What happens when you convene some of the brightest, most accomplished, solutions-oriented interdisciplinary energy and society researchers and scholars in a new, highly efficient, collaboration-friendly building on the Dartmouth campus? The Arthur L. Irving Institute for Energy and Society is betting it will generate a whole lot of new energy!
From June 26-29, the Irving Institute will host 21 early-career energy and society scholars and researchers from around the world for its inaugural New Energy Summer Summit. Over the course of four days, participants will have a chance to present their current research, network with each other and Dartmouth faculty and researchers, brainstorm new projects and collaborations, and explore the beautiful Upper Valley in all its summertime glory.
The idea for the Summit grew out of the New Energy speaker series, which was launched by the Irving Institute in spring 2020. The bi-weekly online series, co-sponsored by professors from 16 other universities and colleges in the US and Europe, was conceived of as a way to provide a platform for advanced PhD students, post-docs, and assistant professors to share their emerging work in energy and society with a broad audience when the pandemic made travel challenging. It has become a noted forum for gaining insight into new energy research and identifying rising talent and has hosted 38 speakers to date — including Dr. Erin Mayfield, who has since become a Thayer School of Engineering faculty member.
With the opening of the Irving Institute building on the Dartmouth campus' West End and pandemic travel restrictions easing, the Institute team saw summer 2022 as the perfect time to bring the series alumni — as well as a new cohort of early-career scholars — to Hanover to build on virtual connections and see what kind of intellectual sparks might fly during an in-person gathering.
The Institute has three main goals for the Summit, according to Dr. Megan Litwhiler, Irving Institute Program Manager for Advanced Learning Initiatives. "We are seeking to expand knowledge and create community among these talented early-career energy and society scholars; to catalyze new opportunities for collaboration in research and education; and to explore the possibility of sustaining a 'new energy' network going forward."
"This group of scholars is diverse in their energy interests, their disciplinary backgrounds, their nationalities, and their home institutions," said Dr. Amanda Graham, Irving Institute Academic Director. "With 17 US and international colleges and universities represented, the Summit holds promise for seeding scholarly creativity and innovation not just within individual attendees, but in the growing higher education community that seeks to foster more sustainable and just energy transitions throughout society."
In addition to PechaKucha presentations, group discussions, breakout sessions, and ample time to network with each other, the Summiteers will have the opportunity to learn more about energy and society work happening at Dartmouth. On Sunday, June 26, Professor N. Bruce Duthu, Samson Occom Professor and Chair of Native American and Indigenous Studies at Dartmouth, will give an evening talk titled "Storied Places: Native Peoples, Tribal Nations and Sustainable Energy" for the group. And on Monday, June 27, Anthropology Professor Maron Greenleaf and Geography Department Post-doctoral Researcher and Irving Institute Research Associate Dr. Sarah Kelly, along with Presidential Scholar Sydney Wuu '24, will share their experiences as co-founders of and student in Dartmouth's new Energy Justice Clinic.
"We're excited to have this group of scholars join us on campus for the New Energy Summer Summit," said Irving Institute Interim Executive Director April Salas. "Part of the Institute's charge is to bring together a broad range of perspectives and skills to help tackle the challenges and leverage the opportunities that energy presents — in fact, our beautiful new building was designed with this kind of convening in mind. We're looking forward to connecting our Dartmouth energy and society community to this network of rising stars, and I can't wait to see what kind of new ideas and collaborations emerge from the Summit."
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Mahesh Admankar, PhD Scholar, University of Massachusetts Boston
Jessica Boakye, Lecturer and Incoming Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Maarten Brinkerink, Postdoctoral Researcher, University College Cork*
Rebecca Ciez, Assistant Professor Of Mechanical Engineering, Purdue University*
Zara Dowling, Research Fellow, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Clean Energy Extension
Jessica Dunn, PhD Candidate, University of California Davis
Sean Field, Research Fellow, University of St. Andrews
Emma Grazier, PhD Candidate, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Sadia Gul, PhD Student, University of California Davis
Leo Jiang, Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering, Clarkson University
June Lukuyu, PhD Student, University of Massachusetts Amherst and Incoming Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Washington*
Abhishek Malhotra, Belfer Center at Harvard Kennedy School and Assistant Professor, School of Public Policy, IIT Delhi
Erin Mayfield, Hodgson Family Assistant Professor of Engineering, Dartmouth College*
Deidra Miniard, PhD Candidate, Indiana University Bloomington*
Bob Muhwezi, PhD Candidate, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Zdenka Myslikova, Postdoctoral Scholar, Tufts University
Emily Pakhtigian, Assistant Professor of Public Policy, Penn State University
D. Cale Reeves, Visiting Assistant Professor, School of Public Policy, Georgia Institute of Technology*
Bjarne Steffen, Assistant Professor of Climate Finance and Policy, ETH Zurich*
Yiwen Wang, PhD Student, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Nathan Williams, Assistant Professor, Department of Sustainability, Rochester Institute of Technology*
*Indicates New Energy speaker series participant