Sustainability in Engineering at McGill
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| Executive Team | |
|---|---|
| Chair | Leila Hawa |
| VP Admin | Amara Slaymaker |
| VP Communications | Julia Sinkovits |
| VP External | Liam Fitzpatrick |
| VP Academic | Ian Bennet |
| VP Finance | Emily Rush |
| Webmaster | Caitlin Knowles |
| Website | |
Sustainability in Engineering at McGill (SEAM), is a committee within the Engineering Undergraduate Society (EUS). The committee was formally founded in 2014. SEAM's purpose is to foster and promote a culture of sustainability in the Engineering community.
SEAM's main efforts are planning events, managing projects, providing consulting work, and compiling and providing sustainability resources to the McGill Engineering community.
Contents
Events
Events help to show McGill’s future engineers some of the many opportunities in sustainability, as well to introduce them to thinking and designing in a more sustainable way.
Speed Networking
The Speed Networking event is one of SEAM's largest events of the year. Professionals working in sustainable fields come to provide industry insight, as well as give students an opportunity to make connections and ask questions to people with sustainable careers. The event happens over dinner and is fully catered, as well as free to all students.
Design Team Case Competition
In Fall 2016, SEAM challenged McGill's Engineering Design Teams to make a change in their products or processes to improve their long-term effects on the planet. SEAM wanted their sustainable solutions to be implementable, measurable, and specific to an issue with which the team members identified. The Fall 2016 winning team was M3DP. They were awarded prize money to implement their RecycleBot.
Talks/Other
SEAM hosts many other smaller events throughout the year such as talks with industry representatives, wine and cheese events, info sessions (on sustainable internships, applied student research, etc), roundtable discussions on sustainable innovations, documentary screenings, social events, and so on.
Projects & Consulting
SEAM undertakes independent or partnered projects which directly affect the engineering community. A recent undertaking within SEAM has been working with other organizations and teams to make their operations more sustainable.
Plumbers' Plates
Plumbers' Plates (formerly "The McConnell Plate Club") is run for the benefit of student groups on the Engineering side of campus, providing plates, cutlery and drinkware for events. The goal is to reduce the waste created at events and to reduce student groups' costs. You can order plates (for free) for your next event here.
Blues Pub Cups
In 2013, SEAM worked with Blues Pub to implement "The Iron Cup". The cups are provided for a $2 deposit which is returned when the user drops off their cup. This initiative saves approximately 25,000 disposable cups being used each year, and also saves Blues Pub goers the $1 charge for a disposable cup.
Plants in McConnell
The plants in the McConnell hallway were brought in by SEAM in 2014 as an initiative to brighten up the space and improve the students' moods.
G-Store Fridge
When the G-Store needed a new fridge, SEAM teamed up with them and bought a new, highly energy efficient fridge that met all the the needs of the G-Store while being cost-effective and a more sustainable solution.
Academic Initiatives
Resources
SEAM provides a starting place for engineering students at McGill that are interested in learning more about sustainability but don't necessarily know where to start. This is achieved by actively gathering information, resources, and opportunities and delivering them to the engineering student community via their website and other networks.