PESD Director Frank Wolak will be leading the "Petroleum's Future" talk along with Michael Roman from the Public and Government Affairs, ExxonMobil Corporation.  This 3-day event features individuals across academia and the public and private sector.

Talk abstract:

Petroleum's Future
Despite volatile price swings, the political instability in major oil-producing regions and the recent devastating spill in the Gulf of Mexico, petroleum remains the primary source of California's energy needs. Removing our society's dependence on petroleum remains a difficult proposition involving alternatives, pricing and cost, and stability during any attempt to phase-out its use. More importantly, how will the role of petroleum affect rural counties - those living and working in rural areas as well as rural county governments making day-to-day decisions involving the use of petroleum-based products?

Finally, where does petroleum in California fit into a "post-AB 32 world"? This session will discuss all of these issues and more as two renowned experts in the field of energy share their views.

Click here to view Frank's presentation.

What has the United States accomplished with its unprecedented build-up of immigration enforcement along the U.S.-Mexico border and in the interior of the country since 1993? How has this effort shaped the migration projects of Mexicans?  From the standpoint of U.S. policymakers, what has “worked,” what has not, and why?  In explaining major changes in migration flows since 2007, which matters most: U.S. border enforcement or the Great Recession?  In addressing these questions, Professor Cornelius will draw upon extensive fieldwork conducted in 2010 in rural Jalisco, the San Francisco Bay area, and Oklahoma City, as well as a new analysis of survey data from UCSD’s Mexican Migration Field Research and Training Program covering 2007-2010.

Wayne A. Cornelius is Co-Director, Education Programs, of the University of California’s Global Health Institute (UCGHI); Associate Director, UC Center of Expertise on Migration and Health; and a Core Faculty Member, Division of Global Public Health, School of Medicine, University of California-San Diego. He is Director Emeritus of the UCSD Center for Comparative Immigration Studies; Distinguished Professor of Political Science, Emeritus; and Theodore E. Gildred Professor of U.S.-Mexican Relations at UCSD. He is a past President of the Latin American Studies Association and an elected member of the Council on Foreign Relations (New York). One of the world's foremost experts on Mexican migration to the United States, comparative immigration policy, international migration and health, and the Mexican political system, Cornelius conducted field research in Mexico and the United States nearly every year from 1970 to 2009.  His latest among more than 280 publications on migration is a book titled Mexican Migration and the U.S. Economic Crisis: A Transnational Perspective.

Co-sponsored by Bill Lane Center for the American West, Center for Latin American Studies (CLAS), Chicana/o Studies, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Institute on the Politics of Inequality, Race and Ethnicity at Stanford (InSPIRES), MEChA, Stanford Humanities Center and Stanford Immigrant Rights Project.

President Obama nominated Carlos Pascual as the next United States Ambassador to Mexico in June 2009. The United States Senate confirmed the nomination on August 7 and Ambassador Pascual presented his credentials to the Mexican government on August 9, 2009. 

Ambassador Pascual has had a 23 year career in the United States Department of State, National Security Council (NSC), and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

He served as coordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization at the U.S. Department of State, where he led and organized U.S. government planning to help stabilize and reconstruct societies in transition from conflict or civil strife.  

Ambassador Pascual was Coordinator for U.S. Assistance to Europe and Eurasia (2003), where he oversaw regional and country assistance strategies to promote market-oriented and democratic states. From October 2000 until August 2003, Ambassador Pascual served as U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine. From July 1998 to January 2000, Ambassador Pascual served as Special Assistant to the President and NSC Senior Director for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia, and from 1995 to 1998 as Director for the same region. From 1983 to 1985, Ambassador Pascual worked for USAID in Sudan, South Africa and Mozambique and as Deputy Assistant Administrator for Europe and Eurasia.

Most recently, Ambassador Pascual was Vice President and Director of the Foreign Policy Studies Program at the Brookings Institution. Ambassador Pascual received his M.P.P. from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in 1982 and his B.A. from Stanford University in 1980. He has served on the board of directors for the National Endowment for Democracy, Freedom House, and the Internews Network. He has also served on the Advisory Group for the United Nations Peacebuilding Fund.