Driving Change: Advanced Materials for Transportation
Global awareness of the impact humans are having on the world’s climate and the environment is at an all-time high. We need solutions from every arena—but especially from the industries that have the greatest impact.
The transportation sector was Canada’s second-largest source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in 2016, accounting for a full quarter of total national emissions. If we want to move away from a fossil-fuel economy, we need to increase the viability of alternative-fuel and zero emissions vehicles and make it safer to transport fossil fuels. Dr. Warren Poole’s research addresses both of these needs.
As Canada Research Chair in Through Process Modelling of Advanced Structural Materials, Poole is driving Canada toward a more sustainable future by developing lighter, stronger aluminum and magnesium alloys and stronger steel alloys for transportation and natural resource transport. Using digital technologies to simulate and test these novel materials’ properties and responses during manufacture, Poole and his research team are lowering risk, test times and costs. They also aim to shrink commercialization time from 10 years to three, bringing innovative solutions to market faster.
Poole’s research is supporting solutions the world needs right now, including lighter-weight conventional vehicles, longer-range alternative-fuel vehicles, safer rides for passengers across the whole of the transportation sector, and stronger, safer pipelines. Initiatives like these will decrease fossil-fuel use, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and lead to more jobs, more highly qualified advanced materials engineers, and greater competitiveness globally for Canada.