FEBRUARY 2014
H
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their Toronto and Waterloo
chapters, which explores Can-
ada’s energy future. As well,
a national R&D workshop was
hosted in the area of smart
energy networks which was
an invitation to experts across
Canadian academia, industry
leaders in the field of smart
energy as well as government
and civil society representa-
tives. The full-day workshop
explored specific research
themes including multi-fuel
coordination, new natural gas
reality, interactive energy dis-
tribution networks and social,
financial and policy dynamics
to support Smart Energy Net-
works implementation. The
idea behind the event was to
grow collaborative research
opportunities, not only within
the institute, but also across
the nation.
As a multi-faceted approach
to enhance knowledge and
expertise in the areas of re-
newable energy and sustain-
able buildings, the University
of Waterloo’s Department of
Mechanical & Mechatronics
Engineering – Canada’s larg-
est Mechanical engineering
department -- offers a new
Green Energy Graduate Di-
ploma, the first of its kind to
be offered in the country. The
Diploma allows working engi-
neer’s professional advance-
ment through real-time, on-
line learning, and offers them
the skills and knowledge to
tackle energy issues through
dynamic means. Dr. Jan Huis-
soon, Chair of the Department
of Mechanical and Mecha-
tronics Engineering at Wa-
terloo, is an advocate of the
program and encourages stu-
Dr. Zhongwei Chen, Associate Professor, Dept. of Chemical Engineering, University of Waterloo.