The integration of research across both campuses of the University of British Columbia will be paramount to its success over the next decade and beyond according to Walter Mérida, associate dean of research and industrial partnerships at UBC.
Mérida and directors from four UBC research centres and institutes met with researchers from the Okanagan campus to reinforce existing projects and look towards futures collaborations.
“We are a top-40 research university where open, innovative thinking is changing the world” says Mérida. “Our collaborations with researchers from the Okanagan are opening up new opportunities and resulting in breakthrough discoveries.”
That is music to the ears of School of Engineering Associate Dean, Rehan Sadiq, who has long championed the research endeavours of UBC Okanagan researchers.
“We are proud to punch above our weight when it comes to research especially with respect to publishing in top-tier global journals in our fields” says Sadiq.
Research at the Okanagan campus ranks within the top 5 of Canada’s most recognized engineering programs when it comes to publications in top journals.
According to Sadiq “by embracing synergies and resources between both campuses, research emanating from the University of British Columbia will continue to be world-class.”
Research on the Okanagan campus within the School of Engineering is categorized under five core research clusters: advanced materials and manufacturing, advanced systems, clean energy and environmental systems, health technologies and urban infrastructure and green construction.
The research conducted under those clusters is distributed amongst the nine research centres and institutes that operate between both campuses.
During their meetings at the Okanagan campus of UBC, directors and researchers discussed increasing capacity and areas of research, identified specific collaboration opportunities and looked to activate Okanagan nodes.
The directors in attendance included Robert Rohling, director of the Institute for Computing, Information and Cognitive Systems (ICICS), John Madden, director of the Advanced Materials and Process Engineering Laborator, Mark Martinez, director of the Pulp and Paper Centre/MEL Green Bio-Products and Walter Mérida, director of the Clean Energy Research Centre.
“It is exciting to see that many institutes and research centres are now being led by and from researchers at the Okanagan campus” explains Mérida. “It definitely demonstrates a maturing of the School of Engineering, and promises great things ahead.”