March 29, 2019 | UHCL Staff
The Sultanate of Oman has chosen University of Houston-Clear Lake to be the location of a conference to discuss topics related to energy and environmental affairs to be held Oct 23. Her Excellency Ambassador Hunaina Sultan Ahmed Al Mughairy, who is also chair of the Sultan Qaboos Cultural Center, visited UH-Clear Lake’s campus on March 6 to discuss preliminary plans for the conference with university officials and faculty.
“The facilities on this campus are exactly what we need,” Al Mughairy said. “The setting here is amazing and green. We are reaching out to the American people to talk about Oman, our culture, and the issues that concern us all. We thank (UHCL President) Ira K. Blake for her warm welcome.”
UHCL Associate Professor of Anthropology and Cross-Cultural Studies Maria Curtis is co-adviser of the Model Arab League and has organized three student study trips to Oman. “The tentative name of the conference is, ‘Energy and Environmental Stewardship: Oman and the U.S.’ The inference is toward science diplomacy,” she said.
Curtis explained that each year since 2009, the Sultan Qaboos Cultural Center, which is an extension of the Omani Embassy in Washington, D.C., has held a conference at an American university. This is the second time a Texas university has been chosen as the location for a conference. The objective of the conference is to bring guests and researchers from Oman who can contribute to the topics together with speakers from the university and the region.
“The ambassador will be here along with a minister from the Omani government,” she said. “The overarching topics to be explored are oil and gas and the environment. It’s not political. It’s about how to use science diplomacy to best transition into new ways to think about oil and gas.”
The day-long conference will feature four panel discussions and ancillary events. Topics include a discussion of overlapping energy concerns, addressing emerging technologies and future trends as well as a comparison of extreme weather that both Houston and Oman have experienced, and disaster management and preparedness.
A delegation of 25-30 Omanis are expected to attend the conference, which targets UHCL students, faculty, and those with interests in oil and gas companies, NASA, environmental issues and emergency management.
