Climate Tech Fellowship
Innovations emerging from university labs and on-campus entrepreneurship programs are a growing source of climate solutions. Once they leave the university, however, many innovators lose access to the resources and support system needed to progress solutions, creating an early “valley of death”. To address this gap, we are launching The Exchange’s Climate Tech Fellowship to help promising technologies and teams from our university partner network start their early-stage commercialization journey.
The Climate Tech Fellowship is The Exchange’s first signature incubation program, built in collaboration with innovation leads, tech transfer offices, and research labs across the 11 university partners of the Exchange’s partner network. An open call for fellows in April 2025 led to nearly 100 applications. The Exchange expects this new program to cultivate and speed up the development of climate solutions that can transition from lab to market and be implemented to address real climate challenges faced by New York City residents and urban communities globally.
Key Details
Eight fellows, from six universities in The Exchange’s partner network, are part of this inaugural group. The cohort includes professors, PhD researchers, students, visiting scholars and executives-in-residence, representing a diversity of perspectives and experiences. Over the next six months from September 2025 to February 2026, fellows will participate in a tailored climate tech venture curriculum taught by industry experts, be matched with mentors for one-to-one support, and receive non-dilutive funding, piloting support, as well as entry to the world-class climate tech ecosystem in New York. Collectively, they are developing innovations for grid resilience, hydrogen storage, coral restoration, and real-time wildfire and flood management, among other areas.
Meet the Fellows
Stephanie Taboada (Stony Brook University) – HySep is developing safe, scalable hydrogen storage to unlock the green hydrogen economy using existing gas pipelines.
Charlie Mydlarz (New York University) — FloodNet develops tools for real-time, actionable flood monitoring to support community-scale resilience in urban neighborhoods.
Fares Al-Lahabi (CUNY) — CarbonCLAIR offers on-site air filtration to construction sites, providing cleaner air for cities and in-situ carbon capture capabilities.
Mauricio Hernandez Hernandez (Duke University) — GridSeer delivers an AI-driven software and analytics platform that enhances reliability, improves sustainability, and cuts costs for energy providers and large-scale users.
Patricia Stathatou and Christos Athanasiou (Georgia Tech) — Yeast-enabled removal of micropollutants from water to provide safe, clean water following disasters.
Shannon Parker (Duke University, working with Pratt Institute) — Reefcycle develops low-carbon bio-cement for coral restoration, coastal infrastructure, and the built environment.
Ty Roach (Duke University) — Coral Reef Arks are a novel midwater reef technology combining science and scale to revolutionize coral restoration and build climate resilience for coastal communities.
Xiao Liu (Georgia Tech) — Leveraging data and AI for real-time wildfire management.
Join us at the Climate Tech Showcase
During this year’s Climate Week NYC, The Exchange will hold a Climate Tech Showcase on Wednesday, September 24, from 9:00 - 11:30AM at Building 309 on Governors Island, marking the first public introduction of the cohort.