The Sustainability Hive will host an EEESA panel to inform students about energy
By Hannah Caparino, January 20 2025—
The Energy and Environment Engineering Student’s Association (EEESA) at the University of Calgary will host a panel discussion event at MacKimmie Tower’s Sustainability Hive titled, “Outlooks on Energy” and will feature speakers and their experiences within the energy industry. Vice President of Academics Jenice Seto sat down with the Gauntlet to discuss the event and how students can participate.
The event will take place on Jan. 21 at the Sustainability Hive in MacKimmie Tower from 5-7 p.m. The event is open to all students and faculty to attend.
“The event itself is meant to create more open discussion and general awareness about where Canadian energy comes from, or what challenges we have today in energy, and what opportunities we have going forward to address these issues and by having that mosaic of our panelists each representing their own unique experiences,” said Seto.
There will be four panelists with varying experiences and perspectives about the energy industry, including Jayrin Yue, Brian Mountain, Doug Koroluk, and Jonathan Bryan. Yue works in environmental management and strategy, Mountain is the founder and director of business management at Mazini Energy & Power Inc, Koroluk is a senior industrial engineer at Alberta Energy Regulator (AER), and Bryan is a graduate student who studied Chemical and Petroleum Engineering. Seto explored a few of the goals of each panelist, referring to her excitement about the panelists and background knowledge.
“One of the panelists that I am most excited to hear about their experiences is Brian Mountain … He collaborations with other, smaller, energy start-ups and energy companies to delivery energy projects to Indigenous communities that might have a harder time accessing the energy grid,” said Seto, “I’m most excited to hear about his own experiences especially as an Indigenous person within the energy space because there’s definitely a lot more knowledge that can be shared in terms of combining technical knowledge from a STEM standpoint.”
While many conferences and panels have knowledge or monetary boundaries, EEESA prioritises accessibility in sharing information to students without any obstacles. Engaging with students and faculty creates both awareness and conversation about energy.
“Being able to access these events gives you the power to … participate in these [conferences], it’s important to participate in them,” Seto said. “I think that’s the biggest thing, to be wanted, and to be part of the conversation so I’m hoping that just something small invites people’s opinions.”
The energy industry is a broad industry that influences all aspects of life, and the panelists each have experience in the industry to inspire questions about how sustainability is achievable. All students from various faculties are able to learn from each panelist and the event aims to promote the club’s efforts to spread information about both energy and sustainability.
“I just want people to be curious, … but overall I think following the event, my indicator of success is if people have questions, and if people are curious,” Seto said. “I’d like people to just not attend this event, get this knowledge, and store it in the back of their heads just to leave it there; I’d like them to take what they learned from this event and apply it within their degree.”
To connect with EEESA, information can be found on their website.