WHITE PLAINS, N.Y.  –  Within the past 20 years, China has produced the fastest growing economy in the world; however this growth has come at the high cost of severe air pollution and other environmental concerns. China has become the world’s second biggest generator of carbon dioxide emissions and is home to 16 of the 20 most polluted cities in the world, according to the World Bank.

Now, one of China’s leading universities and the China Scholarship Council has sent Cao Mingde, a distinguished professor of law and political science, to Pace Law School to research cleaner sources of energy.

As a visiting scholar, Professor Cao will spend the next year researching renewable energy law in Pace’s Energy Project. Dean Emeritus Richard L. Ottinger, a former member of Congress, founded the Energy Project in 1987. The Project, led by Executive Director Fred Zalcman, plays a leading role in a national coalition of environmental and consumer advocates who are working to create win-win energy policy solutions for America’s economy and environment.

Professor Cao is a Professor of Law and Political Science at the School of Economic and Trade Law of the Southwest University of Political Science and Law in Chongqing, China. He specializes in environmental law and torts and serves as the director of the university’s Environmental Law Center. He is also the associate editor-in-chief of Modern Law Science, the university’s law review, and has published over 35 academic articles.

Founded in 1976, Pace Law School is a New York Law School with a suburban campus in White Plains, N.Y., 20 miles north of New York City. Part of Pace University, the school offers the JD program for full-time and part-time day and evening students. Its postgraduate program includes the LLM and SJD degrees in Environmental Law and an LLM in Comparative Legal Studies. Pace has one of the nation's top-rated Environmental Law programs and its Clinical Education program also is nationally ranked, offering clinics in domestic violence prosecution, environmental law, securities arbitration, criminal justice and disability rights. www.law.pace.edu 

Pace is a comprehensive, independent university with campuses in New York City, Pleasantville and White Plains, N.Y., and a Hudson Valley Center at Stewart International Airport in New Windsor, N.Y. More than 14,000 students are enrolled in undergraduate, graduate and professional degree programs in the Dyson College of Arts and Sciences, Lubin School of Business, School of Computer Science and Information Systems, School of Education, Lienhard School of Nursing and Pace Law School. www.pace.edu