Past Winner
2019 NSERC Brockhouse Canada Prize for Interdisciplinary Research in Science and Engineering

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.