This week, Rohan Patel, former senior director of public policy and business development at Tesla, visited the University of North Florida for a panel discussion.
The program, “Powering the Future: The Geopolitics of Clean Energy,” was hosted at the John. A. Delaney Student Union.
Patel was also the associate director of the Obama administration’s White House Council on Environmental Quality. Patel talked with Nick Seabrook, UNF’s political science chair and professor.
Seabrook asked Patel a series of questions, ranging from energy independence to the Chinese government.
Patel discussed how the $80 billion Recovery Act set the stage for “incredibly important” advances in solar energy, geothermal and carbon capture. Patel said that Democrats should be pro-American energy independence and pro-climate change.
“The heart of the question is, ‘Can we do both?’ Hell yeah, we absolutely can,” Patel said.
In Seabrook and Patel’s discussion about solar energy, Patel said that although new nuclear fission is extremely expensive, he is “very hopeful for” nuclear fusion.
“I think it actually is happening in five years,” Patel said.
Patel believes the clean energy boom “needs to be unleashed.” He said clean energy is “cheaper and better.”
Patel said he was “super lucky” to work with Tesla’s founder, Elon Musk, for six years.
“He totally empowered me to do a whole bunch of things that I wouldn’t have otherwise got to do. And he’s done that with a lot of folks,” Patel said.
After Patel and Seabrook’s talk, they let the audience weigh in. The event allotted over 30 minutes for the audience to ask Patel questions.
One student asked, “How can I be more informed about the environment and politics as a citizen?”
“The key is actually finding what you care about.” Patel answered, “Ask for help from people who have something to offer.”
Patel said he came to campus to see UNF Associate Professor of Cello and Assistant Director of the School of Music, Nick Curry, perform in concert over the weekend. He said UNF has a world-class music program.
“Nick Curry is a dear, dear friend and an amazing cellist,” Patel said.
Seabrook said that when he heard Patel was coming to UNF for the weekend, he contacted him and asked if he wanted to talk to students about renewable energy.
Patel said he started out as a music performance major and then decided to pursue medicine. After medical school, he landed a job at Tesla and then went on to the White House.
UNF students, alumni, staff and community members attended the event, including University President Moez Limayem.
“It was an incredible event. He has an incredible background and is very insightful,” Limayem said. “I am so proud of the student engagement and the quality of questions that were asked.”
Seabrook shared his takeaways from his talk with Patel.
“The most intriguing part was hearing about the battery projects in people’s houses. I didn’t know much about it. The idea of local energy storage was very fascinating,” Seabrook said.
Freshman art student Imani said that she attended out of curiosity.
“It was very informative. The most interesting part of the event was his thoughts on our environment and hearing his perspective on what he plans to do,” she said.
UNF’s Office of Public Policy Events hosts at least two open-to-the-public speaker events each semester. The next event, “TikTok on Trial: The Future of Social Media Regulation,” is Sept. 16 at 5 p.m. and features speakers Cord Byrd, Andrew Spar and Julie Shi.
