2025 Cohort
Maya Arengo is a senior studying Economics and getting her co-term degree in Sustainability. She is passionate about grid decarbonization and learning about how energy policy can help facilitate this. Maya is excited to intern at the Western Interstate Energy Board this summer to learn more about planning for future energy demand and resource adequacy!
Ariana Carmody is a first-year Master's student in the Atmosphere/Energy program. Prior to Stanford, she obtained a B.S. in environmental engineering with a minor in energy engineering from CU Boulder and worked as a civil engineer on renewable energy projects. She looks forward to joining the Western Electricity Coordinating Council where she will analyze policies related to transmission optimization and expansion.
Zoie Chang is a Master's student in the CEE Atmosphere/Energy program. Prior to Stanford, she worked in sustainability consulting at BCG, where she researched a wide range of climate-related topics such as corporate ESG, nature-based solutions, and industry decarbonization. Her current studies center around grid decarbonization and climate investment. Zoie is excited to spend the summer with the California Air Resources Board, Climate Investments Branch, investigating quantification methodologies to estimate the emission reductions and other benefits of the climate projects funded by California Climate Investments.
Edward (Eddie) Chen is a first-year undergraduate studying Energy Science & Engineering. Since arriving at Stanford, Eddie has actively engaged with Stanford’s sustainability ecosystem, developing a heat wave mitigation startup through Stanford Climate Ventures, cofounding the Stanford Community Emergency Response Team club, and serving on climate resilience trips to New Orleans and Miami. Having worked for the City of Irvine and the Tzu Chi Foundation as a United Nations Delegate, Eddie is passionate about expanding access to affordable, reliable, and clean energy for all. This summer, Eddie is excited to work at the California Energy Commission under Commissioner Noemí Gallardo, developing equitable Community Benefits Agreements and accelerating interconnection queues for renewable energy projects across the state. Eddie will also work on data analysis for the Vice Chair’s policy portfolio. Outside of academics, Eddie is a United States Presidential Scholar in the Arts and heavily involved with Stanford’s dance community, sharing his passion for hip-hop dance to communities in California and Taiwan!
Henry Daniels-Koch is a Master’s student in Stanford’s Civil & Environmental Engineering program, specializing in Atmosphere/Energy. He is particularly interested in helping utilities, regulators, and system operators develop actionable solutions for grid planning and resource adequacy. This spring, Henry is working at E3 on both resource adequacy and capacity expansion modeling. Previously, he supported Ava Community Energy in preparing filings for the California Public Utilities Commission’s (CPUC) new Slice-of-Day RA framework by developing a probabilistic load forecasting approach. He also worked as a data engineer at Generate Capital, where he supported the operational and financial performance of distributed energy assets, including community solar, fuel cells, and batteries. This summer, Henry is excited to contribute to the Western Interstate Energy Board’s efforts to harmonize the divergent approaches to resource adequacy pursued by the CPUC and the Western Resource Adequacy Program.
Xingyi Du is a first-year Master’s student in the Atmosphere/Energy program at Stanford University who has a passion for power system modeling, grid decarbonization, and energy markets. He previously earned a B.S. in Environmental Studies with a Statistics minor from UC Santa Barbara. His recent work includes using PyPSA-USA to model optimal battery siting across the CAISO grid and applying RESOLVE to evaluate the implications of Diablo Canyon’s decommissioning on California’s energy mix. Xingyi has also conducted extensive data integration and analysis for microgrid forecasting and spatial modeling of power plant cooling technologies. This summer, he is excited to work with the City of Palo Alto Utilities as the Karl Knapp Energy Fellow in City Government, contributing to electricity planning efforts that integrate technical modeling with local policy goals.
Cara Feit is a first-year master’s student studying Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University. She earned her undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics from the University of Pennsylvania, concentrating in Energy, Fluids, and Thermal Systems. Cara is passionate about renewable and sustainable energy, and she is excited to work with the Building Embodied Carbon Team at the California Air Resources Board this summer. She will be examining how operational emissions interrelate with embodied carbon by conducting life cycle assessments on insulation materials and/or HVAC systems and exploring strategies to reduce emissions. Outside of class, Cara is a proud member of Stanford Women’s Rugby.
