The SAIS Energy & Environment Club is excited for a new semester of panels, workshops, career-focused programs, and community events exploring today’s most important energy and environmental issues.
Our upcoming Fall 2026 events will be posted soon. Check back for updates and opportunities to get involved!
Oct 28 | 1:00pm - 2:15pm
Join the SAIS Energy & Environment Club and Technology & Innovation Focus Area for a moderated lunchtime panel discussion exploring the technologies, infrastructure investments, and policy choices needed to meet AI’s growing energy demands. Artificial intelligence’s continued expansion depends on physical infrastructure—from data centers and computing equipment to electricity generation, transmission, and grid connections. This conversation will examine how utilities, technology companies, and policymakers can prepare for rapid and uncertain demand growth while maintaining grid reliability, affordability, and environmental performance. Topics will include energy efficiency, flexible computing demand, grid modernization, energy storage, and emerging power technologies, alongside the policies and coordination needed to put these solutions into practice. Our panel brings together Parag Nathaney, Principal Quantitative Engineer at Exelon; Steve Nadel, Senior Fellow and former Executive Director of the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy; and Addy Smith, Senior Associate at the Federation of American Scientists and Transmission Fellow at RMI. Drawing on perspectives from the utility sector, energy efficiency research, and state and local policy, the speakers will consider how AI infrastructure can strengthen the electric grid while supporting U.S. technological competitiveness and delivering benefits to host communities. The discussion will be followed by an audience Q&A. Lunch will be provided.
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Nov 12 | 12:00pm - 1:30pm
Join the SAIS Energy & Environment Club and Development, Climate, and Sustainability Focus Area for a moderated lunchtime panel exploring how environmental advocates can build trust and promote climate action in today’s polarized political environment. Featuring Dr. Doran Tucker of George Mason University and Mallika Talwar of the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication, the discussion will examine how political identity, culture, faith, geography, and personal experience shape public responses to climate change—and how advocates can make climate action relevant to people’s values and daily concerns. Panelists will explore the strengths and limitations of connecting climate action to affordability, public health, employment, energy reliability, national security, extreme weather, and community resilience. The conversation will also consider how to identify trusted messengers, engage people who do not identify as environmentalists, and respond to misinformation and climate fatigue while maintaining scientific accuracy and authenticity. The panel will conclude with an audience Q&A, offering students practical insights into moving audiences from awareness to civic engagement and policy support. An additional speaker will be announced soon.
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