As the European Union as well as member states create swiftly changing policies affecting clean energy initiatives, their energy decisions show significant variability. Recent events emphasize both the need for and the challenges to establishing a unified approach to securing supply for EU states and for improving energy independence within the EU. As emerging technology revolutionizes energy markets, it has never been modre important for European countries to synchronize their standards on protecting critical energy infrastructure, including electric grids, Smart Grids, gas pipeline sensors and wind and solar technologies. This symposium will showcase cutting-edge research on where the European Union is headed on energy security and what the U.S. and the EU can learn from each other.

Panel 1 – NATO, Hybrid Warfare, and Europe’s Energy Challenge

• Dr. Sarah Lohman, Visiting Professor at the U.S. Army War College and Acting Assistant Professor in the Jackson School for International Studies. She is an American historian, specializing in the history of food.
• Dr. Aleksander Olech, Deputy Director at the Foreign Ministry of Poland. He is a researcher and his main research interests include terrorism, international cooperation for security in Eastern Europe and the role of NATO and the EU with regard to hybrid threats.
• Lieutenant Colonel Frank J. Kuzminski, Ph.D. Candidate, Jackson School of International Studies. His research focuses on European space activity, collective security and strategy. Col. Kuzminski speaks French and Polish.

Panel 2 – Europe’s Energy Crisis: Causes and Global Impact

• Scott Montgomery, Geoscientist and Affiliate Faculty in the Jackson School of International Studies. He is widely known for his writings on energy matters and his book, “The Shape of the New: Four Big Ideas and How They Built the Modern World” (2015), co-authored with Daniel Chirot.
• Muhammad Abdulqayumov, M.A. Candidate in the Jackson School of International Studies. His MA thesis focuses on Russia’s role as a security provider in Central Asia and how that role has been shifting since the fall of the Soviet Union.