News

In November 2014, the Water Institute launched its new Seed Grant Program to stimulate interdisciplinary collaboration, to facilitate interaction with international authorities, and to encourage the development of research proposals. A total of eight proposals were received and these were adjudicated by five Institute faculty members. With the available funds ($100K), the Water Institute was able to support six of the eight proposals. 

The top prize in the Canadian Institute of Plumbing and Heating’s 2015 Canada's Most Water Wise School Case Competition was awarded to a team of undergraduate students from the Department of Environment and Resource Studies led by faculty advisor Sarah Wolfe, a Water Institute member.

The competition challenged college and university students to identify ways to increase water conservation

The Water Institute is pleased to present a series of three exceptional guest speakers in the month of March. All of the talks will also be available via Livestream and posted to the Water Institute's YouTube channel afterwards.

Trevor Charles, Water Institute member and Professor in Biology, has received a SPARK Award from the Ontario Genomics Institute. The award is accompanied by $30,000 in funding. Trevor's innovative project is titled, Methane to Bioplastics: Bacterial strains for production of high value bioplastics on methan feedstock.

David Blowes, Water Institute member and Professor in Earth and Environmental Sciences, was recently awarded an NSERC Synergy Innovation Award. The NSERC Synergy Awards for Innovation recognize partnerships in Research and Development between universities and industry.

Congratulations to four Water Institute members who were recipients of National Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) 2014 Strategic Project Grant (SPG) Competition announced last week.

​Sondra Eger, MES candidate in Geography and Environmental Management (Water) and the current Chair of SWIGS, attended the World Parks Congress as a World Commission of Protected Areas Young Professional. The once-per-decade Congress was held in Sydney, Australia this past November. 

Peter Huck, Water Institute member, Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering and NSERC Chair in Water Treatment, was featured in an article in the January/February issue of Water Canada, along with the Water Institute’s 2014 Distinguished Lecturer Peter Gleick, president and co-founder of the Pacific Institute.

The Water Institute received 28 applications from across five faculties for the five scholarships that were offered in the Water Instutite graduate scholarship competition. It was a very competitive field with many outstanding applications. The applications were judged on several criteria including academic excellence, water research impact, and leadership ability.
The Water Institute is pleased to announce the following scholarship recipients for 2014-2015:

Golder Associates Graduate Scholarships in Water Research

Congratulations to Water Institute members William B. Anderson, Peter Huck and former Post Doctoral Fellow Barbara Siembida-Lösch, all from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Their paper, titled Pretreatment impacts on biopolymers in adjacent ultrafiltration plants, was selected by the American Water Works Association (AWWA) as the 2015 recipient of the AWWA Membrane Treatment Best Paper Award.