Hydrogen Day 2026 Speakers

  • Adams_Elizabeth Headshot

    Elizabeth "Liz" Adams

    Business Development Manager, Center for Electromechanics (CEM), UT Austin

    Elizabeth A. Adams is the Business Development Manager with UT's Center for Electromechanics (CEM). In her 13+ years at CEM, Mrs. Adams has directly supported multiple energy research programs at CEM, including grid solutions and hydrogen energy systems. Mrs. Adams has authored multiple hydrogen policy papers and manages media features for CEM, including the Hydrogen ProtoHub, a first-of-its-kind hydrogen research facility and currently the only publicly available hydrogen fueling station in Texas.

    Mrs. Adams has also been foundational to the development of the International Center for Hydrogen Innovation (ICHI) and the Hydrogen ProtoHub’s Industrial Affiliates Program.  She also leads CEM’s Hydrogen Vehicle Ride Share Program. Through marketing efforts and community outreach, Mrs. Adams is actively advocating for a hydrogen energy economy in Texas. She looks forward to one day trading in her Tesla for a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle.

  • Andrew Cottone

    Andrew Cottone

    Founder and CEO of Athernium

    Andrew is an accomplished entrepreneur and process chemist with over 25 years of experience as a founder, executive, and visionary leader in the complex chemical manufacturing industry. He has overseen cutting-edge R&D and managed multi-site chemistry manufacturing operations. Andrew holds a bachelor‘s degree in chemistry and biochemistry from La Salle University and a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Florida. Prior to founding Aternium, Andrew co-founded Adesis in 2005, which was later acquired by Universal Display Corporation (NASDAQ: OLED) in 2016. He continued with the company for a decade, contributing to significant growth. His unique combination of entrepreneurial drive, strategic leadership, and deep expertise in chemical manufacturing positions Aternium for long-term success. 

  • Edward Herring

    Edward Herring

    Managing Partner and Co-Founder of Tailwater
  • Michael Lewis

    Michael Lewis

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

    Michael Lewis is the Director of the Center for Electromechanics (CEM) at The University of Texas at Austin. CEM’s mission is to transition Power and Energy Solutions into Products and Students into Leaders by providing a collaborative R&D environment where academia, government, and industry can come together to develop system-level power and energy solutions.

    Mr. Lewis has nearly 30 years of experience in advanced research and technology development. Over the past two decades, he has led CEM’s efforts in alternative fuels and renewable energy for transportation and stationary power applications, including hydrogen power and energy systems. His team has developed, built, and tested fuel cell hybrid vehicles and investigated other novel hydrogen energy system solutions, including hydrogen production, storage, and compression. Mr. Lewis currently runs the university’s Hydrogen ProtoHub, a first-of-its-kind hydrogen technology R&D facility, and is a co-investigator for the university’s role in the HyVelocity hydrogen hub.

  • Perry Jonathan

    Jonathan Perry

    President & CEO of ACES Delta, LLC

    Jonathan Perry serves as President & CEO, where he oversees the strategic direction of ACES. Over his career, Jonathan has managed operations in over 33 countries, where he was accountable for the safe and efficient execution of Chevron upstream asset development and exploration, enterprise asset retirement and environmental portfolios, major capital project delivery, and real estate. Most recently, Jonathan served as Vice President of Operations and Wells for Chevron Canada. 

    Jonathan joined Chevron in 2007 as a drill site manager after receiving his degree in civil engineering from Louisiana State University, and throughout his career, Corporate Social Responsibility has been a core tenet and focus in being a good partner in industry, with communities and governments. As a result, he’s led investment in lower-carbon and environmental initiatives, while also serving and supporting social and responsible business community organizations. 

  • Resasco_Joaquin headshot

    Joaquin Resasco

    Assistant Professor, McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin

    Joaquin Resasco was born in Mar del Plata, Argentina. He earned his Ph.D. at the University of California, Berkeley, under the guidance of Prof. Alex Bell, and was a postdoctoral scholar at the University of California, Santa Barbara, with Prof. Phil Christopher. Since 2021, Joaquin has been an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. Joaquin has received the DOE Early Career Award, the NSF CAREER Award, the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers Young Investigator Award, and the ACS PRF Doctoral New Investigator Award. He is a part of the Forbes 30 Under 30, AIChE’s 35 Under 35, and AIChE’s Pioneers in Chemical & Reaction Engineering.

  • Saad Saleh

    Saad Saleh

    Saad Saleh

    Dr. Saleh is a Research Consultant at the Bureau of Economic Geology and a Professor of Practice at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, both at the University of Texas at Austin. He was a faculty member at Rice University for two years before joining UT-Austin. Prior to joining Rice, Dr. Saleh worked at Shell International E&P Inc. for 27 years, first as a Research Engineer and later as General Manager of the Integrated Geoscience program in R&D. His research interests span the applications of advanced signal processing, control theory, and machine learning methods to a wide variety of Earth Science problems. Most recently, he has been Principal Investigator of a project for assessing the geologic hydrogen and helium resource potential in Texas. Dr. Saleh received a PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1991. 

  • Meng Tao

    Meng Tao

    Professor of Electrical Engineering at Arizona State University

    Dr. Meng Tao is a professor of electrical engineering at Arizona State University. His research focuses on clean energy technologies. It covers a wide range of topics from materials and devices to systems and applications. Current research projects include recycling technologies for solar panels; solar systems for green hydrogen production, electric vehicle charging, and power management in microgrids; and molten-salt electrorefining for solar-grade silicon. For the last two decades, he has been promoting clean energy at the national and global levels, including the initiation and launch of the US Photovoltaic Manufacturing Consortium in 2011 and the Global Hydrogen Production Technologies Center in 2023. Dr. Tao was a Fulbright Distinguished Chair in Alternative Energy at Chalmers University of Technology, an International Fellow at Adelaide University, and a visiting professor at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

  • Andy Uhler

    Andy Uhler

    Energy Reporter in Residence, Energy Institute, UT Austin

    Andy Uhler has spent most of his adult life on public radio, first reporting for KUT, Austin’s NPR affiliate and later as a national sustainability correspondent at American Public Media’s Marketplace. In 2023, Andy assumed the role of Energy Journalism Fellow at UT’s Energy Institute. He's now the Energy Reporter-in-Residence and produces a podcast about the energy transition and expansion throughout the Lone Star State called Phases And Stages: The Texas Energy Story.

    Andy has a Master’s degree in global policy studies from the LBJ School of Public Affairs. He continues to report for KUT, NPR, BBC, among others.