Puneet Kollipara is a data scientist, analyst and communicator in Washington, DC whose work focuses on turning open data into action on some of society’s most pressing challenges, from climate change and environmental health, to electoral institutions and sustainable infrastructure/development. Previously a science and environmental journalist and writer, he spent nearly a decade reporting and blogging for dozens of outlets and institutions, including The Washington Post, Science, Chemical & Engineering News, AGU’s Eos, MIT’s Undark Magazine, Science News, Bloomberg News, Houston Chronicle, San Francisco Chronicle, SciDev.net, Inside EPA, the American Chemical Society and the U.S. Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues. Currently operating as an independent consultant, he has lent his data science, geospatial and communication talents to such organizations as the U.S. Vote Foundation, the Center for New Data and the Society for Conservation GIS. A recent Climatebase Fellow and a current Climatematch Impact Scholar, Puneet seeks to bring people in data, geospatial and climate/environmental professional communities together around values of open data, open science and open-source technologies for social and environmental betterment. He holds a bachelor’s degree in physics and economics from Washington University in St. Louis, MO.