Kelsey Freeman is pursuing dual master’s degrees in International Policy and Environment and Resources as a Knight Hennessy Scholar. She focuses on rural community development, Native affairs, migration, and tribal energy sovereignty. She was previously a 2023 Shultz Fellow with the Nevada Clean Energy Fund where she helped develop their tribal clean energy program. Before coming to Stanford, Kelsey worked at Central Oregon Community College, where she collaborated with tribes across Oregon to start a college-readiness program for Native American youth. She is also an award-winning author. Her book No Option but North is based on her research on immigration as a Fulbright Fellow in Mexico and won the 2021 Colorado Book Award. She has since spoken across the country on immigration policy and written for various outlets. Kelsey holds a BA in Government and Legal Studies from Bowdoin College. Kelsey is excited to be joining the California Energy Commission, Office of the Public Advisor, Energy Equity, and Tribal Affairs to support their tribal energy sovereignty engagement, policies and procedures.
Khadija Hanif is a first-year Master's student in the Civil and Environmental Engineering, Sustainable Design and Construction program. Prior to joining Stanford, she worked at Morgan Stanley as an Equity Research Associate covering the Midstream and Renewable Energy Infrastructure sector. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Applied Physics from Barnard College of Columbia University. At Stanford, she has been working at the Woods Institute’s Climate and Energy Policy Program (CEPP), researching novel financing frameworks to support re-conductoring efforts across the state of California. This summer, she is excited to expand her knowledge of grid permitting and electrical energy regulation as a Shultz Fellow at the California Public Utilities Commission, Office of Commissioner Matthew Baker.
Dongjae Kong is a fourth-year PhD student in Mechanical Engineering, researching electrocatalysts for both low- and high-temperature water electrolysis. Driven by a desire to address the climate and environmental crisis, he seeks to apply his engineering expertise to bridge science and technology with policy and regulation, advancing not only science and business but also public benefit. With this motivation, Dongjae will be working with the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission's Office of Policy and Research to help establish a model for estimating the life-cycle carbon intensity of various fuel-based power generation systems. He holds a B.S. (2016) and M.S. (2018) in Mechanical Engineering from Seoul National University in Korea, and previously served as a full-time lecturer in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at the Republic of Korea Air Force Academy (2018-2021).
Cayden Luby is a Coterminal master's student studying Civil and Environmental Engineering in the Sustainable Design and Construction program focused on Energy. As an undergraduate at Stanford, she majored in Engineering in Architectural Design. Cayden approaches sustainable solutions in the built environment with a perspective informed by her heritage as a member of the Hopi Tribe. She is interested in achieving net-zero energy goals for buildings and infrastructure across the energy and transportation sectors, focusing on renewable energy and integrated project delivery. This summer, Cayden will be working at the California Air Resources Board to support a new Zero Emission Space and Space Heater Standards regulation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions of the building sector.
Cariana Morales is a second-year MBA student at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. She holds a B.S. in Industrial Engineering from Georgia Tech and spent three years in management consulting at Bain & Company, where she advised Fortune 500 clients across a range of strategic challenges. Cariana came to the GSB to pursue her passion for the energy transition and to work on the intersection of climate, equity, and infrastructure. Last summer, she interned on the Electric Planning Policy & Modernization team at PG&E, and this summer she will be working at the California Public Utilities Commission in the Office of Commissioner John Reynolds. She is passionate about figuring out the future of the electric utility—how it must evolve to meet surging demand, advance decarbonization, and serve communities equitably.
