Meet the Team
Our Campus Venture Partners are students embedded within university innovation ecosystems who help surface and support emerging climate founders. Working across labs, student organizations, accelerators, and research programs, they serve as the connective tissue between university builders and the broader climate tech ecosystem.
Samir Chowdhury
Founder and Executive Director
Samir is a recent Stanford University alum, graduating early from his joint BS/MS program in Management Science & Engineering and Sustainability Science. In college, Samir founded Stanford Sustainable Investment Group, partnering with leading Silicon Valley climate venture capital firms to create meaningful, hands-on learning opportunities for students. He conducted research with Stanford’s Technology Venture Program and Sustainability Accelerator, and spearheaded energy initiatives on campus as a Living Lab Fellow.
Outside of school, Samir has built deep experience across investing, startups, and policy — from supporting Inflation Reduction Act implementation at The White House to backing sci-fi deep tech founders at Dangerous Ventures. Prior to college, Samir founded one of the world’s largest youth-led climate advocacy organizations, mobilizing thousands of young people globally across policy, education, and equity initiatives, with backing from the Bezos Earth Fund.
Carolyn He
Venture Partner - Stanford
Carolyn is a first-year at Stanford University studying Data Science and Management Science & Engineering. Growing up in a semilingual immigrant household, numbers became her first language—and the foundation of her interests across climate, capital, and data. Her background spans community organizing in climate and research at NASA, the University of Maryland, and Virginia Tech, where she built remote sensing and biomass modeling tools across four continents. But the deeper she got into environmental data, the more she realized capital is the non-negotiable lever for systemic change. At Stanford, she currently leads commercialization strategy for a utility-scale energy-flexibility platform and is broadly interested in supporting research pipelines from lab to market. She is also involved in SSIG, the Energy Club, and Stanford Pre-Business Association—and can generally be found talking to interesting people (or just people in general). Outside of her love for conversation, Carolyn is extraordinarily passionate about hot yoga, power walking, good food, and quasi-competitive badminton.
Sophie Beck
Venture Partner - Harvard
Sophie is a current junior at Harvard College studying Environmental Science and Public Policy with a focus on the energy transition. She has experience in energy private equity and venture capital, where she has conducted transaction level diligence across renewable investments.
At Harvard, Sophie serves as the Co-Director of Industry Consulting Projects for the Harvard Undergraduate Clean Energy Group and has experience leading engagements for nuclear, battery energy storage, and wind clean energy start-ups. Additionally, Sophie is the National Director of Global Sustainability Hackathons, Start-Up Competitions, and Scholarships for Girls Who Start, where she supports young women building mission driven ventures.
Joe Geniesse
Venture Partner - MIT
Joe is a PhD candidate at MIT researching high-energy-density sodium metal batteries from fundamental physical chemistry to implementation. As a part of the DOE Energy Storage Research Alliance, he leverages fundamental in-situ spectroscopy to improve battery performance and lifetime. As an MIT Energy Initiative Future Energy Systems awardee, he builds techno-economic energy systems models to evaluate how fundamental research advances affect implementation across sectors and geographies. He is passionate about accelerating climate and deep tech from lab to market. Joe serves as a VP of Mentorship and Judging at the MIT Climate and Energy Prize and as a mentor to first-year PhD students, prospective PhD applicants, and MIT undergraduates. Prior to MIT, Joe received degrees in Chemistry and Environmental & Urban Studies from the University of Chicago.
Maahir Gupta
Venture Partner - Georgia Tech
Maahir is an Environmental Engineering major at Georgia Tech, focused on energy innovation, climate finance and sustainability strategy. His past work with Adani Green Energy, Fitch Solutions, Scholars of Finance, and 180 Degrees Consulting includes technical, financial, and strategic analyses to renewable energy, climate risk, policy, and infrastructure optimization.
At the world's largest energy plant, he patented a solar reflector invention, projecting a 5% rise in energy output and millions in added revenue. He is particularly interested in translating breakthrough climate technologies into deployable ventures, combining engineering rigor, market insight, and systems thinking to accelerate high-impact climate solutions.
Maahir's other interests include car racing, working out, public speaking, music, travel, and discussions in science & spirituality. He considers this love for exploration a factor in the lively, innovative, and people-centric ideas he brings to his projects.