Thursday, November 29, 2012

11/30 - ASPO 2012 Conference

The Next Oil Crisis: Is the Boom Just Another Bubble?

ASPO-USA will host an energy conference on The University of Texas campus Friday, November 30 and Saturday, December 1. The event is co-hosted by McCombs School of Business, Cockrell School of Engineering, and the UT Energy Institute.

Go to the event website for more information: 
http://www.cvent.com/events/the-next-oil-crisis-is-the-boom-just-another-bubble-/event-summary-11a8c07f60dd41a2a53842ecdf190d3f.aspx

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Energy Rodeo 2013

The Energy Rodeo is designed for individuals interested in pursuing a career in the energy industry. Areas of focus include: energy trading, energy investment banking,resume writing and review, graduate school selection, and question & answers sessions. More importantly, attendees will have ample opportunities to meet and network with experienced energy professionals and conference speakers. Direct exposure and one-on-one time with experts in this specialized field sets our conference apart from other career fairs.

The target audience for the Energy Rodeo Conference consists of current college students -undergraduate and graduate seeking entry with a competitive edge into the energy industry. All panel speakers will attend the networking reception following the day conference to provide individualized feedback and information about their respective companies. Attendees will walk away from the Energy Rodeo Conference experience with a larger professional network, a stronger resume, extensive knowledge about the energy industry, and an acute awareness of their post-graduate professional goals.

Go to http://www.eventbrite.com/event/4552960026# for more information and to reserve your place.
The Energy Rodeo will be on Saturday, February 9 and will include companies including OTC Global Holding, Trafigura, Citigroup and Noble Energy.

Monday, November 26, 2012

Officer Applications are OPEN

We are now accepting applications for Texas Energy Forum's 2013 officers. Click on the "Apply" tab in the top right for more information. Applications are due January 15th.

Thursday, November 22, 2012

11/27 - TEF Hosts a Student Panel

We would like to invite you to join us for our final meeting of the semester as we host a panel of students with jobs in the Energy and Investment Banking industries. The meeting will be THIS Tuesday, November 27th, 7-8pm in GSB 3.130. We will also be discussing the application process for positions within Texas Energy Forum.

The student panel will represent those with jobs in the Energy and Investment Banking Industry. The students will talk about their summer experiences, future jobs, and interview process with a Q&A to follow. Those on the panel have held or will hold jobs from Barclays, Credit Suisse, Greenhill, Chevron, and Magnum Hunter Resources.

It will be open to all UT students free of charge. Free pizza and drinks will also be provided, but seating will be limited so please arrive early.


Monday, November 12, 2012

11/15 - UTES Lecture: Building (and Maintaining) Competitive Advantage in Clean Manufacturing

Building (and Maintaining) Competitive Advantage in Clean Manufacturing
  Alan Goodrich
Thursday, November 15, 5:15 PM 
Mezes Hall 1.306. Refreshments served at 5pm
 
About the speaker:
Alan Goodrich has more than ten years of experience conducting techno economic analysis in support of R&D management and business development decisions, including as a management consultant to Fortune 500 firms, such as Johnson & Johnson, General Motors, General Electric, Corning, Dow Chemical, and Eastman Chemical. Alan joined the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in 2009 where he serves as the lead analyst for the Solar PV Cost Analysis team, which provides critical analytical support to strategic R&D decisions facing DOE, NREL, and Industry partners. Alan’s research activities and the team’s scope of work include: solar PV module manufacturing costs, materials resource availability, and the installed cost of solar PV systems. 
 
Alan holds a B.S. in Industrial and Management Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s School of Decision Sciences and Engineering, and a MBA from the University of Colorado, Boulder.

Saturday, November 10, 2012

11/12 - Swith, documentry about our energy future

What: Free screening of the film Switch, a documentary about our energy future, followed by a Q&A with Scott Tinker, director of the Bureau of Economic Geology
When: Monday, November 12, 7:00-9:00 pm
Where: Student Activity Center Auditorium (SAC 1.402)

Come early for free pizza at 6:30pm in the Jackson Geosciences Building Student Center, across the east mall from the Student Activity Center.

Background: In 2009, documentary filmmaker Harry Lynch and geologist Dr. Scott Tinker set out to make a film on our transition from the current fossil fuel dominated energy system to a more diversified system. The goal was not to advocate for one technology over another, not to suggest how the transition should happen -- but to try to determine how it actually would happen, based on scientifically-sound investigation and the practical realities of the world of energy as we discovered them. The result, is Switch.

