Daniel Nothaft has spent the past decade studying and effecting change within the space of science, society, and sustainability. He is the founder of Uplift Geosystems, a climate technology startup working on carbon storage and sustainable metal products. 

“Our mission,” Nothaft explained, “is making critical materials more affordable, accessible, and less carbon-emitting.” His company’s product is a piece of chemical equipment that regenerates acids used in the metals refining process, which has the potential to improve the way heavy industries handle waste and emissions.

Nothaft’s journey to climate entrepreneurship wasn’t mapped out from the beginning. He enrolled in the Sciences Po and Columbia University Dual BA program and majored in Earth Systems at Columbia University and followed the Economics track at Sciences Po. He then pursued a PhD in Geology at the University of Colorado Boulder. He continued with a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania, where he shifted into applied research through the chemical engineering department. “My PhD was really like a fundamental science project,” he said. “My postdoc was more of an applied project because I wanted to be on the front lines of where science meets society.” 

Nothaft credits the Sciences Po course program with broadening his perspective and giving him the academic flexibility to explore the intersection of natural and social sciences. Before joining Sciences Po, most of the programs he considered were focused exclusively on the natural sciences. The Dual BA allowed him to go deeper into the humanities and social science foundations that shape how societies function. “I really enjoyed some of my classes in political theory and economics and getting to read the primary texts on which the governance and economic system that we live in today are based, which just helps to understand the world we’re in today.”

In addition to the academic environment, the experience of living in France as a full-time international student had a major impact. “Being more than just an exchange student is a quite different experience,” Nothaft said. “It helped me expand my perspective beyond national borders and my native culture and language.” While in Reims, Nothaft also appreciated the strong sense of community and student life. “There were a lot of ways to get involved and take leadership,” he said. He participated in the Bureau des Arts and the Pôle Environnement, where he helped organize an organic farmers market on campus. “If I was at a big university, I think it would have been harder to be so involved.”

After completing his studies, he followed his interest in environmental science and transitioned from research to entrepreneurship. His work in carbon capture evolved into the core concept for his startup. Launching a company meant adjusting his focus away from the lab and toward the marketplace. “Coming out of a laboratory research environment, there’s a bias towards the technology’s importance,” he said. “But once you start thinking about it as a business, you learn quickly that it’s actually the customers and the markets that play a really important role too.”

Climate change is his primary area of focus, but Nothaft acknowledges the wide range of global challenges that could benefit from similar problem-solving. “There are so many critical issues right now,” he said, from health care and international conflict to racial and economic inequity. “But I think Sciences Po allows its students exposure to all of those and empowers them to find their way to make a difference.”

As for what continues to draw him to the climate space, Nothaft points to its complexity and urgency. He explained, “It’s so cross-cutting. It’s tied to racial inequity, it’s tied to economic inequity, it’s tied to politics and natural resources. It’s not something that’s going to go away anytime soon and is not something that I think I’ll ever lose interest in.”

Nothaft remains connected to the Sciences Po community, particularly in the D.C. area. Looking back, he’s come to appreciate the long-term value of the Sciences Po experience even more. “I didn’t fully come to appreciate the longer lasting benefits until years afterwards,” he said. “I think I’m still learning them.”