Climate Change Expert Maria-Paz Gutierrez Visited Uruguay on Behalf of ECPA Senior Fellows

Posted May 26, 2012

María-Paz Gutierrez presenting her work

Professor Maria-Paz Gutierrez, a Senior Fellow in the Energy and Climate Partnership of the Americas (ECPA), traveled to Montevideo, Uruguay from May 24-25 to speak with government and local university officials concerning new sustainable building technologies and urban infrastructures.

An assistant professor at University of California, Berkeley, Gutierrez is an architect and researcher focused on establishing radically new sustainable building technologies and urban infrastructures.

She has participated in international forums on greywater recycling in regions of extreme water scarcity; emergency sustainable housing in tropical flood risk zones; and future sustainable cities. She is currently researching new emergency housing for flood risk/seismic regions in Southern Chile and its potential contribution for new sustainable policies.

During her vist, Professor Gutierrez met with, among others: Ministry of Housing and Environment experts; city planners and technical staff working for the City of Montevideo; private sector and consumer organizations; students and fellow academics.

The Senior ECPA Fellows program is a network of high-level technical experts in the fields of climate change and energy who travel between countries in the Western Hemisphere to consult with governments or other institutions that request them. The Program is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Western Hemispheric Affairs and administered by Partners of the Americas. There are currently 22 Senior ECPA Fellows who participate in these five-day exchanges in their field. The main areas of focus for the program are: Energy Efficiency; Renewable Energy; Energy Infrastructure; Energy Poverty and Access; Sustainable Forestry and Land Use; and Climate Change Adaptation.

About Partners of the Americas
Is an international network that promotes social and economic development in the Americas through leadership, voluntary service, and development programs. Its mission is to connect individuals, volunteers, institutions, businesses, and communities to serve and to change lives through lasting partnerships. Partners envisions an interconnected hemisphere that maximizes the social and economic potential, and leverages the full diversity, of the Americas.

About the Program
The Energy and Climate Partnership of the America (ECPA) Senior Fellows Program is a capacity building program that was launched in 2010 to share best practices with our partners throughout the Americas. ECPA Senior Fellows are experts from the academic, non-profit, and private sector that carry out speaking engagements and act as consultants in the Western Hemisphere. Embassies are encouraged to select ECPA Senior Fellows whose expertise matches the needs of host country governments, the private sector, and civil society and non-profits. Posts are requested to work with Partners of the Americas to coordinate travel and logistics.