The event, which is free and open to public, is sponsored by the Jackson School of Geosciences and the Austin Geological Society.

http://www.switchenergyproject.com/

Monday, November 5, 2012

11/8 - UTES Lecture: Energy in Media: A Journalist's Perspective on Covering Energy

Energy in Media: A Journalist's Perspective on Covering Energy
  Kate Galbraith
Thursday, November 8, 5:15 PM 
Mezes Hall 1.306. Refreshments served at 5pm
About the speaker:
Kate Galbraith covers energy and environment for the Texas Tribune. Kate reported on clean energy for The New York Times from 2008 to 2009, serving as the lead writer for the Times' Green blog. She began her career at The Economist in 2000 and spent 2005 to 2007 in Austin as the magazine's Southwest correspondent. A Nieman fellow in journalism at Harvard University from 2007 to 2008, she has an undergraduate degree in English from Harvard and a master's degree from the London School of Economics.

Monday, October 29, 2012

11/1 - UTES Lecture: Climate Change and Geoengineering Panel Discussion

Climate Change and Geoengineering Panel Discussion
  J. Eric Bickel and Lee Lane
Thursday, November 1, 5:15 PM 
Mezes Hall 1.306. Refreshments served at 5pm
About the speakers:
Prof. J. Eric Bickel is a professor in the Graduate Program in Operations Research and Industrial Engineering (ORIE) and the Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering (PGE) at The University of Texas at Austin. He is also a fellow in the Center for International Energy and Environmental Policy (CIEEP) and the Center for Petroleum Asset Risk Management (CPARM). His research interests include the theory and practice of decision analysis and its application in the energy and climate-change arenas. His research has addressed the use of climate engineering to combat climate change, the modeling of probabilistic dependence, value of information, scoring rules, calibration, and risk preference. Prof. Bickel holds a MS and PhD degree in Engineering-Economic Systems from Stanford University.
Lee Lane is a Visiting Scholar at the Hudson Institute since 2010; he is also a senior consultant at Charles River Associates. Mr. Lane has been Co-Director of the Geoengineering Project at the American Enterprise Institute, Executive Director of the Climate Policy Center, Vice President for Research at CSX Corporation, Vice President for Policy at the Association of American Railroads, and he founded the consulting firm Policy Services, Inc. He is the author of Strategic Options for the Bush Administration Climate Policy, and he has authored or co-authored numerous policy briefing papers, articles, and book chapters. He received his B.A. degree with honors from the University of Wisconsin, where he also completed two years of post-graduate work in European history.

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

10/25 - UTES Lecture: Carbon Capture and Storage Panel Discussion

Carbon Capture and Storage Panel Discussion
  Gary Rochelle, Susan Hovorka, and Douglas Huey
Thursday, October 25, 5:15 PM 
Mezes Hall 1.306. Refreshments served at 5pm
 
About the speakers
Our speakers this week are recognized leaders in research and development in carbon capture and storage technology.
 
Prof. Gary Rochelle is the Carol and Henry Groppe Professor in Chemical Engineering at UT's Cockrell School of Engineering. He is director of the Rochelle lab and the Luminant Carbon Management Program in the Cockrell School. Prof. Rochelle received his B.S. and M.S. in chemical engineering at MIT and his Ph.D. in chemical engineering at UC Berkeley. Prof. Rocehelle has published extensively in top journals and has also consulted a variety of government and private institutions, ranging from the EPA to Exxon Research.
 
Dr. Susan Hovorka is a Senior Research SCienists at the Bureau of Economic Geology at UT and principal investigator at the Bureau’s Gulf Coast Carbon Center. Dr. Hovorka earned her B.A. in geology from Earlham college and her M.A. and Ph.D. in Geology from UT. Dr. Hovorka’s research focuses on assessment of the cost, safety and effectiveness of this mechanism for reducing atmospheric greenhouse gas emissions. She is currently leading teams in field pilot CO2 injections to assess the cost, safety, and effectiveness of geologic sequestration as a mechanism for reducing atmospheric greenhouse gas emissions.
 
Doug Huey is a Commercial Leader in GE Energy's gasification licensing business, a leading provider of cleaner coal technology.  Before joining GE, Mr. Huey held positions in International Business Development with BP and Amoco, and Sales and Marketing positions in specialty chemicals and engineered products businesses.  He earned his MBA from Wharton and holds a Chemical Engineering degree from the University of Rochester.

