Announcing the Inaugural Aspen Climate Cohort Fellows

June 16, 2022

Fellows participate in a climate-focused iteration of the Aspen Tech Policy Hub’s Fellowship, hosted in partnership with the Institute’s Energy & Environment Program

Contact:
Betsy Cooper
Director
Aspen Tech Policy Hub
Betsy.Cooper@aspeninstitute.org


San Francisco, California, June 16, 2022 
— The Aspen Institute’s Tech Policy Hub and Energy & Environment Program are thrilled to announce the 15 fellows of the inaugural Aspen Climate Cohort. The climate cohort seeks to train scientists and technologists to better apply their ideas to policy, bringing together the expertise and network of the Energy and Environment Program with the curriculum and training ability of the Tech Policy Hub. 

The 10-week, full-time, paid program is currently underway in Berkeley, California, and will conclude on August 12, 2022. The curriculum consists of two parts: a bootcamp on the basics of policymaking and policy advocacy, and a final project, during which fellows will create practical policy outputs. The climate cohort also includes programming specific to climate policy issues, including interventions from guest experts on topics such as carbon dioxide removal and environmental justice. 

The Summer 2022 Aspen Climate Cohort participants hold vast experience in climate change and innovation as energy engineers, environmental scientists, technologists, and green business experts. The 15 fellows are:

  • Patrick Beckley, Environmental Engineer at the US Environmental Protection Agency
  • Nicole Jain Capizzi, Agricultural Specialist formerly at the Washington State Department of Agriculture
  • Mira Chokshi, Former Engineering Team Manager at the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission
  • Arthine Cossey van Duyne, CEO & Founding Partner at WaterFunder, LLC
  • Emma Crow-Willard, Managing Producer at Climate Now
  • Emily Doyle, Polar Scientist and recent PhD graduate of the University of Cambridge
  • Mary Kombolias, Environmentally Sustainable Manufacturing Consultant 
  • Swathi Manchikanti, Water, Sanitation, and Climate Specialist at UNICEF 
  • Stephen Mushegan, Clean Energy and Climate Engineering Consultant 
  • Jaida Nabayan, Associate at James Lima Planning + Development
  • Rebecca Peters, Academy Associate at Chatham House
  • Alyssa Poletti, Climate Futures, Justice, and Solutions graduate student at the University of Washington
  • Nadia Seeteram, PhD candidate at Florida International University
  • Alex Shoer, Co-Founder at Seeder Clean Energy
  • Esther Sosa, Advocacy and Partnerships Manager at the Environmental Defense Fund

Environmental policy expert and nonprofit leader Allison Rogers also joins the Tech Policy Hub as Climate Policy Advisor for the cohort. 

For more information about the Aspen Climate Cohort and participants, see here.

 

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The Aspen Tech Policy Hub is a West Coast policy incubator, training a new generation of STEM policy entrepreneurs. The Hub takes STEM experts, teaches them the policy process through fellowship and training programs, and encourages them to develop outside-the-box solutions to society’s problems. It models itself after tech incubators like Y Combinator, but trains new policy thinkers and focuses on the impact of their ideas. For more information, please visit https://www.aspentechpolicyhub.org. The Aspen Tech Policy Hub is an initiative of Aspen Digital.

The Aspen Institute Energy and Environment Program explores significant challenges with diverse thinkers and doers to make a more prosperous, equitable, and sustainable society for all. We address critical energy, environmental, and climate change issues through non-partisan, non-ideological convening, with the specific intent of bringing together diverse stakeholders to improve the process and progress of policy-level dialogue. This enables EEP to sit at a critical intersection in the conversation and bring together diverse groups of expert stakeholders. To learn more visit www.aspeninstitute.org/ee or follow @AIEnvironment.

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