UH will partner with the Bertelsmann Foundation for UH Megatrend Future Day to promote discussion about energy policy issues with the UH Policy Debate from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Nov. 9 in the Waldorf Astoria Ballroom of the University Hilton.
UH Policy Debate is intended to open the floor for students and faculty to ask questions of the student panel and the panel of guest speakers and UH faculty.
The event will seek to combine policy making and the issue of energy, renewable or other forms. President Renu Khator will give the welcoming speech, and history professor Joseph Pratt will deliver the keynote address.
“Our objective is to speculate what the state of energy will be in 20 or 30 years,” said associate professor Peter Bishop.
It should also focus on what the audience wants to know about the future policies, said associate professor Barry Lefer. Lefer will be a part of the panel discussing energy and natural resources.
“The purpose of the panel is not to say much; it’s for the audience to ask questions and to talk about the science and impacts of policy,” Lefer said.
Jonathan Stevens-Garcia, director of Global Futures Project for the Bertelsmann Foundation, will present “Megatrends in Global Interaction.” UH is setting the bar with this kind of event because it is the culmination of a true partnership with an integral member of the Bertelsmann Foundation, said Lisa Robertson, executive director of External Relations and Strategic Partnerships.
Director of Policy Debate Sarah Spring, who will moderate the policy debate at the event, sees the event as a useful resource for students.
“I think that cooperation with foundations like the Bertelsmann Foundation is a fantastic opportunity to connect UH students with leading minds in energy and environmental policy,” Spring said.
Other panel speakers include Tim Douglass, director of Economic Development in the Office of the Mayor for Houston; Scott Nyquist, global co-leader of McKinsey’s Sustainability & Resource Productivity Practice; and Lane Sloan, co-chair of the Greater Houston Partnership Energy Collaborative Workforce Committee.
“We are pleased with the number of RSVPs, and the majority of them are students. So there’s a high level of interest,” Robertson said.
For more information and to RSVP, visit www.egr.uh.edu/research/megatrend_future/.
