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The Hopeful Realist Mexico’s top environmental officer brings pragmatism to the politics of climate change By Lauren Newkirk Maynard » Alejandro Rivera Becerra (PhD ’01, ME ’98, MS ’93) was raised in Juárez, Mexico, which sits on the U.S. border across from El Paso, Texas, and is home to hundreds of factories that make goods mainly for the American market. Growing up in this environment, he developed an early interest in manufacturing and trade. He began studying industrial engineering, eventually traveling to the U.S. on a Fulbright scholarship. While he chose UB for its engineering program, he was wowed by its internationalism. “I loved the diversity,” he recalls. “I was surprised to find 80 different countries represented there.” He earned three degrees at UB—two master’s, in industrial and environmental engineering, and a PhD in industrial engineering. He obtained the latter while simultaneously getting a master’s degree in diplomacy from the Instituto Matías Romero in Mexico.
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SUMMER 2015 At Buffalo
EDGARDO CONTRERAS
Alejandro Rivera Becerra
Rivera Becerra worked as a quality assurance engineer for the Mexican auto industry in Juárez, and then as a professor of engineering, before joining the Mexican foreign service in 2000. He quickly climbed the ranks as a diplomat, honing his skills with posts in Ecuador and China before taking on his current role as director for climate change, Secretariat of Foreign Relations of Mexico. This spring, Rivera Becerra made a rare visit to Buffalo to receive UB’s International Distinguished Alumni Award for his efforts to bring consensus and scientific rigor to the sticky debate over global climate change—or, more specifically, over what actions must be taken in both developed and developing countries that will protect the environment without damaging the international economy.