The Tufts Energy Conference, which originally began as a duo of panels five years ago, will next month be bigger than ever, spanning two days of speeches, panels and workshops.
The 2010 Tufts Energy Conference, which will occur on April 16 and 17, is organized by the Tufts Energy Forum, a club that is part of the Institute for Global Leadership (IGL).
The event will feature energy experts such as Michael Eckhart, founder and president of the American Council On Renewable Energy; Nick D'Arbeloff, president of the New England Clean Energy Council; and Sara Greenbaum, chief strategy officer of the Clinton Climate Initiative.
There will also be an energy showcase that will bring "all the great [energy] research at Tufts under one roof," according to senior Peter O'Regan, co−chair of the conference. The showcase will be free and open to the public, however there is a $5 registration fee for Tufts students for the rest of the conference.
Though this is not the conference's first year, it is the first time it will be such a large event. "This is actually the fifth year we've done it, but it's really going to reach a new scale this year," senior Daniel Enking, the other conference co−chair, said.
"We recently expanded to work with the Fletcher Energy Consortium, a group at the Fletcher School," Enking said. "We've also brought in students from UEP (Urban and Environmental Policy) and the School of Engineering. We've kind of turned this into an across−the−university, multi−disciplinary planning team planning this event."
"I think that the Tufts energy conference, from what I've seen, is the first that's really working to pull together expertise from all areas of Tufts: from the undergraduate community, from the Fletcher School, from the engineering schools and from different areas of expertise within the faculty," Fletcher student Daniel Resnick, one of the sponsor and speaker coordinators for the conference, said.
"The goal is to showcase what's going on at Tufts in terms of energy research, especially in the engineering school and the Fletcher School and at other schools, and we also want to educate students about energy and provide them with opportunities to network with professionals in the energy industry and find jobs, internships — that kind of thing," Enking said.
The Tufts Energy Conference changes its theme every year; this year's theme is "The Evolution of Energy."
"We're kind of looking at energy in a historical context and how it has evolved beyond the industrial revolution," Enking said. "We want to look at future scenarios."
The conference's organizers are in the process of lining up several sponsors for the event, but two are already confirmed: energy giant British Petroleum (BP) and Chicago Bridge & Iron Company (CB&I), a construction and engineering firm that focuses on projects involving oil and gas companies.
"The sponsorship process is a little bit difficult, particularly because this year we're looking to dramatically expand the scope of the conference," Resnick said.
According to Resnick, the organizers hoped to educate potential sponsors on the value of sponsoring the conference, such as getting their names out to Tufts undergraduates and graduates, as well as tying their brands to the goals of the conference and networking with the other sponsors.
Lining up sponsors was a learning experience, according to sophomore Sharmaine Oh, the conference's content director. "One aspect of it is really developing people skills, because we had to do a lot of cold calls to companies and really promote the conference," Oh said.
BP was a natural fit to bring on as a sponsor, according to both Enking and Resnick. "We were talking to them for quite a while before they agreed to be a sponsor," Enking said. "They kind of fit into this whole evolution of energy theme because if you've seen some of the recent press campaigns, they're going ‘beyond petroleum.'
"They're trying to expand to different markets for energy and they have a big investment fund for renewable energy," Enking added. "We're kind of looking at it in the same way. You know, petroleum has been one of the dominant energy sources for the past hundred years, but now we're trying to go beyond that … They've been generous enough to give us a big contribution; they'll be hosting a workshop at the conference and involved in a few other ways."
"To be realistic, fossil fuels are still going to be required to sustain global economic growth, but they need to supply it in a sustainable, clean and transparent manner," Resnick said. "The message of the conference and theme of the conference is what really resonates with the sponsors."
As this year's conference has expanded in scope, it required far more planning than in years past. In years past, planning began in January, and the conference usually occurred in May, according to Enking.
"We really started last May even, right after last year's conference," Enking said. "We started doing a little bit of planning, really developing our mission a little bit more and trying to expand our mission to make this a cross−university event. We actually have [University] President [Lawrence] Bacow giving welcoming remarks this year, because he's kind of seen that we've really expanded into this whole new thing.
"Since basically early late September and early October, we've been planning the content of the conference," Enking added. "We got it mostly solidified back in December, actually. Now we've been starting to work on the marketing and the operations aspects and continuing to get corporate sponsors."
The nature of seeking out corporate partners necessitated the long term planning, according to Resnick. "It's a fluid list … we have a number of our speakers' positions finalized, there's still a few slots available on our panels, and there are a few keynote spots that we are pursuing," he said. "Basically the thing that happens when reaching out to corporate partners is that there's long lead times."
The organizers have been working hard to make sure that the conference reaches its full potential attendance−wise. "We kind of have a two−pronged strategy — one for on campus, one for off campus — because a big part of this is that we want to get professionals, clean−tech professionals from the Boston area and traditional−energy professionals to come participate and interact with students," Enking said.
Enking credited the IGL as a reason that the organizers have been able to establish connections with speakers. "A major origin of [the conference] and origin of our group is the Institute for Global Leadership, and some of our students, especially myself, have had the opportunity over the last few years to go on a lot of research trips and to go to conferences and do a lot of networking with these energy professionals, and that was really a big way that we got a lot of the speakers to come that we have this year," Enking said.
The organizers hope that the conference's convergence of different areas of the university will set an example for the future. "[We want] to create a bit of momentum to grow the Tufts brand and to demonstrate the great things and work that goes on at Tufts," Enking said.
Those interested in registering for the conference can do so at TuftsEnergyConference.com. The registration fee is $10 for non−Tufts students, $40 for Tufts alumni and $60 for registration for the general public.
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This article originally misspelled the name Michael Eckhart. This mistake was corrected on April 4, 2010.
