News Release
NC State Alumnus Chair of Panel that Shares Nobel Peace Prize with Gore
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David Hunt, News Services, (919) 515-3470
Oct. 12, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Dr. Rajendra Kumar Pachauri, chair of the United Nations agency that shares the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with former Vice President Al Gore, is an alumnus of North Carolina State University, where he also taught economics.
Pachauri, chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), obtained all three of his graduate degrees from NC State, including a master's degree in industrial engineering in 1972, and doctorates in industrial engineering and economics. He also served at NC State as an assistant professor (August 1974 - May 1975) and visiting faculty member (summer 1976 and 1977) in the Department of Economics.
In a statement released by the IPCC Friday, Pachauri paid tribute to the scientific community for its work in understanding and addressing global climate change.
"The experts and scientists are the backbone of the IPCC and they provide the knowledge which has contributed to the success of the IPCC," he said. "I would also like to thank the governments of the world who support and facilitate the work of the panel. I hope, as the chairman of the organization, I am articulating the sentiments of the entire scientific community in acknowledging the enormous appreciation implied in the award of the Nobel Peace Prize and this would energize all the scientists and experts involved in the IPCC to do even more in the future."
The IPCC, established by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), is a leader in the scientific assessment of climate change.
Pachauri was born in Nainital, India, in 1940. In addition to NC State, he has taught at universities in India and the United States, including Yale University. He was a research fellow at the World Bank in 1990 and an adviser to the administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for energy and sustainable management of natural resources from 1994 through 1999.
Pachauri recently joined the board of the Global Humanitarian Forum, founded by former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.
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