Direct air capture (DAC) refers to processes that pull carbon dioxide out of ambient air for permanent storage, serving to offset emissions or reduce CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere. In 2021 and 2022, I was a founding member of Holocene Climate, a startup working to commercialize a novel chemical DAC process. The project began in the class Stanford Climate Ventures and is currently a seed-stage company funded by Breakthrough Energy and by the Carbon Removal XPrize.

From September 2021 to July 2022, I designed, fabricated, and operated Holocene's first benchtop experimental setup, which captures a few grams of CO2 per cycle. I also worked on technoeconomic modeling, pitching and grant-writing, and tech roadmap development. In 2021, we were awarded a Student Carbon Removal XPrize, and in summer 2022, the company entered the Breakthrough Energy Fellows program. While I've now stepped away from Holocene to focus on my studies, I'm very excited about the project's future.

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