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
November 29, 2022
(Book Talk) America's Energy Gamble: People, Economy and Planet
Shanti Gamper-Rabindran, Associate Professor, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, University of Pittsburgh
November 15, 2022
Student Symposium with Guest Speakers Matthew Dean and Justin S. Davenport
Matthew Dean, NSF Graduate Research Fellow and PhD Candidate in the Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin
Justin S. Davenport, JD Candidate, School of Law, The University of Texas at Austin
November 8, 2022
Lessons from the Real World (Science & Nature > Government Policies & Regulations)
Bill Flores, Vice-Chair and Independent Board Member, Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT); Former Member of Congress—U.S. House of Representatives (2011-2021)
November 1, 2022
The Pros & Cons of Being a Municipal Utility in a Future With More Renewable Electricity
Erika Bierschbach, Vice President of Energy Market Operations & Resource Planning, Austin Energy
October 25, 2022
Energy Prices and the World Economy
James Hamilton, Professor, Economics, University of California San Diego
October 18, 2022
Loving the Alien: CO2 Deserves Our Affection but Save a Seat for Some Other Surprising Climate Change Allies
Jan Mertens, Chief Science Officer, ENGIE Research, Professor, Ghent University
October 11, 2022
An Oxford-Style Debate on University Fossil Fuel Divestment
Debate participants include: Cutler Cleveland, Dan Cohn, Bradford Cornell, and Brent Bennett
Moderated by: Carey King
October 4, 2022
Stranded Fossil-Fuel Assets Translate to Major Losses for Investors in Advanced Economics
Gregor Semieniuk, Assistant Research Professor, Political Economy Research Institute and Department of Economics, University of Massachusetts Amherst
September 27, 2022
Building a Molten Salt Research Reactor in Texas by 2025
Derek Haas, Associate Professor, Mechanical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin
Kevin Clarno, Associate Professor, Mechanical Engineering (NEXTRA), The University of Texas at Austin
September 20, 2022
Constraints and Opportunities for Human Futures - A Systems Overview
Nathan Hagens, Director, The Institute for the Study of Energy and Our Future (ISEOF)
September 13, 2022
Generating Hydrogen in the Sub-surface
Ian Duncan, GeoH2 Industrial Affiliate Program, State of Texas Advanced Resource Recovery Group, Bureau of Economic Geology, The University of Texas at Austin
September 6, 2022
Findings from the Micro-to-Macro Scale Energy and Economic Systems Modeling Initiative of UT Austin
Balasubramanian Sambasivam and Suman Saurabh, Post-doctoral Fellows, Energy Institute, The University of Texas at Austin
These presentations are part of the effort of the Micro-to-Macro Initiative funded via the Energy Institute. Click here to read more.
August 30, 2022
Meeting wind energy expectations: The cross disciplinary challenge.
Paul Veers, Senior Research Fellow - National Renewable Energy Laboratory