
Info Sessions, Webinars, and Office Hours
CRC Info Session w/ OpenAir Co-Founder Matt Parker | |||
Intro to CDR w/ Carbon Based Consulting Founder Grant Faber | |||
Life cycle and techno-economic assessment w/ Carbon Based Consulting Founder Grant Faber | |||
Hardware Design Office Hours w/ Climatebase Fellow Gloria See | |||
Scalability w/ Mars Materials Co-Founder Kristian Gubsch | ![]() |
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Fundraising, communication, networking w/ Angel Investor Karen Sheffield | Feb 7th, 4pm EST | ![]() |
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Non-dilutive financing vs. Venture Capital w/ Managing Director of INCRYPTIUM Daniel van Syke | |||
Sustainable Fabrication and Fabrication Problem-Solving w/ NYU ITP’s Blair Simmons |
Questions? Or do you want to be Sponsor or Mentor?
Check out the Carbon Removal Challenge FAQ!
Still got questions or just want to contact us? Are you interested in being part of a participating team, being a mentor, or sponsoring the challenge, but need more info? Contact us using the form below:

Key Dates
Competition announcement, Applications open | |
OpenAir provides carbon removal webinars and videos to participants | |
Applications closed | |
Winter 2022-2023 | 12 to 50 teams work with faculty advisors and OpenAir mentors to build carbon removal prototypes |
February 28, 2023 | Teams submit designs and documentation of final prototypes |
March 30, 2023 | Judges choose 5-10 teams for the final showcase at NYU |
April 19, 2023 | Final showcase at NYU |
April 22, 2023 | Results announced on Earth Day |
Why Carbon Removal?
There is already too much CO2 in the atmosphere, and some essential industries – namely, commercial aviation and steel and cement manufacturing – will be very difficult to decarbonize in time. Any chance we have of limiting average global temperature change to a survivable threshold (1.5C or below) must include the removal of carbon from the atmosphere. The United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has called for Carbon Dioxide Removal (Negative Emissions Technologies), to help us stay below 1.5C above preindustrial temperatures – the threshold scientists agree is the point at which we will irreversibly impact our climate for the worse.
Goals
- Introduce a new generation of students to the world of carbon capture
- Highlight and showcase the carbon removal work already happening in higher ed
- Give students a hands-on opportunity to create brand new solutions to the carbon pollution problem
- Promote new innovations through open source licensing, which will allow more rapid advancement of students’ technologies and enable others to build on the success of earlier submissions
- Build talent networks for employers and future job seekers

Teams
Each team must submit an application, complete with a full list of team members, a faculty advisor, and an overview of their design, by the end of November 2022 Jan 8th. Suggested team size is 2-8 members.
Judges / Mentors
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Gloria See • Climatebase Founding Fellow 2022 • Chief Engineer, Edge Effects • Cofounder, Cquestration Expertise: sensor design, semiconductor materials, photonics, hardware testing, entrepreneurship policy, algae-based CDR, precision agriculture, wearable sensors |
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Dahl Winters • Co-Founder and CEO of TerraNexum Expertise: System development/optimization for renewable energy and carbon management, focusing on geothermal and direct air capture |
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Kristian Gubsch • Co-Founder and Vice President of Feedstock Development Mars Materials • Marshall Scholar Alumni Expertise: Reactor design, direct air capture sorbent selection, process modelling, capital and operating expense estimation, and project planning and management |
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Styles Smith • Data Scientist aboard the E/V Nautilus • President, Penn State Biology Department Graduate Student Association • Teacher at Oregon Museum of Science and Industry • STEM Teacher at Saturday Academy via the University of Portland Expertise: Biology and microbiology, genetics and genomics, coral microbiomes, science communication |
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Grant Faber • Global CO2 Initiative • Carbon-Based Consulting Expertise: Techno-economic and life cycle assessment, strategy |
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Dr. Luis Estevez • CEO of Advanced & Innovative Multifunctional Materials Expertise: Material science |
Advisors
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Tom Igoe • Co-founder of Arduino • Professor, NYU ITP • Area Head for Physical Computing |
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Dr. Evvan Morton • American Association for Advancement of Science Science & Technology Policy Fellow |
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Dr. Gregory Nemet • Professor, University of Wisconsin • Lead Author, UN IPCC Report • Author, How Solar Became Cheap |
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Michael Weinberg • President of the board of the Open Source Hardware Association • Executive Director of the Center on Innovation Law and Policy at NYU |
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