The Boulder Energy and Resilient Sustainability (BEaRS) Summer Workshop, July 16 - 19, 2025, is a uniquely interdisciplinary workshop intended to bring together graduate students, faculty, and researchers of all levels working in areas related to energy and sustainability. Hosted by the University of Colorado Boulder and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), the program is led by distinguished experts across domains in renewable energy and sustainability science.

The workshop aims to transcend traditional academic boundaries and blend the physical sciences and engineering with the social sciences, economics, and policy to foster an exchange of ideas and multidisciplinary collaboration. The program will consist of keynote and contributed talks, poster sessions, and panel discussions. In addition to its academic content, the program will opportunities for participants to explore Boulder’s vibrant cultural scene and the natural beauty of the nearby Rocky Mountains.

The 2025 workshop will include topics of:

• Economics of renewable integration
• Electrification and EVs
• Renewable energy policy and regulatory design
• Critical mineral and the energy transition
• Energy impacts of AI hardware and datacenters
• New approaches to energy-efficient, unconventional computing
• Chiral materials energy-efficient information storage and other applications
• Sustainable materials for the built environment; thermal control of buildings

Confirmed Speakers:

• Katsuya Inoue, Hiroshima University
• Ian Lange, Colorado School of Mines
• Chinnu Parinandi, University of Colorado Boulder
• Sadas Shankar, Stanford University
• Stephanie Weber, University of Colorado Boulder
• Matthew Woerman, Colorado State University
• Jörn Dunkel, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Joseph Luther, National Renewable Energy Laboratory
• Hiroshi Sato, Hiroshima University & RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science
• Chuck Kutscher, RASEI
• Kyri Baker, University of Colorado Boulder / RASEI
• Moncef Krarti, University of Colorado Boulder
• Charlie Curcija, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory / University of California at Berkeley
• Dick Broer, Eindhoven University of Technology
• Amory Lovins, Rocky Mountain Institute / Stanford University