UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State Global sponsored two Penn State professors, Anne Hoag, associate professor, Department of Telecommunications and director of the Center for Penn State Student Entrepreneurship, and Esther Obonyo, associate professor of Architectural Engineering and director of Global Building Network, to attend the December 2022 Blue and Green Technology Conference in Auckland, New Zealand. The visit underscored the strong partnership that connects the University of Auckland and Penn State.
With a focus on clean technology and innovation, the conference explored and showcased how the update of blue and green technologies can help humanity live with current climate change-related extreme weather events while also mitigating the adverse impacts of projected future global challenges. Government, industry, and academic leaders convened to try to identify collaboration strategies that could accelerate a just transition to a low carbon and climate-resilient future.
Meetings with government officials, industry, and the university highlighted the strong connections that bind Penn State and the University of Auckland around the United National Sustainable Development Goals.
“During the conference, several frameworks from frontline communities were showcased as strategies for addressing the climate emergency alongside some very modern high-tech strategies,“ said Obonyo. “These were conceptualized and developed as hybrid solutions by having two-way exchanges between the universities‘ research centers and the frontline communities. We usually go beyond our campuses to engage with the local and indigenous knowledge systems and will be exploring ways of providing reverse visit opportunities for members of frontline communities.”