Alex Beehler, Assistant Secretary of the Army for Installations, Energy and Environment, conducted an environmental and energy seminar in EEMI Co-Director Joe Cascio’s Policy Factors in Environmental Management course in the Fall 2019 semester. Before being confirmed by the U.S. Senate to his present position, Secretary Beehler served for three years as an EEMI Director.
On November 16, 2019, EMMI Director of Renewable Energy Scott Sklar gave a presentation on “Resilience Strategies: Building a New Puerto Rican Energy” at the Washington DC Summit 2019, sponsored by Centro, The Center for Puerto Rican Studies. Centro is a research institute that is dedicated to the study and interpretation of the Puerto Rican experience in the U.S. and that produces and disseminates relevant interdisciplinary research. Centro also collects, preserves, and provides access to library resources documenting Puerto Rican history and culture.
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| EEMI Instructor Julian Bentley conducts his Electric Vehicles course in SEH 2000 |
In November 2019, EEM Master of Science graduate Carolina Pena moved to a new job at the USA for IOM, the UN Migration Agency’s nonprofit in the U.S. Carolina’s role is to advance the understanding about IOM’s programmatic approach, especially with migrants displaced by the effects of climate change. One way the organization carries out this mission is through awareness-raising events like the Global Migration Film Festival. The IOM’s Global Migration Film Festival showcases films that capture the promise and challenges of migration for those who leave their homes in search of a better life. In 2020 the U.S. screenings will feature films around integration and social cohesion.
Filippo Berardi of the World Bank Group’s Global Environment Facility, a participant in a recent EEMI Electric Vehicles course, was featured in the newsletter of the European Energy Center. The EEC spoke to Filippo about his experience in the course, which provides expert knowledge on EV technology and charging infrastructure, with special focus on the US industry. Filippo said that “at the GEF we recognize that the transport sector needs to be deeply decarbonized if we are to remain in line with the trajectory demanded by the Paris Agreement” and that “it is very important to have access to a complete and up-to-date set of information regarding the e-mobility market – this is why I decided to sign up to the EEC Electric Vehicles course.”
EEMI Co-Director Joe Cascio has been invited to serve on the IPC Thought Leaders Program, which was established to identify key drivers of change in research areas applicable to electronics manufacturers throughout the United States. Prof. Cascio’s invitation noted his expertise in the research area of Environment, Health and Safety. Prof. Cascio, who has accepted the invitation, formerly served as the Federal Environmental Executive under an appointment by President George Bush.
October 7, 2019, EEM Professor Dr. John Helveston gave an invited presentation at the Center for Global Sustainability at the University Of Maryland School Of Public Policy. The talk was on his paper published earlier this year in Research Policy, titled “Institutional Complementarities: The Origins of Experimentation in China’s Plug-in Electric Vehicle Industry.” On October 30, Dr. Helveston participated on a panel discussion titled “China’s Impact on the Solar Industry: Lessons for the Future of Clean Energy.” The panel was hosted by the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), and was held at the ITIF office at 700 K Street NW.
On October 1-2, 2019, Dr. Rachael Jonassen (Director, Climate Change EEMI) participated in a panel at Asian Development Bank (ADB) headquarters in Manila, Philippines. She serves as senior adaptation expert advising ADB on developing and delivering good practice guidance on climate resilient infrastructure design in the transport sector. Eight GW graduate students support the project.
Recent EEM Master’s graduate Mu Hu is with the Asset Management Branch of Founder Securities in Beijing, China performing equity analysis and sales. Mu reports that “the financial industry is quite a new area for me and I'm learning to catch up as fast I can. Two years in America is one of my greatest experiences, and it's never enough to say thank you to you here.”
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Jimmy Jia |
EMSE Visiting Scholar Jimmy Jia was a facilitator of the Western States Innovation Workshop in Seattle, WA. Sponsored by the Western Interstate Energy Board and the CleanTech Alliance, it included attendees from energy offices of the Western states, Canadian provincial policymakers, representatives of national labs, and other commercialization organizations from throughout the West. The workshop provided an opportunity to strengthen and broaden collaborations among Northwest energy innovators to improve commercialization pathways for technologies emerging from R&D institutions.
Dr. Ekundayo Shittu published a co-edited volume titled Renewable Energy: International Perspectives on Sustainability with Dmitry Kurochkin and Elena Shabliy, colleagues from Harvard and Columbia Universities, respectively. The publisher is Palgrave Macmillan.
EEMI Director of Climate Change Dr. Rachael Jonassen was appointed by the Asian Development Bank to lead a project in Hunan Province, China designing a roughly $500 million low carbon transformation for the city of Xiangtan. Xiangtan is a heavily polluted industrial city whose emissions have doubled in the past 10 years. The ADB team consists of 42 international and national experts in fields such as distributed energy, district heating, waste-to-energy, intelligent transport systems, smart energy building design, and green public finance.
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| Professor Sklar |
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