IES Energy Symposium – 2026
What are your Energy Dreams?
The U-M Institute for Energy Solutions hosted its inaugural energy symposium in 2025 themed “What (Energy Issue) Is Keeping You Up at Night?”. The Symposium included faculty, staff, and students from across the University and external partners from academia, industry, government, and nonprofits. Our goal was to identify critical energy challenges and discuss innovative energy solutions.
This past year, on May 27-28, 2026, IES hosted its second energy symposium, themed “What are your Energy Dreams?”. We sought to know what energy challenges and solutions excited (“energized”) you today. Participants joined from across the campus and across the country to discuss opportunities in electricity grid technology and computation, biotechnology for energy feedstocks, critical minerals, geothermal systems, data centers, behavioral challenges in energy, and more. IES welcomed Dr. Benjamin Kroposki, the Director of the Power Systems Engineering Center at the National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR), as a plenary speaker.
Schedule | Speakers & Panelists | Student Programming | Parking & Logistics
Symposium Schedule
Day 1:
| 8:25 – 9:00 AM | Welcome Remarks – Auditorium, Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library Johanna Mathieu, Director, U-M Institute for Energy Solutions & Todd Allen, Associate Dean for Research |
| 9:00 – 9:45 AM | Plenary Speech – Auditorium, Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library Benjamin Kroposki, Director of the Power Systems Engineering Center at the National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR) |
| 9:45 – 10:15 AM | Refreshment Break – Atrium, Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library |
| 10:15 – 11:45 AM | Concurrent Panel Sessions: Opportunities in Geothermal Across Scales and Applications – Auditorium, Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library Brian Ellis, Shana Weber, Parth Vaishnav, Jeff Bielicki, Brittany Fiema Nuclear Power in a Rapidly Shifting Energy Landscape – Classroom, Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library Denia Djokic, Brendan Kochunas, Molly Kleinman, Madicken Munk, Brandon Costelloe-Kuehn |
| 11:45 – 1:00 PM | Lunch – Atrium, Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library |
| 1:00 – 1:15 PM | Energy Leadership Remarks from Dean Mingyan Liu – Auditorium, Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library |
| 1:15 – 2:45 PM | Concurrent Panel Sessions: Brightening brownfields: Siting Energy Infrastructure on Previously Disturbed Properties – Auditorium, Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library Sarah Mills, Michael Craig, James Tischler, Vicky Keramida Innovative and Emerging Biotechnological Strategies for Using Waste and Non-Traditional Feedstocks in Energy –Classroom, Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library Nina Lin, Bradley Biggs, Nancy Love, Michaela Teravest, Michael Ladisch |
| 2:45 – 3:15 PM | Refreshment Break – Atrium, Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library |
| 3:15 – 4:45 PM | Concurrent Panel Sessions: The Minerals Beneath the Dream: Technology, Governance, and the Promise and Challenge of a Just Energy Transition – Auditorium, Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library Diana Paez, Brandon Finn, Jing Tang, Gerald Arhin, Beia Spiller Behavioral Aspects of the Energy Transition – Classroom, Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library Parth Vaishnav, Nathaniel Geiger, John Helveston, Reuven Sussman |
| 4:45 – 6:00 PM | Networking & Student Poster Session Hors d’Oeuvres Hour – Atrium, Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library |
Day 2:
| 8:45 – 9:00 AM | Welcome Remarks & Poster Competition Awards Announced – Auditorium, Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library Johanna Mathieu, Director, U-M Institute for Energy Solutions |
9:00 – 10:30 AM | Plenary Panel From Silicon to Power Grids: Building the Infrastructure for AI – Auditorium, Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library Vlad Dvorkin, Mosharaf Chowdhurry, Bhargava Gopireddy, Ben Myers, Jonathan Donadee |
| 10:30 – 10:45 AM | Refreshment Break –Atrium, Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library |
| 10:45 – 12:15 PM | Concurrent Panel Sessions: From Nanometers to Acres: Challenges and Opportunities for Scalable, Long-Lived, High Efficiency Perovskite Photovoltaics – Auditorium, Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library Xiwen Gong, Barry Rand, Joe Berry, Andenet Alemu, Andrei Los Systems Integration in the Energy Transition: Grid, Community, and Health Classroom, Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library Rabab Haider, Amanda Ullman, Tony Reames, Laura Frye-Levine, Sarah Baird |
| 12:15 PM – 1:30 PM | Lunch – Atrium, Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library |
| 1:30 – 5:00 PM | Networking, Workshops, Lab Tours |
Speakers & Panelists
IES is excited to welcome energy experts from around the U.S. and abroad to speak on the energy solutions they are excited to address.
Confirmed External Speakers & Panelists
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Andenet Alemu
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Gerald Arhin
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Sarah Baird
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Joe Berry
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Jeff Bielicki
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Brandon Costelloe-Kuehn
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Jonathan Donadee
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Brittany Fiema
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Laura Frye-Levine
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Bhargava Gopireddy
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John Helveston
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Vicky Keramida
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Benjamin Kroposki
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Michael Ladisch
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Andrei Los
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Madicken Munk
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Ben Myers
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Barry Rand
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Beia Spiller
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Reuven Sussman
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Michaela TerAvest
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James Tischler
Confirmed Internal Speakers & Panelists
Student Programming – Poster Competition
Beyond attending conference events, students were provided the opportunity to submit a poster for our conference Poster Session. We received 18 top-notch poster submissions and were pleased to announce Donal Couch as our Poster Competition winner for his poster, “Harnessing Lignocellulosic Feedstocks for Sustainable Biofuel Production: A Modular Microbial Co-Culture Approach to Energy Independence”.
Parking & Logistics
Parking: Paid visitor parking is available to all Symposium Attendees. We have provided a map of visitor parking lots (marked with a green “P”) with convenient access to the Symposium event (marked with a star) below. Parking lots for faculty, staff, and students with blue and orange permits are also included (marked with a blue “P” and an orange “P” respectively).
Questions about the IES 2026 Energy Symposium?
Please email: [email protected]