News Archives: CICan Intern Honoured by Her Experience at GPRC
Monday, October 17th, 2016
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Kristine Elipse just finished the summer of her life, and can’t wait to head back home to Toronto, Ontario to share her experience with family and friends.
The University of Toronto and Centennial College Environmental Science and Technology graduate spent the last six months working as a Research Intern for GPRC Research & Innovation’s Pollutants to Products (P2P) initiative happening in Grande Prairie.
The internship was created in partnership with CICan Clean Tech Internship program. Elipse is the hopeful first of many CICan Clean Tech Interns to gain experience at GPRC.
“Thanks to the quick actions of the P2P team, GPRC was able to be part of CICan first round of the Clean Tech Internship program. The program was to enable College graduates to gain experience in their chosen field. I trust the success of the Elipse-GPRC intern partnership will bode well for CICan and enable these internships to become an ongoing program for Canadian colleges and institutes,” says Dr. Bruce Rutley, GPRC Research & Innovation Director.
“It was kind of scary moving to Alberta from Ontario,” says Elipse. “I’m so happy I did it though, because the knowledge and experience I’ve gained from this opportunity is going to benefit me in my future.”
Elipse received her Bachelor of Science and Advanced diploma in Environmental Science and Technology from the University of Toronto in collaboration with Centennial College.
Elipse joined Dr. Weixing Tan and his research team at GPRC that pursue several applied research projects that aim not only to reduce pollutants and carbon emissions but to turn those pollutants into products using two major research projects including winter planting of black spruce seedlings and carbon bio-capture using microalgae.
“I was honoured to work on the P2P microalgae project,” says Elipse. “My favourite subject in school was microbiology, and I’ve done research on the transformation of greenhouse gases by microbes to help mitigate the effects of climate change, so it’s really exciting to work as part of this initiative. It’s a huge win win for me, I got to develop new skills and had the opportunity to apply my knowledge in real-world research.”
GPRC Research & Innovation believe student involvement in research projects are critical to providing the best and most innovative student experience.
“It was a pleasure to train and watch Kristine develop new skills in microbial research as she contributed to the progress of P2P’s microalgae technology. Kristine’s education allowed her to learn and apply the required expertise for achieving P2P’s microalgae research goals. Her dedication to work and passion for science made her outstanding and if maintained, will be valuable to her in the future,” says Dr. Abigail Adebusuyi, GPRC P2P Applied Scientist.
Elipse finished her time at GPRC with a presentation highlighting some of the important work she was involved in.
“The P2P research initiative at GPRC is of great importance and it was an honour to be involved,” says Elipse. “I am excited to see this project continue on, because I’ve always been interested in sustainable development. I’m excited to be able to apply my new knowledge to my future research to continue to promote awareness of sustainable lifestyle opportunities. Thank you to Weixing, Abigail and the rest of the GPRC Research & Innovation team for giving me this awesome experience.”
Learn more about GPRC's P2P initiative!
