News
UVic Honorary Degree Recipient Dr. David Sanborn Scott
June 2011
An Honorary Doctor of Engineering will be conferred upon David Scott during ceremony #4 on Wednesday, June 13, 2012 at 10:00 a.m.
Dr. David Sanborn Scott, decades before the dilemma between runaway greenhouse gasses and modern energy needs came to the world’s attention, laid out a far-reaching framework for the systematic analysis of energy systems and sustainability. His pioneering ideas that offered a compelling vision of the role of hydrogen and electricity in energy systems was a paradigm shift that has influenced two generations of students, fellow academics, policy-makers and entrepreneurs.
Currently Vice-President (for the Americas) of the International Association for Hydrogen Energy, Dr. Scott earned his doctorate in mechanical engineering and astronautical sciences from Northwestern University in Chicago.
Dr. Scott spent 22 years at the University of Toronto where he served as Chair of Mechanical Engineering and founded the university’s Institute for Hydrogen Systems. He chaired the Canadian Advisory Group on Hydrogen Opportunities, producing the seminal report, “Hydrogen: National Mission for Canada.”
Joining the University of Victoria in 1989, he established the Institute for Integrated Energy Systems, focusing on fuel cell systems, cryofuel liquefaction and energy systems analysis. IESVic now includes more than 60 faculty, graduate students and staff.
In 2006, Dr. Scott received the Jules Verne Award for “outstanding contributions to hydrogen physics, hydrogen energy, sociology and philosophy.” He is also the author of Smelling Land: The Hydrogen Defense Against Climate Catastrophe (2007).
He was named the honorary chair of the 2012 World Hydrogen Energy Conference in Toronto, and he continues to write and lecture widely.
