UT Energy Week 2024
What Starts Here Energizes the World
TUESDAY, MARCH 26
The University of Texas at Austin
Robert B. Rowling Hall (RRH), 300 W Martin Luther King Jr Blvd, Austin, TX 78705 Engineering Education & Research Center (EER), 2501 Speedway, Austin, TX 78705 Note: UT Energy Week attendees have the opportunity to earn continuing education units (CEUs) for professional engineering (PE) licensing requirements, provided by Texas Engineering Executive Education at UT’s Cockrell School of Engineering. You may indicate your interest in this option when you register for Energy Week.
Schedule at a Glance
Affiliate Events:
• Texas Nuclear Symposium (8am-noon)
• Hydrogen Workshop hosted with AIEN (11am-2:30pm)
• The Future of Geothermal: Exploring Technology Breakthroughs & Policy Solutions (4-5:30pm)
Tuesday Research Showcase (8am-7:30pm)
| 8:00am | Registration & Breakfast |
| 8:30-9:45am | Research Presentations, Part 1A: Carbon management, CCUS (10 teams) • Watch video |
| 9:45-10:30am | Research Presentations, Part 1B: Clean hydrogen (7 teams) • Watch video |
| 10:30-10:45am | Break |
| 10:45-11:30am | Between Two Cacti hosted by Brian Korgel • Watch video The Case for Collaboration: Bridging the Gap Between Industry & Academia to Advance Energy Research |
| [Parallel program: 11am-2:30pm Hydrogen Workshop] | |
| 11:30am-12:30pm | Lunch & Research Poster Session |
| 12:30-1:30pm | UT Energy Symposium featuring Matthew Nemerson (Budderfly) • View PDF slides • Watch video Can Business Models Accelerate Sustainable Energy Transitions in the Commercial Sector Without the Need for Government & Utility Incentives or Feed in Tariffs? The Budderfly Case-Study |
| 1:30-2:15pm | Panel Discussion: Insights from Student Energy Startup Founders • Watch video |
| 2:15-3pm | Research Presentations, Part 2: Environmental monitoring, supply chain, circular economy, policy, industrial decarbonization, and water use/conservation (6 teams) • View PDF slides • Watch video |
| 3-3:30pm | Break |
| 3:30-4:30pm | Research Presentations, Part 3: Power grid & e-mobility; low/zero-carbon fuels and distributed energy resources (DERs) (8 teams) • View PDF slides • Watch video |
| 4:30-7:30pm | Energy Startup Night Startup spotlight talks, Energy Startup Showcase & Mixer, research poster session, elevator pitches, and more • View PDF slides • Watch video |
Full Tuesday Agenda
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8:00 – 8:30 |
Registration & Breakfast – Crum Auditorium Foyer, RRH 1.400F | Texas Nuclear Symposium: Day 2 8:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. – Engineering Education & Research Center (EER), Room 3.646
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8:30 – 8:45 |
Research Showcase Opening Remarks – Crum Auditorium, RRH 1.400 Brian Korgel, Director, Energy Institute, The University of Texas at Austin | |||||||||
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8:45 – 9:45 |
RESEARCH PRESENTATIONS: PART 1
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Computational Design and Engineering of Biocatalysts for CO2 Conversion Yi Lu (Department of Chemistry, College of Natural Sciences) and Narayana Aluru (Walker Department of Mechanical Engineering, Cockrell School of Engineering) |
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| Combining Quantitative Leakage Risk Assessment with Financial Liability for CO2 Geologic Storage Sahar Bakhshian and Susan Hovorka (Bureau of Economic Geology, Jackson School of Geosciences) and James Dyer (Department of Information, Risk, and Operations Management; McCombs School of Business) |
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| Self-Sealing Capacity of Wellbore Cement Under Geologic CO2 Storage Charles Werth and Maria Juenger (Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering; Cockrell School of Engineering) and Sahar Bakhshian (Bureau of Economic Geology, Jackson School of Geosciences) |
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| Carbon Dioxide Hydrates-Based Carbon Sequestration on the Seabed Vaibhav Bahadur (Walker Department of Mechanical Engineering) and Yingda Lu (Hildebrand Department of Petroleum & Geosystems Engineering, Cockrell School of Engineering) |
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| Impacts of Geochemistry on Carbon Dioxide Adsorption in Organic-Rich Mudrocks Zoya Heidari and Nicolas Espinoza (Hildebrand Department of Petroleum & Geosystems Engineering, Cockrell School of Engineering) |
