Energy forum, new name kick off student civic communication group

September 3, 2013  


WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — An energy forum focusing on fossil fuels, renewable energy and Purdue research will feature nationally known scientists, industry leaders and journalists at the university on Sept. 13.

Brian Lamb

Brian Lamb
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"A New Energy Future" is sponsored by Bloomberg View and the Purdue Institute for Civic Communication. The event, which is free and open to the public, is 1:30-6 p.m. in Stewart Center's Loeb Hall and it will be live streamed at http://www.kaltura.com/tiny/s9o5c

Bloomberg View is the opinion and analytical platform of Bloomberg News, and PICC was formerly known as Project Impact.

"Our new name better reflects the mission for this student-driven initiative," said Ambassador Carolyn Curiel, the founder and executive director of PICC. "A forum that brings scientists, industry leaders and journalists together to address energy and environmental challenges is a great opportunity to move forward with the group's next phase."

The Sept. 13 event will feature two panel discussions and an interview by Brian Lamb of Michael Eskew, UPS director and former UPS chairman and CEO. Eskew graduated from Purdue in 1972 with a bachelor's degree in industrial engineering. In 1972 he began his UPS career in Indiana as an industrial engineering manager. Lamb is the founder and executive chairman of C-SPAN. He is a Lafayette native and graduated with a bachelor's degree in speech from Purdue in 1963 and received an honorary doctorate in 1986. Purdue named the School of Communication for him in 2011.

The interview, which will be introduced by Purdue President Mitch Daniels, is 4-5:30 p.m.

The first panel, "Can Clean Energy Replace Fossil Fuels?" at 1:30-2:20 p.m., will feature a debate between Robert Bryce, a senior fellow with Manhattan Institute's Center for Energy Policy and the Environment and author of several books including "Pipe Dreams: Greed, Ego, and the Death of Enron," and Nathaniel Bullard, an industry analyst with Bloomberg New Energy Finance. Carl Pope, a sustainable energy consultant and former executive director of Sierra Club, will moderate the panel.

Michael Eskew

Michael Eskew
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The second panel, "Game Changers" at 2:30-3:30 p.m., is a Purdue faculty discussion about cutting-edge energy research and commercialization prospects. Leah Jamieson, John A. Edwardson Dean of Engineering, will lead the panel, which also will feature Maureen McCann, director of Purdue's Energy Center and professor of biological sciences; Wally Tyner, the James and Lois Ackerman Professor of Agricultural Economics and member of the Center for Research and Energy Systems; and James Braun, Herrick Professor of Mechanical Engineering.

Audience members will be able to ask questions at microphones or via Twitter (@PurdueICC).

The university-wide institute is based in the Brian Lamb School of Communication, which is housed in the College of Liberal Arts. Since 2010, the program has helped students across the university to sharpen their critical thinking and communication skills and to build professional networks as they produced forums featuring historians, government officials, journalists, media executives and successful practitioners in their fields of interest. So far, 44 students from fields as varied as communication and nuclear engineering have been selected to participate in the program's annual class in Washington D.C. in May. Many more students have played a role in planning and executing the forums and other activities. Participation in PICC is voluntary for students outside of classes taught by Curiel who is a clinical professor in the Brian Lamb School of Communication. In her career prior to Purdue, her alma mater, Curiel served as a senior White House aide and a U.S. ambassador and was a journalist at The New York Times and ABC News.

The forum is the second partnership with Bloomberg View. Paula Dwyer, a Bloomberg View editor, was managing editor of the Purdue Exponent when Curiel was sports editor at the student newspaper. They partnered in April 2012 to bring some of the nation's top political commentators, including Ezra Klein, Ramesh Ponnuru and Margaret Carlson, to Purdue for a pre-election debate.

Writer: Amy Patterson Neubert, 765-494-9723, apatterson@purdue.edu

Source: Carolyn Curiel, curiel@purdue.edu

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