Solar Panels

2020 Sustainability Award Winners

Monica Uppal

Undergraduate Student Sustainability Award

Monica Uppal, B.Comm. (Real Estate), Haskayne School of Business, and B.A. (Geography), Faculty of Arts student
Founder of Suit Up! and Operation IVY

Monica Uppal has been (and continues to be) instrumental to the functioning and growth of sustainability at UCalgary. Her most notable achievement is founding and leading an SU registered club called “Suit Up” that provides a platform to students who desire affordable professional apparel for purposes such as class presentations and job interviews. She also founded Operation IVY which is a not-for-profit organization that aims to achieve three main goals (survive, revive, and thrive) through various community involvement projects.


Graduate Student Sustainability Award

Veronica Briseño Castrejon, PhD student (EVDS), School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape
Founder of Aula Verde A.C.

Veronica Briseño Castrejon founded Aula Verde, a non-profit that delivers environmental education programs in Mexico. Through Aula Verde, she designed and led environmental education activities such as training programs to teach hospital construction personnel how to use construction waste in infrastructure projects such as greenhouses, hydroponics models and roof protections at elementary schools.
 

Veronica Briseño Castrejon

Light Up The World!

Student Club Sustainability Award

Light Up The World! (University of Calgary)
Bringing solar energy to communities in Guatemala and Peru

Light Up The World! UCalgary (LUTW) provides sustainable, long-term solar energy resources to the highly impoverished communities of rural Peru that live off the grid. Current energy sources include one-time-use batteries, which present a significant financial burden in the household. Other light sources, such as kerosene, can also pose health risks due to the toxins that are released when it is burned for light. To bring electricity to rural communities in a safer and sustainable way, this group organizes projects that utilize the sustainability and cost-effectiveness of solar panels to bring electricity to homes and community buildings in Peru.


Individual Staff Sustainability Award

Derek Kogstad, Manager, Distribution Services
Integrating sustainability into distribution services at UCalgary

Derek Kogstad is a positive force for sustainability within Distribution Services and Ancillary Services. He is continually cultivating his sustainability knowledge, generating new ideas and working with colleagues to explore ideas that can be applied at UCalgary. This past year, he has been working to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions associated with on-campus deliveries. 
 

Derek Kogstad

MacKimmie Tower

Group Staff Sustainability Award

MacKimmie Tower Project Team, Facilities
MacKimmie Tower revitalization, from design to occupancy

The Mackimmie Tower Project Team designed and delivered UCalgary’s first net zero carbon building, the revitalized MacKimmie Tower. This multi-year, multi-phase project represents the largest building project at the university since 2005. Delivering a building project of this scope requires the efforts of a highly engaged, cross-disciplinary team with a strong, shared vision. Together, this team created one of the most energy efficient buildings on a Canadian post-secondary campus that strives to be net carbon neutral for embodied energy in construction, and annual operations.


Sustainability Teaching Award

Heather Leier, Assistant Professor (Art), Faculty of Arts
Sustainable printmaking and visual art

Heather Leier encourages her printmaking students to develop sustainable and socially-engaged artistic practices. Through this approach to education, students enter the world as artists who will continue to foster sustainable art practices for themselves, equipped with the knowledge to both create in a sustainable way and potentially make tangible sustainable impacts in their communities. 
 

Sustainable printmaking and visual art

 Dr. Tricia Stadnyk

Faculty Sustainability Research Award

Dr. Tricia Stadnyk, Associate Professor (Geography), Faculty of Arts
Using water isotopes to assess and predict changes in global water balance

Tricia Stadnyk researches water isotopes to predict changes in global hydrologic systems. Tricia's critical research provides new information on the impact that climate change is having on individual processes in the hydrologic cycle, which is crucial for the agricultural and energy sectors globally. 
 


Experiential Learning Project in Sustainability Award

Werklund School of Education Land-Based Learning Initiative

Every year the Werklund School of Education offers optional land-based experiences to Bachelor of Education students in Indigenous Education. This can include a three-day trip to Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park, a site of great importance to the Blackfoot people. Accompanied by course instructors and guided by Kainai Elder Saa’kokoto (Randy Bottle), students hike, visit sacred sites, and learn about Indigenous and land-based education, giving them the opportunity to understand Indigenous knowledge systems and imagine a sustainable shared future together. 
 

Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park

Questions about the UCalgary Sustainability Awards? Contact the Sustainability Resource Centre.