Interdisciplinary Team with Bush School Students Places in Energy Competition

COLLEGE STATION, TX (04/03/2013)(readMedia)--  An interdisciplinary team including Lauren Pfeifer, a Boise, ID native and master's student at Texas A&M University, competed in the Power Across Texas 2013 Energy Innovation Challenge competition March 1, earning them a $5,000 scholarship. Pfeifer is a second-year student at the Bush School of Government and Public Service in the Master's Program in International Affairs.

The team included one other Bush School student and a PhD student in civil engineering who met the other teammates while taking courses at the Bush School. This particular energy innovation challenge brings together interdisciplinary student teams to address a fundamentally interdisciplinary challenge to modern society. The competition took place in Austin at the Texas State Capitol.

The students were made aware of the opportunity to compete in the Power Across Texas challenge through Texas A&M's Energy Club. The three students have balanced strengths in business, finance, economics, international development, civil engineering, energy and public policy, that members made them an ideal team to take on the Power Across Texas energy challenge.

Team members including Pfeifer said that the interdisciplinary nature of the project was important because to solve the tough problems facing society, people with business, policy and engineering backgrounds must work together. Where one discipline had limitations, another had strengths and the members said that this combined to make them an ideal team to take on the Power Across Texas energy challenge.

The Texas A&M team's presentation was titled "Powering the Texas Colonias," and provided a thorough analysis of the social and political conditions that contributed to the creation of the Texas colonias, unincorporated settlements along the Texas-Mexico border that lack infrastructure such as paved roads, water and sewer systems, and safe housing. Their solution had three parts, consisting of a technology solution, a business solution, and public policy recommendations.

The Bush School's acting dean, Andrew Card, applauded the students for their involvement in the project, saying, "The Bush School faculty regularly engage in interdisciplinary research and we are proud that students have the same mindset. By participating in events like these, Bush School students are able to combine their expertise to create strategic, comprehensive and realistic solutions to impact society."

For more about the Power Across Texas Energy Innovation Challenge, visit http://poweracrosstexas.org/home-3/.

For more information about the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University, visit bush.tamu.edu.