ARISE:
A Further Education Panel for BIPOC Students

Join us on Tuesday, September 27, 2022 4 – 5 p.m. (EST) virtually for a critical discussion with Dr. Hadiya Roderique, an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto, Taylor Tabobondung a PhD student at the University of Toronto and Dr. Rashelle Litchmore, an Assistant Professor from Connecticut College encouraging BIPOC students to overcome dominant problem-saturated stories with more favorable stories about themselves and their life-work; helping students become unstuck, certain, and able to see possibility in post-graduate settings!

Student Audience: Students who identify as Black, Indigenous, People of Colour

Register via CLNX: https://clnx.utoronto.ca/home/utsceventaggregator.htm?eventId=46979

Conversations Skills For Meeting New People – Tuesday, September 27^th | Register HERE: uoft.me/leadershiplabs

5 p.m. – 7 p.m in GB202

It’s easy to start a conversation, but what do you say after getting past “hello, how are you”? Join this interactive workshop to meet new people, eat pizza, and learn tips and techniques that you can use right away to start creating connections through conversation. All engineering students at any level of study and English-language proficiency are welcome! Research shows that building meaningful social connections is strongly correlated with our academic achievements, mental wellbeing, and professional success.

This sessions is geared towards 1^st/2^nd year students.

Drop-In Drum Circles and Sacred Fire with Dr. Gokoomis (Grandmother) Jacque Lavallee, and Dr. Hopi Martin.

Every Wednesday night from 6-8 PM starting September 7^th till December 14th, 2022.

This event is at the Mother Earth Teaching Lodge.
No Registration Link.

Mother Earth Learning Lodge 

Four MASc Thesis Presentations on Thursday, September 29, 2022:

09:00 a.m. – 09:30 a.m.

Evaluation of Peracetic Acid Treatment for Reducing DBP Formation in Drinking Water
Candidate: Subhajit Mondal
Supervisor: Prof Ron Hofmann 

09:30 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.

Comparison of Pipe-Loop and Pipe-Section-Reactor Methods for Estimating Chloramine Decay in Distribution Systems
Candidate: Itai Arbiv
Supervisor: Prof Robert Andrews

10:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.

Desorption of Organotin and Organophosphorus Compounds from Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC)
Candidate: Freya Wu
Supervisor: Prof Robert Andrews

10:30 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.

Adsorption of Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances and Microcystins by Virgin and Weathered Microplastics
Candidate: Yucong Shi
Supervisor Prof Robert Andrews

Join Zoom Meeting https://us06web.zoom.us/j/89322035339?pwd=aytXTzNVUHVPTzFGYjdBc01mOEtUQT09&from=addon
Meeting ID: 893 2203 5339       Passcode: 129132

EVENT REGISTRATION
(Lecture reminder will be sent out via email the morning of the event)

The Department of Civil & Mineral Engineering
Distinguished Lecture Series

Presents

Professor Derek Elsworth
Energy and Mineral Engineering & Geosciences, G³ Center and EMS Energy Institute
Pennsylvania State University, University Park, USA

Understanding Triggered Seismicity and Permeability Evolution in the Subsurface
– Key Needs in Pursuit of the Energy Transition

Thursday, September 29, 2022 at Noon
GB202 – Galbraith Building, 35 St. George Street

Abstract

Contemporary methods of energy conversion that reduce carbon intensity and address the energy transition draw heavily on fluids in the subsurface. This includes sequestering CO₂, fuel switching to lower-carbon sources, such as from abundant gas shales, recovering deep geothermal energy via EGS, and diurnal and inter-seasonal storage of heat, H₂ and energized fluids (CAES). In all of these endeavors, either maintaining the low permeability and integrity of caprocks or in controlling the growth of permeability in initially very-low-permeability shales or geothermal reservoirs represent key desires. Injected volumes are necessarily enormous, anticipated overpressures large and the potential for hazardous triggered seismicity significant. We explore conditions controlling the linked evolution of seismicity and permeability in particular with respect to the (i) scaling of seismicity, (ii) controls on permeability evolution and the (iii) potential to recover permeability evolution from physics-based models of microearthquakes linked to permeability evolution.

