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Energy Week: “Catalyzing Clean Energy Investments in the Private Sector: The Role of the Federal Government”
February 11 at 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM
In this panel, senior members of the Biden-Harris Administration will discuss the work they did to catalyze the private sector to commercialize critical technologies for the clean energy transition. Through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) created over 900,000 new jobs, catalyzed over 900 new and expanded manufacturing facilities and for every dollar invested by the DOE, six dollars was brought to the table by the private sector. Learn more from key leaders on how this was accomplished.
The panel discussion will be moderated by Vanessa Chan, the inaugural Vice Dean of Innovation & Entrepreneurship at Penn Engineering and the former Chief Commercialization Officer at DOE under President Biden.
Featured panelists:
- Maria Robinson, former Director of the Grid Deployment Office (GDO)
- Jigar Shah, former Director of the Loan Programs Office (LPO)
- Giulia Siccardo, former Director of the Office Manufacturing Energy & Supply Chain (MESC)
The event will be followed with light refreshments.

Vanessa Chan
Jonathan and Linda Brassington Practice Professor, Materials Science and Engineering Vice Dean of Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Vanessa Chan is an accomplished entrepreneur, angel investor, speaker and educator renowned for her expertise in innovation and entrepreneurship at the intersection of technology and business. Under President Biden, Vanessa served as the Chief Commercialization Officer and Director of the Office of Technology Transitions at the U.S. Department of Energy.
In this role, she was instrumental in nationally advancing clean energy technologies, notably through the “Pathways to Commercial Liftoff” reports, which provided roadmaps for decarbonizing various sectors, including geothermal and hydrogen. In recognition of her work, Time named her as one of the world’s 100 most influential business leaders in climate in the Time100 Climate 2024 list.
Vanessa earned her Ph.D. from MIT and a B.S.E. from the University of Pennsylvania, both in Materials Science and Engineering.