At the University of Windsor, research is not simply pie-in-the sky thinking — it is about finding solutions to challenges that are relevant in the world today.
Take the recent signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Yunnan University. The agreement will help establish a Canada-China research laboratory to focus on water quality issues in Yunnan’s Plateau Lakes. The region supplies about 10 per cent of China’s freshwater needs.
Work from this collaboration will build on research undertaken at the university’s Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research (GLIER), says Alan Wildeman, president and vice-chancellor. GLIER is one of the largest lakewater research centres in Canada and among the top
five worldwide in scientific citations.
“Graduate students are doing extremely important work here on one of the biggest challenges facing humanity — clean water,” he says. “We are all aware of the impact of industrialization on, and the necessity to clean up, Lake Erie. There are also other concerns that compound the contaminant issue, including agricultural run-off and invasive species such as the Asian carp that can have devastating impacts if left unchecked. Should the Great Lakes, which supply some 85 per cent of North America’s fresh water supply, become more contaminated, unproductive or sterile, our continent would change considerably.”
While the Great Lakes Basin, with its complex environmental challenges, is a primary focus at GLIER, research programs also extend to ancient lakes in Indonesia, the Caspian and Black Seas, coastal ecosystems such as Chesapeake Bay — and now, with the recent MOU signing, to China.
However, protecting local and global water supplies is only one of the critical issues being addressed by researchers and graduate students at the University of Windsor.
Alternate-energy storage solutions are front and centre as wind and solar power output increases. Intermittent generation is one of the major challenges that accompany these forms of energy. With no method with which to store excess power, it becomes a use-it-or-lose-it scenario.
To address this issue, researchers at the University of Windsor are playing a critical role in developing the country’s first underwater compressed-air energy storage and conversion system.
“The idea is to store excess energy as compressed air in offshore, balloon-like containers. The air is then released to run turbines when power is required and other sources unavailable,” explains Wildeman.
Working in collaboration with the National Science and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), provinces and universities across the country, the University of Windsor project could bring increased efficiency and reduced costs in the drive toward a sustainable energy future, he says.
Speaking of air, the university’s Cross-Border Institute is driving projects that will help trucks generate less pollution at North America’s busiest trade route — the Ambassador Bridge at the Windsor-Detroit border. The institute is mere steps from this crossing, which is the most important economic corridor between Canada and the United States. Researchers are working with all levels of government to study the movement of people and goods and how technology can make it better. The goals are to reduce idle time and, with it, greenhouse gas emissions, while improving efficiency, speed of transportation and policy decisions on both sides of the border.
Global issues may be the big-picture problems on the research roster but University of Windsor students are also making a difference in their own back yard. From engineering to art and law to business, students are encouraged to take their education into the community.
“Whether it is social work students helping immigrant families to find a footing, English students working with local authors to get them published, or business students helping people to start their own businesses, Windsor-Essex is a community in which the university is very much integrated and a part of its success,” says Wildeman.
Fresh water, clean air, sustainable industry and healthy communities — solving challenges in these four key areas is what defines us, he notes. “There is a strong current of social justice that permeates the university. We believe everyone has within them the promise to be and do something more and to contribute to making the world a better place. It is what we strive for with our students, and in our
research, every day.”
This story was created by Content Works, Postmedia’s commercial content division, on behalf of University of Windsor.
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