Biosketch

Derek Elsworth is G. Albert Shoemaker Chair and Professor of Energy and Mineral Engineering and Geosciences at Penn State. He is co-founder of the Center for Geomechanics, Geofluids, and Geohazards. His interests are in the areas of computational mechanics, rock mechanics, and in the mechanical and transport characteristics of fractured rocks, with application to geothermal energy, the deep geological sequestration of radioactive wastes and of CO₂, unconventional hydrocarbons including coal-gas, tight-gas-shales and hydrates, and instability and eruption dynamics of volcanoes.

http://www.ems.psu.edu/~elsworth/

Centre for Climate Science and Engineering Lecture Series

Join us for our September Lecture Series event!

Title: Toward Resilience of Infrastructure and Urban Systems in a Changing World

Speaker: Dr. Samuel Markolf from the UC Merced presents

When: Thursday, September 29^th, 5:00 pm – 6:00 pm (EST)

Where: Online Zoom Webinar

For detailed event information and free registration, click here: www.uoftcse.ca

Itinerary:                                                                                                                        

• 5:00 – 5:10 pm: Attendee arrival
• 5:10 – 5:50 pm: Presentation
• 5:50 – 6:00pm: Q&A

Presentation Abstract:

We are living in a world increasingly defined by pervasive and accelerating climatic, technological, social, economic, and institutional change. These convergent changes portend a wide range of possible impacts to our urban, ecological, and infrastructure systems. In response, the concept of resilience – the ability of systems and communities to identify, anticipate, alleviate, prepare for, respond to, and recover from large-scale changes – has emerged as way to navigate the complexity, uncertainty, and potential disruptions associated with a rapidly changing world. With growing exploration and implementation of resilience, fundamental questions arise about how, when, where, and in what form it should be pursued. This talk will outline some of these broader concepts, discuss challenges to infrastructure design standards in the face of climate change, and provide an overview of applying resilience thinking to interconnected social-ecological-technological systems (SETS).  Dr. Markolf will then highlight recent work involving the use of low-cost sensors on public transit vehicles as a means to identify and address exposure to extreme heat and air pollution at refined temporal and geographic scales.  Ultimately, the talk aims to leave attendees with a clearer understanding of varying perspectives on resilience, ways in which resilience is being explored in research and practice, and prospects for applying resilience thinking in different contexts.

Speaker Bio:

Dr. Samuel (Sam) Markolf is an Assistant Professor within the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at UC Merced. Prior to joining UC-Merced, Sam was a Research Fellow on the NSF-sponsored Urban Resilience to Extremes Sustainability Research Network (UREx SRN) at Arizona State University. Broadly, his research applies systems thinking to sustainability and resilience challenges facing cities and infrastructure systems. Example projects include examining impacts and responses to extreme events (e.g., flood, extreme heat) within transportation systems, exploring the incorporation of climate projections into infrastructure design processes, and analyzing the extent to which interconnected social-ecological-technological systems (SETS) can enhance (or hinder) the resilience of cities and infrastructure systems. Ultimately, his aim is to help decision-makers become more adept at identifying, anticipating, alleviating, and responding to accelerating climatic, technological, and social change.

Eventbrite link: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/419257439287

Entrepreneur Insights: Building the Next Billion-Dollar Company

Anil Agarwal, one of India’s richest people, is sitting down for a fireside chat about his entrepreneurial endeavours

Join CivMin for a unique opportunity to chat with
Anil Agarwal, Executive Chairman of Vedanta Resources.

Mr. Agarwal is a self-made man, an entrepreneur,
a benefactor and one of India’s richest people.

Find out how he built his empire at this fireside chat event.

Friday, September 30, 2022
Noon to 1 p.m.

BA1170 – Bahen Centre, 40 St. George Street
University of Toronto
St. George Campus (downtown Toronto)

RSVP to attend
An email reminder will be sent to registrants prior to the event

Areas of interest: Engineering, Business, Entrepreneurs and more.

