CMC trainees funded for travel exchange

Ian Power with colleague Anna Harrison in their UBC lab.

Nine Highly Qualified Personnel (HQP) will be travelling to schools in the UK, in Australia and to Stanford University in California as part of CMC’s international exchange program. In addition, seven HQP will be coming to Canada from the UK and from Australia.

“We are really excited about the response we received to our international exchange program,” says Anita Arduini, CMC Program Director. “We had funds to support 10 Canadian applicants and we were close to reaching that ceiling.”

A key focus of Carbon Management Canada is creating opportunities for HQP that will help enhance and broaden their education experience. Programs like this one help the network fulfill that mandate, says Arduini.

Exchange a co-operative venture

The exchange is a co-operation between CMC and three research organizations: the UK Carbon Capture and Storage Research Centre (UKCCSRC),  the Australian Cooperative Research Centre for Greenhouse Gas Technologies (CO2CRC) and the Stanford Center for Carbon Storage (SCCS). As part of the exchange agreement, CMC is providing funds to Canadian academics to accept HQP from one of the three organizations listed above into their research team for up to one month.

Ian Power, a post-doctoral fellow who works with Greg Dipple at the University of British Columbia, will be travelling to the University of Queensland to work with Dr. Sue Golding. Power, who is investigating carbon mineralization and its implications for sequestering CO2 in mine wastes, was keen to apply for the exchange when he heard about the program.

“These opportunities are quite rare,” says Power about the exchange program. “This CMC exchange will expand my research skills, create new contacts and collaborations, and open up new research avenues.”

Abandoned mine site of research

The research team with which Power works is investigating and experimenting at the Woodsreef site in Australia, an abandoned mine rich in magnesium and perfect for field-scale experiments. Power will be making good use of the time he spends in Australia.

“Over a period of three to four weeks, I will be working with a research team that will characterize the field site, conduct experiments, and in collaboration with Sue, developing protocols and sampling strategies for monitoring accelerated carbon mineralization strategies at Woodsreef. I also hope to contribute to Dr. Golding’s research related to high-pressure carbon sequestration given my existing expertise in characterization of geological materials.”

Other Carbon Management Canada HQP receiving travel subsidy funds are:

  • Mohammad Hashem Sedghkerdar, PhD student, Department of Chemical & Petroleum Engineering, University of Calgary to the lab of Dr. Colin Snape, Department of Chemical & Environmental Engineering, University of Nottingham.
  • Ehsan Mostafavi, PhD student, Department of Chemical & Petroleum Engineering, University of Calgary to the lab of Dr. Mohamed Pourkashanian , Centre for Computational Fluid Dynamics, Energy Technology and Innovation Initiative, Faculty of Engineering, University of Leeds.
  • Suresh Mulmi, PhD student, Department of Chemistry, University of Calgary to visit with Dr. Martin Trusler, Chemical Engineering Department, Imperial College, London.
  • Alia Ben Ghacham , PhD student,  Eau-Terre-Environnement, to the lab of Dr. Sandra Kentish, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Melbourne.
  • Bianca Provost, Master’s student, Department of Chemistry, University of Ottawa to visit the lab of Dr. Alan Chaffee, School of Chemistry, Monash University, Australia.
  • Md Mizanul Huq Chowdhury, Master’s student, Department of Physics University of Alberta to visit the lab of Dr. Boris Gurevich, Department of Exploration Geophysics, Curtin University of Technology.
  • Wen Song, Master’s student, Department of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering, University of Toronto, with Dr. David Sinton to the lab of Dr. Anthony Kovscek, Department of Energy Resources Engineering, Stanford University.
  • Shahin Moradi, PhD student, Department of Geoscience, University of Calgary, to the lab of Dr. Jerry Harris, Department of Earth Sciences, Stanford University.

CMC is also providing funds to the following CMC-funded researchers who are hosting students from the UK and Australia:

  • Naoko Ellis, University of British Columbia,
  • Arturo Macchi, University of Ottawa,
  • Ben Anthony, CanMet Energy,
  • Gerrit Voordouw, University of Calgary,
  • Guy Mercier, Institut national de la recherche scientifique
  • Don Lawton, University of Calgary, and
  • Tom Woo, University of Ottawa.