The marriage of information and communication technologies with traditional energy production, delivery and distribution systems aims to create a more reliable, efficient, environmentally friendly and resilient smart grid. Energy system stakeholders expect greater consumer-centricity and more open and flexible business models. At the heart of many of the technological challenges underlying this vision for a smarter grid is the need for optimization and information processing. New problems are arising that require the use of big data analytics to process continuous streams of data coming from sources such as smart meters, smart building sensors, phasor measurement units, and weather stations at geographically dispersed locations. Classical signal and information processing problems are adapting to support changing system requirements and grid characteristics. By the same token, the increased penetration of renewable energy generation, distributed storage, and controllable loads such as plug-in electric vehicles, calls for novel optimal resource management methods that respect user privacy while yield customer-centric and system-wide benefits. Moreover, computational and physical constraints within this new technical landscape must be assessed. This symposium aims to bring together researchers and practitioners in the field of signal and information processing for the optimization of smart grid infrastructures.