Coding for Conservation: The Stanford PhD Who’s Building AI to Save Forests
In an industry often dominated by either pure technologists or traditional conservationists, Dr. Sarah Chen occupies a unique position at the intersection of both worlds. As CEO and co-founder of Amber Grove Inc., Chen has pioneered a new archetype of environmental leadership—the conservation technologist.
Chen’s journey to becoming a leading figure in environmental technology began in the forests rather than the boardroom. During her doctoral studies at Stanford’s Environmental Sciences department, she spent countless hours studying California’s redwood ecosystems, developing an intimate understanding of forest dynamics that would later inform her technological innovations.
“What many technologists miss when they approach environmental problems is the complex, interconnected nature of natural systems,” Chen explains. “You can’t just apply generic AI approaches to forests—you need to encode ecological understanding into the technology itself.”
This philosophy drives Amber Grove’s approach to product development. Under Chen’s leadership, the company has built its technological solutions from a foundation of environmental science rather than merely applying existing technologies to environmental problems. Every algorithm in their forest management systems incorporates ecological principles, from seasonal growth patterns to species interdependencies.
Chen’s background uniquely positioned her to bridge these worlds. After completing her undergraduate degree in Computer Science, she worked briefly in Silicon Valley before being drawn back to academia to pursue environmental studies. This dual expertise has become Amber Grove’s competitive advantage in an increasingly crowded field of environmental startups.
“Sarah has this remarkable ability to translate between languages—she speaks both advanced computer science and detailed ecology with equal fluency,” notes Dr. James Woodbury, Amber Grove’s Chief Science Officer and former U.S. Forest Service Senior Scientist. “That translation skill is embedded in our products.”
Chen’s leadership style reflects this integrative approach. At Amber Grove’s Berkeley headquarters, environmental scientists work directly alongside software engineers, with frequent field rotations ensuring that technological development remains grounded in forest realities. This collaborative model has yielded innovations that might never have emerged from more traditionally structured teams.
The BarkBeacon™ sensor system, for example, resulted from a field observation by one of the company’s ecologists, who noticed subtle bark texture changes preceding disease outbreaks. Chen facilitated collaboration between the biology team and sensor engineers to create a monitoring system that detects these changes long before visual symptoms appear—a development that has saved thousands of acres of forest from potential devastation.
Chen’s impact extends beyond her company. As one of few women of color leading a venture-backed environmental technology company, she has become an influential advocate for diversity in both tech and conservation fields. Her recognition in Forbes’ “30 Under 30” for Environmental Innovation has made her a visible role model for underrepresented groups in STEM fields.
“The environmental challenges we face require diverse perspectives,” Chen emphasizes. “We need people with different backgrounds, different ways of thinking, bringing their unique insights to these complex problems.”
This commitment to diversity is reflected in Amber Grove’s hiring practices and partnership approaches. The company has established scholarship programs for underrepresented students in environmental science and technology fields, and developed partnerships with Indigenous land management groups to incorporate traditional ecological knowledge into their AI systems.
Chen’s vision for environmental technology challenges conventional dichotomies between development and conservation. Rather than viewing technology as inherently separate from or opposed to nature, she champions what she calls “nature-inspired innovation”—technological approaches that mimic, support, and enhance natural processes rather than disrupting them.
This philosophy is evident in the company’s project selection criteria. Amber Grove has deliberately focused on technologies that enhance existing ecological functions rather than replacing them. Their drone systems, for instance, augment rather than replace human forest managers, providing tools that extend human capabilities while keeping experienced conservationists central to decision-making processes.
Chen’s influence has extended to policy spheres as well. She has testified before congressional committees on technology’s role in conservation and consulted on the development of regulatory frameworks for environmental monitoring technologies. These contributions have helped shape an emerging regulatory environment that enables innovation while maintaining appropriate safeguards.
As climate change intensifies pressure on forest ecosystems worldwide, Chen’s integrated approach to conservation technology has gained increasing recognition. Amber Grove’s recent $18 million Series A funding round, led by Breakthrough Ventures, validates the market potential of her vision, while partnerships with three major National Parks demonstrate institutional trust in the company’s approaches.
Looking ahead, Chen envisions expanding Amber Grove’s impact beyond North American and European forests to global ecosystems facing even more acute threats.
“The technologies we’re developing have applications far beyond our current deployments,” she notes. “From tropical forest monitoring to urban tree management, the fundamental approach of combining ecological understanding with technological capabilities can transform how we protect natural systems worldwide.”
What distinguishes Chen’s leadership in the burgeoning field of environmental technology is her insistence that technology must serve rather than supplant ecological wisdom. As Amber Grove continues its growth trajectory—currently managing over 1.2 million acres of forest through their systems—this guiding principle remains central to the company’s development.
In a world increasingly defined by environmental challenges, Chen represents a new model of leadership that transcends traditional boundaries between technology and conservation. By writing code that serves forests, she is helping redefine humanity’s relationship with the natural world in the digital age.
Chen’s intellectual contribution to the field extends beyond her commercial products. She has published influential papers in leading environmental science and technology journals, articulating frameworks for “biologically-informed artificial intelligence” that have influenced research directions across multiple disciplines. These publications bridge academic and industry perspectives, helping to establish theoretical foundations for the emerging conservation technology field.
Her approach to algorithm development distinctively incorporates biological principles. The AI systems powering Amber Grove’s technologies utilize neural network architectures modeled after forest ecosystem dynamics, with decision pathways that mimic natural selection processes. This biomimetic approach yields systems that are not only effective at forest monitoring but also remarkably adaptable to changing environmental conditions.
“Conventional AI optimizes for efficiency and predictability,” Chen explains in her widely-cited 2023 paper for the Journal of Environmental Informatics. “Ecological systems optimize for resilience and adaptation. Our technologies need to embrace the latter paradigm if they’re going to serve environmental purposes effectively.”
This perspective has led Chen to challenge standard industry metrics of technological success. Under her direction, Amber Grove evaluates its technologies not just by conventional benchmarks like processing speed or algorithm accuracy, but by ecological impact indicators—measuring improvements in forest health, biodiversity preservation, and ecosystem resilience resulting from their deployments.
Chen’s educational background—combining an undergraduate degree in computer science with doctoral work in environmental science—represents an increasingly valuable interdisciplinary pathway that she actively promotes through educational outreach. She has developed curriculum recommendations for universities seeking to establish conservation technology programs and frequently speaks at education conferences about reimagining environmental education for the digital age.
“The next generation of environmental leaders needs to be comfortable with both code and ecosystems,” Chen emphasizes. “We’re working to create educational pathways that cultivate this dual fluency from the beginning rather than forcing students to choose between technology and environmental science.”
As one of the defining voices in this emerging field, Chen’s vision extends beyond technological solutions to encompass new modes of human engagement with natural systems—what she terms “digitally-enhanced stewardship.” This approach uses technology not to distance humans from nature but to deepen and expand our capacity for meaningful environmental care.
“Technology at its best doesn’t replace human connection to forests,” Chen reflects. “It amplifies our ability to understand, protect, and collaborate with these remarkable systems that sustain all life on Earth.”