Monday, October 15, 2012

10/18 - UTES Lecture: Gas-Power Nexus: A Closer Look at the Gas Value-Chain in Power Production


Gas-Power Nexus: A Closer Look at the 
Gas Value-Chain in Power Production
 Eric Bradley
Vice President, Strategy for GDF SUEZ North America
Thursday, October 18, 5:15 PM 
Mezes Hall 1.306. Refreshments served at 5pm

About the speaker:
Eric is Vice President, Strategy for GDF SUEZ North America and is responsible for setting business priorities for GDF SUEZ’s gas and power interests in the United States, Canada and Mexico. In this capacity, he has been most recently involved in identifying investment opportunities and priorities in Mexico, as well as asset restructurings in the United States.

Prior to GDF SUEZ, Eric was with Reliant Energy where he held a number of leadership positions within the Retail electricity business, with his last role there as the head of the Small
Commercial segment. Eric worked earlier in his career as a Management Consultant with Arthur D. Little and McKinsey & Co advising companies in the power generation, petroleum and petrochemical industries on strategy/M&A, market entry and performance improvement issues. He began his career with Exxon in various technical and project management positions.

Eric holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Drexel University; an M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Illinois as a 3M Corporation Fellow; and an M.B.A. from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

10/16 - UT Energy Poll

The University of Texas at Austin Energy Poll, developed by the McCombs School of Business’ Energy Management and Innovation Center, seeks to provide an objective, authoritative look at consumer attitudes and perspectives on key energy issues. It is designed to help inform national discussion, business planning and policy development. Conducted biannually, the online poll rates leadership on energy issues, measures consumers’ energy priorities, and tracks knowledge and energy consumption behaviors. The poll is a collaborative effort of academics, polling experts, nongovernmental organizations, large energy users and energy producers.

The third release of of the UT Energy Poll will be tomorrow at the National Press Club in Washington D.C. See http://www.utenergypoll.com/ for more information and the results tomorrow.

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

10/11 - UTES Lecture: Charging ahead: Electric vehicles and the eVgo network

Charging ahead: Electric vehicles and the eVgo network
Arun Banskota
President of Electric Vehicle Services, NRG Energy 
Thursday, October 11, 5:15 PM 
Mezes Hall 1.306. Refreshments served at 5pm 
 
About the speaker:
Arun Banskota is President of NRG Energy’s Electric Vehicle Services, also known as eVgo. Previously, Arun led NRG’s Texas Wholesale Generation business, including a portfolio of 11,000 megawatts of diverse generation with over $1.2 billion in earnings and numerous development projects. Arun has more than 20 years of experience in developing, financing and managing renewable and fossil energy projects around the world. He served as the Managing Director of Global Power, the power generation business unit of El Paso Corporation, where he was responsible for 32 power plants in 14 countries with a generation capacity of 6,500 megawatts and a diverse portfolio of development projects. As Vice President of project development for OptiSolar (a start-up venture, later acquired by First Solar) Arun successfully built a backlog of solar projects totaling more than 1,500 megawatts. 
 
eVgo (ee-vee-go) is part of NRG Energy Inc., a Fortune 500 company at the forefront of changing how people think about and use energy.  eVgo’s investment of approximately $150 million will provide hundreds of eVgo Freedom Station public fast-charging sites along with individual charging stations at homes, offices, multifamily communities, schools and hospitals across our networks in Texas, California and the Washington DC, Maryland, Virginia region. 

Monday, October 1, 2012

10/3 - UTES Lecture: The Global Diffusion of Cleaner Energy Technologies

The Global Diffusion of Cleaner Energy Technologies
Professor Kelly Sims Gallagher
Wednesday, October 3, 12:15 PM   
Bass Lecture Hall (SRH 3) basement. Light lunch served at 12pm 
 
About the speaker:
Prof. Gallagher is Associate Professor of Energy and Environmental Policy at The Fletcher School, Tufts University.  She directs the Energy, Climate, and Innovation (ECI) research program in the Center for International Environment and Resource Policy.  She is also Senior Associate and a member of the Board of Directors of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University, where she previously directed the Energy Technology Innovation Policy (ETIP) research group. Broadly, she focuses on energy and climate policy in both the United States and China. She is particularly interested in the role of policy in spurring the development and deployment of cleaner and more efficient energy technologies, domestically and internationally. She speaks Spanish and basic Mandarin Chinese, and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
 
In addition to her own ground-breaking research, Prof. Gallagher’s current research collaborators include Dr. Xuan Xiaowei of the Development Research Center of the State Council of China, Prof. Arnulf Grubler of Yale University and IIASA, Prof. Gregory Nemet of the University of Wisconsin, Dr. Charlie Wilson of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research in the UK. Prof. Gallagher’s recent and upcoming books include No Great Wall: The Global Diffusion of Clean Energy Technologies, Acting in Time on Energy Policy, and China Shifts Gears: Automakers, Oil, Pollution, and Development.

