Vision Statement
Smart Globalization: Educating Leaders and Problem-Solvers
Dr. David J. Jhirad
Professor and Director, Energy Resources and Environment Program
H.R.H. Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz Professor of Energy and Environmental Policy

The Energy, Resources and Environment (ERE) Program is an interdisciplinary graduate program focused on developing innovative solutions to urgent global energy and environmental challenges. The program aspires to educate a new generation of “specialized integrators,” who will play leadership roles in the diverse array of global institutions that will shape the world’s future. ERE faculty provide students with the intellectual framework and analytic skills to devise robust solutions to the daunting policy, financing, technological and governance challenges facing the international community.

The major challenges addressed by the program include: stabilizing climate change through mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions while building resilience to climate impacts; reversing the alarming deterioration of the world’s eco-systems; enhancing global security by reducing the risk of economic disruption and nuclear weapons proliferation; eliminating energy poverty for over two billion people; achieving energy, water and food security for all; and mobilizing over $50 trillion in capital investment for urban and rural infrastructure by the year 2030 to generate inclusive and sustainable economic growth.

The ERE Program stresses that solutions to these complex, non-linear and “wicked” problems will require unprecedented and multi-faceted innovation—in new public-private partnerships, technology, investment, policy, governance and international diplomacy—to achieve global security, equity and resilience.

PROGRAM FACTS:

DIRECTOR | Dr. David J. Jhirad (Washington, DC)

ENROLLED STUDENTS (2012-13) 113 in Washington, D.C. | 39 in Bologna

FACULTY & STAFF 11 full-time | 9 part-time

SAMPLING OF COURSES | WASHINGTON, DC
-Agriculture – Global Issues
-Case Studies in Sustainable Development: Smart Cities & Urban Innovation
-Economics of Natural Resources
-Energy, Environment & Development in Developing Countries
-Energy Governance in China
-Energy in the Americas: Conflict, Cooperation & Future Prospects
-Energy, Politics and Development in Africa
-Energy Technology Futures Facing the Oil Problem: The United States, Canada, OPEC and the World
-The Geopolitics of Energy
-Global Climate Change: Ensuing Security and Resilience
-Global Electricity Markets
-Global Energy, Resources and Environment Fundamentals
-Innovation in the Electric Power Sector
-International Environmental Diplomacy
-International Environmental Law
-International Forestry: An Introduction to Major Contemporary Issues
-International Environmental Policy Practicum
-International Water: Issues and Policies
-Managing Threatened Oceans
-Policy to Drive Energy Innovation
-Project Finance
-Theory and Practice of China’s Foreign Energy Policy

BOLOGNA, ITALY CAMPUS |
-Agricultural Development, Poverty Reduction & Food Security
-Energy and Climate Change
-Politics & Economics of International Energy
-Renewable Energy: Markets, Technologies, Projects
-Science, Technology, and International Affairs

CO-CURRICULAR PROGRAMS |
International Energy and Environment Practicum
The International Energy and Environment Practicum is an innovative program that allows students to combine a for-credit course at SAIS with extensive, in-depth, real world experience consulting for client organizations on projects aimed at addressing international environmental and energy policy challenges. The Practicum is designed to provide quality research and analysis to clients, while providing students with the opportunity to apply concepts learned in the classroom to critical problems. Where possible, the work is integrated into the on-going research of an ERE faculty member.

Frontiers in Energy, Science and Technology (FEST)
To supplement its rigorous academic curriculum, the Energy, Resources and Environment Program also developed the Frontiers in Energy, Science and Technology (FEST) Field Visits initiative to provide its students with first-hand experience visiting utilities, nuclear power and LNG plants, hydraulic fracturing and off-shore oil facilities, sewage treatment plants, and solar panel manufacturing facilities, among others. FEST offers student enrichment activities designed to provide first-hand exposure to innovations in the energy and environment sectors.

Global Leaders Forum (GLF)
The Energy, Resources and Environment (ERE) Global Leaders Forum is a speaker series that brings together leaders from the public sector, research, finance and industry throughout the academic year to explore solutions to key domestic and international energy and environmental challenges. The ERE Global Leaders Forum serves as a platform for policymakers and executives to share their expertise and insight with SAIS faculty and students and the broader academic and business communities.