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| Laboratory experiments & modeling to accurately evaluate critical CO2 saturation for geologic carbon storage Hailun Ni and Sahar Bakhshian (Bureau of Economic Geology, Jackson School of Geosciences) and David DiCarlo (Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering, Cockrell School of Engineering) |
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| Long-term Surveillance of Plugged and Abandoned Wells for Immediate Detection of CO2 Leakage in Geologic Carbon Storage Sites Sahar Bakhshian, Susan Hovorka and Michael H. Young (Jackson School of Geosciences – Bureau of Economic Geology) |
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| Enabling Zero Carbon Emission by Electrochemical CO2 Reduction Technology Guihua Yu, Jamie Warner and Yuanyue Liu (Walker Department of Mechanical Engineering, Texas Materials Institute) |
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| Study CO2 foams in an effort to improve long-term carbon storage in depleted oil and gas reservoirs Angel Wileman and Sarah Stuart (Southwest Research Institute – SwRI); David DiCarlo and Masa Prodanovic (Hildebrand Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering) |
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| Study CO2 pipeline flow behaviors as part of a larger effort to facilitate large-scale carbon capture utilization & storage (CCUS) Kevin Supak and Kelsi Katcher (Southwest Research Institute – SwRI); Yingda Lu (Hildebrand Department of Petroleum & Geosystems Engineering, Cockrell School of Engineering) |
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9:45 – 10:30 |
Clean Hydrogen |
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Hydrogen Production at Natural Gas Wellheads Yingda Lu and Kishore Mohanty (Hildebrand Department of Petroleum & Geosystems Engineering, Cockrell School of Engineering) |
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Controlling Intrinsic Defects in Metal Oxides for High-Performance, Low-Cost Green Hydrogen Production Delia Milliron, Joaquin Resasco and Wennie Wang (McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering, Cockrell School of Engineering) |
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Integrated Computational & Experimental Microscopic Elucidation of Amorphous Electrocatalysts for Water Splitting Wennie Wang, Joaquin Resasco and C. Buddie Mullins (McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering) |
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Ammonia Reforming to Hydrogen Using Non-Equilibrium Plasma Discharges Fabrizio Bisetti and Thomas Underwood (Department of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics, Cockrell School of Engineering) |
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Develop & evaluate an enhanced turbine cooling method to facilitate the use of cleaner hydrogen fuel engine applications David Bogard (Walker Department of Mechanical Engineering) and Ellen Smith (Southwest Research Institute – SwRI) |
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Create a cost-effective & environmentally friendly method for producing hydrogen fuel Thomas C. Underwood (Department of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics), Fabrizio Bisetti (Department of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics | Oden Institute), Graeme Henkelman (Department of Chemistry | Oden Institute), C. Buddie Mullins and Michael Miller (Southwest Research Institute – SwRI) |
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Leveraging Permian Basin Assets for the Emerging Clean Hydrogen Energy Economy in Texas Michael C. Lewis (Center for Electromechanics, Cockrell School of Engineering) and Ning Lin (Bureau of Economic Geology, Jackson School of Geosciences) |
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10:30 – 10:45 |
Break | |||||||||
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10:45 – 11:30 |
BETWEEN TWO CACTI WITH BRIAN KORGEL The Case for Collaboration: Bridging the Gap Between Industry & Academia to Advance Energy Research – Crum Auditorium, RRH 1.400 Haibin Xu (Shell) and Dominic Clausi (ExxonMobil), in conversation with Brian Korgel (Director, Energy Institute, The University of Texas at Austin) | |||||||||
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11:30 – 12:30 |
