{"id":434,"date":"2017-01-14T15:22:37","date_gmt":"2017-01-14T23:22:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/nesbit\/?page_id=434"},"modified":"2023-07-26T22:30:42","modified_gmt":"2023-07-27T06:30:42","slug":"biography","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/nesbit\/biography\/","title":{"rendered":"Biography"},"content":{"rendered":"

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As a Professor of Teaching in Civil Engineering, I have lead the development of sustainability curriculum<\/a> and taught several courses<\/a>, at all levels, that introduce engineering students to sustainability engineering concepts. \u00a0I have co-authored peer-reviewed papers and presentations in sustainability engineering education research<\/a>.\u00a0 From 2018 to 2022 I was the co-director of UBC Applied Science Masters of Engineering Leadership in Urban Systems<\/a>. Also, I was on the team who co-developed UBC’s new Environmental Engineering Program<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I am also a trained Instructional Skills Workshop facilitator, and have developed and\/or co-facilitated several faculty development workshops, including UBC\u2019s three-day course design institute, and the one-day ASEE Service Learning workshop. \u00a0I am a trained peer reviewer of teaching, and have over 15 years experience providing both formative and summative peer reviews<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In Jan, 2022, after becoming a Professor Emeritus, I initiated, and am now leading, an ecosystem restoration project<\/a>, which is documented in this website.<\/p>\n

If you are\u00a0wondering how it was that I became interested in sustainability and engineering, read on\u00a0…..<\/p>\n

In 1981, having graduated from the University of British Columbia (UBC) with\u00a0a Bachelor of Arts* degree in History (majoring in post-confederation Canadian history), I\u00a0went fishing – literally.<\/p>\n

While working (on and off) as a salmon gillnet fisher in\u00a0B.C.’s coastal waters\u00a0in the early and mid 1980’s, I had\u00a0the incredible opportunity to meet all kinds of people up and down\u00a0the coast. \u00a0Discussions sometimes focused on\u00a0resource depletion issues such as the “war in the woods<\/a>“, politics, how the world was changing, and what might unfold in our life times. \u00a0I also read a lot. \u00a0And, like many British Columbians, I simply observed our\u00a0truly magnificent marine\u00a0environment.<\/p>\n

Fishing was a transformative experience. \u00a0I went back to school, earned\u00a0a Bachelor of Applied Science in Chemical Engineering, worked as a research engineer studying novel methods of chlorine dioxide production**,\u00a0then obtained\u00a0a doctoral degree in Chemical Engineering (also from UBC) for research on colloidal\u00a0<\/a>ink particle detachment mechanisms during paper recycling<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As a graduate student, I came across the Sustainability Guidelines for professional engineers in British Columbia, and\u00a0learned about\u00a0the Sustainability Committee of the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of B.C.,\u00a0which I immediately joined. \u00a0 The\u00a0Sustainability Committee experiences, as well as work with one of its members (Tony Hodge<\/a>), introduced me\u00a0to the field of sustainability engineering and I was hooked.<\/p>\n

In 1999, with Ph.D. in-hand, my career goal was clear: \u00a0teach\u00a0sustainability engineering<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Starting in\u00a02000, after appointment\u00a0as a full-time instructor in UBC’s Department of Civil Engineering, I have\u00a0developed and\u00a0taught several core and elective engineering sustainability courses via traditional and novel pedagogies, including community service learning, and on-line learning. \u00a0I have also engage in\u00a0sustainability engineering education research.<\/p>\n

As an engineering\u00a0educator, it was\u00a0a privilege, in 2005, to complete UBC\u2019s\u00a0Leadership in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning \u2013\u00a0Faculty Certificate Program of Higher Education<\/span><\/a>, and to be\u00a0awarded an inaugural\u00a0Sustainability Teaching Fellowship<\/span><\/a>\u00a0at UBC\u00a0in 2010\/11. Since then I have been involved in UBC’s Sustainability Initiative<\/a> in a variety of teaching fellowship roles, including as the \u00a0Senior Sustainability Teaching Fellow<\/span><\/a> at UBC in 2015\/16.<\/p>\n

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*<\/strong>The B.A. degree program was a formative experience for me that helped develop critical thought and appreciation for others. \u00a0No matter what your career interests, I recommend\u00a0the humanities!<\/em>
\n**<\/strong>\u00a0Chlorine dioxide\u00a0is a benign, but difficult to produce, substitute for the toxic chlorine which, for several decades, had been used as a bleaching agent in\u00a0the pulp and paper industry.<\/em><\/p>\n