Expertise and innovation lit up UT Energy Week. Co-hosted by The University of Texas at Austin’s Energy Institute and the Kay Bailey Hutchison Energy Center, the annual five-day event brought together energy leaders, researchers, policymakers and students for panel discussions, keynotes, networking and hands-on competitions. The 2026 lineup focused on the challenges and opportunities shaping the energy landscape — from nuclear power and geothermal resources to artificial intelligence infrastructure and critical minerals. 

Across every theme, faculty members and students from UT showcased the depth of their expertise and the impact of their research alongside industry and government experts on the future of energy in Texas.

Derek Haas on the future of nuclear education at UT:

Monday’s nuclear symposium opened with Derek Haas, associate professor in the Walker Department of Mechanical Engineering, looking at the future of education as Texas and the nation face rising energy demand driven by industrial and technological growth.  

At UT, nuclear research spans energy, security, medicine, materials degradation, robotics, safety and isotope discovery. Students at the undergraduate and graduate levels are working with national laboratories and industry leaders to design molten salt reactors, develop digital twin models that bridge computer simulations with real-world reactors, and study nuclear security. Haas also highlighted the rapid growth of nuclear education at UT, noting that in just a few years the program has expanded from struggling to get the minimum 10 students in each class to waitlisted courses of 48 students across every program and partnerships spanning science, engineering and the humanities. 

Ning Lin on aligning power, water, land and community to de-risk data center growth:

Throughout Energy Week, UT experts tackled the rapid expansion of digital infrastructure, focusing on AI and data centers. Ning Lin, chief economist at UT’s Bureau of Economic Geology, gave a presentation on the COMPASS Consortium’s research on addressing the growing convergence of large-load sectors within shared energy, water, infrastructure, and community systems. This includes data centers, oil and gas, advanced manufacturing, refining, and mining, and provides a framework to optimize strategies for power allocation and building sustainable infrastructure. 

COMPASS stands for collaborative optimization and management of power allocation-surface and subsurface strategies, and aims to bring together industry, communities and policymakers to shape the future of large-load growth. Research by Lin and her team has resulted in the publication of papers that provide a system-of-systems framework that touches on site suitability, permitting and timeline prediction, water resource integration and cooling technology, on-site generation and grid resilience modeling, and community solutions and policy.  

“Texas is facing a generational opportunity,” Lin said. She and her team hope the tools and information they can provide will help the state maximize its potential.

Ken Wisian on using geothermal energy resources to sustainably power AI & data centers:

Ken Wisian is a researcher in the Bureau of Economic Geology, Environmental Division, whose research focuses on geothermal systems for electricity generation. In his presentation at Energy Week, he discussed recent breakthroughs in geothermal energy and its potential to act as an option for on-site generation at data centers.  

“This is the biggest boom in geothermal energy I’ve seen since doing my Ph.D. in the ’90s,” Wisian said. And with the increasing power demand for large-scale digital infrastructure, he thinks geothermal energy may be a solution.  

According to Wisian, geothermal holds great promise, as currently 25% of land on Earth is viable for geothermal energy production. Additionally, geothermal systems can harvest energy from a large subsurface area while having minimal impact to the land’s surface, and it can provide operators the flexibility to drill on-site at data centers. Wisian’s work continues to further geothermal research and development of sites as a sustainable option for large power demand not reliant on the grid. 

President Jim Davis and Alumnus Rudy Garza on the Future of Energy in Texas:

During the panel “Energy Leaders in Dialogue,” President Jim Davis interviewed alumnus and his classmate at UT, Rudy Garza, who is now the CEO at CPS Energy in San Antonio. The pair talked about the challenges facing Texas during the next few years as organic population growth and infrastructure expansion increase energy generation needs, and the creative solutions that could solve them.  

With decades of experience as an energy leader, Garza shared insight into how Texas can invest and prepare for the future. By leveraging strengths across energy sectors, the state can meet its upcoming needs. “A diversified system is the best way to provide reliability,” he said. 

