by Victor Omoniyi
Johnson Energy Connection 2015 (JEC), in its seventh year, was the most successful ever. The two-day event brings together students, faculty and industry professionals that are interested or passionate about energy. There were over 150 participants, including company representatives, students, staffs and faculty. And, the keynote speaker for the event is the current CEO of SunEdison, Ahmad Chatilla.
Ahmad’s speech on gender diversity and women at SunEdison marked the beginning of the end-product of seven months of intensive planning and coordination between the Cornell Energy Club (CEC) and the Center for Sustainable Global Enterprise (CSGE).
There were multiple sessions on the first day of JEC covering different relevant topics in the energy industry, such as Consumer’s Utility Bill and Why it Matters, Natural Gas & Electricity Markets, Creating Renewable Energy from Landfill Gas, just to name a few, more details can be found here. Students then had networking opportunity with company representatives during the famous “Company Office Hours”. The day was concluded with a reception at the Baker Portico in the Physical Sciences building, where CEC and SGE club members connected with industry professionals in an informal setting.
Jaime Martinez Soto of Emerson Process Management led a workshop for the Saturday case competition that saw about twenty five students attempt to solve a relevant business problem that Emerson experienced in the past. Five teams of five students each had about 1 hour to come up with a solution. Jaime and Mike Train, Senior Vice-President of Emerson, listened to students pitch their solutions. Mike gave feedback to students after the presentation and highlighted the solution that was implemented at Emerson.
While JEC 2015 has gone into the record books, the next one is only a few months away and planning will be starting soon. Many thanks to everyone who made JEC 2015 a huge success, including but not limited to alums, industry professionals, SGE and Energy club members, the Center for SGE, and everyone else (lots of people) who contributed in one way or the other to make JEC 2015 a special and successful event!
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