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

9/28 - Alternative Investments Conference

The Alternative Investment Conference is a unique event which is designed to facilitate interaction between alternative investment managers, investors, faculty and students. The conference will feature a keynote speaker and four panel discussions addressing issues relating to Private Equity, Natural Resource Investments, Hedge Fund and Real Estate investments. It will also provide opportunities for informal discussions and networking among conference attendees.

Sign up and get more info here.

10/2 - TEF Hosts Southwestern Energy Company

THE TEXAS ENERGY FORUM HOSTS:
SOUTHWESTERN ENERGY COMPANY
TUES, OCT 2, 7-8pm, GSB 3.130
Join us as we host Matt Sicinski (Assistant Controller), Cody Dreibelbis (Accountant II), and Shashil Patel (Senior Accountant) from Southwestern Energy Company. They will be speaking on oil and gas accounting.

The presentation will be on Tuesday, October 2nd, 7-8pm in GSB 3.130. It will be open to all UT students free of charge. Free pizza and drinks will also be provided, but seating will be limited so please arrive early.


Southwestern Energy Company is a growing independent energy company primarily engaged in natural gas and crude oil exploration, development and production within North America. They are also focused on creating and capturing additional value through their natural gas gathering and marketing businesses, which is referred to as Midstream Services.

Bios:

Matt Sicinski, Assistant Controller, joined Southwestern Energy Company (“SWN”) in 2009 and is responsible for SWN’s fixed asset accounting, joint interest billings, accounts payable, international accounting, new ventures accounting, and the accounting for SWN’s oilfield service subsidiaries.  Prior to joining SWN, Matt worked at Key Energy Services (“Key”) where he was responsible for Key’s external reporting with the Securities and Exchange Commission.  Previous experiences also include employment with Ernst & Young LLP and Arthur Andersen LLP from 2000 through 2007 where he focused on assurance services for a variety of clients in the oilfield services and E&P industries as a Certified Public Accountant.  He earned an integrated B.B.A and M.B.A in accounting from Angelo State University where he ran collegiate track and cross country.

Cody Dreibelbis, Accountant II, joined Southwestern Energy Company (“SWN”) in 2010 and is currently a member of the Internal Controls & Compliance group. He completed the two-year rotational program where he rotated through SEC Financial Reporting, Revenue, Gas Gathering, and Gas Marketing. He earned a B.B.A from Sam Houston State University and M.P.A from The University of Texas at Austin.

Shashil Patel, Senior Accountant, joined SWN in 2011. She is currently in the Internal Controls & Compliance group and has been working heavily on security and controls during the EBS (Oracle) implementation project. Prior to joining SWN, Shashil worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (“PwC”), where she focused on audit and assurance services for several upstream oil & gas companies as a Certified Public Accountant. She earned an integrated B.B.A. and M.P.A. from the University of Texas at Austin. 

Thursday, September 20, 2012

9/25 - TEF Hosts Prudential Capital Group

THE TEXAS ENERGY FORUM HOSTS:
PRUDENTIAL CAPITAL GROUP
TUES, SEPT 25, 7-8pm, GSB 3.130
Join us as we host Brian Thomas from Prudential Capital Group. He will be speaking on energy and power private investing.
The presentation will be on Tuesday, September 25th, 7-8pm in GSB 3.130. It will be open to all UT students free of charge. Free pizza and drinks will also be provided, but seating will be limited so please arrive early.

Brian Thomas is the Managing Director of Prudential Capital Group’s Energy Finance Group: Oil & Gas. He oversees the private placement activity in the Energy Finance Group’s oil & gas sectors consisting of a $6.1 billion portfolio (as of 6/30/12) of senior debt, mezzanine debt and private equity investments. Prior to this role, Brian served as Senior Vice President in Prudential Capital responsible for energy and corporate finance investments in the Dallas office-based territories: Gulf Coast and Louisiana. He joined Prudential in 1995. Brian received a BBA and an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin.

Friday, September 7, 2012

9/11 - TEF Hosts Raymond James

THE TEXAS ENERGY FORUM HOSTS:
RAYMOND JAMES
TUES, SEPT 11, 7-8pm, GSB 5.142A
Join us as we host Scott McNeill and Tony Ceci from Raymond James. They will be speaking on Investment Banking and Natural Resources.

The presentation will be on Tuesday, September 11th, 7-8pm in GSB 5.142A. It will be open to all UT students free of charge. Free pizza and drinks will also be provided, but seating will be limited so please arrive early.

