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NSERC Prizes 2019: Pascale Champagne, Michael F. Cunningham, Philip G. Jessop and Warren Mabee
Departments of Civil Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Chemistry and Geography
Queen's University
Summary
Video Name
NSERC Prizes 2019: Pascale Champagne, Michael F. Cunningham, Philip G. Jessop and Warren Mabee
Author
NSERC Communications
Duration
1:37
Release Date
May 6, 2019
Description
If we are to achieve the dream of an environmentally sustainable future, our technologies, natural resources and industrial processes will need to be fully integrated with one another. For instance, solutions that are effective for reducing greenhouse gases may draw unsustainably upon other resources, or have unforeseen social or economic consequences. To head off these challenges, four researchers from Queen’s University — a bioresources engineer, a green engineer, a green chemist, and a policy expert — have come together to create a holistic approach for attaining a sustainable future. With every project, the team considers their advancements from all angles. Can the solution be integrated with existing systems? Will it impact food supplies or other resources? Is it a solution that can last? Together, the researchers have developed cleaner processes for chemistry and engineering, created bio-based replacements for petroleum-sourced plastics, and designed brand new methods for generating biofuel resources that are geographically appropriate. NSERC awards Pascale Champagne, Michael Cunningham, Philip Jessop and Warren Mabee the 2019 Brockhouse Canada Prize for Interdisciplinary Research in Science and Engineering in recognition of the innovative, multidisciplinary nature of their unique collaboration, and in celebration of the achievements in sustainable science realized by their work.
| Pascale Champagne |
I think that, for us to advance science, it needs to be interdisciplinary.I work in the environmental field. It has connections with biology, with chemistry, with environmental studies, with policy. But in order to understand or apply different approaches for treatment or for enhancing renewable materials, you really need to work with other people that understand those fundamental fields a lot better than you do. |
|---|---|
| Philippe Jessop |
So I’m the chemist on the team. So I try to design the molecules that are going to be doing the tasks, and I also look at the chemical aspects of the problems we’re trying to solve. |
| Warren Mabee |
I do life cycle assessment work. We’re looking at new products that are coming from algae, are they going to actually be greener than the products they’re replacing? Are they going to do the work that needs to be done? Are they going to cause other problems? |
| Michael Cunningham |
I bring expertise in polymer science. And having those three people as teammates and collaborators allows me to work in areas that I would not be working in if I was just working by myself. |
| Philippe Jessop |
We’ve developed ways of converting algae into fuels. We’ve developed things like greener paints. We’ve made all sorts of products for purifying wastewater. |
| Pascale Champagne |
You learn more about your own field when you’re exposed to other fields. |
| Michael Cunningham |
It’s been a magnificent collaboration. Actually very creative, very innovative. |
| Warren Mabee |
I hope we’re—we’re setting a bit of a path for our colleagues here at Queen’s and our colleagues across the country. I hope that there’s more opportunities like this. |