This September will be just a bit more exciting than normal for the Faculty of Engineering.
Along with the opening of the newly constructed $22-million Claudette MacKay-Lassonde Pavilion, the faculty will welcome its inaugural class for the new Green Process Engineering program.
A first of its kind in Canada, the program – the eighth for the faculty – will combine and integrate the fundamental principles of chemical engineering to design commercial products and processes that are safe, economical and environmentally friendly.
Chemical Engineering professor Cedric Briens says engineering has always been a caring profession with a focus on design and innovation to respond to the pressing needs of society. He adds this emerging program will addresses environmentally friendly chemical products and processes by reducing pollutants at the source.
“It’s quite the step for our faculty and the university,” says Briens. “I’m excited to see Western taking the lead with such a program and I feel we will be attracting some great students with a strong commitment to the environment.”
Engineering students will have the opportunity to apply to the Green Process Engineering program upon completing their first common year.
The program will educate students to apply innovative process engineering tools to design sustainable and safe chemical processes based on alternative product design and improved process efficiencies by reducing waste generation. The program also explores alternative sources of energy with reduced carbon emissions.
Briens says environmental issues have generated extensive discussions on policy making and planning, which call for a specific set of skills that are not currently incorporated in any engineering curriculum. Engineered products designed and processed by innovations that are environmentally friendly are at the forefront of green process technologies.
Some of the distinguishing features of the program include the emphasis on green chemistry, green power, solar and bio-fuel cells, and conversion of waste (such as agricultural byproducts) to bio-diesel and bio-ethanol products.
“It’s one thing to lobby your local politician to make environmental changes, but this program will allow the students to, in essence, change the world themselves.”
Many of the Green Process Engineering students will be the first to take advantage of the university’s new ‘Green Building’, which will house space for student engagement and educational experiences through hands-on design opportunities.
Students and researchers will work in a facility that was designed and constructed with advanced environmentally sustainable construction technologies and the latest and innovative environmentally friendly concepts, housing research on green technologies, processes and materials.
The Claudette MacKay-Lassonde Pavilion, the first LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified building on Western’s campus is the 15th such building in Ontario.
“It’s an exciting time for us,” says Briens. “In a time when all the news is about jobs being eliminated today, we’re looking ahead to what the jobs will be down the road.”
