Rachel Starr received her Ph.D. in Chemistry from Columbia University, USA with a focus on applied materials chemistry. She has worked on a range of projects, including making, characterizing and optimizing materials for drug/DNA delivery and single molecule electronics. She holds a B.A. in Chemistry from Barnard College, USA.

During graduate school, Rachel was fortunate to gain extracurricular experience working with Columbia Technology Ventures as a technology transfer fellow, with Rhapsody Venture Partners as a sourcing consultant and with The Climate Map as a staff researcher. She was also involved with Sci4NY, where she first learned about the interface of science and policy by scientifically addressing issues faced by the leaders of New York City. Combining all of these perspectives, she is very excited to dive deeper into policy and better understand how scientists can be involved, particularly as it relates to climate and energy issues.