COSIA - Innovative Minds

Dr. Frank Gu explains the late-night research behind H2Nano’s ground-breaking SolarPass™ technology, which uses sunlight to treat industrial water so it’s safe for aquatic life.

In celebration of COSIA’s 10th anniversary, Brenda Leeds Binder, QC, joins me to discuss what it was like being on the team tasked with drafting the organization’s original governance agreements and what she believes has been the “secret sauce” in advancing clean tech innovation.

Engineering Specialist, Denis Westphalen, shares with us what efficiencies are being explored in the oil sands industry as well as the steps he’s implementing at home to reduce his energy use.

Karo Afiegbe, P. Eng, explains how his childhood curiosity of gadgets and his father’s book collection lead him to his current role as Technology Development Specialist & Advisor for CO2 Capture at Cenovus Energy.

COSIA’s Chief Executive, Wes Jickling, shares insight into his role at COSIA, and his perspective on oil sands innovation.

Michael Wendlandt, Graduate Researcher, shares how he got down and dirty gathering wetland samples to advance reclamation efforts as part of the NSERC/COSIA Industrial Research Chair Program at the University of Calgary.

There’s a new clean-tech accelerator program aimed at giving new cleantech companies a kick start. Peter Beaudoin, COSIA’s Senior Advisor is leading its implementation and shares learnings from the pilot and details for those looking to build or participate in such a program.

Marlon Norona, a researcher at SAIT-ARIS’s Centre for Energy Research and Clean Unconventional technology solutions (CERCUTS), explains how his dreams of becoming a chef lead him to pursue a career studying water fouling, erosion and corrosion at this world-class Once Through Steam Generation facility and what he hopes to achieve through his work.

Winners of the NRG COSIA Carbon XPRIZE, CarbonCure’s Director of Engineering, Travis Janke, describes his experience competing during a global pandemic, how their technology injects CO2 into concrete to make it stronger and cleaner, and shares his advice for other innovators developing pathways to a lower-carbon world.

He carries his net proudly across Alberta’s Northern boreal forest, finding and tracking the region’s butterfly species. On this episode, learn how Dr. Federico Riva is seeking to understand how different species of insects and plants respond to both human and natural habitat changes along seismic lines in the region and examining these ecosystems to better equip conservation efforts.

In recognition of International Women’s Day on March 8th, Samantha Heigl, a coordinator on COSIA’s tailings team and Chair of COSIA’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee, discusses the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women and discussing her personal efforts to forge closer to a gender equal society.

February 11th is International Day of Women and Girls in Science. In this episode, we’re celebrating Nannette Ho-Covernton, a woman who has made her mark both in her career and in her community and hearing about the challenges she’s overcome in achieving her many successes.

New and improved techniques are being sought to reduce and eliminate land disturbance from exploration activities across Alberta’s boreal forests.  Christine Daly, Senior Advisor of Reclamation Technology and Megan Boutin, Geotechnical Program Lead from Suncor, describe COSIA’s challenge and share their experience restoring and preserving biodiversity impacted by oil sands production.

The COSIA NRG Carbon XPRIZE challenges the world to reimagine what we can do with CO2 emissions by incentivizing the development of technologies that convert CO2 into valuable products.  On this episode, hear from Marcius Extavour, XPRIZE Lead for Environment, Energy and Climate, and learn about breakthrough efforts being conducted to combat climate change.

Over 1,000 sites are monitoring air quality, water quality and changes in wildlife and plant life in Alberta’s oil sands region as part of North America’s largest environmental monitoring program. In this episode, Ty Veness, COSIA’s Senior Technical Advisor for Monitoring and Ole Mrklas, COSIA’s Monitoring Director, share their involvement in the Oil Sands Monitoring Program (OSM).