Faculty

Doug Lewin is a nationally recognized energy expert, particularly in the electric grid, renewable energy, energy efficiency, demand response, utility regulation, and pollution reduction. He is the author of the Texas Energy and Power Newsletter and host of the Energy Capital Podcast. He is quoted regularly in news outlets throughout Texas and nationally, including the New York Times, the Washington Post, Time, the Financial Times, the Texas Tribune, the Dallas Morning News, the Houston Chronicle, Texas Monthly, and more.

Lewin founded Stoic Energy, LLC, an energy advisory consulting firm focused on markets, technology, and policy in 2018. Previously, Doug led government and regulatory affairs work for CLEAResult, an energy efficiency program implementer for over 250 utilities in 40 states and provinces. Prior to that, Lewin was the founding Executive Director of the South-central Partnership for Energy Efficiency as a Resource (SPEER). SPEER was recognized by the US Department of Energy as the regional energy efficiency organization for Texas and Oklahoma.

Lewin worked at the Texas Legislature for five years as a legislative aide, primarily on energy, environment, and climate issues for three different elected officials in the House and Senate. There, he established a successful bipartisan energy policy working group which deepened the knowledge base of a wide group of Capitol staffers and members by bringing in guest speakers from industry and academia.

Lewin earned his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the University of Texas at Austin and is a proud husband and father of four children.

Alexandra Sukalo is an Assistant Professor of National Security Affairs. She is a historian of Russia and Eastern Europe. Her research and teaching focus on Russian and Soviet intelligence and security services, the Russian and Soviet military-industrial complex, as well as the Russian and Soviet nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

Sukalo is completing a book manuscript on the Soviet Union’s domestic intelligence and security services under Stalin. Her dissertation, upon which her book is based, won the University of Texas at Austin’s Bobby R. Inman Award for excellence in student scholarship on intelligence. Her second book project, entitled The Soviet Nuclear Empire, examines the development and workings of the Soviet nuclear industry. Her work has been featured in the Washington Post, War on the Rocks, and the journal of Intelligence and National Security.

Prior to joining the LBJ School of Public Affairs, Sukalo was an Assistant Professor of Modern Russian History and Security Policy at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. She earned her PhD and MA in history from Stanford University. She also received an MA in European and Russian Studies from Yale University, and she holds a BA in political science from Barnard College. She completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Clements Center for National Security at the University of Texas at Austin.  

Prior to her academic appointments, Sukalo also worked as a Eurasian analyst for the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and the Central Intelligence Agency.

John J. McKetta Centennial Energy Chair in Engineering

Michael E. Webber is the Sid Richardson Chair in the LBJ School of Public Affairs and the John J. McKetta Centennial Energy Chair in the department of mechanical engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. From September 2018 to August 2021, Webber was based in Paris, France where he served as the Chief Science and Technology Officer at ENGIE, one of the world’s largest energy companies. 

Webber’s expertise spans research and education at the convergence of engineering, policy, and commercialization on topics related to innovation, energy, and the environment. His book Power Trip: the Story of Energy was published in 2019 by Basic Books with an award-winning 12-part companion series spread out over two seasons that aired on PBS, Amazon Prime, AppleTV, and in-flight entertainment on American Airlines. The series had more than 10,000 broadcasts in the United States and has been distributed in dozens of countries, ultimately reaching millions of viewers. He was selected as a Fellow of ASME (the American Society of Mechanical Engineers) and as a member of the 4th class of the Presidential Leadership Scholars, which is a leadership training program organized by Presidents George W. Bush and William J. Clinton. Webber has written five full-length general interest books, created two interactive textbooks, authored or co-authored more than 500 publications, and been awarded 6 patents. He serves on the advisory board for Scientific American and GTI Energy (an industry consortium formerly known as the Gas Technology Institute). 

A successful entrepreneur, Webber was one of three founders in 2015 for an educational technology startup, DISCO Learning Media, which was acquired in 2018.  Webber holds a B.S. and B.A. from UT Austin, and M.S. and Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Stanford University.  He was honored as an American Fellow of the German Marshall Fund and on four separate occasions by the University of Texas for exceptional teaching. 

