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 18, 2023
Job Creation Dynamics of Electric Vehicle Adoption
JR DeShazo, Dean of the LBJ School of Public Affairs, The University of Texas at Austin
April 11, 2023
Extreme Climate Risks and Financial Tipping Points
Gaël Giraud, Professor, McCourt School of Public Policy, Director of the Environmental Justice Program, Georgetown University
April 4, 2023
Energy and Evolution of Human Economic Order
Lisi Krall, Professor of Economics, State University of New York, Cortland
March 28, 2023
Life Cycle Assessment of Energy Transitions: the Geospatial Context of Global Change
Sarah Marie Jordaan, Associate Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, Trottier Institute for Sustainability in Engineering and Design (TISED), McGill University
March 21, 2023
PyPSA Meets Earth: A Vibrant Open Energy System Model Initiative
Stuart Daniel James, Research Associate for Energy System Modeling at Deggendorf Institute of Technology (DIT)
March 7, 2023
Storing Hydrogen in the Subsurface: Challenges and Opportunities for Low-carbon Energy
Peter Eichhubl, Senior Research Scientist at the Bureau of Economic Geology, The University of Texas at Austin
February 28, 2023
CCS: The Swiss Army Knife of Climate Change Mitigation and a Key to the Energy Transition
Alex Bump, Research Geologist, Gulf Coast Carbon Center, Bureau of Economic Geology, Jackson School of Geosciences, The University of Texas at Austin
February 21, 2023
Science and Engineering of Negative Emissions Technologies
Roger Aines, Chief Scientist, Energy and Homeland Security Program, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
February 14, 2023
Probing Electrochemical Phenomena in Electrochemical Hydrogen Technologies with Self-assembled Block Copolymer Templates
Christopher Arges, Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering, Penn State
February 7, 2023
Energy and the Impact of Incipient Shortages on Cities and Urbanization
William Rees, Professor Emeritus, Faculty of Applied Science, School of Community and Regional Planning at the University of British Columbia
January 31, 2023
General Motors' Path to Zero Emissions: A Wholistic View
Rob Threlkeld, Director of Global Energy Strategy for General Motors
January 24, 2023
Journalist Perspectives on Reporting on the Energy Industry
Andy Uhler, Energy Journalism Fellow, UT’s Energy Institute and Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy
Mose Buchele, Senior Correspondent, Energy & Environment, KUT (Austin's NPR Station)
January 17, 2023
Are Small-scale LNG Export Facilities Under-regulated in the US?
Jeremy Weber, Associate Professor, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, University of Pittsburgh
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