Dr. Pearce received his Ph.D. at The Pennsylvania State University, where his work on protocrystallinity helped develop low-cost amorphous silicon solar photovoltaic technology.

[9][10] He showed 1% of Canada's agricultural land converted to agrivoltaics would rid the national grid if carbon emissions while increasing food.

[24][25] Reviewing his book Open-Source Lab, 3-D Printing Industry wrote, "This is a manual that every scientist should read and it holds a message so powerful and disruptive that the Anarchist Cookbook is a fairy tale in comparison.

Similarly, his group developed the recyclebot, a waste plastic extruder, which drops the cost of 3D printing filament from $35/kg to ten cents per kg while making recycling even more environmentally beneficial.

[32][33] He also helped develop the concept of fused granular fabrication (FGF) where shredded waste plastic is directly converted to products.