UT Energy Symposium
A weekly guest lecture series that is both free and open to the public and available for course credit.
In an effort to provide a multidisciplinary platform for UT faculty and students to interact on the most pressing energy issues facing our world, the Energy Institute sponsors the UT Energy Symposium (UTES), which entered its 28th semester in spring 2025.
The UTES serves as a “convener” for the campus community, uniting students interested in energy issues with faculty and others working on sustainable energy security. Students who register for the symposium receive one credit hour for the 15-week seminar course, which is open to both undergraduate and graduate students. The course is taught in both the fall and spring semesters.
Ongoing themes for UTES include climate change policy, innovation and diffusion of energy technologies, low-carbon technology options and status, and behavioral aspects of energy consumption.
Each UTES talk is recorded and posted on this page and on the Energy Institute YouTube channel.
Instructor: Carey King
Unique Number (Fall 2025): 65605 (graduate students) / 65310 (undergraduates)
Day & Time: Tuesday, 12:30 – 1:45 p.m.
If you need an accommodation to participate in this event, please contact Christa Hopkins, who can be reached at 512-475-8447 or christa@energy.utexas.edu, no later than five (5) business days prior to the event.
UT Energy Symposium Talks
April 30, 2013
Energy with the CEO: "Energy Innovation and Entrepreneurship”
Randy Foutch, Chairman and CEO, Laredo Petroleum
April 25, 2013
United States Renewable Electricity Futures: Are High Penetrations Possible?
Ryan Wiser, Staff Scientist and Deputy Group Leader in the Electricity Markets and Policy Group at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
April 11, 2013
Unlocking Energy Innovation
Richard Lester, Japan Steel Industry Professor and Head of the Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering, MIT
April 4, 2013
Integrating Renewables and Efficiency in the Energy Mix at Chevron
Jim Davis, President, Chevron Energy Solutions
March 28, 2013
Investing in Energy Innovation
Bob Metcalfe, Professor of Innovation and Murchison Fellow of Free Enterprise, Cockrell School of Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin
March 21, 2013
Student Research Showcase
- Josh Rhodes, Webber Energy Group, “Data-Driven Results from the Pecan Street Smart Grid Demonstration Project”
- Robert Fares, Mechanical Engineering, “Towards a Distributed Grid: A Quantitative Assessment of Community Energy Storage for Islanding”
- Steve Bourne, Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering, “Thermal Storage and the Building Side of Smartgrid”
March 7, 2013
International Low-Carbon Technology Transfers: Do Intellectual Property Regimes Matter?
Varun Rai, Assistant Professor of Public Affairs and Mechanical Engineering, UT Austin
February 28, 2013
All You Ever Wanted to Know About Smart Grids
John McDonald, Director, Technical Strategy & Policy Development, GE Energy Management – Digital Energy
February 14, 2013
Recent Developments in Unconventional Gas Law and Regulation
John Hays, Adjunct Professor of Energy Law at the UT School of Law and Partner at Hays & Owens LLP
February 7, 2013
Emerging Supply-and Demand-Side Technologies are Pressuring Regulators to Change Course – But Do They Have the Political Will?
Sherman Elliott, Consultant and Former Commissioner at the Illinois Commerce Commission (Jan ’08 – Mar ’12)
January 31, 2013
Energy Conservation Behavior and the Behavioral Wedge
Thomas Dietz, Professor of Sociology and Environmental Science and Policy, Michigan State University
January 17, 2013
Alternatives for Mitigating the Natural Resources Curse
Scott Gaille, Adjunct Professor of Management at Rice University and Chief Compliance Officer for ZaZa Energy Corporation
May 3, 2012
Americans’ Vehicle and Travel Choices: Opportunities for Plug- In Vehicles in the Nation’s Fleet Evolution
Dr. Kara Kockelman, Professor & William J. Murray Jr. Fellow, Department of Civil, Architectural & Environmental Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin
April 26, 2012
The Future of Water in Texas, and What It Means for Energy
Thomas Mason, Former General Manager of the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) and currently with the law firm Graves, Dougherty, Hearon & Moody
April 12, 2012
Taking Green Technologies from Innovation to the Market: A VC’s Perspective
Ashmeet Sidana, General Partner, Foundation Capital
April 5, 2012
California’s March Towards Sustainable Energy: Assessing the Record and Lessons for Future
Andrew McAllister, Managing Director, California Center for Sustainable Energy
March 29, 2012
Simulating Complex Systems: Applications to Energy
Dr. Charles Macal, Senior Systems Engineer, Argonne National Laboratory
March 22, 2012
The Energy Industry’s Media Triumphs and Disasters
Mark Fischetti, Energy and Environment Editor, Scientific American
March 8, 2012
National Oil Companies: Fueling Anxiety
Mark Thurber, Associate Director for Research, Program on Energy and Sustainable Development, Stanford
March 1, 2012
What the Characteristics of Wind and Solar Electric Power Production Mean for Their Future
Jay Apt, Professor of Technology, Tepper School of Business, Carnegie Mellon University
February 23, 2012
From Here to Eternity (and Beyond): Transforming to a Clean Energy Economy
David Crane, President and CEO, NRG Energy
February 16, 2012
Student Research Showcase
- Sudamsh Bai-Reddy, McCombs School of Business See PDF slides in a new window
- Benjamin Sigrin, Energy and Earth Resources and LBJ School of Public Affairs See PDF slides in a new window
- Dave Tuttle, Electrical and Computer Engineering See PDF slides in a new window
- Dan Weisberg, Pecan Street Inc. See PDF slides in a new window
February 8, 2012
Geopolitical Implications of Shale Gas
Amy Jaffe, Fellow in Energy Studies and Director of the Energy Forum, Baker Institute, Rice University
January 19, 2012
Utility of the Future
Roger Duncan, Research Analyst, Center for International Energy and Environmental Policy