On April 30, Texas A&M Law faculty met with members of the Texas A&M Energy Institute to discuss opportunities to collaborate at the Energy, Law and Policy Workshop. Among other issues, participants discussed potential joint and dual degrees and certificate programs, research collaborations, student scholarships, and related topics. Two distinct research topics and one academic area were identified as opportunities for further engagement.
- The first research area focuses on energy justice and will be pursued through an interdisciplinary workshop that will be scheduled later this year, as well as via a project-based social impact assessment to explore potential frameworks for guiding decision-making as developers, policymakers, and other stakeholders make energy-related decisions that could affect marginalized communities.
- The second research area centers around energy-related taxation policies as it relates to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
- The academic priority will be to explore a series of joint and dual degrees and certificate programs, including an Energy, Law, and Policy Certificate that would be issued jointly by the two entities, and a dual master’s degree (M.S. in Energy from the Energy Institute and M.Jur. from the law school).
To begin implementation, interdisciplinary faculty committees were selected for each project. In addition, the Energy Institute kindly provided $10,000 in seed funding for each project to cover start-up costs.