Leaders from Arizona State University joined a ceremony in Islamabad on June 3 to officially launch a five-year energy studies partnership with two leading Pakistani universities to improve that nation’s power production.
The U.S. Agency for International Development awarded the $18 million project to ASU to establish the Partnership Center for Advanced Studies in Energy (PCASE) in association with Pakistan’s National University of Science and Technology in Islamabad and the University of Engineering and Technology-Peshawar, according to a press release from the University.
PCASE is an element of the U.S.-Pakistan Centers for Advanced Studies in Energy, Water, Agriculture and Food Security.
John Shumaker, PCASE project director and fellow at ASU College of Public Service and Community Solutions and the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College said, “This is a tremendous opportunity for our researchers and students, as well as our partners in Pakistan.”
In five years, project organizers hope to have a functioning center operating between the two universities so they, in turn, can boost Pakistan’s energy production.
Energy shortages are a daily challenge in a nation with the potential to be an “economic tiger,” which British economist Jim O’Neill said could be the 18th-largest economy in the world by 2050, according to the press release.
The release reads, “ASU staff will partner with Pakistani counterparts to develop PCASE by focusing on growing capacities in governance, curriculum, applied research, exchanges and scholarships, and institutional sustainability. The driving force will be graduate education and research.”
ASU staff will work in Pakistan while some Pakistani staff will come to Arizona. The Pakistani universities also will send graduate students to ASU for further education and training throughout the lifespan of the project.