Scott McNeill -
Scott McNeill, Managing Director, joined the Energy Group of Raymond James in 1998 and is focused on the energy service and equipment sector.  Scott has significant experience executing M&A and financing transactions for E&P, energy service & equipment, and midstream companies with over 100 transactions completed totaling $20 billion of value.  Prior to joining Raymond James, Scott worked with Arthur Andersen focusing on middle-market companies in the Enterprise Group and is licensed as a Certified Public Accountant.  He earned a B.B.A in accounting with a concentration in information systems from Baylor University and an M.B.A with honors from the University of Texas at Austin.

Tony Ceci -
Tony Ceci joined the Energy Group at Raymond James in 2012 and is active in mergers and acquisitions, public offerings and private placements within the energy industry.  Prior to joining Raymond James, Tony was employed by General Electric, where he held various positions in finance, including financial planning and analysis, commercial and manufacturing finance.  He is a graduate of GE’s Financial Management Program and served on GE’s Corporate Audit Staff.  Tony received an M.B.A, with honors, from The University of Texas at Austin and holds a B.A. with distinction in Economics from Connecticut College.

Monday, April 30, 2012

5/2 - “Financing Nuclear Projects" Panel Discussion

Financing Nuclear Projects" Panel Discussion, 
Reception and EMIC Member Dinner 

May 2, 2012, 5:00-9:00 p.m. 
AT&T Conference Center on the UT Campus, Austin, TX 

Panelists include Dale Klein, an Associate Director of UT’s Energy Institute and formerly the Chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and Brant Meleski, Managing Director of Bank of America Merrill Lynch. The panel discussion and reception will be open to UT faculty, students and the public. Dinner is reserved for EMIC members and panelists. RSVP to tanya.andrien@mccombs.utexas.edu.

5/3 - UTES Lecture: Americans’ Vehicle and Travel Choices

Americans' Vehicle and Travel Choices: Opportunities for Plug-In Vehicles in the Nation's Fleet Evolution
by
Dr. Kara Kockelman
and William J. Murray Jr.

3 May, 5:15-6:15pm
MEZ 1.306 (MEZES HALL)
Open to all. Refreshments served at 5:00pm
Please settle in by 5:10pm
 
Speaker
Dr. Kara Kockelman
 
Professor of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin, Dr. Kockelman holds PhD, MS, and BS degrees in civil engineering, a Masters of City Planning, and a minor in economics from the University of California at Berkeley. She has received an NSF CAREER Award, U.C. Berkeley’s University Medal, MIT’s Technology Review Magazine Top 100 Innovators award, CUTC’s inaugural Young Faculty Award, RSAI’s Hewings Award, and ASCE’s Harland Bartholomew Award and Huber Prize. She served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Andes of Ecuador, and has advised UT’s student chapters of Engineers Without Borders, Society of Women Engineers, and Women in Transportation Studies.
 
Dr. Kockelman's primary research interests include energy and climate issues (vis-à-vis transport and land use decisions), the statistical modeling of urban systems (including models of travel behavior, trade, and location choice), forecasting transport policy impacts and crash consequences. She is an author of over 100 published papers – the majority of these with her terrific UT students. Recent and current projects include NSF grants for spatial econometric models of discrete response and studies of plug-in-electric-vehicle ownership and use, an NSF RCN on sustainable cities, an EPA STAR grant for land use, transport, and air quality models, NCHRP projects on demand modeling of non-motorized travel and tolled roadways, and TxDOT projects for holistic evaluation of competing network improvement projects and the development of a transportation economics reference for practitioners.
 
Abstract
 
Transportation constitutes nearly 20 percent of household expenditures, 30 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and 70 percent of domestic petroleum consumption. In a world of volatile fuel prices, energy security issues, and climate concerns, it is imperative to understand and accurately model how vehicle ownership and usage patterns – and associated traffic conditions, land use patterns, petroleum use, and emissions – can change under different policies and contexts. This presentation offers new data on ownership decisions and traveler preferences, coupled with behavioral models for microsimulating the nation’s personal-fleet evolution under various scenarios. It examines adoption opportunities for plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) under long-run travel patterns, PEV cost effectiveness, and the performance of integrated land use-transport models in urban-system simulations. Modeled scenarios reflect different gas prices, PEV pricing, feebate policies, urban-growth boundaries, and network pricing.
 
