CMU Energy Week Expands on Pittsburgh’s Expertise in AI and Energy

Pittsburgh’s rich tradition in energy innovation will merge with Carnegie Mellon University’s groundbreaking research in artificial intelligence during the annual Energy Week this month. 

“What is exciting about Energy Week this year is that we can, in true Carnegie Mellon fashion, say how do those two areas of the economy — which are very much the subject of people’s attention right now — intersect? And what does it mean for innovation and communities and society?” said Costa Samaras, director of the Wilton E. Scott Institute for Energy Innovation.  

“What is happening here this year will then ripple out to the world over the next several years. It’s exciting to get an early glimpse at what that looks like, but also to help shape it.” 

 The flagship event of the Scott Institute will take place March 25-27 in CMU’s Cohon University Center with a series of keynote speeches, panel discussions, networking events and an investor day. 

 “Energy Week was started to provide a time and a place for universities, for all the industry in the area, and all the government and nonprofit and NGOs to get together and coalesce around a single energy challenge that we face today,” said Daniel Tkacik, executive director of the Scott Institute. 

 “So, there are two elements of the AI and energy dialogue this year. One is what are all the energy demands and the emissions associated with AI, but, on the flip side, how can AI be leveraged to actually solve some of those big challenges?” 

Southwestern Pennsylvania can legitimately claim its role as the birthplace of the energy industry. Coal, oil, electricity and nuclear power have deep roots in the region, which also has seen developments in natural gas, wind and solar power. Pittsburgh International Airport built on that tradition by becoming the first airport in the world to be completely powered by a natural gas and solar energy microgrid. 

 “The culture of innovation and experimentation that Christina Cassotis brought to the airport is directly in line with the culture of innovation and experimentation at Carnegie Mellon. Let’s go solve a problem. Let’s fix this. Let’s make this better,” Samaras said. 

 “Carnegie Mellon and Pittsburgh,in general, have always been a place that does invention and innovation well,” he added. 

That will be the focus on Tuesday, March 25, during Investor Day. 

 Lisa Hansmann, the Director at Foundry Logic and former Senior Advisor for economic policy at the National Economic Council and Special Assistant to the President and Senior Advisor in the Chief of Staff’s office, will deliver the opening keynote address. 

 Another highlight of the first day is a “Shark Tank”-style pitch showcase with 20 startups meeting potential investors from across the region and the country. 

 “The Scott Institute cares very deeply about making sure that the technologies and other deep tech research happening here in the labs become something bigger outside of the walls of the university into companies, into commercialized technologies and into services that improve people’s lives,” Tkacik said. 

 At the other end of the spectrum, Energy Week will feature talks by Lucia Tian, head of Clean Energy and Decarbonization Technologies at Google, and Vibhu Kaushik, Global Head of Energy at Amazon Web Services. 

 “International companies that are leading this — Google and Amazon and others — that are making these decisions every day are going to have an interactive dialogue of what’s important to them and how do we as community help shape that,” Samaras said. 

 The second day of the event is devoted to AI and energy with the following panel discussions: “Managing AI Energy Demands and Climate Goals,” “Frontiers of AI in Energy and Climate Solutions,” and “AI and the Energy Workforce.” 

 “Now that we have this technology coming on that is causing a paradigm shift in the energy industry, just given the giant demands and given how AI could be used as a tool at each of those energy industries, we need to make sure that the workforce is equipped to take on those tasks,” Tkacik said. 

 “The big goal of Energy Week is to bring all these groups that have a different vantage point of the challenge of AI when it comes to energy to have a very collaborative interdisciplinary discussion over how do we solve these things. What are the risks? What are the opportunities? And how do we all work together?” Tkacik said. 

 Samaras said ensuring that the intersection of AI and energy is good for communities will also ensure that the sector provides economic benefits for the region and the country. 

 “The way that AI is going to affect society is up to humans. We should not give agency over to the computer. We are the ones programming it and designing it as a society and we should be able to make the types of policy choices that grow innovation but also enable people to have privacy and rights and jobs and opportunities,” he said. 

 CMU Energy Week allows the region to be part of the conversation that sets the agenda for the future of AI and energy. 

 “Pittsburgh never stops reinventing itself and the world,” Samaras said. 

 CMU Energy Week is free to attend but registration is required for any or all days. See the full schedule.