Professor Dawn Bazely(York University), Professor Prateep Nayak (SEED), and Dawn's daughter, Maddy Ewins, an Engineering Student at the University of Waterloo.
3 Observations for Future Sustainability Professionals
Today, more than ever, students are looking for those real world applications of their degree. They realize that having a degree is not necessarily a guarantee for a job, and so there is pressure to gain work experience far beyond the confines of academia. The University of Waterloo realizes that the job market is bleak and competitive. This competitive nature for jobs holds true for the sustainability professionals that we educate here at SEED as well. As an institute, Waterloo tries to hone in on the skills that will benefit students in the job market.
Dawn Bazely is a Biology Professor at York University and the Director of IRIS, York’s Institute for Research and Innovation in Sustainability. Dawn has conducted fascinating research which includes having led the International Polar Year project: GAPS: Gas, Arctic Peoples and Security. She also realizes the importance of continually learning and making innovative changes to stay competitive in the sustainability world. In 2013 she was awarded the Annual President’s University-Wide Teaching Award and was named Globe and Mail’s “Hotshot Prof” of the year for bringing her life experiences into the classroom and serving as a passionate mentor.
We caught up with Dawn Bazely, while she was here on campus as a guest speaker, to find out her thoughts for future sustainability professionals.
Use Social Media to its full capacity - Dawn is an avid user of Twitter and leverages the tool to distribute interesting articles and keep up with current events. Dawn also uses social media as a mode of both teaching and grading. She considers social media to be a type of “ecosystem analytics” and uses it for academic purposes. Dawn‘s goal is to use social media to transform students’ social media leisure time into increased engagement in current events. “I believe that the information students can obtain from social media without academic prompting will increase the likelihood of success in this industry” says Dawn.
Sustainability is for Lifelong Learners- Dawn believes that the individuals that are involved in the sustainability field are those that are lifelong learners. They are the innovators, the people that are challenging convention, and do not discount anything. “This is why it is so important for students to keep informed on current events. Sustainability professionals are individuals that can look at a current problem and say how are we going to fix it?” says Dawn. A study prepared by BioOne, a non-profit online aggregation of core research in the biological, ecological, and environmental sciences, tried to generate a more comprehensive understanding of the experiences of researchers who have an interest with interdisciplinary interface. More than half of the respondents indicated they believed that interested researchers should begin to pursue interdisciplinary research at the undergraduate level and continue research far beyond their undergraduate degree.
Figure out "big data" and learn to work with it. There is so much data becoming public that with the right perspective, young entrepreneurial men and women can solve big problems. Figure out how to capture, read and manipulate big data and you'll be sought after by cutting edge companies.
Interested in following Dawn Bazely on Twitter? Follow @Dawnbazely