In the long term, widespread adoption and use of alternative-fuel vehicles will depend on thoughtful marketing, competitive pricing, government incentives, reliable driving-range reports, energy pricing shifts, and – in the case of PEVs – adequate charging infrastructure. This presentation highlights many of the directions U.S. households, and their GHG emissions, may head, while describing methods for simulating the broader urban system.
 

Monday, April 23, 2012

4/26 - UTES Lecture: The Future of Water in Texas, and What It Means for Energy

The Future of Water in Texas, 
and What It Means for Energy
by
Thomas Mason
(Former GM of the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA)
and currently with Graves, Dougherty, Hearon & Moody law firm)
26 April, 5:15-6:15pm
MEZ 1.306 (MEZES HALL)
Open to all. Refreshments served at 5:00pm
Please settle in by 5:10pm

Speaker
Thomas Mason

Tom Mason has 30 years of experience as an environmental lawyer. Most recently, he served as general manager of the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) from 2007 until July 2011. Prior to that, Mason was the LCRA’s general counsel.
 
Before joining the LCRA in 1987, Mason served as assistant general counsel for the Texas Department of Water Resources and director of the Water Quality Division of the Texas Water Commission. He was also a partner in a law firm with a statewide practice in environmental and administrative law. Mason's experience includes administrative, regulatory, litigation, and legislative matters associated with water, energy, and utilities.
 
Mason graduated from University of Texas at Austin (B.A., Plan II Honors Program, magna cum laude, 1975), Phi Beta Kappa, Special Honors in English; University of Texas School of Law (J.D., with Honors, 1980), Articles Editor, the Review of Litigation.

Thursday, April 19, 2012

(4/19) - UIA Presents Steve Shapiro, Director of Tudor Pickering Holt & Co.

UT's very own University Investors Association is hosting their next Distinguished Speakers Series this afternoon with their guest Steve Shapiro, Director of Tudor Pickering Holt & Co. With his experience at TPHC, as well as his previous work with companies such as GeoSynFuels, Burlington Resources, Barrick, Vastar Gas, El Paso, and Arco, you can expect a very insightful presentation from Mr. Shapiro.

The event open to the general public will be held Thursday, April 19th, from 5:30-6:30pm in GSB 2.122 with free Torchy's Tacos!

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

4/24 - TEF Hosts Apollo

THE TEXAS ENERGY FORUM HOSTS:

APOLLO GLOBAL MANAGEMENT

TUES, APRIL 24, 6:30-7:30pm, GSB 3.106


Join us as we host Rakesh Wilson from Apollo Global Management. Mr. Wilson will be speaking on Private Equity and Natural Resources and Apollo’s Asset Management Practice.


The presentation will be on Tuesday, April 24th, 6:30-7:30pm in GSB 3.106. It will be open to all UT students free of charge. Free pizza and drinks will also be provided, but seating will be limited so please arrive early.

Rakesh Wilson joined Apollo in 2009 from Morgan Stanley's Commodities Department where he was a senior member of the global principal investing team. Prior to joining Morgan Stanley, Mr. Wilson worked in the Investment Banking Division of Goldman Sachs in New York and Singapore. Mr. Wilson began his career at Goldman Sachs as a member of an Institutional Investor and Greenwich Associates ranked oil and gas equity research team. Mr. Wilson serves as a director of Parallel Petroleum LLC and Athlon Energy. Mr. Wilson graduated from the University of Texas at Austin and received his MBA from INSEAD in France.

Monday, April 9, 2012

4/10 - TEF Hosts Professor Wayne Scott Reminder

THE TEXAS ENERGY FORUM HOSTS:

PROFESSOR WAYNE SCOTT

TUES, APRIL 10, 6:30-7:30pm, GSB 3.106


Join us as we host Professor Wayne Scott, accounting professor at McCombs School of Business. Professor Scott will be discussing the world’s remaining liquid oil reserves and the energy industry’s ability to meet an ever-growing demand.


The presentation will be on Tuesday, April 10th, 6:30-7:30pm in GSB 3.106. It will be open to all UT students free of charge. Free pizza and drinks will also be provided, but seating will be limited so please arrive early.


Professor Scott is an accounting professor at McCombs School of Business. He currently teaches Oil and Gas Accounting (ACC 380K). Professor Scott has worked professionally with energy since 1988. He currently serves as the CEO of Micronetics Technologies while teaching at McCombs, and has also worked with Oxy Petroleum as well as Stone Specialists, Inc as the President and CEO. He received his BBA from Texas Tech University and MBA from the University of Texas of the Permian Basin.

