The inaugural student-organized Chicago Energy Conference was co-hosted by the UChicago Energy & Climate Club (ECC) and the Northwestern University’s Energy & Sustainability Club (NESC) in Ida Noyes Hall on April 5. The conference, themed “Bridging the Gap: Policies, Technologies, and Investments Needed for A New Energy Age,” attracted nearly 300 attendees. The day-long event featured keynote speakers, panel discussions, an industry expo, and networking opportunities including a lunch and a speaker dinner. The Northwestern Trienens Institute for Sustainability and Energy and the Institute for Climate and Sustainable Growth, alongside industry leaders RWE, Marathon Capital, Energy CX, and Constellation Energy, sponsored the conference.
Each keynote address featured an expert on one of the conference’s three themes of energy policy, technology and investment. Speakers included Kate Ringness, Former Senior Advisor to Secretary at Department of Energy; Dr. Seth Darling, Chief Science and Technology Officer at Argonne National Lab; and Jen Zhao, Chief Operating Officer at Marathon Capital. The eight panels covered interdisciplinary energy and climate topics ranging from nuclear to the energy transition in the Global South. Panels provided diverse perspectives from policymakers, scientists, finance professionals and academics from across Chicagoland and around the world.
“The purpose of the conference was to allow students to bridge the gap between what they learn in classrooms with what working professionals in the real-world are doing in the energy and climate space,” said Raghav Pardasani, one of the event’s executive directors. “The conference also provided a forum for these students, along with energy leaders and working professionals, to engage with the frontiers of the energy transition and connect with one another to discuss actionable solutions that will shape the future.”
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Watch the Northwestern News Report’s segment below.
