UC Davis Students Use Startup Strategies to Innovate Climate Solutions in New Course

Twice a week at the University of California, Davis, a few dozen undergraduate students can be found in the Student Startup Center inside the Diane Bryant Engineering Student Design Center, tackling key climate issues with the help of industry professionals and university experts. It's part of a new class dedicated to fostering the relationship between academia and industry by encouraging students to stop thinking like students and start thinking like entrepreneurs.

In "Innovation for Impact," a class also known as "Hacking 4 Climate" that was offered for the first time this fall and will be offered in the winter quarter, six teams of five students are assigned to investigate an environmental issue. During the investigation, which involves speaking with companies, advocates and other issue stakeholders, the students search for gaps that could lead to opportunities for a business-based solution in the form of a startup.

Aaron Anderson, the director of the Student Startup Center and the driving force behind this class and its sister offering, "Hacking 4 Healthcare," said he was able to get the course off the ground thanks to Associate Professor Sam King, an entrepreneur himself, and the Department of Computer Science. Anderson says the partnership with computer science is a natural fit since software and technologies are crucial to taking startups to the next level.

Anderson hopes that students studying computer science and engineering can leverage their technological know-how to tackle the real-world problems posed in the class and find something they are passionate about. His aim is for all the students — engineering and non-engineering majors, alike — to channel their energy and drive toward impactful and meaningful solutions that can be successful and better the world.

"The Silicon Valley startup ethos tells us to 'move fast and break things,'" said Anderson, who could foresee each College of Engineering department having their own "Hacking 4" course. "If you move fast and break things in the industries UC Davis is good at like healthcare, food and climate, people could die. We want to maintain the spirit of innovation, doing something new and different, but be thoughtful about what that means and how we approach it."

Discovering Solutions for Real-World Problems

To lead that thoughtful approach, Anderson tapped Nathan Sedlander, a UC Davis alum and climate entrepreneur, to instruct the class. Sedlander is the CEO and co-founder of Everlastly, a consumer retail platform that reviews, promotes and sells environmentally conscious products.

The way Sedlander describes it, he may be more facilitator than instructor. The course is structured as a "flipped classroom," in that the students learn the framework and concepts for the week via online materials and apply those materials outside the classroom by interviewing stakeholders and customers. 

During class time, the groups present their findings from those interviews or research and progress to the rest of the class. They receive feedback and questions from Sedlander and mentors.

The problem areas were generated by Sedlander and UC Davis faculty members and are meant to not only address general environmental issues but also take advantage of some of the unique research and expertise at UC Davis.

For instance, the group investigating livestock emissions is being mentored by Hamed El Mashad, a researcher in the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering whose focus area lies in measuring and modeling emissions of greenhouse and other gases from dairy farms and anaerobic digestion of biomass materials.

Other problem areas include soil health with Jessica Chiartas, UC Davis soil researcher and board member of regenerative agriculture company RegenScore; solar energy for underserved communities with Tyler Tashiro, recently the vice president of business strategy with Aveyo Solar; invasive species with Amit Vasavada, the chief science advisor for Invasive Species Corporation; mega wildfires with Bethany Hannah, deputy director of operations and external affairs of the Climate and Wildfire Institute; and distributed energy resources with Birk Jones of Sandia National Laboratories.

Sedlander says he has been very impressed so far by the incredible insight and deep analysis that the students have presented. The group working on making solar energy accessible to all found, for example, that in low-income communities, affordability wasn't the primary barrier as many would initially assume.

"They found that there's a trust issue because of some questionable approaches that solar implementation companies had taken with some of these communities," said Sedlander. "The students came up with a wonderful business concept of connecting community advocates in these areas where solar would be beneficial. They figured out how to transfer some of the business development efforts on the solar side to those stakeholders who have a vested interest in the community, and then any commissions that might be made would be invested back into the community."

Future Climate Entrepreneurs

Next quarter, the class will dig into problems like water eutrophication — when excess nutrients, often generated from industrial agriculture practices, in a body of water deplete the water's oxygen levels — and the impact of prescribed burns. By investigating solutions to these types of global problems, says Sedlander, the class equips the students with more than entrepreneurial skills: it gives them confidence that they can find and implement solutions.

"We're addressing a suite of existential challenges that we have as a species when it comes to climate and the environment," he said. "It's been inspirational to witness these students, who are in their early stages of adulthood realize that they can actually have an impact on the trajectory of where we're going with the environment and with sustainability."

Shanyu Dabbiru, a second-year computer science major who is part of the solar energy in underserved communities group, says that this hands-on approach to entrepreneurship has forced him to think on his feet, manage multiple tasks and communicate effectively, and has changed his perspective on startups and what is possible.

"The class has shown me that entrepreneurship is not just about having an idea but also about execution, resilience and continuous learning," said Dabbiru. "It's opened my eyes to the possibilities and challenges of entrepreneurship, making me more confident and motivated to pursue my own entrepreneurial ventures in the future."