Front Row, L-R: Lamont Hames, Matt Schultz, Tsu Jae Liu, Andrea Hodge, Marsha Ershaghi, Guru Madhavan, Charles Zukoski
Back Row, L-R: Donald Paul, Gary Buntmann, Richard Meserve, Iraj Ershaghi, Kyle Koerner, Yannis Yortsos, Jerimiah Booream, Al Romig, Behnam Jafarpour, Jose Reyes, Jr.Photography: Mehrzad Naseri
The growth in energy demand is outpacing the capabilities of existing infrastructure built to support it. That tension defined the Engineering for Energy Demands Summit 2026, held April 22 at USC’s Capital Campus in Washington, DC, where discussions focused on how energy systems can expand in step with rising demand, along with shifts in infrastructure, technologies and consumption patterns.
This is the 4th annual summit organized by USC Viterbi’s Ershaghi Center for Energy Transition (E-CET), co-hosted by the National Academy of Engineering (NAE). E-CET was established in 2022 through a gift from Gary and Mary Buntmann with the goal of advancing collaboration between research, education and industry to address the energy transition; the large-scale transformation of energy systems to expand capacity, integrate low-carbon sources and modernize infrastructure to meet global demand while also maintaining reliability and affordability.
“The annual E-CET summit convenes as an opportunity to discuss various issues related to energy transition and energy supply and demand,” said Iraj Ershaghi, Omar B. Milligan Chair in Petroleum Engineering, professor of chemical engineering and materials science, and director of E-CET. “While we are leading topics around energy demand, the foundation actually relates to energy security.”
The energy question, from multiple perspectives
The issue of energy security was addressed from multiple angles by the key speakers. In his opening remarks, USC Viterbi Dean Yannis Yortsos raised the challenges – and opportunities – of energy in the age of AI. Tsu-Jae Liu, president of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE), focused on the necessary measures to ensure that the engineering workforce is ready to adapt to changing conditions.
Kyle Haustveit, assistant secretary for the US Department of Energy (DOE) Hydrocarbons and Geothermal Energy Office, emphasized energy abundance as a cornerstone of economic strength and geopolitical stability, and argued for a strategy of “energy addition” that includes both renewables and fossil fuels.
These discussion points were further investigated in the specialist topics presented in the second half of the summit.
The Engineering for Energy Demands Summit 2026, held at USC’s Capital Campus in Washington, DC.Photography: Mehrzad Naseri
Cathy McClay, managing director of National Grid Distribution System Operator in the UK, presented “A Comparative Analysis of Major Energy Forecasts” in a talk moderated by Donald Paul, William M. Keck Professor of Energy Resources, research professor of engineering, and executive director of the USC Energy Institute.
Investment trends were discussed by Matt Schultz, director of Baird, and Jerimiah Booream, managing director of CIBC Private Wealth, in a panel moderated by Gary Buntmann, executive chairman of Crimson Resource Management.
The future of nuclear energy was debated by Richard Meserve, president emeritus of Carnegie Institution for Science and former commissioner of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and Jose Reyes, Jr., co-founder and chief technology officer at NuScale Power; the panel was moderated by Charles Zukoski, Robert E. Vivian Professorship in Energy Resources and professor of chemical engineering and materials science and biomedical engineering at USC Viterbi.
The NAE was also represented by the participation of Guru Madhavan, Norman R. Augustine Senior Scholar, senior director of programs and director of the Forum on Complex Unifiable Systems (FOCUS) at the NAE, who presented opening remarks, and Alton D. Romig, Jr., executive officer of the NAE, who presented a final synthesis of the event. Closing comments on behalf of USC E-CET were delivered by Behnam Jafarpour, professor of chemical engineering and materials science, electrical and computer engineering, and civil and environmental engineering at USC Viterbi. The event was sponsored by the Chilingar Trust, Chevron and LMH Strategies.
