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 29th semester in fall 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.
Upcoming UT Energy Symposium Talks
Date | Speaker | Talk Title |
|---|---|---|
| 11/4/2025 | Michael Howland | Esther and Harold E. Edgerton Assistant Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology | Powering Decarbonization With Modeling and Optimization of Renewables in the Changing Environment |
| 11/11/2025 | Chris Kennedy | Professor, Institute for Integrated Energy Systems, University of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada | Energy and Economic Regimes |
| 11/18/2025 | Leah Ellis | CEO and Co-founder, Sublime Systems | Energy-Efficient Cement Manufacturing |
| 12/2/2025 | Andrew Fix | Assistant Professor, Maseeh Department of Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin | Moisture Matters: Leveraging Water Vapor-Selective Membranes in the Built Environment |
UT Energy Symposium Talks
November 7, 2019
Making Science Communication More Strategic
Dr. John Besley, Ellis N. Brandt Professor of Public Relations at Michigan State University
October 31, 2019
Energy & Emissions Implications of Self-Driving Vehicles
Kara Kockelman, the Dewitt Greer Professor of Civil, Architectural & Environmental Engineering, University of Texas at Austin
October 24, 2019
Technology progress and physical constraints on tight oil production
Frank Male, postdoctoral fellow in the Center for Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin
October 17, 2019
Which Costs Less to Power Our Future - Fossil Fuel or Clean Energy?
Mike Sloan, Virtus Energy Research Associates
October 10, 2019
The 10th Birthday of Perovskite Solar Cells - Will They Ever Grow Up?
Tim Siegler, postdoctoral researcher in the McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin
October 3, 2019
Elements of Energy: Considering the Role of Critical Metals
Dr. Saleem Ali, Blue and Gold Distinguished Professor of Energy and the Environment at the University of Delaware
September 26, 2019
Fighting Over Eden: Energy, Environment and Religion in Modern America
Asher Price, Journalist, Austin American-Statesman and 2109 Energy Institute Journalism Fellow
September 19, 2019
Toyota Sustainable Mobility
Edward Mantey, GVP and Executive Advisor of Corporate Strategy & Planning and R&D at Toyota Motor North America
September 12, 2019
A Discussion on the State of Energy Policy and the Role of Energy Markets
Brent Bennett, Policy Analyst, Texas Public Policy Foundation
May 2, 2019
Thoughtful Pathways on Emissions Reductions and the Implications of Policy-Driven Electrification
Managing Director, Energy Analysis, American Gas Association
April 25, 2019
Powerless: The impact of Hurricane Maria and The Transformation of Puerto Rico’s Energy Sector
Eliván Martínez Mercado, UT Energy Journalism Fellow
April 18, 2019
Human Right to Energy
Monika Ehrman, Faculty Director, Oil & Gas, Natural Resources, and Energy Center (ONE C), The University of Oklahoma College of Law
April 11, 2019
Scientific Oversight of Climate Policy: Lessons from California
Mason Inman, lead analyst, Near Zero
April 4, 2019
Global Warming arrested and Catastrophic Climate Change averted with one action by 12 people – The BigDO (REMOTE TALK)
Susan Krumdieck, Professor, Mech. Eng., University of Canterbury New Zealand
March 28, 2019
Brazil Oil & Gas Sector: 20 yr look-back at Policy vs Impact on Investments
Carla Lacerda, President, ExxonMobil Brazil
March 14, 2019
Economic models need biophysical principles: Otherwise we can’t explain our energy past or future
Carey King, Assistant Director and Research Scientist, UT Austin Energy Institute
March 7, 2019
Hawaii, a Postcard from the Future
Adam Warren, Director, Integrated Applications Center, NREL
February 28, 2019
Revisiting business-as-usual: why our worst-case climate scenarios aren’t as bad as we thought and 2˚ is more readily achievable
Justin Ritchie, Postdoctoral Fellow, Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability, University of British Columbia
February 21, 2019
Getting to zero: what will it take to decarbonize electricity and will the Green New Deal help?
Jesse Jenkins, Postdoctoral Environmental Fellow, Harvard Kennedy School | Harvard University Center for the Environment
February 14, 2019
How and why people disagree on future energy issues, and broader social/economic outcomes related to energy systems: a discussion
David Spence, Carey King and Fred Beach, UT Austin
February 7, 2019
California Energy Policy in Crisis
Michael Wara, Director, Climate and Energy Policy Program, Senior Research Scholar, Woods Institute for the Environment, Stanford University
January 31, 2019
Non-Renewable Resources, Extraction Technology, and Economic Growth
Martin Stuermer, Sr. Research Economist, Research Dept., Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas
November 29, 2018
Geopolitical and energy trade affected by China’s rise
David Firestein, Executive Director, China Public Policy Center; Clinical Professor of Public Affairs, LBJ School, UT Austin
November 15, 2018
Book talk: Great American Outpost: Dreamers, Mavericks and the Making of an Oil Frontier
Maya Rao, Washington correspondent for the Minneapolis Star-Tribune writer and author of Great American Outpost: Dreamers, Mavericks and the Making of an Oil Frontier