ARIONA: Arizona State University will help Pakistan overcome energy crisis as per a partnership made recently between ASU and two Pakistani universities under the funding of USAID.
Officials gathered on the Tempe campus to mark the initiative, in which ASU is partnering with two top Pakistani universities for five years to hunt for energy solutions for the South Asian nation.
With opening remarks by Senator John McCain, and in partnership with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and two Pakistani universities: the National University of Sciences and Technology in Islamabad (NUST), and the University of Engineering and Technology in Peshawar (UET), Arizona State University launched a program to develop groundbreaking energy research and solution hubs in Pakistan — the US-Pakistan Centers for Advanced Studies in Energy.
“This new partnership presents a tremendous opportunity to help solve Pakistan’s deepening energy challenges and identify new ways to develop more reliable power production,” said Senator McCain. “I commend the leaders of Arizona State University and its partner institutions for launching this innovative initiative, through which students and researchers in both countries will work together to tackle the issue of sustainable energy, a vital concern for both our countries in the 21st century.”
More than 70 percent of the Pakistani population does not receive steady electricity. About 1,200 people died in Karachi this summer because of lack of power for air-conditioning and water pumps, a US government official said in the event.
Donald “Larry” Sampler, the Assistant to the Administrator for the Office of Afghanistan and Pakistan Affairs at USAID, launched the five-year energy program at the event alongside the VCs of NUST, UET, and ASU’s Senior Vice President for Knowledge Enterprise Development. Together, the three university partners will develop the centers which focus on applied research relevant to Pakistan’s energy needs and educating the next generation of energy scientists, engineers, and policy makers. – The Educationist Monitoring