company grow.

“We partnered with Loyola to give students an opportunity to build on the ground shaking technologies in a world-class computing lab before they enter the workforce,” Duhe said.

Recently, Duhe and his team have focused their attention on two main projects.

“We are developing products that will change our society over the next 20 years.  We know huge opportunities lie in our current areas of focus — virtual reality and aeroponics — and we are taking our technological insights to drive change and adoption in these markets,” Duhe said.

As a senior in high school, Duhe built his first aeroponic grow system, which forgoes traditional growing methods and instead utilizes vaporized water to transfer nutrients and oxygen to the root masses.

“In aeroponics, we are building a foundation for space horticulturists,” Duhe said. “These conclusions are helping us build the first aeroponics unit that will be capable of sustaining a colony in space.”

The company’s other main venture is in coding programs for Oculus Rift, the developmental virtual reality headset.

“We code practical programs with real world implications for use with the Oculus Rift,” Duhe said. “Through our integration of gesture tracking devices and recent hardware developments by Oculus, we have to create fully immersive experiences that are an all-encompassing and user-friendly package.”