AI and education
Dean Yortsos framed engineering education within the growing convergence of AI and energy. The central shift, he suggested, is in understanding that digital systems are inherently physical systems. “We can’t ignore the fact that the digital has a physical imprint – and there’s an energy component to that,” he said. For Yortsos, this reinforces the need for engineers who can work across domains, linking computation, infrastructure and physical resources rather than specializing in isolation.
He continued by positioning AI as a transformative tool for engineering itself, with the potential to “create and develop new forms of energy that will also ensure a sustainable prosperity for all humanity.” This creates a dual imperative for education: to prepare engineers to manage the energy demands of AI, while also equipping them to use AI to solve energy problems. Reflecting upon AI’s role in bringing the multiple aspects of engineering together, Yortsos described an intertwining relationship that extends beyond energy to include materials and information: “Only knowledge has the property that the more we consume, the more we create,” he reflected. “And so that’s where innovation comes in.”
The art of learning how to learn
Engineering education was also a central theme of NAE President Liu’s opening plenary. In conversation with Marsha Ershaghi, adjunct professor at the USC Marshall School of Business and managing partner at LMH Strategies, Liu highlighted workforce constraints and emphasized the critical role of education in building a pipeline of engineers equipped to adapt to rapid technological change.
Liu stated that a new emphasis on workforce development will be vital to scaling the energy transition. “Grid modernization, integration of renewable energy sources and strategies for long-term energy storage will require advanced engineering judgment and systems thinking,” she said. “Future engineers must act as societal educators and translators able to communicate complex systems to decision-makers.”
Marsha Ershaghi and Tsu-Jae Liu. Photography: Mehrzad Naseri
Meanwhile, Liu noted, more than half of energy sector companies are now reporting labor shortages, and that the industry needs an increase in new engineering talent by more than 40% just to prevent that deficit from increasing further.
Liu argued that addressing this requires continually redefining the engineer’s role, as roughly one-third of required skills for energy engineers have changed in the last three years. This makes continuous learning essential and she emphasized education as the leverage point – both in preparing engineers for this expanded role and in closing the talent gap itself.
“Energy engineers need to have a mastery of data science and digital tools; today we’re increasingly seeing the use of AI to optimize grid management and the use of digital twins to model complex systems,” she said. “And that’s just speaking to today’s technology. Graduates need to be prepared for a career of lifelong learning. As educators, we need to teach students the art of ‘learning how to learn’ – and to be comfortable with being uncomfortable.”
Energy transition – or hybridity?
The question remains – where should students and graduate engineers direct their energy – to fossil fuels, or renewables? In conversation with Kyle Koerner, founder and principal of Array LLC, Haustveit framed the debate from the point of view of the US Department of Energy. “We need more energy, not less,” he said, proposing that the scale of global demand requires expanding all viable energy sources.
He challenged the premise of transition itself, noting that “we’ve never transitioned from an energy form. Every energy form has increased in total consumption globally since it was consumed.” Rather than positioning emerging technologies in opposition to hydrocarbons, Haustveit emphasized their continued centrality to modern life and reinforced the need to scale multiple energy pathways in parallel.
This framing has direct implications for education and research. If energy systems are additive rather than substitutive, then engineering education must prepare students to work across the full spectrum – from petroleum and natural gas to geothermal, nuclear and renewables.
It’s a hybrid approach modeled by E-CET, and by the USC Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering & Materials Science which houses the center. “Given the rapid pace of energy innovation, the current challenge is how to foster leaders in engineering who can navigate the intricate balance between new and legacy energy systems,” said Andrea Hodge, department chair, Fluor Professor in Engineering and professor of chemical engineering, materials science, aerospace and mechanical engineering. “Research universities are generators of knowledge and technologies. Our role as educators is to train technical innovators of tomorrow, who can dream beyond the boundaries we know today.”
Read more about the department’s research connecting multiple fields of engineering here.
Learn about the USC Master’s in Energy Engineering, launched in Fall 2025 here.
Published on May 14th, 2026
Last updated on May 14th, 2026