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Pioneering Ocean-Based Solutions for a Sustainable Future
Founded by oceanographers, [C]Worthy is developing innovative tools and technologies that harness the power of the sea to combat climate change effectively, responsibly, and with deep respect for the world’s oceans and everyone who depends on them, as well.
About [C]Worthy
[C]Worthy is building software that supports multi-scale oceanographic modeling and data integration for quantifying the efficacy and ecological impacts of mCDR.
[C]Worthy will use this system in collaboration with a community of researchers to build applications that provide science-based decision-support for questions related to mCDR, including market-quality MRV, mCDR deployment design, and ecological impact assessments. The core components of the software will be open source and freely available.
[C]Worthy FAQs
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[C]Worthy is a nonprofit research and development organization focused on delivering the core computational technologies needed to support quantitative assessments of ocean-based carbon dioxide removal.
We build open-source software, conduct basic research on the safety and efficacy of ocean-based carbon dioxide removal technologies, create and curate publicly available datasets, and are developing scientific standards to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of ocean-based carbon dioxide removal activities.
[C]Worthy is funded by a combination of government and philanthropic support and operates as a Focused Research Organization in partnership with Convergent Research.
See a list of [C]Worthy's current supporters on our homepage.
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Four principal areas of [C]Worthy's work include:
Software Development
[C]Worthy is building software that supports multi-scale oceanographic modeling for quantifying the efficacy and ecological impacts of ocean-based carbon dioxide removal (CDR) deployments. We will use this system in collaboration with a community of researchers to build applications that provide science-based decision-support for questions related to ocean-based CDR, including market-quality Monitoring Reporting, and Verification (MRV), CDR deployment design, and ecological impact assessments. The core components of the software are open source and freely available.Public Datasets
[C]Worthy is compiling and sharing standard datasets describing the geographic, seasonal, and interannual variation in the efficiency of ocean-based CDR, providing an important tool for ocean-based CDR deployment design and low-cost MRV.
Research
[C]Worthy is pursuing a targeted research and development program to confront technical challenges related to ensuring model fidelity, reducing computational cost, and defining robust conceptual and methodological frameworks for MRV.
Field Trials
Conducting real-world experiments is essential for testing and refining our understanding of carbon dioxide removal technologies. [C]Worthy is designing and participating in some of the world’s first field trials for ocean alkalinity enhancement.
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Fundamentally, the most important thing we need to do to halt the effects of climate change is to reduce CO₂ emissions; this is done by improving efficiency and reducing consumption of fossil fuels by switching to renewable sources of energy.
However, the IPCC has determined that emissions reductions alone will not be enough to keep warming to below 1.5°C or 2°C — we also need to actively remove CO₂ from the atmosphere. The amount of CO₂ removal required is massive.
While this may feel daunting, it’s important to recognize that the actions we take right now have critical importance for setting the trajectory of the carbon dioxide removal industry so that it might be capable of climate-relevant quantities of removal by 2050 and beyond.
[C]Worthy is dedicated to ensuring that the growth of the ocean-based CDR industry ecosystem is accomplished on the basis of high-quality science.
Our Values
Our core values drive our mission and shape every aspect of our work.
Not-for-Profit
Neutral arbiter of scientific credibility
Scientifically Driven
Best practices evolve with improved understanding
Community Oriented
Build communities of practice & codify consensus with effective, standardized tools
Open Science
Transparency, peer-review, & reproducibility
Commercially Relevant
Seek good actionable MRV frameworks now; ensure capacity for iterative refinement
Our Team
Our experts develop solutions through thorough data, research and software.
Co-Founder, Chief Executive Officer
Matt Long, Ph.D., is a co-founder at [C]Worthy and the CEO. He was formerly a Scientist in the Oceanography Section of the Climate & Global Dynamics Laboratory at the National Center for Atmospheric Research. He worked on the development of the Community Earth System Model and researches ocean biogeochemistry, carbon cycle, marine ecosystems, climate variability and change, and led the group developing the MARBL biogeochemical model.
Co-Founder, Chief Technology Officer
Alicia Karspeck, Ph.D., is a co-founder at [C]Worthy and the CTO. She was formerly the Director of Earth Information Program at SilverLining—with a focus on accelerating the accessibility of Earth system data and models. She spent over 10 years at NCAR leading the global ocean and coupled data assimilation efforts for the CESM model and has held technical leadership roles at multiple private risk analytics firms.
Scott Bachman, Ph.D.
Technical Modeling Lead
Scott Bachman, Ph.D., is the Technical Modeling Lead for [C]Worthy. He was previously a Scientist in the Oceanography Section at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, where he focused on ocean model development, physical parameterizations, and geophysical fluid dynamics. At [C]Worthy he is helping to establish the ocean modeling infrastructure to perform numerical predictions of CDR, and oversees the development of the model analysis toolchain.
Senior Technical Project Manager
Joe Gaines is Senior Technical Project Manager at [C]Worthy, where he focuses on managing software development and delivery, developing strategy for market initiatives, managing regulatory compliance, and other special projects. He comes from a varied background in software product management, including renewable energy, decarbonization, CDR, and more. He holds a graduate certificate in Global Energy Management from the University of Colorado Denver and is currently pursuing a part-time Masters of Engineering in Engineering Management at the University of Colorado Boulder.
