We have moved from SSTI to MSSI

The SSTI has been renamed into MSSI (McGill Sustainability Systems Initiative) and we have also moved to a new website.

Contents of this site are not up to date (unmaintained) and this site will be brought down in due course. Please visit our new website.

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(You can view individual talks below)

Lightning Talks Introduction
Bruce Lennox, Dean - Faculty of Science

7th November 2016 - Redpath Museum, Auditorium

Characterization of Energy Materials at the Nanoscale
Peter Grutter, Department of Physics. Faculty of Science

Will be updated soon.

Keywords:

Contact: peter.grutter [at] mcgill.ca (subject: Contact%20Via%20SSTI%20Lightning%20Talks%20Page)

Sustainable design of nanoparticles
Audrey Moores, Department of Chemistry. Faculty of Science

Will be updated soon.

Keywords:

Contact: audrey.moores [at] mcgill.ca (subject: Contact%20Via%20SSTI%20Lightning%20Talks%20Page)

New Revolutionary Electron Microscopy to Characterize critical metals and Lithium based materials for a greener future.
Raynald Gauvin, Department of Mining and Materials Engineering. Faculty of Engineering

The recently acquired SU-9000 is the most powerful < 30 keV electron microscope in the world. It can distinguish holes between C atoms in graphene and, as the first SEM with Electron Energy Loss Spectroscopy (EELS), can differentiate between graphene, diamond and amorphous C and also detect Li. Its ‘Extreme’ x-ray detector can also detect Li. This is the best system to detect and quantify Li, a critical component in the development of batteries for renewable energy.

Keywords: High resolution microscopy, Li detection, Graphene characterization, EELS, Quantitative x-ray microanalysis

Contact: raynald.gauvin [at] mcgill.ca (subject: Contact%20Via%20SSTI%20Lightning%20Talks%20Page)

Carbon stewardship and northern development
Nigel Roulet, Department of Geography. Faculty of Science

The Canadian north contains the highest carbon density landscapes in the world. Less than 1% of this landscape is developed but the sustainability challenge is how can its resources be utilized and shipping to markets while not causing land-use change contributions of CO2 to the atmosphere. Ensuring the carbon remains on the landscape will require good science and policy as well as advanced engineering, planning and regulation.

Keywords: landscape carbon storage, land-use change

Contact: nigel.roulet [at] mcgill.ca (subject: Contact%20Via%20SSTI%20Lightning%20Talks%20Page)

Burning metals for zero-carbon power
Jeff Bergthorson, Department of Mechanical Engineering. Faculty of Engineering

Metals are a promising zero-carbon fuel for a future low-carbon society that can be produced using clean energy with no carbon emissions. Metals burn with air to produce heat and power; alternatively, metals react with water to produce hot hydrogen. The combustion products of metal fuels are solid metal oxides that can be captured, stored, and shipped back for recycling, closing the fuel loop.

Keywords: low-carbon energy, recyclable and sustainable fuels, hydrogen production, fuel cells, climate change

Contact: jeff.bergthorson [at] mcgill.ca (subject: Contact%20Via%20SSTI%20Lightning%20Talks%20Page)

The Impact of Regulation on Product Recovery
Vedat Verter, Department of Operations Management. Faculty of Management

Despite the widespread adoption of product take-back legislation around the globe, there seems to be consensus that some of these policy initiatives fall short on delivering the desired environmental benefits at the implementation stage. We develop a mathematical model of a firm with manufacturing and remanufacturing capabilities as a basis for the comparative analysis of the policies in the EU from the perspective of both economic and environmental outcomes. We demonstrate that the same economic and environmental performance can be achieved via a fiscal policy rather than the implementation of mandatory recovery rates. We propose an alternative tax-subsidy policy involves a fee on disposal and the use of the generated funds for subsidizing remanufacturing.

Keywords: management, legislation, product recovery, remanufacturing, recycling, end-of-life products, environmental impact

Contact: vedat.verter [at] mcgill.ca (subject: Contact%20Via%20SSTI%20Lightning%20Talks%20Page)

Irreversible choices in the urban built environment
Chris Barrington-Leigh, Department of Economics/IHSP/MSE. Faculty of Arts

Will be updated soon.

Keywords:

Contact: chris.barrington-leigh [at] mcgill.ca (subject: Contact%20Via%20SSTI%20Lightning%20Talks%20Page)

Urban Transport Research in India and North America
Madhav Badami, Department of Urban planning/MSE. Faculty of Engineering

Will be updated soon.

