Student Innovators: Ben Christensen, Cambium Carbon

Ben Christensen (Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies ’20) is working on a complex problem: the venture he leads, Cambium Carbon, aims to combat climate change and revitalize communities by reimagining the urban tree lifecycle. The team’s ambitious vision involves collaborating with a wide range of stakeholders, from city governments to local millers. For Ben and his team, Tsai CITY has helped them develop their idea within an environment that’s rooted in cross-sector collaboration.

In fall 2019, Ben joined the Tsai CITY Accelerator cohort: “I found one of the best parts of that was getting to be in the room with other founders who are experiencing similar things, and really just being able to learn from that peer group,” he says. “I think our project touches a whole bunch of different spaces, so getting a lot of different lenses on it has been awesome.”

In this video, Ben talks about the project and how Tsai CITY has helped move it forward. This summer, Ben and teammate Marisa Repka are participating in the Tsai CITY Summer Fellowship. The full venture team includes Matthias Muehlbauer, Theo Hooker, Anshula Madhavan, Dylan Murray, Camilla Gardner, Anya Poplavska, and Eudora Miao.