Scott W. Tinker

Scott W. Tinker (born November 15, 1959) is an American geologist, energy researcher, educator, documentary filmmaker and public TV host. He served as the director of the Bureau of Economic Geology at the University of Texas at Austin from 2000 to 2024 and concurrently as the State Geologist of Texas.[1] He held the Edwin Allday Endowed Chair of Subsurface Geology in the Jackson School of Geosciences. Since 2024, he holds the titles of Director Emeritus of the Bureau of Economic Geology and Professor and Allday Endowed Chair Emeritus in the Jackson School of Geosciences at UT Austin. Tinker is the founder and chairman of the Switch Energy Alliance, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization focused on energy education through film and media. He co-produced and served as the on-screen guide for the documentary Switch (2012) on global energy, and executive produced and guided its sequel Switch On (2020) on global energy poverty. He is the executive producer and host of Energy Switch, a PBS talk show on energy and climate that debuted in 2022 and now airs in over 85% of PBS stations nationwide, and the host of EarthDate, a weekly public radio program airing on more than 470 stations across all 50 U.S. states.