Work Forces
For more than a decade, the TomKat Center has placed students with sustainability startups around the Bay Area and beyond through paid summer internships.
“The ability to find really intelligent interns and very driven people from Stanford to come work with us, it’s really awesome,” says Eric McShane, CEO and co-founder of Electroflow Technologies.
Most of the host ventures were founded by Stanford alumni who have ties to the center. McShane and cofounder Evan Gardner, recipients of a 2023 Innovation Transfer Grant, say the internship program is their favorite part of the TomKat network. The Electroflow team has hosted TomKat interns for two summers in a row, and will again welcome students in June 2026.
“Just the talent at Stanford, I’m amazed… the intern we had last summer had lithium extraction experience from high school,” says McShane. “I’m like, is that even possible?”
TomKat educational program manager Elizabeth Irino says she appreciates how the summer allows students to explore startup life in a low-stakes way. “Being in Silicon Valley, it can feel almost expected that students take that route. I love that interns get the chance to learn whether this is truly something they want to pursue—or not—while allowing them to engage in mission-driven work.”
For student participants, the internship can be a fast track for learning new skills or flexing new independence.
Michelle Chen, ’28, joined the Electroflow team in 2025 and within two weeks she had learned how to build an electrochemical flow cell, or e-cell. Rather than mining for lithium, Electroflow sources the precious mineral from lithium brines and applies efficient electrochemistry to produce battery-ready cathode materials.
By summer’s end, she was assisting with research and development experiments for the company, comparing three battery cells made with different brine compositions that were being tested over 1,000 hours of operation—or more than 40 days running.
She trained with the venture’s brine specialist, David Diaz, who had been an intern at Electroflow in 2024 while completing his master’s at the University of Oregon. She says the experience has inspired her to pursue a career as a chemical engineer.
“The tight-knit group of nine instantly made me feel at home,” she says. “I would recommend this experience to any aspiring engineer in the climate space seeking a valuable learning opportunity.”
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| William Meyer, BS ’28, Mechanical Engineering | Nitricity “The TomKat program genuinely taught me so much about what I want for my future such as whether I want to work at a startup and even single-handedly is what made me declare my major.” | Spurti Nimbali, ’28, Computer Science | Airys Tech “This summer was one of the most impactful experiences I’ve had so far at Stanford. Working in a startup environment taught me how quickly priorities shift and how important it is to stay adaptable, while still taking ownership of meaningful projects.” | Rakshit Kaushik, BS ’27, Mathematics and Statistics | ReMatter “I got to work on something new every day and learned not only how to build computer systems, but also how to build meaningful connections.” |
Some interns reported that their 8-week positions showed them tangible uses of classroom lessons.
Valeria Cartagena, BS ’27, has conducted electrochemistry research at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory since her first year at Stanford, so she was enthused to be an intern with Twelve Benefit Corporation, a venture that is using CO2 instead of fossil fuels to make essential products—from aviation fuels to consumer goods.
"It was a dream come true to spend the summer learning how these technologies are scaled up at an industrial level at one of the most advanced and innovative energy startups," says Cartagena, who, like many student participants, was excited to be contributing to a real-world commercial product.
"I really valued the level of trust and responsibility I was given from day one. I worked with interdisciplinary teams spanning strategy, R&D, and software engineering to build cost models for the company's future facility planning and operations. It made me feel like a core member of the team rather than just an intern."
Life in a startup, even as an intern, can have a plot twist or two.
Ava DeConcini, BS ’25, MS ’26, had been thrilled to land a position with Verne, a business that is developing more efficient hydrogen storage. For the last five years, the company had focused on decarbonizing the heavy trucking industry, but in spring 2025, automotive manufacturers veered sharply away from hydrogen fuel.
“Honestly, I was pretty dismayed to learn this the first day and wondered what I would do with myself.”
Verne needed to find fresh markets for their proprietary concept of “cryo-compressed” hydrogen—so that’s what DeConcini did. She reached out to 500 contacts across industries to pitch hydrogen generators, another product line for the startup. From remote off-grid communities to ski resorts and music festivals to data centers, she explored how hydrogen storage could offer cleaner energy and looked for connections.
“Seeing how resilient my coworkers are to changes like this, and their determination to see the work through and do a job well done,” she says. “I truly looked forward to going to work every day.”
Apply now
Summer 2026 energyStartup internship
applications due on February 18.
This article is part of the TomKat Center Spotlight series designed to highlight the impact and trajectory of the work of faculty and students who received funding through our programs, including the Innovation Transfer Program, TomKat Solutions, and Graduate Fellowships. Stanford University does not endorse any non-Stanford entities, programs, products, or services listed in the article.