Keywords:

Contact: madhav.g.badami [at] mcgill.ca (subject: Contact%20Via%20SSTI%20Lightning%20Talks%20Page)

Panel Discussion

Play complete session
(You can view individual talks below)

7th November 2016 - Redpath Museum, Auditorium

Multiple stressors on aquatic ecosystems: solutions from experimental ecology and genomics
Gregor Fussman, Department of Biology. Faculty of Science
Mathieu Blanchette, School of Computer Science. Faculty of Science
Melania Cristescu, Department of Biology. Faculty of Science

Will be updated soon.

Keywords:

Contact: gregor.fussmann [at] mcgill.ca (subject: Contact%20Via%20SSTI%20Lightning%20Talks%20Page)
mathieu.blanchette [at] mcgill.ca (subject: Contact%20Via%20SSTI%20Lightning%20Talks%20Page)
melania.cristescu [at] mcgill.ca (subject: Contact%20Via%20SSTI%20Lightning%20Talks%20Page)

Sustaining biodiversity and ecological flows
Sylvie de Blois, Department of Plant Science/MSE. Faculty of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences

Will be updated soon.

Keywords:

Contact: sylvie.deblois [at] mcgill.ca (subject: Contact%20Via%20SSTI%20Lightning%20Talks%20Page)

Ecosystem services, development, and livelihoods
Brian E Robinson, Department of Geography. Faculty of Science

Will be updated soon.

Keywords:

Contact: brian.e.robinson [at] mcgill.ca (subject: Contact%20Via%20SSTI%20Lightning%20Talks%20Page)

Socio-ecological forecasting and integrative modeling
Brian Leung, Department of Biology/MSE. Faculty of Science

Will be updated soon.

Keywords:

Contact: brian.leung2 [at] mcgill.ca (subject: Contact%20Via%20SSTI%20Lightning%20Talks%20Page)

Data Mining for Sustainable Smart Cities
Benjamin Fung, School of Information Studies. Faculty of Arts

The objectives of the proposed research are (1) to develop secure and privacy-preserving cyber-physical platforms to collect, store, integrate and analyze data from different domains in the context of smart cities, and (2) to generate useful knowledge and recommendations for improving energy efficiency at the district and city levels.

Keywords: Data mining, Sustainable smart cities, Energy efficiency, Security and privacy, Internet-of-Things

Contact: ben.fung [at] mcgill.ca (subject: Contact%20Via%20SSTI%20Lightning%20Talks%20Page)

Practices of Urban Resiliency
Michael Jemtrud, Department of Architecture. Faculty of Engineering

Will be updated soon.

Keywords:

Contact: michael.jemtrud [at] mcgill.ca (subject: Contact%20Via%20SSTI%20Lightning%20Talks%20Page)

Nanostructured electrodes for next generation solar energy conversion and storage cells via sustainable and scalable solution processing
George P. Demopoulos, Department of Materials Engineering. Faculty of Engineering

Our research focuses on scalable and sustainable solution processing of nanostructured electrodes for application in (a) thin film solar cells (e.g. dye-sensitized, CZTS, perovskites etc.) and (b) Lithium-ion batteries. The work on Li-ion batteries is done in collaboration with Hydro-Québec and is aligned with Quebec’s strategic priorities.

Keywords: Solution processing, nanomaterials, green energy

Contact: george.demopoulos [at] mcgill.ca (subject: Contact%20Via%20SSTI%20Lightning%20Talks%20Page)

How to manage grand challenges
Dror Etzion, Department of Strategy and Organizations/MSE. Faculty of Management

Shifting to dramatically more sustainable systems is an unconventional or wicked problem, encompassing multiple actors, disciplines, and values. Yet to date, sustainability initiatives have been tackled primarily by means of conventional managerial approaches. I argue that these approaches are ill suited for achieving sustainability transformations. I propose an alternative approach in which leaders embrace ambiguity (rather than striving for clarity), focus on short-term accomplishments (rather than long-term goals), and are satisfied with oblique movement (rather than linear progress).

Keywords: management, grand challenges, leadership, strategy, systems

Contact: dror.etzion [at] mcgill.ca (subject: Contact%20Via%20SSTI%20Lightning%20Talks%20Page)

Panel Discussion

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