| Wednesday, September 25 | |
| 7:30-8:30 am | Breakfast and registration |
| 8:30-8:40 am |
Opening remarks |
| 8:40-9:00 am | Remarks William H. Green, Director, MIT Energy Initiative; Hoyt C. Hottel Professor, MIT Department of Chemical Engineering |
| 9:00-10:15 am | Energy storage and grid expansion Global demand for electricity is rising at its fastest rate in years, with great expectations for the grid to handle more renewable power. Energy storage is a key enabling technology for grids to handle greater degrees of renewable penetration, all while ensuring reliability and reasonable cost at the same time. What can be learned from energy storage implementation projects to date? And what MIT materials and systems research can help solve the grid’s energy storage needs? Anuradha Annaswamy, Senior Research Scientist and Founder and Director, Active-Adaptive Control Laboratory, MIT Department of Mechanical Engineering Moderated by:: John Parsons, Deputy Director for Research, MIT Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research |
| 10:15-10:45 am | Break |
| 10:45 am-12:00 pm |
Social barriers to decarbonization Stephen Ansolabehere, Frank G. Thompson Professor of Government, Moderated by: Janelle Knox-Hayes, Professor of Economic Geography and Planning, MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning |
| 12:00-1:30 pm | Lunch and student poster viewing |
| 1:30-2:45 pm | MITEI General Seed Fund Project annual check-up The MITEI Seed Fund Program supports innovative, early-stage research across the energy spectrum. To date, the program has supported more than 220 energy-focused projects with grants totaling more than $28.8 million. This session features projects from recent awardees. Sili Deng, Associate Professor, MIT Department of Mechanical Engineering Ruaridh Macdonald, Research Scientist, MIT Energy Initiative Afreen Siddiqi, Research Scientist, MIT Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics Kyung-Shik Kim, Postdoctoral Associate, MIT Department of Materials Science and Engineering Moderated by: Martha Broad, Executive Director, MIT Energy Initiative |
| 2:45-3:15 pm | Break |
| 3:15-4:30 pm | The extreme challenge of powering data centers in a decarbonized way Expectations are that data centers will consume 4% of global electricity and produce more than 1% of emissions by 2030. This is a multi-dimensional problem, requiring research and investment in non-fossil power generation, grid expansion, building design, computation, and regulatory policy. This panel will discuss the challenges faced by hyper scalers and industrial equipment providers–and MIT’s role in accelerating solutions. Pedro Gómez, Strategy and Development Director, Ferrovial Digital Infrastructures Moderated by: Randall Field, Director of Research, MIT Energy Initiative |
| 4:30-5:30 pm | Startup showcase This session will look at energy startups, seeing how the best companies are navigating the challenge of taking their technology from the lab to the market. We will feature companies at various stages of development and discuss the value of partners throughout each part of the process. Introduction by: J.J. Laukaitis, Director of Member Services, MIT Energy Initiative Daniel Cavero, Co-founder and Head of Advanced Technology, Noya |
| 5:30-7:00 pm | Reception with startup companies |
| Thursday, September 26 | |
| 7:30-8:15 am | Breakfast and registration |
| 8:15-9:45 am |
Enabling the hydrogen ecosystem Moderated by: William H. Green, Director, MIT Energy Initiative; Hoyt C. Hottel Professor, MIT Department of Chemical Engineering Panel presentation: Moderated by: Yogesh Surendranath, Donner Professor of Science, MIT Departments of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering |
| 9:45-10:00 am | Break |
| 10:00-11:15 am | Getting to work: Building the talent pipeline to support energy transition success Well-trained human capital will be key to our ability to decarbonize our energy system rapidly. What are the workforce strategies and programs we should plan now to create the workforce required in 2040 and 2050? Our panelists bring different perspectives on the best ways to ensure the equitable and effective development of the workers we will need. Jennifer Applebaum, Managing Director of Workforce Development, Massachusetts Clean Energy Center Moderated by: Elisabeth B. Reynolds, Professor of the Practice, MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning |
| 11:15 am-12:00 pm | Student slam competition Students who participated in this summer’s Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) will present their research in a slam competition. Each will present a pitch emphasizing: the problem statement for the UROP project, its research contributions, and the potential real-world impact of that research. Members will vote for their top three presenters based on their energy and presentation, not on the research content of their presentation.
Moderated by: Antje Danielson, Director of Education, MIT Energy Initiative |
| 12:00-1:30 pm | Lunch and student poster viewing |
| 1:30-2:30 pm MITEI Annual Research Conference afternoon sessions on September 26 are open to the MIT community. |
Energy transition in different regions Reaching net-zero emissions by 2050 requires massive energy changes in daily life and every global region’s economy. This raises important questions of how to optimally achieve scale up of low emissions technologies, as well as equity issues of balancing mitigation with energy access and economic opportunity. Moreover, the set of optimal technologies and policies will likely vary widely from region to region. This panel will put a focus on these factors and the energy transition priorities of regions outside of the United States. Andrés González García, Co-CEO, Waya Energy; Affiliate Researcher, MIT Energy Initiative Moderated by: Namrata Kala, Associate Professor, Applied Economics, MIT Sloan School of Management |
| 2:30-3:00 pm |
Keynote address Praveer Sinha, CEO and Managing Director, The Tata Power Company Limited |
| 3:00-3:30 pm | Break |
| 3:30-4:45 pm | Young voices: How can energy companies attract tomorrow’s energy leaders Across the energy transition, not only is the energy landscape changing, but so are the outlooks of the next generation of leaders. This panel represents voices from advanced students and recent alumni of MIT who will speak about their own expectations on the topic of worthwhile careers and preferred corporate cultures. The panel topic invites a conversation between industry and potential recruits. Liam Fenlon, Commercial Associate, Eku Energy Moderated by: Antje Danielson, Director of Education, MIT Energy Initiative |
| 4:45 pm | Closing remarks William H. Green, Director, MIT Energy Initiative; Hoyt C. Hottel Professor, MIT Department of Chemical Engineering |