1. Profile 

 Anil Agarwal is the Founding Chairman of Vedanta Resources, one of the largest and diversified natural resources groups globally. He founded the Vedanta Group in 1976 and has over 40 years of entrepreneurial & business experience. Under his stewardship, Vedanta has grown from an Indian domestic mining company into a global natural resources corporation and invested over $35 billion for development of the sector in the country.

Over the years, Vedanta Group has grown organically and through value-generating mergers and acquisitions, creating a world-class portfolio of large, diversified assets in oil and gas, zinc, silver, aluminium, copper, iron ore, steel and power. Mr Agarwal, who participated in the government’s disinvestment programme, has been passionate about turning around companies to create value for all stakeholders and create large-scale employment.

Mr. Agarwal is deeply concerned about climate change. Under his guidance, Vedanta has put in place a comprehensive framework to be the ESG leader in the natural resources sector. The company is committed to reducing carbon emissions to zero by 2050 or even sooner and has pledged $5 billion over the next 10 years to accelerate the transition to net zero operations.

He is committed to eradication of poverty through development initiatives within the communities in which Vedanta operates. He is passionate about safety and sustainable development and nurturing talent within the organisation. He plays the role of chief mentor to a talent pool of over 100,000 direct and indirect employees.

As a responsible natural resources company, Vedanta is committed to nation building. Over the past 10 years, the company has contributed Rs 2.74 lakh crore to the national exchequer. It contributes to 25% of country’s Crude Oil production and is India’s market leader for Zinc (78%), Silver (95%), Aluminium (40%) and Copper (35%), Iron Ore, along with large Power portfolio of ~ 9000 MW including the Renewable Power for Captive and Commercial purpose. Vedanta accounts for around 1 per cent of India’s GDP.

Mr Anil Agarwal has been a strong advocate for the growth of the MSME sector. Partnering with the government, Vedanta’s Saathi programme has been created to provide a bouquet of services to MSMEs so that they can truly become employment generators for the economy. He has been playing an important part in the development of Start-ups too. Through the global start-up accelerator program, ‘Spark’, Vedanta is Vedanta is also aligning with the government’s Start-Up mission by partnering with young entrepreneurs to build technology capabilities.

Mr Anil Agarwal is committed to the philosophy of Giving Back and he has already pledged 75 per cent of his wealth for social good. He believes that businesses must give back to the society and help them prosper.

 Earlier this year, the Anil Agarwal Foundation (AAF) has pledged Rs 5,000 crore towards socio-economic development in India over the next five years. The Foundation, of which Mr. Agarwal is a trustee, is committed to empowering communities. The Foundation is also working in the space of animal welfare with a mission is to establish a world class sustainable and scalable ecosystem for the wellbeing of animals.

Nand Ghar, the flagship project for women and children development, has become a national movement. The project, the first of its kind of public-private partnership in the Anganwadi space, aims to transform the lives of 70 million children and 20 million women by providing them holistic development opportunities.

Vedanta has been at the forefront in the fight against COVID-19. The company has contributed more than Rs 250 crore towards the cause. Vedanta set up 10 state-of-the-art field hospitals with 1,000 critical care beds across the country, apart from supplying more than 20 Lakh Litres of oxygen to hospitals. The company rolled out the largest vaccination drive, more than 1.3 lakh employees, business partners and their partners have been vaccinated.

Mr. Anil Agarwal has been among the top philanthropists in the country. The India Philanthropy List 2021 of EdelGive Hurun has ranked him among the foremost donors. He was also conferred with the prestigious Mumbai Ratna Award for his outstanding services towards the holistic development of Mumbai.

2. Significant Contribution 

Mr Anil Agarwal has been working with a mission to make India self-reliant in natural resources. India has one of the best geologies, and he strongly believes that natural resources can contribute enormously to India’s economic transformation. The natural resources sector, he strongly believes, will support the India growth story by meeting the growing demand and reducing dependence on imports. -Self-reliance, according to Mr Agarwal is critical, as 70% of the country’s revenues goes towards paying for imports.

