People

Program Director ∨   Program Coordinator ∨   Co-applicants ∨   Water and Energy ∨   Sustainability ∨

The CIWESS Director, Dr. Catherine Mulligan, is responsible for the overall management and execution of the CREATE program. The responsibilities include recruiting students; approving supervisory committee for each trainee; releasing funds to co-applicants (supervisors); coordinating co-applicants, collaborators and students; reviewing the project and submitting annual reports to NSERC; conducting meetings (three meetings per year); and developing and implementing effective plans to achieve the overall objectives of the program.

Dr. Catherine Mulligan's research involves the decontamination of water, sediments and soil, as well as bioenergy production. She is a Professor and Concordia Research Chair in Geoenvironmental Sustainability. To date, Dr. Mulligan has supervised over 40 graduate students at all levels and provides research training in the geoenvironment and bioenergy. She has published four books and more than 70 refereed journal papers.

The Program Coordinator is responsible for the day-to-day administration of the graduate programs and coordination of programmatic activities such as research seminars, recruitment, admissions and internships.

The research team participating in this program is drawn from several fields, and has articulated a strong commitment through high quality research and training.

Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency

Dr. Andreas K. Athienitis led the formation of a multidisciplinary NSERC strategic research network -the "Solar Buildings Research Network" with participation of 25 researchers from 11 Canadian Universities and from Natural Resources Canada, Hydro-Québec and Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. Dr. Athienitis is Professor and Concordia Research Chair in Integration of Solar Energy Systems into Buildings. He was recently profiled as one of 25 top innovators in Québec by Actualité Magazine (Sep. 15, 2009) and named Concordia University Research Fellow. To date, he has supervised over 60 student researchers at all levels. He will contribute to training in solar energy and smart net-zero energy buildings and will provide a link to the NSERC NetZero Buildings Research Network.

Dr. Pragasen Pillay's research is in renewable energy and energy efficiency. He is a Professor and NSERC/Hydro-Québec Industrial Research Chair in the broad area of sustainable energy systems and energy efficiency. His contributions examine renewable energy technologies appropriate for customers like farms, buildings or towns. Several of his research students work in urban and rural applications of wind energy, and in novel power generation technologies. Dr. Pillay has supervised over 60 Master's and PhD students, two of whom are already full professors at overseas institutions.

Dr. Fariborz Haghighat focusses on applying the methods of engineering science to reduce the contaminants level in indoor environments. He has extensive experience in the modeling, and measurements of building ventilation systems. He is a professor and Concordia Research Chair in Energy and Environment. He is an ASHRAE Fellow and over the past six years, he has supervised/co-supervised over 70 students at all levels. Dr. Haghighat is currently leading an international research project on Thermal Storage. This international project is sponsored by the International Energy Agency - Energy Conservation through Energy Storage implementing agreement (IEA/ECES). Over 25 researchers from over 10 countries are contributing to this research project.

Dr. Marius Paraschivoiu's research training will contribute to the area of wind and hydrogen energy. He is part of the NSERC Hydrogen Canada Strategic Research Network and co-investigator in an NSERC Strategic Project on high efficiency wind turbines. He holds a Concordia University Research Chair entitled "Simulations for Clean Energy Production and Storage". He is currently supervising 2 PhD students and 4 MASc students in this area.

Dr. Ambrish Chandra is a professor at École de technologie supérieure and will contribute to research and training on the control of renewable energy sources and to improve power quality on the electricity distribution network. Dr. Chandra has published more than sixty research articles during in related areas. Presently he is supervising 7 PhD students and 3 Master's students in wind, solar, and hybrid systems.

Dr. David Walsh is an Assistant Professor in Biology and was recently appointed Canada Research Chair in Microbial Genomics. His research focuses on the origin and maintenance of microbial diversity in aquatic systems and in understanding the feedbacks that exist between microbial communities and environmental variability. He recently published a breakthrough study where he used metagenomics to describe, the role of a major lineage of bacteria in carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur cycling in the oceans.

Dr. Nathalie Tufenkji will train towards understanding subsurface contaminant migration with an emphasis on engineered nano-pollutants and microbial pathogens. Dr. Tufenkji is an Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering at McGill University, and a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Biocolloids and Surfaces. Dr. Tufenkji is also the Associate Director of the Brace Center for Water Resources Management. To date, she has supervised/co-supervised 29 graduate and 25 undergraduate students.

Dr. Robert P. Chapuis is a professor at École Polytechnique. His research includes ground water engineering problems, multiple layer covers and liners, risks of contamination, quality control of studies, design and construction. Since 1986, he has supervised over 80 graduate students and published over 120 refereed journal papers. He will train CREATE students to solve ground water problems.

Dr. Gamal El-Din is a professor in the Civil & Environmental Engineering Department. He is also the lead on the Helmoltz-Alberta Initiative (HAI) Theme on Oil Sands Tailings Water Management. Dr. Gamal El-Din started a senior NSERC Industrial Research Program on Oil Sands Tailings Water Treatment in July 2011. Dr. Gamal El-Din's will train in advanced oxidation processes; treatment of municipal and industrial wastewater; kinetic studies; numerical and mechanistic modeling approaches for describing the performance of treatment systems and natural environmental systems.

Dr. Damon Matthews studies the interactions between human greenhouse gas emissions, climate change, and the global carbon cycle. He is an Assistant Professor in Concordia's Department of Geography, Planning and Environment and has published a number of research papers in the area of global climate modeling. In addition, Dr. Matthews is a contributing author to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (awarded the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize).