The final full day in Delhi was, indeed, a full one, starting with a visit to the futuristic headquarters of the Tata Energy Research Institute (TERI), whose director, Dr. R.K. Pachauri, shared the Nobel Peace Prize last year with Al Gore. TERI has emerged as one of the world’s leading centers for research and information on climate change, with more than 700 scholars and support staff. TERI University, founded in 1998, offers master’s and doctoral degrees in the environment and has built an extensive array of partner institutions around the world. Duke’s relationship with TERI goes back several years and most recently took the form of a memorandum of understanding to develop a new master of international environmental management degree with the Nicholas School.

To no one’s surprise, India faces a number of challenges at the intersection of the energy, the environment and health. TERI plays a leading role in seeking to bring sustainable energy to the large parts of India that do not already it, including the more than 400 million Indians who have no access to electricity at all (a number more than one-third greater than the entire population of the United States). Through their Lighting a Billion Lives campaign, TERI hopes to introduce solar power and clean fuel technologies to replace the burning of wood products, which contributes significantly to the country’s pollution and health problems.

Dr. Pachauri, too, has ties to North Carolina. He received his advanced degrees from North Carolina State University and spent several years on the faculty before returning to India.  During our detailed briefing on TERI’s activities in India and worldwide, Dr. Pachauri talked fondly of his time in Chapel Hill and his meetings with former Duke president and then-Senator Terry Sanford.  We look forward to welcoming Dr. Pachauri back to Duke for a lecture in the near future.

Dr. R.K. Pachauri and President Brodhead with Duke and TERI staff

The TERI headquarters, a sustainable oasis in the center of New Delhi

From TERI, it is was off to the residence of the U.S. Embassy’s Deputy Chief of Mission (DCM), Steven White, for a luncheon with Indian education leaders.  The DCM’s residence, a stately colonial home, was the U.S. Ambassador’s residence until the distinctive U.S. Embassy complex was built in the early 1960’s and remains a favorites of diplomats posted in India.  (Trivia watch: the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi, one of the more well-known in the world, was created by Edward Durrell Stone, the modernist architect who also designed the Mary Duke Biddle Music Building on campus and the North Carolina Legislature in Raleigh.)  DCM White is a career diplomat and a UVa graduate, so we diplomatically avoided all mention of Duke’s 31-3 thrashing of the Cavs…until the waning moments of the lunch.

Guests mingle at a luncheon hosted by the U.S. Embassy