Geography & Aviation student’s idea takes flight with the $1000 Jack Rosen Award

First-year student Brieuc de Vuyst wins Grand Prize at Faculty’s annual environmental entrepreneurship competition

By Venessa Nyarko

The Faculty of Environment came together to honour forward-thinking students at the 2014 Jack Rosen Memorial Award event. The competition called upon creative and innovative ideas that would prevent, mitigate or solve an environmental problem – ultimately paving the way to a more sustainable future. Creators of the top ten entries were invited to pitch their ideas Dragon’s Den style to a panel of judges, featuring Alroy Ameida, co-founder of Voltera and Velocity Alpha Mentor; esteemed Geography and Environmental Management Professor, Jean Andrey; and Environment and Business Assistant Professor, Goretty Dias. During their 2-minute presentations, students competed for the opportunity to be awarded the $1000 grand prize.

The event carried with it a chilly winter’s theme as several of the other contestants showcased their innovative ideas to help us out of the snow.

The judges were looking for the most effective idea with the potential for real market demand and a solution to an environmental issue we face today. There were many great submissions but after much deliberation, the judges decided to award 1^st year Geography and Aviation student, Brieuc de Vuyst with the grand prize for his unique and complex idea, Voler Vert.

Brieuc, from his extensive flight training at the Waterloo Wellington flight centre offered through his program (even coming straight from a flight at 9:00am before the event began), presented his idea to harness the take off energy of aircrafts. Voler Vert offers a more sustainable and environmentally friendly solution to powering the ground levels of airports like Pearson in Toronto. His plan to create turbines built low to the ground at the end of runways would save more than 25, 000 kW of energy a year, also preserving bird migration.

Dean Andre Roy awarded Brieuc with this year’s award, citing, “It’s said a lot, but ideas truly do start here. And this is just one example of that. I really believe in our students. And this is about generating your ideas and pursuing them with passion.”

While the judges deliberated, 2013 award winner James Coleman, now at the School of Architecture, graced the audience with a featured talk on what he calls ‘New Ideas: in 9 Steps’.

“However hard you think it’s going to be, it’s going to be harder…but it’s well worth it… The Jack Rosen event is important because it pushes students to work on their ideas,” Coleman noted when asked the significance of his award. Coleman is currently in the process of prototyping his winning idea, Sun Rays, which utilizes ambient daylight to conserve energy by making sunlight accessible underground and in dimly lit areas.

The Faculty of Environment would also like to acknowledge the recent passing of Honey Rosen, wife of the late Jack Rosen. It was through Honey's generosity, and commitment to her husband's environmental legacy, that this award was established. It is only due to visionary patrons such as the Rosens that we can work together to shape our sustainable future.