Baker Institute Awarded Major Grant for Energy Studies

CONTACT: Michael Cinelli
PHONE: (713) 831-4794

BAKER INSTITUTE AWARDED MAJOR GRANT FOR ENERGY STUDIES

The James A. Baker III Institute for Public
Policy at Rice University has received a major grant to conduct a
two-year study into energy markets and their impact on the
international economy by the Center for International Political
Economy (CIPE).

These studies will cover the geopolitical, cultural, religious
and ethnic factors involved in the world’s energy producing regions,
particularly the Middle East and Central Asia, and the impact on the
price, security and supply of energy.

The grant will be in the amount of $300,000 annually, in
addition to in-kind contributions for assigned fellows to the
project.

“This research award is yet another measure of the high regard
for Rice and the Baker Institute in academic and policy circles,”
said Rice President Malcolm Gillis.

The Baker Institute was chosen along with two other institutions
to conduct a series of initial international studies by CIPE. The
Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University will undertake a two-
year study to assess security relationships in the Pacific Rim, and
the National Bureau of Economic Research in Boston will conduct a
two-year study aimed at defining emerging international economic
trends and the policy impacts of new patterns in international
capital flows.

“The selection of the Baker Institute for this study will
initiate our research agenda on energy, the Middle East and Central
Asia, where approximately three-fourths of the world’s energy
reserves are located,” said Edward Djerejian, director of the Baker
Institute.

CIPE, which will maintain offices in New York and Washington,
D.C., is a nonprofit organization formed with the intent to be a
recognized leader in the sponsorship of original research, learned
deliberation and quality publication of papers related to key
international issues.

Recently, a reception was held in Washington, D.C. to announce
the CIPE’s sponsorship of these initial studies. Professor Richard
Stoll, associate director of the Baker Institute, and Stephen Smith,
an alumni governor of Rice’s Board of Governors, represented the
university at the proceedings which included Clinton Administration
officials, members of Congress and corporate executives.

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