Chi Ta is an energy and environmental economist specializing in policy evaluation and design. Her research focuses on addressing pressing environmental and energy challenges both in the U.S. and globally. She is dedicated to assisting policymakers in developing innovative strategies that promote conservation and sustainability in key sectors, including electricity, agriculture, and transportation. To achieve these objectives, she integrates various theoretical and empirical approaches, such as general equilibrium modeling, randomized control trials, and natural or policy experiments.

Nathan Hutson is an assistant professor at the University of North Texas, an adjunct assistant professor at the LBJ School, and an affiliate faculty at the Kyiv School of Economics. His specific research areas are transportation planning and cross-border trade integration, and his recent research has focused on the reconstruction of Ukrainian cities and infrastructure after the war. Recent publications include a book outlining the proposed reconstruction of the City of Mariupol, developed in concert with the Mariupol City council, and a forthcoming manuscript which assesses the impact of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on Eurasian intermodal trade corridors.

Natasha Strassfeld is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Special Education at the University of Texas at Austin. Prior to joining the University of Texas at Austin faculty, she was an Assistant Professor of Special Education in the Department of Teaching and Learning at NYU Steinhardt and Associated Assistant Professor of Public Service at NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. She obtained her J.D. degree from the University of Wisconsin School of Law and her Ph.D. in Special Education from the Pennsylvania State University. 
 
Dr. Strassfeld's research examines the ways in which parents navigate the special education and accommodations process via legal and policy mechanisms, racial/ethnic disparities in how students are (mis)identified for special education placements and services, and special education and related transition services within the juvenile justice system. 
 
She has received research funding from the U.S. Department of Education, Spencer Foundation, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. In addition, she has been appointed to serve on multiple national committees for the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, and she has also served as a qualitative data expert and consultant for the U.S. Department of Justice on matters pertaining to investigations of educational services and service delivery. Her book, Special Education and the Juvenile Legal System: Connecting Policy, Research, and Practice to Address the School-to-Prison Pipeline, is under contract at Routledge Press. 

Dr. Stella M. Flores is Associate Professor of Higher Education and Public Policy at the University of Texas at Austin where she holds a cross-school appointment in the Departments of Education, Leadership and Policy and Curriculum and Instruction. She is also Director of Research and Strategy for the Education Research Center also at UT-Austin. She holds an EdD in from Harvard University, an EdM from Harvard University, an MPAff The University of Texas at Austin, and a BA from Rice University. Her research examines the effects of state and federal policies on college access and completion outcomes for low-income and underrepresented populations including immigrant and English Learner students. Dr. Flores has published on demographic changes in U.S. schools, affirmative action in higher education, and Minority Serving Institutions. In 2003 her coauthored work was cited in the U.S. Supreme Court Gratz v. Bollinger decision (dissenting opinion) and in various amicus briefs submitted to the Supreme Court on affirmative action. Dr. Flores currently serves as co-editor of AERA Open, a journal of the American Association for Educational Research.  
 
In 2019, Dr. Flores was awarded the Harvard Graduate School of Education Alumni Council Award for Outstanding Contribution to Education. In 2017 she was named One of the Top 25 Women in Higher Education and Beyond by Diverse Issues Magazine and has also been recognized as one of the top 200 scholars in Education Weeks RHSU Edu-Scholar Public Influence Rankings from 2015-2023 as well as a National Academy of Education/Spencer Postdoctoral Fellow in 2010. She recently served as a member of the Committee on Developing Indicators of Educational Equity from The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education, a board member of The Institute for Higher Education Policy, and MALDEF, and an elected at-large member of the American Educational Research Association (AERA). Her research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the National Academy of Education, the Spencer Foundation, and the Educational Testing Service. Prior to academic life, Dr. Flores served in the U.S. General Accountability Office and the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration.  

Findley researches and teaches about political violence, international development, illicit finance, ethics, and methodology. His publications appear in Cambridge University Press, American Journal of Political Science, International Organization, Annual Review of Political Science, Strategic Management Journal, Journal of International Business Studies, Penn Law Review, Public Choice, American Statistician, and Complexity. He currently conducts fieldwork in Colombia, Afghanistan, Kenya, DRC, Sudan, South Sudan, South Africa, and Uganda. Findley's policy work includes collaborations with the World Bank, USAID, African Development Bank, UN FACTI, UNICEF, UN Peacebuilding Fund, UN Development Program, International Aid Transparency Initiative, and many aid recipient country governments.