Shomik Verma is a PhD researcher in mechanical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He grew up in Houston, TX, and attended Duke University, where he set 2 Guinness World Records for vehicle efficiency with the Duke Electric Vehicles team. He completed his MPhil in materials science in the UK as a Marshall Scholar. He is currently at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology working on next-generation energy technologies such as thermal energy storage and hydrogen combustion. Shomik is a Paul & Daisy Soros Fellow and a Public Voices Fellow of The OpEd Project.