diff --git a/src/fairchem/core/common/utils.py b/src/fairchem/core/common/utils.py
index cdc921ebc..9b9c3a517 100644
--- a/src/fairchem/core/common/utils.py
+++ b/src/fairchem/core/common/utils.py
@@ -46,6 +46,12 @@
     from torch.nn.modules.module import _IncompatibleKeys
 
 
+DEFAULT_ENV_VARS = {
+    # Expandable segments is a new cuda feature that helps with memory fragmentation during frequent allocations (ie: in the case of variable batch sizes).
+    # see https://pytorch.org/docs/stable/notes/cuda.html.
+    "PYTORCH_CUDA_ALLOC_CONF" : "expandable_segments:True",
+}
+
 # copied from https://stackoverflow.com/questions/33490870/parsing-yaml-in-python-detect-duplicated-keys
 # prevents loading YAMLS where keys have been overwritten
 class UniqueKeyLoader(yaml.SafeLoader):
@@ -953,6 +959,12 @@ def check_traj_files(batch, traj_dir) -> bool:
     return all(fl.exists() for fl in traj_files)
 
 
+def setup_env_vars() -> None:
+    for k, v in DEFAULT_ENV_VARS.items():
+        os.environ[k] = v
+        logging.info(f"Setting env {k}={v}")
+
+
 @contextmanager
 def new_trainer_context(*, config: dict[str, Any], distributed: bool = False):
     from fairchem.core.common import distutils, gp_utils
@@ -969,6 +981,7 @@ class _TrainingContext:
         trainer: BaseTrainer
 
     setup_logging()
+    setup_env_vars()
     original_config = config
     config = copy.deepcopy(original_config)