COP30 Student Delegate; Summer 2025 EF Campus Undergraduate Research Assistant
Panchali Choudhary is an undergraduate student at the University of Chicago majoring in Economics and Computer Science. Prior to this experience, she has worked across data-driven roles, from building full-stack tools to support clinical analytics to conducting market research on healthcare technology and generative AI. On campus, she is a project lead of the Phoenix Sustainability Initiative’s Green Data group and is a member of Eckhart Consulting. Her interests lie at the intersection of energy analytics and sustainable urban development.
Choudhary attended COP30 in November 2025 as part of the Institute’s student delegation.
“Walking into COP30, I immediately felt how different global climate conversations are from those happening in the U.S. Here, progress can feel slow or even regressive, but being at COP, surrounded by delegates from around the world, showed me that meaningful work is happening elsewhere and at a scale that’s easy to miss from afar. Seeing countries push forward on adaptation and energy transitions helped me regain a sense of momentum in the broader climate movement. One moment that stayed with me was when a Swiss negotiator in an Adaptation Fund meeting explained that consensus-based negotiations work only when “everyone is equally dissatisfied.” It reframed how I think about compromise and the collaborative nature of international climate diplomacy. I also appreciated the chance to explore topics I’m excited about, like power grids and energy storage. COP30 helped me connect my academic interests in data and energy systems to the global landscape and showed me how I can contribute to international climate work.”
Panchali also worked as an Environmental Frontiers Campus Undergraduate Research Assistant in Summer 2025.
“I hope to work in energy in the future, and this opportunity allowed me to apply the skills I’ve learned from the past few years in an environment where I feel personally invested in the work. It was super exciting for me to be able to work with energy data and talk about GHG reductions in relation to improving energy efficiency, so this internship was the stepping stone I needed to continue down this path.”