World-renowned systems design engineer Keith Hipel says he was honoured to be asked to accept an honorary doctorate of science from Vancouver Island University, adding how pleased he is that a “young and dynamic university” is recognizing his work.
Hipel has contributed significantly to the success of systems design engineering as a unique engineering discipline. He is recognized for his creative curriculum development, exceptional teaching and insightful research at the University of Waterloo, where he has worked for more than two decades.
Nationally, he has served as president of the Academy of Science within the Royal Society of Canada and internationally he is requested on a regular basis to deliver leading-edge research seminars at research institutions around the globe. Hipel’s research takes a multidisciplinary engineering approach that is applied to society’s most complex problems such as climate change, water resource management, global energy requirements and sustainable development.
“In short, systems design engineering is about creative problem solving,” said Hipel.
He says at the base of it, they use engineering principles to look at complex problems in a sensible way to design sound solutions that reflect stakeholders’ value systems.
“When maintaining a system to meet societal needs in a fair, ethical and sustainable manner you have to be prepared to take into account a great many variables,” said Hipel. “With complex problems like climate change you have to look not only at the science but you also have to include systems that embrace social, environmental, political and economic impacts. If a system is developed for just one group of stakeholders and is used to solve a problem, eventually that system may collapse, since neglected parties will not be satisfied.”
One of his first doctoral students was Don Noakes, who published many scientific papers with Hipel on topics such as hydrological forecasting and salmon aquaculture conflicts. Noakes is currently the Dean of Science and Technology at VIU and was Hipel’s nominator for the award.
Hipel will accept his honorary doctorate on Friday (Jan. 27) at the 10 a.m. convocation ceremony at the Port Theatre. To watch online, please visit www2.viu.ca/convocation/.
Dane Gibson is a writer with VIU’s communications department.