Davis and Garza also discussed the future of energy education at UT and how the University is working to prepare students for careers in energy, including a focus on data-driven decision-making and encouraging students to be lifelong learners. 

Andy Uhler and Brandon Mulder on community support across Texas:

For the past year and a half, Andy Uhler, the Energy Institute’s energy reporter in residence, has traveled across Texas interviewing people for “Phases & Stages: The Texas Energy Story.” The podcast explores stories in towns where various kinds of energy production happens, discussing the growing opportunities and challenges that locals face.  

At Energy Week, Uhler brought along energy journalism fellow Brandon Mulder to record the finale of season one, where they discussed community findings on data centers and new forms of energy generation in rural areas. Uhler’s reporting is helping inform the public and expert researchers about how Texans are adapting to changing energy landscapes.

AUSTIN, Texas – Texas state Rep. James Talarico has raised $27 million for his U.S. Senate campaign in the first quarter of 2026, breaking the record for any Senate candidate in a U.S. race. 

The Austin Democrat has now taken in more than $40 million since starting his bid last September, his press team announced Wednesday. 

Talarico breaks another fundraising record

The latest:

The $40 million total came from more than 970,000 donations from over 540,000 individual contributors, the press release says, with donations from 246 of Texas’ 254 counties and none from corporate PACs. Since primary day, he has raised over $10 million.

The $27 million raised this quarter is the most ever raised by a Senate candidate in the first quarter of an election year, Talarico’s team says. About 97% of the donations were $100 or less, given by a base of donors including farmers, ranchers, oil workers, nurses, firefighters, his team said, though the most common profession for Talarico donors has reportedly been teachers. Talarico began his career as a public school teacher at a middle school in San Antonio. 

By comparison, Politico compiled other fundraising efforts by Senate hopefuls across the nation. They say Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff raised more than $14 million in the first quarter; In North Carolina, former Gov. Roy Cooper raised $13.8 million; In Alaska, former Rep. Mary Peltola brought in $8.9 million; and former Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown raised $12.5 million in his comeback bid.

‘Ready to take back Texas for working people’

What they’re saying:

“Grassroots contributors from almost every county in Texas are sending Washington D.C. a clear message: they’re tired of this broken, corrupt political system, and they’re ready to take back Texas for working people,” said James Talarico. “We’re bringing Democrats, Republicans, and Independents together to end billionaire control over our politics and bring down costs for families across our state.”

“Winning in Texas will require unprecedented resources,” said Seth Krasne, Talarico’s campaign manager. “This grassroots fundraising haul puts our movement in a strong position to spread our message in some of the most expensive media markets in the country. But we can’t take our foot off of the gas.”

State Rep. James Talarico addresses the crowd during a campaign rally after launching his Senate campaign for the seat held by John Cornyn in Round Rock, Texas, Sept. 9, 2025. (Callaghan O’Hare for The Washington Post via Getty Images)

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James Talarico Senate campaign

The backstory:

Talarico has served in the Texas House since 2018, representing part of the Austin area. He’s been running for Senate with a progressive populist, anti-billionaire stance, claiming he intends to fight for U.S. workers and get big donors out of politics. 

This isn’t the first time Talarico has broken a fundraising record in his campaign. Within weeks of joining the race in September 2025, the Democrat reported raising $6.2 million. Since the start, Talarico has said his campaign has taken zero dollars from corporate PACs (it should be noted that at least one super PAC, Lone Star Rising, has advertised and stumped in favor of Talarico. Per federal law, candidates cannot coordinate with outside entities, and the campaign maintains that they’ve obeyed those guidelines throughout the race).

Talarico entered the race to challenge former U.S. Rep. Colin Allred for the Democrat nomination. Allred dropped out to run again for the House, leaving Talarico and U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett to duke it out in March. Talarico ended up winning the primary on March 3 after a heated race, which included some confusion at the polls for residents in a couple of contentious Texas counties. 

What’s next:

The Republican nominee for Senate will be decided on May 26 by a runoff between incumbent Sen. John Cornyn and Texas AG Ken Paxton. Talarico will face the winner of that race in the general election on Nov. 3.