College of Natural Resources’ International and Executive Programs is delighted to announce a new collaboration with the Berkeley-Tsinghua Joint Research Center on Energy and Climate Change through its Beahrs Environmental Leadership Program (Beahrs ELP). This summer, the highly esteemed Beahrs ELP cohort will include emerging decision makers from public and private sectors, academia, and NGOs from China. These fellows will be supported by the Chern-Simons Fellows Program for Energy & Climate Change, a new program at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) funded by Jim and Marilyn Simons.
In addition to the fellowship program, the Simons family has funded the first-ever Presidential Chair for the Berkeley Lab. Dr. Jiang Lin, as the chairholder, will lead the Berkeley-Tsinghua Center, which focuses on scientific research and analysis on clean energy solutions for China, including low-carbon cities, carbon markets, and clean energy systems.
As part of this partnership, Dr. Lin will be one of the featured instructors during the three-week intensive Beahrs ELP program. This formal partnership is the result of a longstanding relationship between Dr. Lin and Professor David Roland-Holst, former Assistant Dean of International Programs of the College of Natural Resources.
The partnership also created an opportunity to further update the Beahrs ELP curriculum, with the addition of new modules on energy and technology, and the participants will have the opportunity to visit Dr. Jiang Liu and his colleagues at the Berkeley Lab.
“China and the United States are the biggest contributors of greenhouse gasses. The biggest challenge we have today is creating the opportunity to join forces, engage each other in finding solutions. Only when these countries come together, we will be able to work toward the strategy to develop the mitigation plan in a meaningful way. Our program creates exactly that; the US experts not only providing instructions to, but also interacting and exchanging ideas with, the future decision makers of China,” says Professor David Zilberman, the co-director of the Beahrs ELP.
Beahrs ELP 2016
“Beahrs ELP is a well-established program that has had 615 participants from over 110 countries over the last 17 years. However, it is always evolving, and this partnership both fits the program’s expansion plan and corresponds with recent shifts in global environmental and political landscapes,” says Dean J. Keith Gilless, the co-director of the Beahrs ELP. “The Beahrs ELP will look closely at energy, while still touching on terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, food, biodiversity, natural resource management, population, and health. Together with skill-based workshops such as conflict resolution and project management, I think the refined curriculum is perfect to help the next generation of agenda setters from China and beyond to acquire the knowledge and tools of critical importance to support their nation for the years to come.”
Dr. Mio Katayama Owens, the Director of the International and Executive Programs, views this as not only an opportunity to expand the network of participants and the program alumni, but also supporting the core mission of the program. “The inauguration of the new US president marks the new chapter of the environmental history of not only this nation, but of the global community. More than ever, we need to focus our efforts to disseminate science based information and reliable tools and skills to professionals today.”
The Beahrs ELP’s directors and instructors, as well as the International and Executive Programs’ team, are looking forward to welcoming the 2017 cohort.