Lunch | Research Poster Session for Morning Research Teams: Carbon Management, CCUS, & Clean Hydrogen Rowling Hall Atrium, RRH 1.300 | Crum Auditorium Foyer, RRH 1.400F | Workshop: From Hydrogen Market Development to Project Development Hosted in Partnership with the Association of International Energy Negotiators (AIEN) 11:00 a.m. – 2:30 p.m RRH 5.210 (5th Floor Special Events Room) Hydrogen has been widely discussed as potentially playing a significant role in a decarbonized future. Sitting at the intersection of the “electron” and “molecule” sides of the energy industry, hydrogen has the potential to work in concert with other key energy vectors and decarbonization tools to aid in the push toward a cleaner future. This half-day workshop will explore the potential role hydrogen could play in the broader economy and highlight challenges associated with growing the global market. The workshop will feature three key segments: Hydrogen Market (11-11:45am): An overview of the global hydrogen market, including a view of foundational supply and demand dynamics. Amy Herbert, CEO, Arcadia Fuels Ryan Eslicker, Business Development Director, EDF Ryan Macaluso, Manager of New Energies & Carbon, Motiva Enterprise Hydrogen & Geopolitics (12:30-1:15pm): The interplay of national and regional actors in driving demand and supply for clean hydrogen globally. Chris Hardy, Hydrogen Origination, Chevron Lindsey Bok, Lower Carbon Manager, Equinor Dickson Chin, Partner, Jones Day |
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12:30 – 1:30 |
UT ENERGY SYMPOSIUM: Can Business Models Accelerate Sustainable Energy Transitions in the Commercial Sector Without the Need for Government & Utility Incentives or Feed-In Tariffs? The Budderfly Case Study Crum Auditorium, RRH 1.400 Matthew Nemerson Vice President, Strategic Partnerships, Budderfly | |||||||||
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1:30 – 2:15 |
Panel Discussion Getting a Head Start on Innovation: Insights from Student Energy Startup Founders – Crum Auditorium, RRH 1.400 Joshua Ammon Johnson (A&M Prairie View, senior) Founder, Horizen Jack Phillips (University of Texas at Austin, graduated 2023) CEO, MACH Transit View PDF slides Sajana Raj (University of Texas at Austin, sophomore) Founder and CEO, Energy Umbrella View PDF slides Jeremy Pitts (Moderator) Managing Director, Activate Houston View PDF slides |
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2:15 – 3:00 |
RESEARCH PRESENTATIONS: PART 2
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Uncertainty Quantification for Circular Economies & Supply Chains Michael Baldea (Oden Institute and McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering) and Erhan Kutanoglu (Walker Department of Mechanical Engineering) |
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Developing a Network of Ecological Sensors for Analysis of Long-Term Acoustic & Environmental Data Timothy Keitt and Andrea Contina (Department of Integrative Biology, College of Natural Sciences) |
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Go Clean Fast: The Political Economy of Green Industrial Policy Joshua W. Busby (Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs)and Nathan Jensen (Department of Government) |
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Industrial Decarbonization |
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Breaking the Hydrocarbon Cascade in Electric Process Heating: Strategies for Upgrading Fuel Gas Streams Michael Baldea, Thomas C. Underwood and Buddie Mullins (McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering, Department of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics) |
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Modernizing Brownfield Electric Power System Reliability & Quality to Support the Electrification of Industrial Processes Surya Santoso and Brian Johnson (Chandra Family Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering) |
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Water Use & Conservation |
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The Effects of Surfactants, Salt Concentration & Suspended Solids on Selective Oil Permeation Lynn Katz and Frank Seibert (Department of Civil, Architectural & Environmental Engineering, Center for Energy and Environmental Resources) |
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3:00 – 3:30 |
Break | |||||||||
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3:30 – 4:30 |
RESEARCH PRESENTATIONS: PART 3
