The Stanford Energy Seminar has been a mainstay of energy engagement at Stanford for nearly 20 years and is one of the flagship programs of the Precourt Institute for Energy. We aim to bring a wide variety of perspectives to the Stanford community – academics, entrepreneurs, utilities, non-profits, and more. 

Talk Abstract

Stanford professor Debbie Senesky will host a  conversation with Rebecca Tuhus-Dubrow, author of Atomic Dreams: The New Nuclear Evangelists and the Fight for the Future of Energy and Charles Oppenheimer, founder of the Oppenheimer Project and founder and CEO of the startup Oppenheimer Energy.

As global energy demand grows for data centers to support artificial intelligence, the need for scalable, reliable, and low-carbon power has never been greater. This  conversation explores the evolving role of nuclear energy in meeting these challenges—tracing how research advances, policy frameworks, and public perception intersect to determine its trajectory. We will discuss pathways from laboratory innovation to deployment and the role of universities in enabling this transition. Emphasis will be placed on how emerging scholars, supported by industry and government, can help translate research into large-scale impact in the next era of nuclear energy development.

Speaker Bios 

Rebecca Tuhus-Dubrow is a journalist based in Southern California whose writing has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Review of Books, The Nation, The Washington Post, The Times Literary Supplement, and The Guardian, among other publications. She is the author of Personal Stereo, named one of Pitchfork’s favorite music books of 2017, and The G Ring, a Kindle Single.
 

Previously, Rebecca was a contributing writer for the Boston Globe’s Ideas section and a contributing editor at Dissent. Her work has received support from the Robert B. Silvers Foundation, the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, and UC Irvine’s Newkirk Center for Science and Society.
Rebecca's latest book, Atomic Dreams: The New Nuclear Evangelists and the Fight for the Future of Energy, was published in April by Algonquin Books.

Charles Oppenheimer is the founder of the Oppenheimer Project - a non-profit dedicated to promoting J. Robert Oppenheimer’s vision of international cooperation toward a safe future, promoting a message of existential hope and unity to address the world's most important problems.

Charles has been a speaker at global events and conferences on science and diplomacy, on nuclear non-proliferation, nuclear energy, and AI. He has appeared in interviews by the major media networks and in documentaries on the subject of his grandfather Robert Oppenheimer.  Charles has also been published in The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, TIME, The New York Times, Fast Company, and USA Today.

Charles is the founder and CEO of the startup Oppenheimer Energy, focused on fission energy projects. Before founding the Oppenheimer entities, he spent 20+ years in Silicon Valley in the software industry. He is startup founder, and investor in startups and social enterprises from Silicon Valley to Sub-Saharan Africa. 

Host Bio 

Debbie G. Senesky is an Associate Professor at Stanford University in the Aeronautics and Astronautics Department and the Electrical Engineering Department.  She is a Senior Fellow at the Stanford Precourt Institute for Energy and co-director of the Stanford University Nuclear (SUN) Project.  Her research activities include the advancement of microelectronic materials, sensors, and diagnostic tools for prolonged use in extreme harsh environments (e.g., space exploration and nuclear systems). 
 

Prof. Senesky received the B.S. degree (2001) in mechanical engineering from the University of Southern California. She received the M.S. degree (2004) and Ph.D. degree (2007) in mechanical engineering from the University of California, Berkeley. In recognition of her research, she received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) in 2025, Emerging Leader Abie Award from AnitaB.org in 2018, Early Faculty Career Award from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in 2012, Gabilan Faculty Fellowship Award in 2012.

Anyone with an interest in energy is welcome to join! You can enjoy seminars in the following ways:

• Attend live. The auditorium may change quarter by quarter, so check each seminar event to confirm the location. Explore the current quarter's schedule.
• Watch live in a browser livestream if available. Check each seminar event for its unique livestream URL.
• Watch recordings of past seminars 
  • Available on the Past Energy Seminars page and the Energy Seminars playlist of the Stanford Energy YouTube channel
• (For students) Take the seminar as a 1-unit class (CEE 301/ENERGY 301/MS&E 494)

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