Network Stories and Reports

Shaping Tomorrow: One Year into the Mission of the U.S. Department of Energy Alumni Network

By the U.S. Department of Energy Alumni Network

October 29, 2026

For over 50 years, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has kept our nation at the forefront of science and innovation, strengthened our national security capabilities, and pioneered new pathways for technologies, systems, and infrastructure to deliver on the promise of affordable, accessible, and reliable energy solutions for Americans across the country. 

Throughout the lifetime of the Department–and changing administrations and priorities–there has been one constant truth that has allowed the mission to time and time again find and achieve success: the dedication, passion, and service of the incredibly talented people behind the scenes whose determination has created a better path for this nation. 

Until last year, there was no organization that sought to bring together the community of former DOE employees. Late last summer the DOE Alumni Network was launched and over the course of the last year, it has grown into a thriving organization.   

What we’ve seen over the past year is that this determination does not end once public service ends. It remains, it persists, and it continues to flourish. The U.S. Department of Energy Alumni Network is not just a promise to retain a community of dedicated alumni–it is a promise that a home and community exists where alumni from all parts of the Department and nation can come together to support each other, the mission, and future of DOE. 

We’re just one year in–and we’re only getting started. 

Maintaining Community, Passion, and Expertise

While DOE has always had a community of staff who have left the Department to move on to other work or retire, staff losses were accelerated in the last year through a combination of resignations and retirements through Deferred Resignation Program, layoffs, and cuts to consultant contracts. In the spring and summer of 2025, a small group of alumni worked together to determine whether there was interest in a formal alumni network. Together, after interviewing and surveying hundreds of alums, they found that there was demand for an alumni network that could support one another and collaborate for continued impact on policy topics related to DOE.

In August of 2025, the U.S. Department of Energy Alumni Network was formally established to bring together an open and collaborative community of DOE alumni from all areas of service - career federal staff, fellows, and appointees from all administrations. Together, this network would champion a transformational science and technology agenda for the U.S. by facilitating nonpartisan policy engagement, preserving and sharing institutional knowledge, and supporting career development and networking opportunities for its members.

Housed under the Environmental Protection Network (EPN), the Network would function as a nonpartisan 501(c)(3) nonprofit.

Defining Leadership

Establishing a Network Advisory Board

At inception, an Advisory Board was established to begin mirroring the varying mission spaces of the Department. The current board represents senior leaders who served in key offices from across DOE that include: S4/S3 alum Dr. Kathleen Hogan; EM/NNSA alum Ike White; NNSA alum Corey Hinderstein; S4/S1 alum Tarak Shah; OP alum Carla Frisch; CI/NNSA/CFO/IA alum Maya Harris-Cameron; and EPN Executive Director Michelle Roos serving as Board Advisor.

An Executive Director with a Vision

In September 2025, the Network announced that Jocelyn Brown-Saracino would lead the Network as Executive Director. Brown-Saracino served the Department for 15 years, most recently as the Department’s Offshore Wind Lead, sitting in the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy’s Wind Energy Technology Office. 

Brown-Saracino began growing a set of full-time staff, part-time contractors, and highly-engaged volunteers, with hundreds of additional volunteers supporting the Network through Working Groups, events, mentoring and career transitions, and special initiatives. Brown-Saracino also led the organization to develop a mission, its three-pillared strategy, and a robust work plan for the organization’s first year.  

Finding Our North Star

The DOE Alumni Network has defined its mission as an effort to: foster a thriving DOE alumni community that plays a central role in supporting each other, championing the transformational science and innovation mission of the Department, and shaping the Department’s role in the nation’s energy, environmental, and security future.

The DOE Alumni Network is guided by three organizational pillars:

  • Foster Community: Grow a strong and connected alumni community, foster career growth and professional development, and maximize the impact of the community.  

  • Support DOE’s Mission Space: Support priorities, programs, and people within the DOE mission space and provide guidance on DOE capabilities, rules, and processes to affiliated stakeholders.

  • Envision the Future of DOE: Play a central role in the ideation around and actualization of the modernization of the Department.

For DOE Alumni, By DOE Alumni: Strengthening a Growing Community 

The initial focus of the Network was defined by two immediate needs of the community and DOE ecosystem. In a survey of departed DOE staff, 40% reported they were still seeking employment and interested in partnering together to build a community where former colleagues could provide each other professional development and career resources. At the same time, thousands of DOE projects were either being terminated, facing threats of termination, or experiencing ghosting with no clear solution in sight. 

In response, the Network established the Alumni Support Working Group to support career transitions and the Grantee Assistance Working Group to provide technical assistance to DOE awardees navigating unclear paths. 

The Network would go on to create a Membership Working Group to onboard new members and connect them with projects; the Policy Working Group to the expertise of DOE alumni to develop analysis on DOE-specific and energy sector wide issues; and a Communications Working Group to develop and grow the brand and platforms of the Network.  

To date, the Network now has over 1,220 members across the country who represent almost 4,300 years of Department experience, with 276 alumni active in working groups. 

Over the past year, DOE alumni across the country have remained active, engaged, and excited about our growing community and staying connected with fellow alumni and friends. 

