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
November 17, 2016
Dust to Dust, with a stop at the Stars: The NRG Story
George Schaefer, retired senior financial executive with over 30 years’ experience in the independent power industry
November 10, 2016
EPRI’s Integrated Grid
Barbara Tyran, Executive Director, Government & External Relations, Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI)
November 3, 2016
Power Markets, Regulation, and Utility Scale Solar in the U.S.
Colin Meehan, Director, Regulatory & Public Affairs, First Solar
October 27, 2016
Reforming the Energy Vision: An Electric System for Stormy Times
Elizabeth Stein, Senior Manager – New York Clean Energy Law & Policy, Environmental Defense Fund
October 20, 2016
Fail Faster, Be Nimbler: Does the Oil & Gas Industry Have Anything to Learn from Silicon Valley?
Russell Gold, senior energy reporter at The Wall Street Journal
October 13, 2016
Cash is King! The Comparative Effectiveness of Solar Incentives
Dan Matisoff, Associate Professor, The School of Public Policy, Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts, Georgia Tech
October 6, 2016
New Utility Business Models for an Evolving Industry
Virginia Lacy, Principal, RMI Electricity Practice
September 29, 2016
ERCOT and the Evolving Grid: 2016 Perspectives
Paul Wattles, Senior Analyst, Market Design, ERCOT
September 22, 2016
Who is that Man Behind the Curtain? Philanthropy’s Role in the Transition to Clean Energy
Marilu Hastings, Vice President, Sustainability Program, The Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation
September 15, 2016
What is the World Coming To: From Energy Systems to Global Crisis Analysis and Response
Yaneer Bar-Yam, President, New England Complex Systems Institute
September 8, 2016
Distributed Energy Resources – Driving Multi-Disciplined Innovation
Bert Haskell, Chief Technology Officer, Pecan Street Inc.
September 1, 2016
Global progress in Carbon Capture and Storage – field demonstrations with emphasis on the storage component
Dr. Susan Hovorka, Senior Research Scientist, Bureau of Economic Geology, The University of Texas at Austin
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