Scott Tinker

Scott W. Tinker, PhD, SPE, is a global explorer who works to bring industry, government, academia, and NGOs together to address major societal challenges in energy, the environment, and the economy. He is director of the 250-person Bureau of Economic Geology, the state geologist of Texas, and a professor holding the Allday Endowed Chair in the Jackson School of Geosciences at The University of Texas at Austin. Tinker formed and is chairman of the nonprofit Switch Energy Alliance (SEA), and together with director Harry Lynch, co-produced and is featured in the award-winning energy documentary films Switch and Switch On, which have been screened in more than 50 countries to more than 15 million viewers and are used on thousands of educational campuses worldwide. SEA produced Switch Classroom, used in AP environmental science classes nationwide. He is the creator and voice of Earth Date, a weekly program featured on more than 430 public radio stations in all 50 United States. In his visits to some 60 countries, Tinker has given nearly 1,000 keynote and invited lectures. He has been a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers for 40 years.