2026 Total Energy Mini Workshop
January 12 - 13, 2026
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA USA
January 12 - 13, 2026
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA USA
The 2026 Total Energy Mini Workshop convenes researchers worldwide advancing and applying electronic structure and machine learning methods to novel materials and molecular systems. It will highlight recent developments, key challenges, and emerging directions in ab initio and data-driven modeling for systems of broad interest in physics, chemistry, and materials science. Our program consists of approximately 20 speakers and contributing posters over 2 days, with about 100 participants.
The Total Energy and Forces workshops are a long-running series of scientific meetings focused on ab initio electronic structure held biannually in Trieste at the International Center for Theoretical Physics. In the even-numbered years, a smaller version of it, the Mini, has been located outside of Trieste, in Europe or Asia. This year, we are pleased to host the Mini at the University of California, Berkeley.
More information about this series, including its present Scientific Advisory Committee and a summary of prior workshops, can be found here.
Confirmed Speakers
Ryotaro Arita, University of Tokyo
Tim Berkelbach, Columbia University
Luigi Bonati, Italian Institute of Technology, Genova, Italy
Bingqing Cheng, University of California, Berkeley
Gil Goldshlager, University of California, Berkeley
Feliciano Giustino, University of Texas at Austin
Alberto Guandalini, Sapienza Università di Roma
Jonah Haber, Stanford University
Geoffroy Hautier, Rice University
Jorge Íñiguez-González, Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology
Manish Jain, Indian Institute of Science Bangalore
Bartomeu Monserrat, University of Cambridge
Miguel A. Morales, Flatiron Institute
Jigyasa Nigam, MIT
Yuan Ping, University of Wisconsin, Madison
Diana Qiu, Yale University
Lucia Reining, LSI, Ecole Polytechnique Palaiseau, CNRS
Gurjyot Sethi, University of California, Berkeley
Brandon Wood, Meta
Registration
Students: Through 12/12/2025 $185 / Starting 12/13/2025 $210
Postdocs/Professors: Through 12/12/2025 $250 / Starting 12/13/2025 $285
For inquiries, please contact Maria Feng mariafeng@berkeley.edu
Local Organizing Committee
Jeffrey B. Neaton, Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley and Materials Sciences Division, LBNL
Bingqing Cheng, Department of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley and Materials Sciences Division, LBNL
Sinéad Griffin, Molecular Foundry and Materials Sciences Division, LBNL
Steven G. Louie, Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley and Materials Sciences Division, LBNL
Day 1: Monday, January 12
8:00-8:45 am Registration and Light Breakfast
Tan Hall Lobby
8:45-9:00 am Opening remarks – Jeff Neaton and David Limmer
120 Latimer Hall
Lecture Session 1 -- Chair: Steven Louie, University of California, Berkeley
120 Latimer Hall
9:00 am-9:30 am Lucia Reining, LSI, Ecole Polytechnique Palaiseau, CNRS
“Linear functionals: motivations and design”
9:30-10:00 am Yuan Ping, University of Wisconsin, Madison
“First-principles open quantum dynamics for solids based on density-matrix formalism”
10:00-10:30 am Alberto Guandalini, Sapienza Università di Roma (virtual)
“Excitonic effects in phonons”
10:30-11:00 am Break
Lecture Session 2 -- Chair: Feliciano Giustino, University of Texas at Austin
120 Latimer Hall
11:00-11:30 am Diana Qiu, Yale University
“Machine learning framework for many-body interactions in real materials”
11:30-12:00 pm Tim Berkelbach, Columbia University
“Accurate electronic structure for surface chemistry”
12:00 pm-1:30 pm Lunch and Poster Session
Lecture Session 3 -- Chair: Diana Qiu, Yale University
120 Latimer Hall
1:30-2:00 pm Feliciano Giustino, University of Texas at Austin
“Polarons from first principles, from DFT to the Hedin-Baym equations”
2:00-2:30 pm Manish Jain, Indian Institute of Science Bangalore
“Biexcitons in materials”
2:30 pm-3:00 pm Break
Lecture Session 4 -- Chair: Lucia Reining, LSI, Ecole Polytechnique Palaiseau, CNRS
120 Latimer Hall
3:00-3:30 pm Bartomeu Monserrat, University of Cambridge
“The topology and geometry of excitons”
3:30-4:00 pm Jonah Haber, Stanford University
"Exciton Wannier Functions: From Theory to Excited State Dynamics”.
4:00-4:30 pm Gurjyot Sethi, University of California, Berkeley
“Quantum Theory of Exciton Magnetic Moment”
6:00 pm Banquet @ Berkeley Social Club
Day 2: Tuesday, January 13
8:30-9:00 am Light breakfast
Tan Hall lobby
Lecture Session 5 -- Chair: Sinéad Griffin, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
120 Latimer Hall
9:00-9:30 am Ryotaro Arita, University of Tokyo
“First-principles calculation of coherence length and magnetic penetration depth based on superconducting density functional theory”
9:30-10:00 am Jorge Íñiguez-González, Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology
“Topological ferroelectrics: testbed and spur for new simulation methods”
10:00-10:30 am Geoffroy Hautier, Rice University
“Computational screening beyond the 0K, bulk properties: how large-scale electronic structure computations can drive the discovery of new semiconductors and anti-ferroelectric materials”
10:30-11:00 am Break
Lecture Session 6 -- Chair: Yasaman Bahri, Google DeepMind
120 Latimer Hall
11:00-11:30 am Brandon Wood, Meta
“Exploring the Frontier of Universal Machine Learning Potentials”
11:30-12:00 pm Bingqing Cheng, University of California, Berkeley
"Energy and forces are all you need"
12:00 pm-1:30 pm Lunch and Group Photo
Lecture Session 7 -- Chair: Bingqing Cheng, University of California, Berkeley
120 Latimer Hall
1:30-2:00 pm Luigi Bonati, Italian Institute of Technology, Genova, Italy
“Data-efficient machine learning potentials for chemical reactivity”
2:00-2:30 pm Jigyasa Nigam, MIT
“Where do the electrons go in atomistic ML?”
3:00 pm-3:30 pm Break
Lecture Session 8 -- Chair: Yuan Ping, University of Wisconsin, Madison
120 Latimer Hall
3:00-3:30 pm Miguel A. Morales, Flatiron Institute
“Ab-Initio Quantum Embedding with CoQui”
3:30-4:00 pm Gil Goldshlager, University of California, Berkeley
"Elucidating Subsampled Natural Gradient and Gauss-Newton Methods for Neural Wavefunctions"
4:00 pm Closing remarks and poster awards -- Jeff Neaton