Fifth Energy Week to Bring Penn Community Together Around Solutions

Image of a panel of Penn alumni on a stage doing a question and answer session with students. — *The Kleinman Center for Energy Policy is holding its Careers in the Energy Sector: Energy Week Alumni Panel again this year, with different alumni. (Image: T. Kevin Birch)*

Penn is holding its fifth Energy Week from Feb. 10-14, with a lineup of daily events for faculty, staff, and students to engage in the latest solutions-focused work happening at Penn and in government and industry.

“We are in a moment with a lot of shifting energy and climate policy at both the federal and the state level. This presents a real opportunity for places like Penn to provide research, education, and community around good, sound policy outcomes,” says Cory Colijn, executive director of the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy, which is co-hosting Energy Week with the Vagelos Institute for Energy Science and Technology (VIEST). “We anticipate there being an increased amount of appetite for bipartisan solution-making, and we feel like Penn can be a real platform to advance those conversations.”

“We need opportunities to recognize the good work that we’re doing, to celebrate what everyone on campus is doing every day to try to bring us to energy solutions that get us to the sustainable future that we really need,” says Nadine Gruhn, managing director of VIEST.

“Like our fall Climate Week, Energy Week is one of the great opportunities we have at Penn to showcase the important work we are doing in the energy/climate/sustainability arena,” says Michael Mann, vice provost for climate science, policy, and action. “It offers us an opportunity to engage in a larger conversation with our students, faculty, staff, and community about what we’re doing to address the great challenges we face today.”

Mann gave insights into an event he will participate in on Feb. 13: “Conservative and Concerned About Climate Change? You’re Not Alone,” with Bob Inglis, the executive director of republicEn.org. “I’m thankful to be part of a conversation with my friend Bob Inglis, a leading conservative voice on climate, about what we can do to encourage collaboration across the partisan divide on matters of climate and environmental sustainability,” says Mann. “I hope it’s a model for the sort of progress we can make in the years ahead.”

The full schedule can be viewed at energyweek.upenn.edu.