Gift funds professorship and research in energy, environmental policy
A $250,000 gift from Maxwell School alumnus
James Ajello ’76 MPA will create a new professorship in energy and
environmental policy, while supporting interdisciplinary research projects in
that field. The gift, with an initial term of five years, also funds opportunities
— both training and research — for graduate and undergraduate students.
Peter Wilcoxen, professor of public
administration and international affairs, Laura
J. and L. Douglas Meredith Professor for Teaching Excellence, and
director of Maxwell’s Center for
Environmental Policy and Administration (CEPA), will serve as the inaugural
Ajello Professor in Energy and Environmental Policy. Wilcoxen, also a
nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, studies the effect of
environmental and energy policies on economic growth, international trade, and
the performance of individual industries. He has published more than 70 papers
and has co-authored books on the design of an international policy to control
climate change, on the design and construction of large-scale economic models,
and on using environmental taxes as part of fiscal reform in the United States.
As Ajello Professor, Wilcoxen will
oversee an ambitious array of research projects and opportunities for student
involvement in CEPA. Funded initiatives will include interdisciplinary pilot
projects connecting Maxwell School faculty with colleagues from across Syracuse
University, thus linking Maxwell-based expertise in energy and environmental
economics, environmental policy and sustainability, climate science, behavioral
economics, data integration and analytics, geographic information systems, and
other areas with University-based expertise in such fields as electricity
generation and distribution, renewable energy, cybersecurity, information
technology, and regulatory law, among many others.
The Ajello Professor will also train
graduate and advanced undergraduate students in research methods and involve
those students in interdisciplinary projects sponsored by the professorship. Via
research apprenticeships for graduate students and undergraduate internships
geared to experiential learning, students will play a role in developing
solutions to real-world energy and environmental problems.
CEPA will assemble an advisory group
of government and industry experts, providing real-world input to Maxwell on
energy and environmental issues. These committed experts will provide input and
help shape the Center’s priorities for energy and environmental research, while
advising Wilcoxen on skills most needed by students interested in working in
the sector.
According to Wilcoxen, the new funding
will contribute directly to the strategic plans of Maxwell and the University,
which emphasize interdisciplinary research. The Ajello Professorship “not only builds
on Maxwell’s strengths in the social sciences, but also goes beyond that to
provide resources and support for interdisciplinary work involving the natural
sciences, engineering, information technology, and law,” he says. Wilcoxen sees
interdisciplinary work as particularly important for environmental and energy
issues which are “deeply interdisciplinary, because they occur where social and
natural systems meet. It’s impossible to address these issues without
understanding them from multiple perspectives.”
The donor, James Ajello, is a retired energy industry executive
who, until last year, served as executive vice president and chief financial
officer of Hawaiian Electric Industries (HEI). He previously served as chairman
of the U.S. Department of Energy Environmental Management Advisory Board; senior
vice president of business development at Reliant Energy (2000-09); and in
various positions, including managing director for energy and natural resources,
at UBS Financial Services (1984-98). Based in Houston, Ajello now serves on the
board of directors of American Savings Bank, a subsidiary of HEI, and is also
on the Board of Crius Energy in Toronto, Canada. He has served for many years
as a member of the board of trustees of Hawaii Pacific University.
Ajello says his gift ties back directly to work he had done
as a Maxwell student. “About 40 years ago I did research in Harry Lambright’s
class on this very topic — multidisciplinary approaches to energy and
environmental issues. As I look back on my career,” he says, “virtually every
job I’ve had since Maxwell, in the public and private sectors, has immersed me
in this very interesting topic.
“Yet there is so much more to learn to achieve an energy
efficient and sustainable society,” Ajello adds. “This work is more important
than ever, and that is why I am delighted to support training and research at
Maxwell in this valuable field.”
“We are deeply grateful to Jim Ajello
for his generous, forward-thinking support,” says Dean David M. Van Slyke. “As
a school with a deep history working at the intersection of theory, policy, and
practice, Maxwell is the perfect location for the Ajello Professorship. I
cannot think of a better, more qualified teacher and researcher to serve as the
Ajello Professor than Pete Wilcoxen. I look forward to seeing the many
great results that come from Pete, our students, and from CEPA as a result of
Jim’s investment in the mission of the Maxwell School to use research and
teaching to inform and advance policy.”
03/08/18