NJ Student Climate Advocates
Meet Our Team
Anvi Pataskar
Co-Chair​​​
Anvi Pataskar is a junior at West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South and serves as co-chair of NJSCA. She is passionate about the importance of environmental justice in broader climate action. In her spare time, she enjoys reading and playing basketball
Kathy Yang
Co-Chair​​​
Kathy Yang is a junior at West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South and serves as co-chair of NJSCA. She is interested in climate change and policy, with a focus on forests and oceans. During her free time, she enjoys natural photography and anything Earth science related.
Jayden Junaid
Community Action Co-Lead
Jayden Junaid is a high school student from Old Bridge Township, New Jersey, and serves as the Co-Community Action Lead for the New Jersey Student Climate Association. She joined NJSCA to help strengthen youth involvement in local climate initiatives and enjoys exploring civic engagement and public policy in her free time.
Ishan Sood
Publicity Lead
Ishan Sood is a Student at West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North and currently serves as the Publicity Lead for the New Jersey Student Climate Association. He joined NJSCA to help raise awareness about climate issues and connect more students across the state to environmental action. In his free time, he enjoys hiking and exploring the outdoors.
Previous Leadership
Jonathan Lu
Jonathan is a 2019 graduate of Princeton University, originally from Fremont, California. A co-founder of the New Jersey Student Climate Advocates, Jonathan helped lead the organization from 2017-2019. He currently attends Stanford Medical School.
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"I hope to pass effective climate policy that invests in New Jersey workers, businesses, and communities and makes New Jersey more resilient to the effects of climate change."
Shelley Zhao
Shelley is a 2018 Princeton University graduate, majoring in computer science. She conducted research for political strategy and served as a carbon policy liaison for NJSCA. A lifelong environmentalist, she joined NJSCA after meeting co-founder Jonathan Lu at Princeton.
Originally from Philadelphia, she currently works in Denver as a business analyst.
Joseph Abbate
Joe is a graduate student in physics at Princeton University. In 2019, he helped form the Political Strategy team and served as its lead. He currently conducts research at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory.
"I hope to develop the ability to thoughtfully listen to all perspectives and ideas as the NJSCA brainstorms and implements personal mindsets, technology, and public policy to reduce pollution while stimulating the economy."
Yaw Asante
Yaw is a 2021 graduate of Princeton University. Starting as a member of the outreach teams in 2019, he later helped lead the organization from 2019 - 2020. He currently is a graduate student studying cancer epigenetics and bioinformatics at Case Western Reserve University, back in his home state of Ohio.
Other previous leadership: Rhythm Chaudhary, Shirin Sood, Eva Fea, Emily Tae, Niskriti Boopalam, Divya Bharadwaj