He has been instrumental in bringing $35 billion of investments from overseas. With a focus to increase production of essential commodities in a sustainable and environment friendly way, Anil Agarwal-led Vedanta has been creating large-scale employment for the youth. The company currently offers direct and indirect employment to over one lakh people and is focused on diversity and inclusion.

Mr Agarwal is a strong votary of wealth creation. Over the years, Vedanta has been synonymous with wealth creation and rewarded its stakeholders. The steep growth that Hindustan Zinc and Balco have seen, post disinvestment, has also benefitted the government which holds minority stakes in these companies.

Mr Agarwal has always wanted Vedanta to contribute towards nation building. The company contributed Rs 2.74 lakh crore to the national exchequer over the past decade and accounts for around 1 per cent of the country’s GDP.

3. Contribution to Business & Industry

The Vedanta group has been one of most successful in partnering with the government to grow national assets in a diverse and complex commodities space comprising metals, mining and oil & gas and in creation of new jobs. Building on its initial presence in copper, Vedanta acquired state-owned BALCO when it came up for disinvestment in 2000-01 and its output and productivity grew manifold under the group’s leadership through major expansion and technology improvements making it one of the largest private sector aluminium and power companies today. The acquisition of Hindustan Zinc by Vedanta is a shining example of the success of disinvestment. In the last ten years the latter has emerged as a leader in the zinc-lead-silver market globally and in India, both in volume and value.

The acquisition of Cairn India by the group led to infusion of cutting-edge technology to develop its portfolio of tight oil fields in Barmer, Rajasthan. The company is now the largest private producer and contributing 25% to India’s oil & gas needs.

The phenomenal growth in BALCO and HZL’s market capitalization has rewarded both minority shareholders and the Government of India which holds significant residual stake in both the companies.

As the chairman of Vedanta, Mr Anil Agarwal has led the group from the front and empowered a strong team of professionals to lead each business unit.

4. Contribution to the society  

An ardent believer in the ancient Indian concept of being a Trustee of society’s wealth, Mr. Anil Agarwal has pledged to give away 75% of his family wealth for the greater good of nation and its people. This year, he signed the Giving Pledge, a movement of global philanthropists who commit giving majority of their wealth to philanthropy or charitable causes.

The Anil Agarwal Foundation is committed towards empowering communities, transforming lives and facilitating nation building through sustainable and inclusive growth. It has pledged Rs 5,000 crore over the next 5 years on social impact programmes focused on nutrition, women & child development, healthcare, animal welfare and grass root level sports.

His dream project Nand Ghar, which is modernizing anganwadis in partnership with the Government of India’s Ministry of Women and Child Development (MoWCD), aims to transform the anganwadi network in India with state-of-the-art infrastructure and bouquet of integrated services including e-learning for children, primary healthcare services, economic empowerment of women. Each Nand Ghar is equipped with television for e-learning, solar panels for reliable power, safe drinking water through purifiers and clean toilets.  With more than 2700 Nand Ghars across 12 States, Nand Ghar is catalyzing change at the grassroots level and making it a national movement to transform the lives of 70 million children and 20 million women across 13.7 lakh angwanwadis in the country.

Committing to the Hon’ble Prime Minister’s national vision of eradicating child malnutrition, providing education, healthcare and empowering women with skill development, Nand Ghars are playing instrumental role in fulfilling PM’s commitment towards Poshan Abhiyan, Swachh Bharat, Beti Bachao Beti Padhao and Startup India. Also, partnered with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for achieving improved health and nutritional outcomes in the state of Uttar Pradesh.

5. Awards & Recognitions  

Mr. Agarwal has been conferred the Business Leader award by The Economic Times and was a recipient of the Mining Journal Lifetime Achievement Award. He has received the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award and was featured as a turnaround artist by Fortune magazine. He has been honoured with Annual Asian Achievers’ Lifetime Achievement Award.

Mr. Anil Agarwal has been among the top philanthropists in the country. He has been included among the foremost donors in the EdelGive Hurun India Philanthropy List for 2020 and 2021. He was also conferred with the prestigious Mumbai Ratna Award for his outstanding services towards the holistic development of Mumbai.