The Waterloo Institute for Sustainable Aeronautics (WISA) is proud to present: WISA Talks, a webinar series where we bring together panels of academic, industry, and government leaders to dive deep into challenges facing aeronautics. By facilitating direct partnerships with industry, government, and academia WISA mobilizes the research and innovation capacity of all six faculties at the University of Waterloo to drive meaningful and lasting impact.
WISA Talks: Environmental Initiatives in Aviation, will dive into several environmental initiatives that are being developed to reduce carbon emissions & minimize the environmental impacts of various aeronautical activities. The webinar will feature a panel discussion with leading industry professionals and researchers in sustainably powered aviation.
Join us on Thursday, February 10th from 4:00PM - 5:15PM ET to learn more! If you can't make it, make sure to catch the replay on our YouTube channel.
Kevin Bruce
Director of Quality and Airworthiness, Diamond Aircraft
Kevin is currently employed with Diamond Aircraft Canada as the Director of Airworthiness and Quality, responsible for regulatory matters concerning Diamond’s operations as well as all Airworthiness and Quality functions. Kevin has had 30 years in aeronautical engineering experience and 25+ years experience in Aircraft Certification, dealing with Civil Aviation Authorities around the world.
Chelsea-Anne Edwards
First Officer, Sunwing Airlines
Chelsea-Anne was in the first group of cadets hired by Sunwing from the Geography and Aviation program at Waterloo. She returned to complete a Masters in Climate Change and study sustainability plans for airlines and airports. She shared her expertise and worked on the Electric Aviation project supported by the Interdisciplinary Centre for Climate Change.
John-Paul Clarke
Co-Founder and Chief Innovation Officer, Universal Hydrogen
John-Paul Clarke is the co-founder of Universal Hydrogen – a company dedicated to the development of a comprehensive carbon-free solution for aviation. Clarke is a leading expert in aircraft trajectory prediction and optimization, especially as it pertains to the development of flight procedures that reduce the environmental impact of aviation, and in the development and use of stochastic models and optimization algorithms to improve the efficiency and robustness of aircraft, airline, airport, and air traffic operations.
Catherine Conway
Director and CEO, AV8 Aero
Catherine is a senior communications and systems engineer with more than 30 years’ experience in the defence, telecommunications and aerospace industry. Her roles include both defence and civilian projects, many of which have been pioneering and innovative. Catherine is the Founder and Chief Instructor of AV8 Aero and was awarded an OAM for services to Gliding in June 2018.
Paul Parker (Moderator)
Professor, Faculty of Environment
Paul is a sustainability researcher with a passion for low carbon aviation and a love of teaching. He brings social science expertise to a diverse set of energy and development research projects, often with engineer colleagues. He has 175 publications and over 230 presentations on a broad range of projects: zero-carbon buildings, energy retrofits, smart grid technologies, renewables in remote communities, sustainable economic development, community energy planning and electric planes.
Costa Kapsis
Assistant Professor, Civil & Environmental Engineering , Faculty of Engineering
Costa Kapsis is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Waterloo. Costa’s research is focused on design and operation of high performance commercial and institutional buildings, and the building-integration of solar technologies.
Xianguo Li
Professor, Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering, Faculty of Engineering
Xianguo is a Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering at the University of Waterloo. His main research interests and activities are in the area of thermal fluid/science, including energy systems and energy storage, various energy conversion devices, propulsion and power generation systems, and transportation fuel cell and battery systems.
Gurpreet Singh
Ph.D Candidate, Sustainability Management
Gurpreet Singh is pursuing a Ph.D. in the sustainability management program with Professor Steven Young of SEED at the University of Waterloo. His research is focused on assessing the sustainability of outer space activities. His past experiences in space include working on the AIM-North mission, SCISAT satellite, and PARABLE balloon mission. He also works as an optics manufacturing engineer at L3Harris technologies.