Williams Engineering Canada Inc. has partnered with the Adaptation Resilience Training (ART) Program to further our purpose of brightening the lives of people in our communities by engineering sustainable cities that are safe, inclusive and resilient. The ART program aims to match recent graduates and students with organizations across Alberta, to strengthen our collective response to the consequences of climate change. This year, we have two exciting projects underway with two new grads, Yi Liu and Tashmid Ahmed.
Yi is working on a research project titled Role of Gender Diversity in STEM for Holistically Tackling Climate Change Response. According to Groundwork London, women are 14 times more likely to die in a natural disaster than men, but women hold less responsibility for global heating. This project will explore the ways climate change affects women and indigenous communities more than others and how the underrepresentation of women in buildings engineering might exacerbate the side effects of climate change on women and indigenous people. The potential outcome of this project could lead us to discover the intersections between gender, climate change, and adaptation. With this effort, we hope to raise the representation of women in creating climate change solutions at Williams Engineering and across Canada. This project will further Williams Engineering’s alignment with UNSDG 5 – gender equality and 10- reduced inequalities.
Tashmid is working on a project titled Climate Vulnerability and Resilience in Buildings. The outcome of this project is to create a digital tool and resource to integrate climate risk assessment, adaptation, and resilience to support climate change. This effort will be completed in collaboration with our Sustainability, Mechanical, Structural, Electrical and Building Sciences teams. This checklist will be used as a backbone for any new project in construction or renovation projects for adaptation and resilience to climate change. The specific effort involves developing a framework for adaptation in any new construction or renovation projects in Western and Northern Canada; Tashmid‘s project will enable Williams Engineering’s alignment with UN SDG 11- sustainable cities and communities.
We look forward to seeing the final reports of the two exciting projects, and we are excited to be part of an initiative that aligns with our purpose while enhancing the communities we serve.
