CERA Week
At the beginning of March, The Arthur L. Irving Institute for Energy and Society led a group of Dartmouth faculty, students, and staff from the Revers Center for Energy, Sustainability, and Innovation at Tuck, the Magnuson Center for Entrepreneurship, and the Office of Entrepreneurship and Technology Transfer, to CERAWeek '23 in Houston, TX, to help foreground the College's expertise on energy and climate and connect and reconnect with alumni and friends across the energy and climate sector.
Appalachia Energy Immersion Trip
During spring break, we co-led our second Energy Immersion Trip of the 22-23 academic year with our partners in the Dartmouth Sustainability Office. The Appalachia Energy Immersion brought nine Dartmouth undergrads to West Virginia and Washington, DC to learn about this energy rich region and how the global renewable energy transition is impacting communities and economies that have traditionally centered on coal extraction.
Electricity Grids and Markets Bootcamp
We were thrilled to have our friends Jay Matson '91, Deputy Director of the Division of Investigations in the Office of Enforcement at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC); Nancy Bowler '82, FERC Branch Chief; and Rimvydas Baltaduonis, Associate Professor of Economics at Gettysburg College, back for our popular two-day electricity grids and markets intensive. Students had a great time learning about the complexity and challenges involved in running and regulating the grid system that is so critical to daily life in the United States.
Grant Writing Workshop
With our partners in Dartmouth's GrantGPS Office, the Institute co-hosted a hybrid grant writing workshop in March. Nearly 50 faculty and researchers attended an online morning session and around 10 spent the afternoon with Institute Senior Associate Director Angie Hofmann and GrantGPS Senior Associate Director Allan Bieber workshopping individual grant proposals.
Faculty Seminars
We were pleased to host three sessions of our new Faculty Seminars on Climate and Energy series, which gives Dartmouth faculty and researchers an opportunity to share their current research and identify potential cross-campus, interdisciplinary collaborations. This term, we heard talks from William P. Harris Career Development Assistant Professor of Engineering Weiyang (Fiona) Li, ("Enabling Next-Generation High Performing Sodium Batteries"); Professor of Engineering Jifeng Liu ("Engineering Atomic Ordering for High Performance Energy Materials"); Paul E. and Joan H. Queneau Distinguished Professor of Engineering Lee Lynd ("Dartmouth Bioenergy Overview"); Stata Family Career Development Associate Professor of Engineering Vikrant Vaze ("Optimizing Food Waste Disposal: Should We Centralize or Distribute?");Joel Z. and Susan Hyatt Professor of Economics Chris Snyder ("Shaping the Market for Green Innovation") and Clinical Professor of Business Administration at the Tuck School of Business, Anant Sundaram ("ESG Investing: Hope or Hype?"). Thanks to all of our presenters and attendees for making the series a success!
MIT Energy Conference
Irving Institute education team members Amanda Graham, Megan Litwhiler, and Angus McReynolds, and three Dartmouth Thayer School of Engineering graduate students, Michael May, Prabhat Hege, and Robin Zou, traveled to Boston in April for the MIT Energy Conference. The conference is the largest student-led energy and climate conference in North America.
Climate and Energy Career Panels
In April, the Institute hosted two climate and energy career focused panels geared toward helping undergraduates better understand possible career paths. On April 13, five fellows from the Revers Center for Energy, Sustainability, and Innovation at Tuck —Cara LoPiano, Stephen Sandford, Annette Jatto, Mitch Jacobs, and James Jumper — shared insights into their own career journeys to date. The panelists offered advice and answered questions for a group of nearly 30 undergrads. And on April 25, six recent Dartmouth grads, Evie Bird '19, Eric Chen '22, Ellie Curtis '21, Max Holden '22, Mothibi Penn-Kekana '22, and Jordan Swett '19, working in climate and energy shared their perspectives from the vantage point of early-career professionals during a hybrid Zoom-in person panel.
Admissions Open Houses for Accepted Students
The Institute was thrilled to welcome prospective members of the Class of 2027 and their families to the building to share information about energy and climate programs, classes, and opportunities at the Institute and at Dartmouth. Staff from the Irving Institute and the Dartmouth Sustainability Office were on hand during the two daylong events to answer questions and get to know our potential new students!
May Alumni Receptions in San Francisco and Washington, DC
The Institute team was thrilled to have two opportunities to connect with alumni in early May. We hosted receptions in San Francisco and, in partnership with the Magnuson Center for Entrepreneurship, in Washington, DC. and got a chance to share what's happening in climate, energy, and entrepreneurship at Dartmouth as well as catch up with old friends and make some new ones. Thanks to everyone who was able to spend a May evening with us!
Celebrating our Newest Alumni
The Institute celebrated the Class of 2023 and their upcoming graduation with a small gathering in Hanover with some of the students who have been involved with the Institute over the past four years. We are happy to have had a chance to enjoy a fun and celebratory evening with these soon-to-be energy alumni!
Thank you, President Hanlon and Gail Gentes!
In late May, the Institute hosted an intimate reception to honor outgoing Dartmouth President Philip J. Hanlon '77 and his wife, Gail Gentes, for their vision and leadership in creating both the Institute as well as Dartmouth's newly invigorated West End Innovation District, among their many accomplishments. At the event, the Institute announced the dedication of a space on the Institute building's third floor in Hanlon's and Gentes' honor, the Hanlon Gentes Innovation Lounge.
