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

DateSpeakerTalk Title
1/20/2026Jean-François Mercure | Professor of Climate Policy, University of Exeter Business School (UK), Director of the unit Exeter Climate PolicyGlobal scenarios for Ministries of Finance to Inform Resilient Economic Transformation to Zero-Carbon
1/27/2026Tom Murphy | Emeritus Professor of Physics, Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of California at San DiegoQuestioning Modernity: What does Energy Do?
2/10/2026Jake Jordan | Chief Science Officer, Mati CarbonTBD
2/17/2026Michael Craig | Associate Professor, School for Environment and Sustainability and the Department of Industrial and Operations Engineering, University of MichiganDecarbonizing the Electric Power Sector in a Warming World 
2/24/2026Aditya Ramji | Director, Global South Centre on Clean Transportation, University of California, DavisShaping Industrial Policy with Vehicle Electrification - Analysing Global EV supply chains and implications
3/3/2026Kelly Sims Gallagher | Dean of The Fletcher School at Tufts UniversityShifting Priorities in U.S. Energy Innovation Policy
3/10/2026Joe DeCarolis | Head and Professor, Department of Engineering and Public Policy, Carnegie Mellon UniversityLeveraging Energy Data and Analysis to Navigate a Rapidly Changing Energy Landscape
3/24/2026Sara Eftekharnejad | Associate Professor, SyracuseCoE Faculty Fellow, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Syracuse UniversityTBD
3/31/2026Kyle Chan | Fellow – Foreign Policy, John L. Thornton China Center, Brookings InstitutionChina’s Clean Tech Industrial Strategy
4/7/2026Michael Baldea | Professor, Chemical Engineering, UT AustinElectrification of Industry for lower-carbon emissions, the EPIX project
4/14/2026Sindhu Nathan | U.S. House Committee on Science and TechnologyTBD
4/21/2026Erica Belmont | Associate Professor, Mechanical Engineering, University of WyomingTBD

UT Energy Symposium Talks

Displaying 176 - 200 of 351

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

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November 8, 2018

Innovating for a Clean Energy Future

Kate Zerrenner, Senior Manager, Energy-Water Initiatives, Environmental Defense Fund

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October 25, 2018

Addressing Energy Poverty in Texas

Dana Harmon, Director, Texas Energy Poverty Research Institute

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October 18, 2018

Shale: The Revolution That Wasn’t

Richard Chuchla, Director, Energy and Earth Resources program, Jackson School of Geosciences

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October 11, 2018

Renewables and electricity market design

Peter Cramton, Professor of Economics, University of Cologne and University of Maryland

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October 4, 2018

Transitioning to electricity as a fuel: challenges and opportunities for remaking our refueling infrastructure

Mike Nicholas, Senior Researcher, The International Council on Clean Transportation

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September 27, 2018

What We Measure Matters – US Electricity in the Future

Robert Hebner, Director, Center for Electromechanics, The University of Texas at Austin

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September 20, 2018

Creative Destruction and the Electric Utility of the Future

David Hurlbut, Senior Analyst at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory

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September 13, 2018

Fuel Taxation, Emissions Policy, and Competitive Advantage in the Diffusion of European Diesel Automobiles

Eugenio J. Miravete, Professor, Department of Economics, The University of Texas at Austin

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September 6, 2018

How Energy Fits into the History of the World in Seven Cheap Things

Raj Patel, Research Professor, LBJ School of Public Affairs

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April 26, 2018

Planet Texas 2050: A UT Austin Grand Challenge

Jay Banner, ESI | Richard Corsi, CAEE | Michael Young, BEG | Heather Houser, English

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April 19, 2018

Adapting from grid to cloud

Bill Cannon, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Environment & Infrastructure Group Sumitomo Corporation of Americas

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April 12, 2018

Will the internet of things change the electric business?

Robert J. King, President, Good Company Associates

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April 5, 2018

Global Energy Impact of a Developing China; and India?

Fred Beach, Assistant Director for Policy Studies, Energy Institute, The University of Texas at Austin

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March 29, 2018

To Uber or Not to Uber: Economic and Energetic Tradeoffs

Todd Davidson, Research Associate, Energy Institute and Webber Energy Group, The University of Texas at Austin

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March 22, 2018

A Proposed Framework for Rebooting the Study of Economics

Garvin Boyle, principal designer and programmer, Orrery Software

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March 8, 2018

Personal Reflections on California’s Leadership in Environmental Policy

Alan Lloyd, Research Fellow, Energy Institute, UT Austin; Former Secretary, California EPA; Former Chair, California Air Resources Board

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March 1, 2018

Global gas demand and US LNG exports

Gürcan Gülen, Research Scientist, Bureau of Economic Geology, Jackson School of Geosciences

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February 22, 2018

Coal in India: History and Persistence

Rohit Chandra, PhD Student, Kennedy School at Harvard

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February 15, 2018

February 8, 2018

Aramco and Saudi Arabia – Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

David Kultgen,  General Counsel and Senior Vice President, Arabian American Oil Company (retired)

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