Rachel Slaybaugh, PhD

Rachel Slaybaugh, PhD, is a distinguished nuclear engineer and partner at the deep tech venture capital firm DCVC, where she implements climate-tech investments.

Before joining DCVC in 2022, Slaybaugh was a professor of nuclear engineering at UC Berkeley. Her passion for technology projects with global impact led her to direct the Cyclotron Road Accelerator at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, a program designed to support scientists by advancing their early-stage projects with potential for significant global impact. She also served as a program director at the U.S. Department of Energy’s ARPA‑E, where she pioneered the nuclear fission program and facilitated awards for more than 30 companies and teams pushing boundaries in the field.

Slaybaugh is the founder and current board member of a non-profit called Good Energy Collective, a policy research team that is advocating for safe nuclear energy as an essential part of the national climate change agenda.