Grant Clark, Ph.D., P.Eng.

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Associate Professor; Academic Advisor

grant.clark [at] mcgill.ca (Email ) | T: 514-398-7784 |  Macdonald-Stewart Building, MS1-099  | Facebook | Twitter: @ecoeng_mcgill | LinkedIn (Grant Clark)

Degrees

PEng (Alberta)
BSc (Agricultural Engineering) (Alberta)
PhD (Biosystems Engineering) (McGill)

Short Bio

Grant Clark grew up on a mixed farm in Central Alberta, Canada. He received an industry-cooperative BSc in Agricultural Engineering from the University of Alberta, Edmonton (1993) and a PhD in Biosystems Engineering from McGill University, Montreal (2000). Grant then worked as a Research Associate and Assistant Professor at the University of Alberta until returning to McGill in 2007. He is an affiliate member of the Bieler School of Environment and the Trottier Institute for Sustainable Engineering and Design. In 2016-2017 he was an invited professor at the Autonomous University of Chapingo, Mexico. He is a Past President of the Canadian Society for Bioengineering, serves on the editorial board of Canadian Biosystems Engineering, and reviews for numerous other journals.

Research Interests

An ecosystem is a complex adaptive system. It is a large, diverse community of organisms that interact with one another, their nonliving surroundings, and technological components in complicated and surprising ways.

The Ecological Engineering Research Group studies and designs ecosystems using physical experiments and “digital twins” (computer models), with the goal of enhancing services that are beneficial to society. An example of such an engineered ecosystem is a compost vessel, in which a controlled environment promotes the microbial processing of organic residues into a soil-like product.

A different view of ecological engineering is the study of material and energy flows through natural ecosystems to inspire the design of improved technology. An example of such ecomimetic design is the passive ventilation of buildings based on the principle of convective airflow through termite mounds.

Current Research

  • Optimiser la gestion des eaux de surface et l'irrigation des arbres urbains
  • Ecological engineering for optimal management of agricultural and municipal organic residues
  • Management strategies for nutrient use efficiency and greenhouse gas emissions reduction from biosolids-amended soils in Canada

Courses

BREE 322 Organic Waste Management 3 Credits
    Offered in the:
  • Fall
  • Winter
  • Summer


BREE 501 Simulation and Modelling 3 Credits
    Offered in the:
  • Fall
  • Winter
  • Summer


BREE 518 Ecological Engineering 3 Credits
    Offered in the:
  • Fall
  • Winter
  • Summer

Publications

View a list of current publications

Links of Interest

https://www.mcgill.ca/ecoeng
http://csbe-scgab.ca
http://www.asabe.org/
http://www.aeesociety.org/

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