Energy Disruptors’ UNITE Conference

On November 20-22 2022, two faculty of engineering students attended the Energy Disruptors: UNITE conference in Calgary, Alberta with the sponsorship of a faculty alumni. This conference gave the students the opportunity to learn about the current and future energy industry in Canada from globally recognized energy leaders such as Adam Grant and Peter Tertzakian. The students were exposed to topics surrounding carbon capture, net zero emissions, blue and green hydrogen production, and other brand new technologies in the energy industry. Learning about these topics gave the students a brand new perspective of where engineering could take them in their future careers.

Students were also exposed to unique networking events with a diverse set of renowned companies from all over North America such as Shell, IBM, Google Cloud, and Enbridge. The students highlighted the interactive experiences that companies held during the conference such as an escape room held by TC Energy, a basketball court networking session with EY, and a vast display of AR and VR goggle experiences with various companies. The students explained that it helped them connect and network to industry professionals in a more casual way as they initially felt overwhelmed with the professionalism that comes with networking.

Overall, the students expressed how valuable and enjoyable the whole experience was for them and they hope that many more students will get to go in the future conferences to come. Further discussions with the faculty alumni and one of the conference founders are already in the works for giving more students the opportunity to attend the conference, so stay tuned!