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The Future of Geothermal in Texas: Exploring Technology Breakthroughs & Policy Solutions Hosted by PowerHouse Texas and the Texas Energy & Climate Caucus 4:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. Texas State Capitol Extension Hearing Room E2.030 (See page 5 of the Capitol visitor map here.) This Energy Innovation Forum brings together leading experts to discuss the latest geothermal technology breakthroughs, the status of implementing geothermal-related legislation from last session, and what more the legislature can do to support this rapidly growing industry. Senator Brian Birdwell, District 22 Jennifer Bremer, Executive Director, Texas Land & Mineral Owner Association Cindy D. Taff, CEO, Sage Geosystems Dr. Ken Wisian, Associate Director, Bureau of Economic Geology, The University of Texas at Austin Jason Sorter, Community Engagement and Policy Director, Geothermal Rising Moderator: Matt Welch, Executive Vice President, Texas Geothermal Energy Alliance You may register here for this affiliated event. |
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Lower Grid Emissions & Better Grid Performance Kara Kockelman (Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering) and Benjamin Leibowicz (Walker Department of Mechanical Engineering, Cockrell School of Engineering) |
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Toward Equitable Transportation Electrification in Austin, TX Junfeng Jiao, Kijin Seong and Abigail Johnson (Community and Regional Planning, School of Architecture) |
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Advanced Algorithms for Optimizing Electricity Demand of Electric Vehicle Fleets in Texas to Support the Grid & Local Communities Javad Mohammadi and Sergio Castellanos (Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering; Cockrell School of Engineering) |
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A Modular & Flexible DC-AC Converter Cell for Future Grid Systems Brian Johnson and Alex Hanson (Chandra Family Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering) |
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High-rate, large-area deposition of magnetic materials for next-generation energy technologies Alex Hanson and Jean Anne Incorvia (Chandra Family Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering) with Jianliang Lin (Southwest Research Institute) |
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Manufacturing of High-Strength Nanolattice Coating for Cryogenic Liquid Hydrogen Fuel Storage Chih-Hao Chang and Li Shi (Walker Department of Mechanical Engineering) |
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Analysis of Permian Basin Clean Ammonia Production, Distribution, & Market Demand Michael Lewis (Center for Electromechanics), Ning Lin (Bureau of Economic Geology) and Vaibhav Bahadur (Walker Department of Mechanical Engineering) |
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Microbial Reactions during Underground Hydrogen Storage Kishore Mohanty and Wen Song (Hildebrand Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering) |
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4:30 – 4:45 p.m. |
Startup Night Keynote Address – Crum Auditorium, RRH 1.400 Nicole Iseppi Director, Global Energy Innovation, Bezos Earth Fund | |||||||||
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4:45 – 5:30 p.m. |
Startup Night: Energy Startup Spotlight Presentations – Crum Auditorium, RRH 1.400 Aaron Fitzgerald Founder, CEO, Mars Materials • View PDF Joselyn Lai Co-Founder, CEO, Bedrock Energy • View PDF Carson Crawford CEO, Co-Founder, Pike Robotics • View PDF Jhana Porter Founder, CEO, frakktal • View PDF |
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5:30 – 7:30 |
Startup Night: Evening Reception – RRH 5.210 (5th Floor Special Events Room) Energy Startup Showcase & Mixer (5:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.) Featured guests: • Activate Houston • Austin Technology Incubator • Austin Urban Technology Movement • Bedrock Energy • Capital Factory • Energy Umbrella • Genesis UT • Horizen • IC2 Institute • LaunchPad at UT • MACH Transit • Mars Materials • Pike Robotics • Texas Entrepreneurship Exchange for Energy (TEX-E) • Texas Venture Labs • Tech Ranch • UT Inclusive Entrepreneurship & Innovation • Verified Carbon Research Poster Session for Afternoon Teams (5:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.) Topics: Environmental Monitoring, Supply Chain, Circular Economy, Policy, Industrial Decarbonization, Water Use & Conservation, Power Grid & E-Mobility, Low/Zero-Carbon Fuels and Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) Energy Ventures Practicum: Elevator Pitches (6:30 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.) | |||||||||
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