New Voices and Vanderbilt Sustainability, Energy, and Climate Symposium

The 2026 VSEC Symposium is a collaborative effort between the National Academies' New Voices program and the Vanderbilt University Center for Sustainability, Energy, and Climate (VSEC). This symposium will explore the intricate challenges that arise when energy technologies, initially designed for specific scales, are deployed or repurposed at different scales. Modern energy systems are increasingly complex, encompassing materials, devices, infrastructure, and human systems across varying spatial and temporal dimensions. The integration of energy sources across these scales is critical for achieving decarbonization, resilience, and reliability. Given the escalating intensity and frequency of extreme events, such as ice storms, heat waves, and wildfires, there is an urgent need for energy systems that are redundant, adaptable, and robust. This resilience necessitates the thoughtful integration of diverse power systems and energy sources, including centralized grids, distributed generation, storage solutions, and emerging technologies operating across multiple scales. A core theme of the symposium is the pivotal role of scale in the development of new materials, devices, and architectures essential for decarbonization efforts. Discussions will delve into how phenomena at the atomic or material scale influence performance at the device, system, or grid level, and how insights from complex systems science can bridge these scales to guide the design of resilient, low-carbon energy solutions. By convening researchers and practitioners from various disciplines, the symposium aims to foster dialogue on enhancing understanding, design, and integration of energy systems across scales, thereby advancing both fundamental knowledge and practical pathways towards a sustainable and resilient energy future. Specific topics include cross-scale energy integration and system complexity, distributed energy resources and flexible storage, energy resilience and power system management under extreme events, and materials, devices, and technologies across scales for decarbonization.