On May 31, women from around the globe gathered at Stanford University for the fifth annual C3E Women in Clean Energy Symposium. The U.S. Clean Energy Education & Empowerment (C3E) Program, led by the U.S. Department of Energy, seeks to increase women’s participation and leadership across the clean energy sector. Women currently only hold about 35 percent of clean energy jobs according to the International Renewable Energy Agency’s (IRENA) Renewable Energy and Jobs Annual Review.
Several members of the Northwestern community attended the symposium including:
- Rebecca Joy Lindquist (PhD, chemistry, 2017-expected): Member of the Wasielewski Group and Solar Fuels student subtask leader at the Argonne-Northwestern Solar Energy Research (ANSER) Center. Participated in the Symposium Poster Competition ("Incorporation of Organic Chromophores into Photoanodes and Photocathodes for Solar Fuels Production").
- Tracy Lohr, (PhD, chemistry, 2013, Univ. of Calgary): Research assistant professor in the Marks Group. Dr. Lohr presented on the topic of emission-free hydrogen fuel production from bio-alcohols. Participated in the Symposium Poster Competition ("Efficient Greenhouse Gas-Free Hydrogen Fuel Production from Bio-Alcohols").
- Kristen Brown (PhD, chemistry, 2016): Alumna of the Wasielewski Group and the ANSER Center; Fellow at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E).
- Kelly Lefler (PhD, chemistry, 2013): Alumna of the Wasielewski Group and the ANSER Center; Fellow at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) in the Office of Energy Policy and Systems Analysis.
This year’s symposium honored nine women for outstanding accomplishments in business, law, research, advocacy, and lifetime achievement. Award recipients included Rebecca Pearl-Martinez (Center for International Environment and Resource Policy), Shelee Kimura (Hawaiian Electric Company), and Sarah Kurtz (National Renewable Energy Laboratory) among others.
High-profile speakers at the symposium included U.S. Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Energy Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall, U.S. Representative Mike Honda (CA), and California Air Resources Board Chair Mary Nichols.
Lindquist spoke highly of the Symposium and its participants: "It was inspirational and exciting to meet and hear from so many women who are making big impacts throughout the world in clean energy."
"Events like C3E are necessary to build connections between early-career and more-established women in the energy sector, and encourage entrance into a field in which women have been consistently underrepresented," added Brown.
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The Clean Energy Education & Empowerment (C3E) is an initiative under the auspices of the Clean Energy Ministerial, a forum of 24 major-economy governments. The initiative was born out of recognition that the ideas and talents of all members of society are essential to meeting our future clean energy challenges. To deliver on the U.S. commitment to this initiative, the U.S. created and launched a U.S. C3E program, working together with the MIT Energy Initiative (MITEI) and the Stanford Precourt Institute for Energy .
The Argonne-Northwestern Solar Energy Research (ANSER) Center is one of four research centers within the Institute for Sustainability and Energy at Northwestern (ISEN).
