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.

 

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.

(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!

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.

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/

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.