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Congressman Henry Cuellar (TX-28) today met with a group of students who will be attending the 11^th Annual Baku Energy Summer School in Baku, Azerbaijan, from July 9 to July 22.

The trip is made possible through a historic agreement that Congressman Cuellar facilitated between TAMIU and Azerbaijan in 2015 to promote student and faculty research and study collaborations on energy between universities in Texas, Mexico and Azerbaijan.

The Baku Energy Summer School (BESS) is an annual two-week certificate program that brings together world-renowned scholars and policymakers to examine and gain a better understanding of global energy and environment issues and their practical application. The program is offered by the Caspian Center for Energy and Environment at ADA University in Baku, Azerbaijan, in partnership with the State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR), British Petroleum in Azerbaijan and ExxonMobil.

“This is an amazing opportunity for our local students to explore the world and to learn from world experts on energy,” Congressman Cuellar said. “We want our students to take advantage of the great opportunities in engineering and other STEM fields in order to develop our future energy landscape in South Texas and Northern Mexico. I thank Elin Suleymanov, Azerbaijan’s Ambassador to the United States, and the Azerbaijan Embassy in Washington for extending this opportunity to us in South Texas. I also thank Dr. Arenaz for making this agreement between our universities possible, and Dr. Dominguez for organizing this study abroad opportunity.”

Of the group of students attending BESS this year from Texas and Mexico, six are from Texas A&M International University (TAMIU), one is the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio, and one from el Instituto Tecnológico de la Laguna in Torreón, México. The students and TAMIU faculty will be leaving to Baku on July 7 and return July 22.

“This is a remarkable opportunity for our students and truly underscores the 'international' in our name. Being able to meet with world-renowned scholars, academicians and policy makers to examine and gain a better understanding of global energy and environmental issues and their practical applications is an experience few students will ever have. We are most thankful to Cong. Cuellar for helping to make this study abroad opportunity a reality for our students," said TAMIU President, Dr. Pablo Arenaz.