4/12 - UTES Lecture: Taking Green Technologies from Innovation to the Market: A VC’s Perspective

Taking Green Technologies from Innovation to the Market: A VC’s Perspective

by

Ashmeet Sidana

(General Partner, Foundation Capital)

12 April, 5:15-6:15pm

MEZ 1.306 (MEZES HALL)

Open to all. Refreshments served at 5:00pm

Please settle in by 5:10pm

Speaker Bio:

Ashmeet is a seasoned executive who came to Foundation Capital with a combination of 15 years of experience ranging from startups to establishing companies. His experience spans engineering, sales, marketing and product management.

Most recently, he was at VMware where as Dir. of Product Management he was responsible for multiple products including Virtual SMP, P2V and their flagship product, ESX Server. At VMware, he helped grow ESX Server from early pilots to widespread worldwide deployment in mission critical systems by Fortune 500 companies. Prior to VMware, Ashmeet was CEO of Sidana Systems, a successful enterprise-software company that pioneered Docsan for publishing very-large (terabyte) documents. He bootstrapped Sidana Systems from inception through growth and to its acquisition by Doclinx. Ashmeet began his professional career at Hewlett-Packard and later Silicon Graphics, holding various technology roles.

Ashmeet led Foundation Capital's investments in, and currently serves on the board of Azure Power, Cantaloupe Systems, CiiNOW, Freewheel, PanoLogic, Simply Hired, and Zetta.

His previous investments at Foundation Capital are Altor Networks, where he led the Seed and Series A rounds, and served on its board from inception through its acquisition by Juniper Networks in 2010, and Sanrad, which was acquired by OCZ in 2012.

Ashmeet loves adventure travel and in his spare time can be found planning his second trip to Mt. Everest. In addition to an MBA from the Wharton School, Ashmeet received an MSCS from Stanford University and a BSCS from the University of Southern California.

Next Talk:

April 26: The Future of Water in Texas, and What It Means for Energy

Thomas Mason, Former General Manager of the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) and currently with the law firm Graves, Dougherty, Hearon & Moody

Previous Talks:

For slides/videos of previous UTES talks go to this link.

4/11 - EMIC: Energy Poll Results and Implications for the Oil and Gas Industry

Energy Poll Results and Implications for the Oil and Gas Industry

Breakfast, presentation on Energy Poll results, and discussion by industry participants.

Hosted by Deloitte, 8AM to 9:30AM
1111 Bagby Street, Suite 4500, Houston, TX

RSVP to tanya.andrien@mccombs.utexas.edu

4/10 - EMIC: Second Release of the University of Texas Energy Poll

Second Release of the University of Texas Energy Poll
Learn what the public thinks about energy prices, availability of supply, U.S. job creation from energy resources, regulation of hydraulic fracturing, and many more energy issues.

Media briefing and breakfast, 8:30AM to 10:00AM
Austin Club, 110 East 9th Street, Austin, TX, 78701

RSVP to tanya.andrien@mccombs.utexas.edu.
http://www.utenergypoll.com/

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

4/10 - TEF Hosts Professor Wayne Scott

THE TEXAS ENERGY FORUM HOSTS:

PROFESSOR WAYNE SCOTT

TUES, APRIL 10, 6:30-7:30pm, GSB 3.106


Join us as we host Professor Wayne Scott, accounting professor at McCombs School of Business. Professor Scott will be discussing the world’s remaining liquid oil reserves and the energy industry’s ability to meet an ever-growing demand.


The presentation will be on Tuesday, April 10th, 6:30-7:30pm in GSB 3.106. It will be open to all UT students free of charge. Free pizza and drinks will also be provided, but seating will be limited so please arrive early.


Professor Scott is an accounting professor at McCombs School of Business. He currently teaches Oil and Gas Accounting (ACC 380K). Professor Scott has worked professionally with energy since 1988. He currently serves as the CEO of Micronetics Technologies while teaching at McCombs, and has also worked with Oxy Petroleum as well as Stone Specialists, Inc as the President and CEO. He received his BBA from Texas Tech University and MBA from the University of Texas of the Permian Basin.

4/5 - UTES Lecture: California's March Towards Sustainable Energy

California's March Towards Sustainable Energy: Assessing the Record and Lessons for Future

by

Andrew McAllister

(Managing Director, Center for Sustainable Energy, California)

5 April, 5:15-6:15pm

MEZ 1.306 (MEZES HALL)

Open to all. Refreshments served at 5:00pm

Please settle in by 5:10pm

Speaker Bio:

Andrew McAllister serves as the managing director at the California Center for Sustainable Energy (CCSE). With nearly 20 years of experience in the fields of energy efficiency and renewable energy, Andrew brings technical, programmatic and energy policy expertise to the organization. He plays a central role in guiding CCSE's efforts in the policy and regulatory arenas and in strategic planning and new initiative development.

