Polytechnique Montreal's Dr. Paul Stuart will be joining BPI for the next few months for his sabbatical!
After a career in engineering design and strategic consulting, Paul joined the Chemical Engineering Department at Polytechnique in 2000 to become Chairholder of the first NSERC Chair in Design Engineering. In 2010 Paul co-founded, and is today Principal Consultant of EnVertis Consulting, a global boutique consultancy that assists companies with their business transformation in the bioeconomy. In his consulting activities as well as his research program, Paul addresses industry-driven problems using product and process design methodologies and systems analysis tools, targeting the forest products industry and new business models for the production of biofuels, biochemicals and biomaterials. Paul has had the good fortune of being involved in various ways with the establishment of several biorefineries, in Canada and around the world. Paul is a founding Fellow of the Pulp and Paper Technical Association of Canada (PAPTAC), a past President of the Canadian Society for Chemical Engineering (CSChE), and a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering (CAE).
To get better acquainted with Professor Paul Stuart, we asked him some personal trivia questions:
- I was born… in a small town north of London England, called Letchworth.
- When I was a kid… my family immigrated to Canada and settled in Montréal.
- At school… my trademark was a British accent in primary school. I failed my handwriting classes and loved math.
- I enjoy… running and skiing, trying to get along well with the 4 seasons.
- My favourite meal… is turkey at Thanksgiving, with all the fixings including Yorkshire pudding.
- My favourite beverage… (1) Coffee (2) Dry, strong, French red wine.
- Friends know me… as someone they actually tease about loving life and appreciating how lucky I am. Can you believe that?
- I’m reading…. grant proposals, publications, theses…. the usual stuff for a prof.
- Important words… you don’t win the lottery if you don’t buy the lottery ticket (not meant literally!).
- I’m at my best… in (long) research meetings with my students – love these…
- I’m at my worst… trying to remember names – very sad.
- The best gift I ever received… Gold medal: A few years ago where my entire family celebrated my birthday by spending a vacation together in Cuba over New Year’s. Silver medal: A birthday a few years prior, with my wife scuba diving the Great Barrier Reef.
- My favourite music… almost everything, but especially jazz and classical. Especially Norah Jones.
- My heros… Gold medal: My wife, who loves me despite everything. Silver medal: My kids, who love me despite everything.
- On my days off… we will use carshare to discover Vancouver and British Columbia as much as we can (including a few days skiing Whistler in December J).
- If I wasn’t working at UBC… I would be working hard at teaching and research activities in the Chemical Engineering Department at Polytechnique Montréal.
- In this position I’m excited… Sabbaticals are amazing. I hope to have the chance to spend a few months getting to know better the exciting work ongoing at BPI, and to explore the possibility of creating collaborations with BPI that help further the Canadian bioeconomy.
- I’ll know we are successful when… we identify how we can do this, celebrating our different areas of expertise…
- Someday…we’ll all be contributing to building a strong, growing and competitive bioeconomy in Canada. Sooner rather than later, I hope…
Welcome to BPI, Dr. Stuart!
