Dipti is a mechanical engineer committed to advancing technology that uplifts marginalized communities and restores ecosystems. She focuses on the sustainability and scale up of decentralized renewable energy solutions for rural electrification. She is an avid supporter of locally-developed hydro, biomass, and solar applications that enhance rural livelihoods, using inclusive and climate resilient methods.She is the Co-Founder and Network Manager of the Hydro Empowerment Network (HPNET), a South-South, multi-stakeholder knowledge exchange platform that advances policy, technology, and socio-environmental aspects of small-scale hydropower, which she helped to establish in 2013. Raised in the Mississippi Delta, Dipti holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley and a M.S. in Environmental Studies from San Jose State University. She started her professional journey designing handheld devices at Palm, Inc. and Apple, Inc. This product design experience, along with her family’s roots in rural India, inspired her to leave Silicon Valley and commit to technology for rural contexts. The last 20+ years she has held various roles to develop energy access and local enterprise solutions in the Asia Pacific, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Latin America, bridging rural communities, civil society, local entrepreneurs, NGOs, government, funders, and academia. This includes 8 years collaborating with indigenous communities in Kalahandi, Odisha on community-led renewable energy solutions, and 7 years learning from and scaling-up homegrown social entrepreneurs of biomass, hydro, and PV solutions in Myanmar.Dipti is a recipient of the 2016 Fulbright Public Policy Fellowship, the 2013 Switzer Foundation Environmental Leadership Grant, and the 2008 Switzer Foundation Environmental Fellowship.