EMBARQ announces 2013 Lee Schipper Memorial Scholarship Recipients

July 8, 2013 - Washington, DC - EMBARQ and the Lee Schipper Memorial Scholarship Board announced today that Sudhir Gota and Fei Li have been selected as the 2013 recipients of the Lee Schipper Memorial Scholarship for Sustainable Transport and Energy Efficiency. The scholarship was established in 2012 to support the momentum of Lee Schipper’s contributions to international policy dialogue in the fields of sustainable transport and energy efficiency. This is the first year the scholarship is being awarded.

“I am pleased to see the 2013 scholarship go to two researchers aligned with EMBARQ founder Lee Schipper’s vision of catalyzing sustainable transport solutions to improve the quality of life in cities” said Holger Dalkmann, Director of the World Resources Institute program for sustainable transport and urban planning, EMBARQ. “We want the next generation to embrace a bold vision for a future where cities are for people not cars.”

Dr. Lee Schipper was an international physicist, researcher and musician who co-founded EMBARQ in 2002. He inspired and shaped the thinking of a generation of students and professionals, and was widely recognized for challenging conventional wisdoms within the field of sustainable transport. Under his direction, EMBARQ expanded into Mexico, China, India and beyond, as he pushed to incorporate data driven solutions to meet transport challenges. Dr. Schipper passed away in 2011. In addition to his work, Dr. Schipper was known for his energy, charm, endless curiosity and interests ranging from history to art to music.

“It is my dream to work on research that would not only pay a tribute to Lee Schipper’s memory but also result in policy transformations in developing countries,” said recipient Gota. “This scholarship provides me a platform to transform that dream into a reality.”

Gota’s proposal is titled, Crunching Numbers for Low Carbon Transport in Asia, and will look at the current ASIF framework (or “activity,” “mode share,” “intensity,” and “fuel mix”) in Asia, which was initially developed by Schipper to create a transparent system of calculating emissions. He is currently a Technical Manager within Transportation at Clean Air Asia. 

Li’s proposal is titled, Evaluating the Parking Standard Reform in London: A Matched-Pair Approach, which will build a database to estimate the effect of the parking standard reform, from which policy recommendations for more  efficient and sustainable planning regulations can be made. Li is currently a Ph.D. candidate in Public Administration at New York University.

"As a student researcher I value every chance to work with and learn from the community of practitioners and scholars,” said Li. “I am excited about receiving the Lee Schipper Memorial Scholarship for the mentorship, the intellectual support and the networking opportunities it promises to help develop my research. I am truly honored to be granted this great opportunity."

The scholarship is made possible from individual donors as well as an instrumental grant from the Shell Foundation.

“Lee Schipper’s unique insight was key to informing Shell Foundation’s decision to co-found EMBARQ,” says Judith Pollock, United Kingdom Deputy Director of the Shell Foundation. “Lee combined a deep analytical understanding of energy and transport issues with a pragmatic approach to delivering real change in developing country cities. Shell Foundation are delighted to support his memorial scholarship to fund work with similarly transformative potential and congratulate Sundhir Gota and Fei Li as the first recipients.”  

By supporting individuals who are continuing Lee’s work of the enrichment of international policy dialogue in the fields of sustainable transport and energy efficiency, we can ensure that the effort toward creating a more sustainable future keeps, and gains, momentum.

“We are very impressed with the astounding response of 114 research applications with excellent ideas from young, entrepreneurial researchers from all over the world” says the Schipper family. “We congratulate the Scholarship Board and EMBARQ for their excellent job in evaluating the applications and selecting the two first ever awardees, Sudhir Gota and Fe Li. We are delighted to see that the winners’ research approaches will challenge conventional wisdom, just like Lee’s research did. We look forward to the results of their hard work."

Scholarship recipients are chosen by an internal selection committee together with the Lee Schipper Memorial Scholarship Board, consisting of Sam Zimmerman from the World Bank, Nancy Kete from The Rockefeller Foundation, S. Sundar from The Energy and Resources Institute, Judith Pollock from the Shell Foundation, Holger Dalkmann from EMBARQ, and Ramon Munoz-Raskin of the Schipper family.