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 (Spring 2024): 60540 (graduate students) / 60245 (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.
Upcoming UT Energy Symposium Talks
Date | Speaker | Talk Title |
---|---|---|
4/1/2025 | Sanjay Bishnoi CEO, Entropy Inc. | Producing Low Carbon Power From Natural Gas and Carbon Capture Note: this talk will be held in San Jacinto Hall as part of UT Energy Week. |
4/8/2025 | Yonghong Chen Chief Scientist, Grid Planning and Analysis Center, National Renewable Energy Laboratory | Interregional Transmission Operational Coordination |
4/15/2025 | Lee Lynd Paul E. and Joan H. Queneau Distinguished Professor of Engineering & Adjunct Professor of Biology, Dartmouth University; Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer, Terragia Corporation | Cellulosic Biofuel 2.0 |
4/22/2025 | Sam Porter Co-Founder & CEO, NeuVentus | Texas Reliability Underground: How Salt Cavern Storage Enables the Energy Expansion & Transition |
UT Energy Symposium Talks
April 27, 2017
Redesigning Civilization: And Other Small Things
Matt Grocoff, Principal, THRIVE Collaborative
April 20, 2017
ExxonMobil 2017 Outlook for Energy: A View to 2040
Robert Gardner, Manager, Economics and Energy Division, Corporate Strategic Planning at ExxonMobil
April 13, 2017
The Evolving Utility Business Models – The Electric Cooperative Story
Peter Muhoro, Director of Energy Research and Strategies, Pedernales Electric Cooperative (PEC)
April 6, 2017
Mexican Energy Reform in a time of Insecurity
Lorne Matalon, UT Energy Journalism Fellow and reporter for National Public Radio in West Texas
March 30, 2017
Energy and the Anthropocene
David Biello, Science Curator at TED Conferences
March 23, 2017
U.S. & World Nuclear Energy
Dale Klein, Associate Vice Chancellor for Research for the UT System and Professor of Mechanical Engineering
March 9, 2017
The Geopolitics of Oil: Western Hemisphere Scenarios
Jorge Piñon, Director of UT Austin’s Latin America and Caribbean Energy Program
March 2, 2017
The Art of Doing Good Science: Experiences in Interdisciplinary Energy Research
Varun Rai, Associate Professor at the UT Austin LBJ School of Public Affairs
February 23, 2017
Building a smart grid through smart decision-making and smart organizations
Michael Legatt, CEO and Founder at ResilientGrid
February 16, 2017
Decoupling energy consumption from GDP under induced technological change
Eric Kemp-Benedict, Senior Scientist, Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI)
February 2, 2017
Climate Change, Methane, and the Global Oil and Gas system
Daniel Zavala, post-doctoral-scientist at the Environmental Defense Fund
January 26, 2017
Beyond the Texas Restructured Electric Markets Giving Power and Value to Consumer Energy Resources
Jon Wellinghoff, Chief Policy Officer at SolarCity and former Chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (2009 – 2013)