Volunteer Opportunity: U.S. -India Energy Partnership Summit

The Energy and Resources Institute, North America (TERI-NA) will be hosting the upcoming U.S.-India Energy Partnership (www.terina.org/usindiasummit).  We are seeking several student volunteers to assist with the Summit.

Now in its fourth year, the U.S.-India Energy Partnership Summit brings together high-ranking government officials, business leaders and NGOs from the U.S. and India to discuss and debate the most important energy issues and opportunities of our time. The speakers and participants work to foster stronger bilateral cooperation in the areas of energy security, sustainable development and technological innovation. This year’s theme is Stimulating Technology, Trade and Development.  Confirmed speakers include Deputy Secretary of Energy Daniel Poneman, Minister of Human Resources Development Pallam Raju, Govt. of India, Former Vice President Al Gore and many CEOs, government officials and NGO leaders whose work focuses on energy concerns and opportunities shared by the U.S. and India.

Given the high profile nature of the event and the speakers with whom volunteers would be liasing, this presents a great opportunity for students to gain valuable exposure to the  issues that will dominate the energy and environmental dialogues between the U.S. and Indian government officials and businesses going forward.


The Summit begins at 3:00 pm on May 13 with the CEO Roundtable with keynote address by Mr. Sam Pitroda, Chairman of India’s National Innovation Council & Adviser to the Prime Minister of India on Public Information Infrastructure & Innovations. Special guests to the Roundtable include the State Department’s Ambassador Robert Blake, Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs, and Ambassador Carlos Pascual, Special Envoy and Coordinator for International Energy Affairs. At the Roundtable, business leaders from the U.S. and India meet in an exclusive discussion session where they will explore the topics:

• Financing for clean technology

• Competitive energy markets

• Energy efficiency and growth

• Energy access and the private sector

On the May 14, the Summit runs from 9:40 am – 5:45 pm and counts among its speakers not 

• Pallam Raju, Minister of Human Resource Development, Government of India

• Daniel Poneman, Deputy Secretary of Energy

• Nirupama Rao, Ambassador of India to the U.S.

• John Holdren, Assistant to the President for Science and Technology

• David Sandalow, Assistant Secretary for Policy and International Affairs, DoEGeoffrey Pyatt, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs, Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, U.S. Department of State

• Jeff Seabright, Vice President, Environment and Water Resources, The Coca-Cola Company

• Terry F Yosie, President & CEO, World Environment Center

• Charles K Ebinger, Director – Foreign Policy, Energy Security Initiative, Brookings Institute

• Deepak Amitabh, Chairman & Managing Director, PTC India Limited

• Manjeev Singh Puri, Deputy Permanent Representative Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations

Volunteers will need to be available the full days of May 12 – 14 as well as the early evening on 

• Registering and facilitating speakers and delegates

• Floor management

• Rapporteuring the sessions (summarizing and synthesizing the panel sessions and discussions in 300-500 words the day of the Summit)

During evening of May 13, the Eve of Hope takes place at 6:00 pm with keynote addresses by Al Gore and Farooq Abdullah, India’s Minister of New and Renewable Energy previously mentioned above:

Volunteer Responsibilities

Volunteers will need to be available the full days of May 12 – 14 as well as the early evening on May 13. They will be responsible for assisting with:

• Registering and facilitating speakers and delegates
• Floor management
• Rapporteuring the sessions (summarizing and synthesizing the panel sessions and discussions in 300-500 words the day of the Summit)

Interested students should send a brief note of interest and their current resume to Taylor GregoireWright at taylor.wright@terina.org. As rapporteurs of the sessions, volunteers must possess strong analytical and writing skills and the ability to work under a tight deadline. There are limited volunteer slots, so we encourage you to act soon. For volunteers in previous years the Summit has been an exciting, high-paced experience where they gain exposure to high-level discussions about the most important energy issues of the day.