Grant: Collaborative Research and Training Experience

Global water shortages and improved standards of living in emerging economies, coupled with aging infrastructure in the industrialized world will lead to lucrative global opporuntities for innovative water refining and reuse technologies, that can also recover energy and resources. The proposed Clean Technologies for Water Refining and Nutrient and Energy Recovery is in response to the widely recognized aging workforce in the water and wastewater industry and the need for multi-and cross-disciplinary research required to develop the next generation of sustainable water processing technologies. The key objective of this program is to develop a collaborative integrated trans-disciplinary research and training program, building on the diverse expertise of accomplished researchers from 5 Ontario universities, and 3 international institutions in the US, Scotland, and Israel. The program will encompass basic, physical, social, and applied sciences. The program is unique in that it intgerates broad coursework offered at the participating Ontario universities, mandatory industrial internships, compulsory reserach exchange programs, and multi-disciplinary research focus to provide unique tailored individualized training programs. The expected outcomes of this initiative will include trained well-rounded graduates with sound technical, scientific, managerial, and entrepreneurial skills honed by rigorous reserach training, comprehensive multi-institutional multi-disciplinary coursework from engineering, biology, chemistry, business, and social studies, and hands-on real-world experience. The program will also provide life-long learning opportunities for professional development of practitioners. Student mobility is enhanced through regional, national, and international collaboration and exchanges. The research focus, which has been developed in consultation with industry (Trojan, CH2M Hill, Stantec, CRA) and municipalities (Toronto, London, Windsor) addresses four broad areas inclduing high-rate wastewater treatment, biosolids, combined sewer overflow treatment, and water reuse. Overall, the program will provide education and training for 31 research-based graduate students and 6 postdoctoral fellows over a 6-year period.