Thanks to all who participated in the inaugural Hertz Topical Forum focused on the future of energy — supported by the generosity of Eric and Wendy Schmidt — that occured July 31–August 1, 2024, at the beautiful Mont-Tremblant Resort in Quebec, Canada.
The topical forum focused on the future of energy, with AI, national security and climate change as subtopics. The event was open to all Fellows, plus special invited guests, to bring together students with early, mid-, and senior career Hertz Fellows in collaboration with other leaders in government, industry and academia to explore and scale solutions to our most pressing energy challenges.
Post-Event Opportunities
Idea Generation
During the event, the organizers collected ideas via an idea submission form, which is still open for your use. We’ll be following up with people who submitted ideas (and their listed co-conspirators) to make connections and suggest further action.
Hertz Community Mini Grants
During the event, the organizers collected ideas via an idea submission form, which is still open for your use. We’ll be following up with people who submitted ideas (and their listed co-conspirators) to make connections and suggest further action.
Interest Groups
The new Hertz Interest Group on the topic of energy will continue topical conversations. These groups were originally created in 2023 to allow fellows to connect with like-minded individuals. (See more on our Community page). While these are community-run, the foundation provides logistical support to streamline the convening and outcomes of these groups. If you’re interested in joining or leading the energy interest group please fill out the form here.
White Papers or Briefs
Attendees are encouraged to take advantage of opportunities to get together with collaborators and write up your ideas to share more widely and increase impact and implementation. Many of the challenges we heard about at the topical forum will require national action, perhaps necessitating a policy brief, and many ideas will require creation of technology that could be supported by DOE funds. Aligned with those two avenues, there are opportunities that our partners have made available to submit your ideas:
- Federation of American Scientists’ Day One Project and their open call for ideas on energy and the environment. Apply today by submitting the form here, which has core questions that mirror what we used to collect ideas at the forum.
- The American Made Challenges program currently has an open Solar Prize, as shared by Kristin Wegner Guilfoyle in the mini challenge, and other prizes that might align with attendee ideas and next steps.
Speakers
Kimberly Budil
Director, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Nancy Haegel
Senior Research Advisor, National Renewable Energy Laboratory
John Platt
Google Fellow, Google
Sarah Sclarsic
Founding Partner, Voyager
Volunteers
We are so thankful for the hard work and generosity of our topical forum volunteers. We are proud and honored to work with you to make this year’s workshop a reality.
Ashvin Bashyam
Partner, Checkpoint Capital L.P.
Carol Burns
Deputy Director for Research, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Thomas Dean
Research Scientist, Breakthrough Energy
Cameron Geddes
Senior Scientist and Deputy Director of the BELLA Center, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Michael Henry
Distinguished Member of the MESA Fab Technical Staff, Sandia National Laboratories
Jacob Krich
Associate Professor, University of Ottawa
Po-Shen Loh
Associate Professor of Mathematical Sciences, Carnegie Mellon University
Adam Marblestone
Research Scientist, Google DeepMind
Neil McCasland
Director of Technology, Applied Technology Associates
Ian McKay
Founder, Orca Sciences
Alex Miller
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Physics
Sahil Pontula
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Electrical Engineering, Physics
Samuel Rodriques
Co-founder and CEO, FutureHouse
Shannon Yee
Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology
