As part of UT Energy Week, the University of Texas at Austin and the Texas Military Department are hosting a one-day campus event connecting university research to real-world national defense energy challenges and operational requirements.
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Hear directly from military leaders, program managers, and engineers about energy challenges in contested logistics environments, multi-domain operations, military installations, cyberspace, and artificial intelligence, then engage with federal program leaders who fund and transition solutions from research to operational capability.
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Attendees will gain insight into:
•        Operational energy problem sets shaping defense readiness and mission effectiveness
•        How military operating environments inform technology requirements/research priorities
•        Guidance on proposal expectations, evaluation criteria, and funding pathways
•        Program highlight sessions linking university research to applied prototyping, demonstration, and transition opportunities
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Who should attend:
UT Austin faculty, researchers with PI status, and industry representatives working in: energy systems and power engineering; computing, AI, and data science; logistics and systems engineering; energy resilience and infrastructure; cybersecurity and control systems; and advanced materials, sensing and applied technologies.
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Featured federal programs:
•        Operational Energy Capability Improvement Fund (OECIF)
•        Operational Energy Prototype Fund (OEPF)
•        Environmental Security Technology Certification Program (ESTCP)
Military forces increasingly operate where fuel, power, and supply chains are vulnerable to disruption, long-distance sustainment, or adversary interference. This panel explores opportunities in distributed energy systems, hybrid power generation, energy storage, and AI-enabled logistics forecasting that can reduce reliance on vulnerable fuel supply chains and extend operational endurance in austere environments.
Moderator: Tom Myers, Energy Program Supervisor for the Texas Military Department
Modern military operations integrate activities across land, sea, air, space, and cyberspace, requiring systems that support dispersed, highly mobile forces. This panel examines how distributed power networks, mobile energy systems, and autonomous energy management technologies enable coordinated operations across domains while improving survivability and mission effectiveness.
Moderator: Lt Col Joshua Cox, USMC
Military installations provide the infrastructure that supports training, mobilization, and global force projection, making resilient energy systems essential to defense readiness. This panel focuses on installation energy resilience challenges—including microgrids, long-duration energy storage, infrastructure modernization, and digital modeling of energy systems—to ensure installations can sustain operations during grid disruptions or emergencies.
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Moderator: Brian Stevens, LTC, TXARNG (Ret.) – Deputy Construction and Facilities Management Office Director, Plans, Programs, and Innovation, Texas Military Department
Energy infrastructure and operational technology systems supporting military operations increasingly rely on networked control systems, introducing new cyber vulnerabilities. This panel explores challenges at the intersection of cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and energy systems—including anomaly detection, resilient control architectures, and protection of cyber-physical energy infrastructure.
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Moderator: Zach Walker, Lt Col, USAF (Ret.) – Founder, ATX Defense
Artificial intelligence is transforming how complex energy and logistics systems are monitored, optimized, and managed in operational environments. This panel examines how AI-enabled analytics, predictive modeling, and autonomous control can improve energy system performance, logistics planning, and operational decision-making for military forces.
Moderator:Â Jim Rabuck, Director, Defense Innovation Unit