Coming Together

As of today, the Network has coordinated 41 in-person gatherings in all corners of the nation, hosted 23 professional development and Lunch & Learn webinars, and has seen over 500 unique participants across Network events. 

From knitting and crafts, to kickball and laughs, and happy hours and drafts, the DOE alumni community is strong, connected, and growing. 

Moments from DOE alumni gatherings across the country. 

Supporting Career and Professional Development

One of the guiding pillars of the Network’s mission is to “Foster Community.” This includes supporting career growth and professional development as well as social and informal gatherings. 

In April 2026, the Network launched a Mentorship Program aimed primarily at job seekers looking for professional development support as they seek to find work. The first cohort had 80 participants working in six-month 1:1 mentor/mentee pairs. The Network anticipates launching cohort two in January 2027, with the additional support of a new part-time professional development and mentorship program consultant. Collectively, this program reflects over a thousand hours of volunteer time.

In May 2026 the Network launched a Consultants Directory that features alumni who are available for contract work on topics tapping into their deep professional and technical expertise. These topics include basic sciences, nuclear security, national security, energy, broader economic policy, human resources, operations, policy, and more.

The Network has also coordinated a series of virtual professional development events for members to hear from each other on career advice and work sectors. From how to retool resumes to discussing career opportunities for states and local governments, the Network continues to provide fresh perspectives and innovative resources to ensure alumni can write new career chapters with purpose and passion. 

Unsung Heroes

The Network launched a digital series called Trailblazers and Transformers that highlights the careers of public servants from the Network who have dedicated their time and efforts to serve the American people. After a difficult 2025, this series aims to tell the untold stories of the unsung heroes behind the scenes at the Department and create a sense of community with our alumni. 

Publications and Reports

The Network has made significant progress with respect to engaging in nonpartisan energy policy. The Network’s Policy Working Group, which in turn developed a Policy Strategy to identify and prioritize the key challenges and policy questions that need to be addressed to elevate and increase the effectiveness of DOE’s work. This group is the Network’s most popular, with dozens of active alumni, including dozens who have directly contributed to the Network's Substack, which houses public knowledge preservation and policy analyses. 

To date, with additional analysis from the Grantee Assistance Working Group, the Substack articles have achieved over 48,000 views. Through the Substack, volunteers tracked topics ranging from DOE budget execution— where funds are being spent, where they are not being spent, and what the possible impacts of those actions would be—to the status of terminated and ghosted awards.  

The Network has also produced two in-depth, landmark reports. In April, the Network released “Innovation Interrupted” that tracked six months since unprecedented DOE award terminations and unveiled additional patterns of funding disruptions at the Department. At the beginning of October, the Network released a full-year report, “Innovation on Hold,” with further updates on terminations and ghosted projects, federal spending data, court filings, and direct awardee feedback. 

These publications and reports, and the continued efforts of the Policy and Grantee Assistance Working Groups, have garnered national media coverage and reactions from Capitol Hill and key decision makers that continue to produce momentum to unlock funding and innovation at the Department. 

Setting the Stage for the Future

The Network continues to serve as a nonpartisan source of subject matter technical assistance for Congress and other stakeholders. 

The Network’s Policy Working Group is currently developing a series of whitepapers that will provide short, focused review and recommendations for DOE on key challenges and topics. The Network has also begun a series of roundtable discussions where alumni have started to solicit feedback and generate big ideas on the Network’s policy work and how the Department can do everything from enhance energy demonstration programs to improve financial assistance. These papers are now in the drafting stage, involving authorship and input from over 40 alumni to date.

The Big One: Envisioning the Future of DOE

The Network has developed a framework for what is now known as the Envision DOE Initiative, which will develop a comprehensive nonpartisan research, policy, and operational agenda for a stronger and more effective DOE. The Network has hired a lead and a coordinator to begin the formalization and execution of this strategy. The initial goals of Envision DOE are to provide:

  • Visionary ideation with comprehensive plans across DOE’s entire mission space that prioritize areas with critical challenges;

  • Operational plans that turn innovative ideas into implementable action; and

  • Staffing solutions and policies needed for execution.

Together, with an engaged community of hundreds of alumni, continued analysis and dialogues, and an eye towards the future, the Network is setting the stage to continue supporting alumni and the current and future DOE mission space. 

We’re Just Getting Started

A Message from Executive Director Jocelyn Brown-Saracino:

“If I had to describe the Network in one word, I would choose the word ‘hope.’”

“Seeing this community come together has been such an exercise in hope and community, and it has been powerful to see the way alumni have come together to support each other, to support the broader mission space of the Department, and it's been incredibly hopeful to see how so many alumni are engaged in the way we are now thinking about the future and what the future of DOE could look like.”

“I look forward to maintaining this community, welcoming more alumni from all parts of the Department and every administration, and continuing growing and setting the stage for the future.”

“If you are an alumni who shares our passion for this space, you have a home, and I encourage you to reach out and see how we can support each other. It has been an incredible year of growing the Network, and we’re just getting started connecting, supporting, and strengthening this community.”

“Onward.” 

DOE alumni and friends celebrate the anniversary of the DOE Alumni Network in Washington, D.C.

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