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>>Nasr: As an engineer,
it struck me that the
population is growing...
by 2050 worldwide we'll have
like nine billion people on
this planet and our consumption
is increasing.
Our consumption is troubling
because we don't have enough
resources to supply basically
our appetite for better and
better product, new product all
the time.
The rate of consumption which
we have is not sustainable,
given that half of what we use
is non renewable resources.
Since the beginning of the
Industrial Revolution, we have
done things in a certain way
where we had an abundance of
materials and pollution was not
an issue.
Things have changed,
our approaches have not.
So what we're doing is that
we're trying to really
reexamine all of our approaches
to making product and actually
going all the way to how we
consume product and how we use
product as well.
It became apparent that we've
got to really do something
about the educational side, how
we train people in this area.
We have to be system thinkers
and not only one single
discipline can actually make a
change.
So if we don't approach the
problem from all of its angles,
we're not going to be able to
meet our goals.
So from an educational
perspective we start to think
about, we should really create
an educational program focused
on the science of
sustainability.
When people think of
sustainability, immediately they
start thinking of environmental
related issues.
We start that way as well, but
we start looking into what
really can help us achieve that
goal, so in many, many cases
innovation and technology,
through innovation and process,
through changes in the way we
design systems...
One of the things we have
worked on here at RIT is that
we created several generations
of a product that had embedded
sensors that can be used in
transportation applications.
So we partnered with the
government in this area, we got
support and funding to develop
this technology.
Then we spun off a company that
is actually doing this in a
trucking application.
And without making any changes
in the hardware itself, we were
able to lower our fuel
consumption by 10 to 15%.
We made the trucks smarter,
we're able to monitor the
mechanical system well, we're
able to monitor fuel
consumption, we're able to make
corrections that allowed us to
achieve this goal.
We have two patents on the
system and we have four more on
the software side as well.
It seems like there are no
limitations to what we can do...
from lithium ion battery work..
to energy storage...
to nano material that can have
a significant impact on new
product in terms of life and
durability...
to a lot of work that we're
doing on the green chemistry
side and the pollution
prevention side...
So it seems like we uncovered
many, many opportunities where
change can happen, where
innovation can make a
difference.
The pioneering work I think
that we're doing in education,
the exciting research, when you
get students working on e-waste
and taking computers apart and
saying, "Gee, I never knew that
there was so much material that
goes to waste after a very short
period of time. What can we do
about this?"
And just to see that
transformation in their thinking
and the impact that some of this
work has on the students...
it is fantastic to see the
innovation that they have and
the excitement that they have.
But what really excites me
about this is that we saved
hundreds of millions of tons of
material from going to
landfills.
It's a win-win for everyone;
it's just an example where our
innovative thinking can come to
play in solving a major
challenge and we can see some
truly tangible benefits of
doing that.
Our work started in the
remanufacturing and recycling
area.
We're very fortunate that we
were able to create that
program and we were able to
bring industry and government
support for the new building,
for the Golisano Institute for
Sustainability.
RIT has a culture of doing
applied research...
we're valuing the partnership
with industry...
we have co-op programs that are
phenomenal...
and we have terrific students
and faculty.
It's a great place to start
innovative activities here.
And we actually paid our dues.
We worked very hard for years,
we have over twenty years worth
of work in this area and I
believe that what we're able to
do here at RIT would have been
very difficult to do anyplace
else.
As an engineer that has been
trained in a certain way from
design to manufacturing,
when you actually see that
there is a much better way to
do it, that there are
phenomenal ways that we can
achieve our goal with a lot less
emission, pollution...
this is what drives me is that
fact that I know we can make a
difference, I know we can
achieve those goals.
We started well and I think
there's a lot more to be done...
but there's a lot more to be
done.
We have to work hard to be sure
we achieve our objectives.
We just have to explain that to
people.
We have to be part of that
transition that has to take
place in our industrial system,
and that's very satisfying to
be a part of that change.
I feel our generation has this
opportunity now because we have
to reexamine many of those
methods and see if we can find
better material we can recycle,
we need to design products that
can last longer and provide
better function.
So all of that is very exciting
for an engineer to wake up in
the morning and say, "I want to
continue to do all I can to help
make a difference in this area."