Staff Scientist: Ocean Modeler
Ulla Heede, Ph.D., is a Staff Scientist at [C]Worthy, focusing on ocean modeling. She was previously a NASA FINESST graduate fellow at Yale University and afterwards, a CIRES postdoctoral visiting fellowship at University of Colorado Boulder. At [C]Worthy, she is developing ocean modeling tools that can be applied to research, validate, and optimize mCDR deployment.
Staff Scientist: Ocean Observations
Toby Koffman, Ph.D., is a Staff Scientist at [C]Worthy, focussing on oceanographic observations. His background includes years of at-sea research support, a PhD in glacial geology and paleoclimate, and ten years managing biogeochemistry labs. At [C]Worthy, Toby works on planning experimental alkalinity additions and observing their effects.
Staff Scientist: Ocean Modeling and AI
Nora Loose, Ph.D., is a Staff Scientist at [C]Worthy. She was previously a postdoctoral researcher, first with the Climate Process Team on Eddy Energy and then with the M2LInES project. Her background is in ocean modeling, ocean turbulence parameterizations, machine learning, scientific software development, and data assimilation. At [C]Worthy, Nora develops machine learning tools to make mCDR modeling computationally more efficient and helps with the software development of C-Star.
Postdoctoral Research Scientist
Lennart Gerke, Ph.D., is a Postdoctoral Research Scientist at [C]Worthy. After completing his undergraduate and graduate studies in Chemistry at the University of Kiel, he did a PhD at the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, focusing on ventilation studies in the Arctic Ocean and the Gulf of St. Lawrence using tracer measurements. At [C]Worthy, Lennart is working in the observational team. He plans, conducts and analyzes dual tracer release experiments, as well as implements alkalinity additions in various field trials.
Software Engineering Manager
Scott Eilerman, Ph.D., is the Software Engineering Manager at [C]Worthy. With a background in physics and a passion for software development, he has worked in research labs, climate tech, and energy market analytics, where he has focused on integrating and scaling traditional scientific modeling with cloud architecture and SaaS offerings. At [C]Worthy, Scott will be coordinating development of the C-Star platform.
Staff Scientist: Scientific Algorithms
Dafydd Stephenson, Ph.D., is a Staff Scientist at [C]Worthy, focusing on Scientific Algorithms. After a PhD based between the UK’s National Oceanography Centre and the European Institute for Marine Studies in France, he continued his work in climate-scale ocean modeling at the NCAR here in Boulder. At [C]Worthy, Dafydd is working on development involving the Marine Biogeochemistry Library (MARBL), the biogeochemical component of our modeling framework for CDR.
Postdoctoral Research Scientist
Abigale Wyatt, Ph.D., is a Postdoctoral Research Scientist at [C]Worthy. Her graduate work at Princeton University combined ocean models and in-situ observations to study biological carbon dynamics. Prior to her graduate work, she also served as an officer of the U.S. Navy. At [C]Worthy, Abigale is working on ocean modeling tools in support of a National Oceanographic Partnership Program mCDR field deployment.
Partnerships Lead
Sherry Lippiatt, Ph.D. is Partnerships Lead at [C]Worthy, where she builds relationships with organizations across the mCDR industry. She was previously the Commercial Lead at Scoot Science, an ocean data and forecasting software company. Prior to Scoot, Sherry spent over 10 years at the NOAA Marine Debris Program, where she served as California Regional Coordinator and led the program’s flagship community science project. She holds a PhD in Ocean Science from University of California Santa Cruz.
Head of Operations
Fiona Griffin is the Head of Operations at [C]Worthy, where she drives strategic planning, process optimization, financial management, and cross-functional collaboration to maximize organizational effectiveness. With a deep expertise in partner engagement, operational efficiency, and data-driven decision-making, she specializes in streamlining workflows, measuring impact, and fostering sustainable growth. Fiona holds an M.S. in Measurement & Evaluation from American University and a Graduate Certificate in Project Management from the University of Washington.
Senior Software Engineer
Christopher McBride is a Senior Software Engineer at [C]Worthy. He has spent nearly 20 years building software that empowers customers. His experience includes building, deploying, and scaling systems for one of the world's largest online education platforms, creating AI-driven microservices for a supply chain risk management SaaS, and developing an HPC-native ML inference server. Chris holds an M.S. in Computer Science from the Georgia Institute of Technology.
Staff Scientist: Ocean Modeling
Sam Maticka, Ph.D., is a Staff Scientist at [C]Worthy, focusing on ocean modeling. Both her graduate work at Stanford University and postdoctoral research at the Université de Montpellier, France focused on nearshore flow dynamics and waves in coral reef lagoons. Starting with in-situ experiments and fluid mechanic theory, she then migrated into numerical ocean modeling. She was previously a computational scientist at the JCSDA UCAR integrating earth observations into data assimilation workflows. At [C]Worthy, she is developing ocean modeling tools that can be applied to research, validate, and optimize mCDR deployment.