Thomas Saito is a junior studying Energy Science and Engineering with a passion for tackling energy and environmental challenges through hands-on experience and research. At Stanford, he worked in a geology lab and interned at the Environmental Defense Fund on the California energy team where he focused on California specific energy initiatives and Western Electricity markets. Thomas is excited to continue engaging with California and Western energy issues at the California ISO, where he will focus on analyzing and modeling battery resources.
Zahra Thabet is a Ph.D. student in Economics at Stanford University, where her research focuses on topics at the intersection of environmental economics and market structure and competition. This summer, she will work in the Division of Petroleum Market Oversight at the California Energy Commission. She previously worked as a predoctoral fellow with Professors Neale Mahoney and Heidi Williams, working on large-scale data efforts on projects ranging from the financial and mental health effects of medical debt relief to the commercialization of research. She previously attended Wellesley College, where she interned at NASA and the MIT Media Lab.
Nadja Yang is an MBA student at the Graduate School of Business. Prior to Stanford, she ran a robotics company that she founded to tackle the inefficiencies in the recycling space by disassembling batteries. She has also worked at McKinsey & Company in Frankfurt and pursued a Ph.D. in Engineering at the University of Oxford, sponsored by the Rhodes scholarship. Nadja led Europe’s largest young engineering association with around half a million members as its president, earning her recognition as one of Forbes 30 Under 30. She also worked at engineering firms like Siemens and Linde. Beyond that, she gained experience in policy through her work at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy in Germany and the Industrial Policy department of BASF.
This summer, Nadja will be working at the Nevada Clean Energy Fund as the Clean Energy Investments Fellow. Ultimately, she aspires to bring together stakeholders from different sectors for system-level change toward a sustainable future.
Sean Yepez is a Sustainable Design & Construction master's student focused on building energy efficiency and electrification. This summer, he will be a Shultz Fellow at the California Energy Commission, supporting efforts to pilot neighborhood decarbonization projects. In his prior role at Rivian, Sean supported the Advanced Energy Solutions team which executes power purchase agreements with renewable energy projects to supply carbon-free electricity for EV production and charging. He seeks to bolster grid resilience, expand equitable access to decarbonized technologies, and create new revenue streams for property owners to accelerate adoption.
Julia Zeitlin is a first-year undergraduate studying Environmental Systems Engineering with a focus on sustainable urban systems, while serving as a member of Students for a Sustainable Stanford. She is also a climate activist and co-founder of the Palo Alto Student Climate Coalition. She has worked for the Palo Alto Public Works Department in the Office of Sustainability and plays an active role on Palo Alto's Climate Adaptation and Protection Working Group. Julia directed the 2024 Bay Area Heat Mapping Campaign with NOAA and is working to implement solutions to protect the Bay Area community from extreme heat. Julia was awarded the Clean Energy Commission Hall of Fame Youth Game-Changer Award in 2024.
This summer, Julia is looking forward to working for the California Air Resources Board in the Freight Technology Advancement Branch. She will be analyzing strategies and incentives to help businesses overcome challenges to electrifying their drayage truck fleets.
Asia Zhang is a master's student in Energy Science and Engineering. Her research is focused on the impacts of climate change on capacity expansion and transmission planning. She has previously worked as a transmission and market analyst for a renewables developer and an investment analyst for an energy trading firm. She's fascinated by electricity market design and is excited to work with the California ISO to build impactful market assessment tools. In her free time, she can be found running, skiing, and eating!
David Zhou is a first-year undergraduate at Stanford University studying Physics and Computer Science. He is passionate about harnessing modern technologies to address the world’s most pressing energy challenges, with a particular interest in the intersection of computational methods and sustainable infrastructure. This summer, David will be working with the California Department of Water Resources to study how the integration of renewable energy sources is shaping the future of hydropower generation and distribution across the state. Previously, he was involved with his town’s climate committee, where he worked on local sustainability initiatives, and he is excited to now explore how climate policy is implemented on a broader, statewide scale.
Shirley Zhou is a first-year Master's student in the Atmosphere/Energy program at Stanford. This summer, she will be working with the Power Operations Management team at the California Department of Water Resources.