#SoCaltech: Elena Priesen Reis
“When I learned that our group was a finalist in the Zipcar competition, I messaged the Plant-Based Caltech group chat to ask for ideas. We had to show off Zipcar in some way in our video. The whole idea of using a car to explore LA’s plant-based food options and connect that community with the Caltech community came up pretty early on. A few generous volunteers—aka my lab mates—agreed to a whole day of filming. Throughout the day, I really enjoyed interacting with the local vendors. I got a lot closer to the people I usually only spoke to when ordering, and it was really a pleasure to hear some of their unique stories of how they got into the plant-based food space.
“For the video itself, I couldn’t have done it at all without Academic Media Technologies. They were the ones to respond to my Marketplace call for video and editing help. They loaned me a GoPro and other video equipment for free. They gave me a bunch of tips on how to film everything properly and what kind of cuts I should do, and they edited the video for us in a couple of days.
“I couldn’t be happier with the video. I hope that it managed to highlight some of the great plant-based options that exist not too far away from us. I hear sometimes that people have this misconception of what plant-based food can be, and they think it’s rather boring or whatever, but hopefully we managed to show some variety and some excitement with the options that exist around us.”
Elena Priesen Reis, a fourth-year graduate student in materials science, serves as the chair of the Graduate Student Council (GSC) Sustainability Committee, is the graduate student representative on the Caltech Sustainability Advisory Council, and is the coordinator of Plant-Based Caltech. In February 2026, she and the GSC Sustainability Committee won $1,000 in Zipcar driving credit, a $2,000 donation to Plant-Based Caltech, and a $2,000 donation to the Caltech General Scholarship Fund through the Zipcar Students with Drive competition.
#SoCaltech is an occasional series celebrating the diverse individuals who give Caltech its spirit of excellence, ambition, and ingenuity. Know someone we should profile? Send nominations to magazine@caltech.edu.