Andrew worked for a decade with NRECA International Ltd. in the electric sectors of countries in Central and South America, Southeast Asia, and Africa on projects ranging from utility planning, load management, monitoring and data analysis to remote power system design and installation, with a focus on solar and wind-hybrid technologies. His clients and counterparts included electric utilities (both investor-owned and cooperatives), host country regional and municipal governments, national regulatory agencies, the World Bank, NREL, USAID, and a number of international non-governmental organizations. He was a project manager at Energy Solutions, an Oakland-based consulting firm, where he managed a commercial sector efficient lighting incentive program. Andrew has also worked as an energy efficiency analyst at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. He has published on various energy topics in academic, trade, and popular journals.

Andrew studied both Engineering Sciences and Art History at Dartmouth College and holds the M.S. from the Energy & Resources Group at UC-Berkeley, where he is also a doctoral candidate. He was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Costa Rica, and has native-level fluency in Spanish.

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

3/29: UTES - Simulating Complex Systems: Applications to Energy

Simulating Complex Systems: Applications to Energy

by

Charles Macal

(Senior Systems Engineer, Argonne National Laboratory and Adjunct Professor at the University of Chicago)

29 March, 5:15-6:15pm

MEZ 1.306 (MEZES HALL)

Open to all. Refreshments served at 5:00pm

Please settle in by 5:10pm

Speaker Bio:

Charles Macal is Senior Systems Engineer and Director of the Complex Adaptive Systems Group at Argonne National Laboratory. He applies computational modeling and simulation tools to complex systems in a variety of fields, including energy, national security and defense. He has been a principal investigator for the development of the widely used Repast Simphony agent-based modeling toolkit. Dr. Macal serves on the editorial boards of the ACM Transactions on Modeling and Simulation and the journal Simulation, and he has co-authored a book, Managing Business Complexity: Discovering Strategic Solutions with Agent-Based Modeling and Simulation, published in 2007 by Oxford Press. He is Adjunct Professor at The University of Chicago, where he teaches a course on Complex Adaptive Systems for Threat Management and Emergency Preparedness. Dr. Macal received a Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering & Management Sciences from Northwestern University and holds an M.S. in Industrial Engineering and a B.S. in Engineering Sciences from Purdue University. He is a registered professional engineer in the State of Illinois and is a member of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Society for Computer Simulation International (SCSI), the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS), and the Systems Dynamics Society (SDS).

Next Talk:

5 April, 5:15-6:15pm, MEZES HALL (MEZ) 1.306

Speaker: Andrew McAllister, Managing Director, Cener for Sustainable Energy, California

“California's March Towards Sustainable Energy: Assessing the Record and Lessons for Future”

Monday, March 19, 2012

3/8 - UTES Lecture: The Energy Industry's Media Triumphs and Disasters

Email varun.rai@mail.utexas.edu with subject line:
“Subscribe to UTES Email List” if you want to be added to this list


The Energy Industry's Media Triumphs and Disasters

by

Dr. Mark Fischetti

(Energy and Environment Editor, Scientific American)

March 22, 5:15-6:15pm

MEZ 1.306 (MEZES HALL)

Open to all. Refreshments served at 5:00pm

Please settle in by 5:10pm

Speaker Bio:

Mark Fischetti is the editor in charge of environmental and energy coverage for SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN. He was managing editor of the magazine’s Earth 3.0 special editions, and helped launch SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN Mind. His 2001 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN article, “Drowning New Orleans,” predicted the widespread disaster that a storm like Hurricane Katrina would impose. Fischetti has written freelance for The New York Times, Smithsonian, Fast Company and many others. He co-wrote Weaving the Web with Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web, which reveals how the Web was really created. He also co-wrote The New Killer Diseases with microbiologist Elinor Levy. Fischetti is a former managing editor of IEEE Spectrum and Family Business magazines. He has a physics degree and has twice served as the Attaway Fellow in Civic Culture at Centenary College of Louisiana, which awarded him an honorary doctorate.

Fischetti is a frequent broadcaster and has appeared on CNN, NBC’s Meet the Press, the History Channel and NPR News.

Next Talk:

29 March, 5:15-6:15pm, MEZES HALL (MEZ) 1.306

“Simulating Complex Systems: Applications to Energy”

Speaker: Dr. Charles Macal, Senior Systems Engineer, Argonne National Laboratory and Adjunct Professor at the University of Chicago