News

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.

It has been announced that three Water Institute members have received Insight Development grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) from the February 2014 competition. 
Rob de Loë, Professor, Environment and Resource Studies, has been awarded an Insight Grant for his proposed research: Rethinking water governance: towards a new agenda for research and practice. 

​Arun Raj, a second year Master of Sustainability Management student in the School of Environment, Enterprise and Development (SEED), and his teammates have taken a project they developed during the Wetskills Water Challenge Canada and captured first prize in the2014

Philippe Van Cappellen, Water Institute Member, Professor in Earth and Environmental Sciences, and CERC Chair in Ecohydrology, has been selected to will receive the 2015 Science Innovation Award from the European Association of Geochemistry. This award is bestowed to scientists who have recently made a particularly important and innovative breakthrough in geochemistry.

Jim Barker, Water Institute member and Earth and Environmental Sciences Professor Emeritus, is the 2014 recipient of the Robert N. Farvolden Award of the International Association of Hydrogeologists (IAH) Canadian National Chapter and the Canadian Geotechnical Society. The award honours outstanding contributions to the disciplines of earth science and engineering that emphasize the role or importance of groundwater. The award is named after Robert N.

Water Institute member and Professor in Biology, Brian Dixon, has been selected to receive the 2015 Robert Arnold Wardle award by the Canadian Society of Zoologists. The award recognizes outstanding contributions to Canadian-based research on the interrelationships among infectious agents, the response of animals to these agents, and the environment in which these relationships exist. Dr.