Michael Webber is a professor in the Walker Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin's Cockrell School of Engineering, holding the John J. McKetta Centennial Energy Chair and Cockrell Family Chair in Engineering #16. He also serves as the Sid Richardson Chair in the LBJ School of Public Affairs. Webber earned a B.A. with honors in Plan II Liberal Arts and a B.S. with high honors in Aerospace Engineering from UT Austin, and an M.S. and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University. His research specializations include innovation, energy, and environmental issues, focusing on grid reliability amid electrification and renewables, hydrogen economy integration, built environment, and the food-energy-water-waste nexus.

Webber's career includes leadership as CTO of Energy Impact Partners (2021-2024) and Chief Science and Technology Officer at ENGIE in Paris (2018-2021). He is renowned for his contributions to energy literature and education, authoring five books such as Power Trip: The Story of Energy (2019), which inspired an award-winning 12-part PBS companion series, and Thirst for Power: Energy, Water and Human Survival (2016), developing two interactive textbooks, over 500 publications, and six patents. Select publications feature Cascading Risks: Understanding the 2021 Winter Blackout in Texas (Energy Research & Social Science, 2021), Wasted Food, Wasted Energy: The Embedded Energy in Food Waste in the United States (Environmental Science & Technology, 2010), and The Energy-Water Nexus in Texas (Ecology and Society, 2011).

His impact is evidenced by awards including the 2024 Energy Thought Leader: Higher Education award from the American Energy Society, Fulbright Technical Specialist appointment (2024), ASME Fellow (2014), Presidential Leadership Scholar (2018), American Fellow of the German Marshall Fund, Rockefeller Foundation writer’s residency (2022), and four University of Texas awards for exceptional teaching. Webber holds roles as Deputy Director of the Energy Institute, Co-Director of the Clean Energy Incubator at the Austin Technology Incubator, and advisor to Scientific American and GTI Energy.

Professional Email: webber@mail.utexas.edu