Steven Bryant hasn’t driven his car to work since 1986. He mostly rides his bike. This extraordinary dedication to carbon-zerohood also explains why he recently left the University of Texas to take up one of Canada’s most prestigious research positions — the Canada Excellence Research Chair (CERC) in Materials Engineering for Unconventional Oil Reservoirs at UCalgary’s Schulich School of Engineering.
“Having the chance to chase down some of the most urgent questions of our time, with such strong support from the entire university, is something most scientists can only dream about,” says the world-leading nanotechnology researcher.
Tasked with rethinking energy — a quest that reconsiders the entire prospect of who comes to the table (everyone), how we get it, and what it leaves behind.
Getting everyone to the table is at the top of his to-do list and it’s really upped his friend list — the most diverse group of scientists, policy analysts, economists and historians around. You could call it the confederation of problem-solvers for the burning questions in energy. They’re asking, “Can we sustainably reduce the environmental footprint of current in-situ oil sands extraction while discovering a whole new way of tapping natural systems?”
— Steven Bryant
Because, after all, bitumen is a part of nature. It has properties that the new ways of seeing and new ways of engineering can tap.
Answering these questions involves science in-progress that hasn’t even been named yet — a congress of nano-engineering, microbiology, electro-chemistry, electromagnetism, bio-mimicry, biomedical engineering and more. There’s no way around it; this is a cultural revolution.
Bryant and his colleagues are going to talk more about their work in the fall issue of UCalgary Alumni magazine, but, in the meantime, he shares his thoughts about life in Texas and now in Alberta.
“What I miss most about Texas is the 100-year-old farmhouse my wife, Nita Lou, discovered, where we spent weekends. The utterly peaceful distant treeline across the pastures and the limitless night sky shapes the way you see things,” says Bryant.
And widening out the periphery is a reward he’s still looking forward to.
“Expectation is the key to science, but I’m most looking forward to being surprised,” Bryant adds.
“It’s all the same thing — you have the hypothesis, and then you inevitably have to ask yourself, ‘I wonder why that happened?’”
When you’ve had such a significant career in science and as many adventures as Bryant has, you’re more fit to chase surprise. He’s travelled to Longyearbyen, Svalbard, home of the world’s northernmost sundial, and verified the sun’s lowest point in the sky.
Another adventure took him to the top of Mount Ventoux on his bike, on the heels of a Tour de France stage.
His new town holds some surprises too — and of course some food adventures. He says he hasn’t had the ultimate steak experience here yet, but he’s looking for recommendations.
And as for his most memorable food experience so far, he says the steak at Bohannons in San Antonio, Texas, is the one. U
One of Canada’s most prestigious awards, the CERC will support Steven Bryant’s world-renowned research as part of the Energy Innovations for Today and Tomorrow research strategy, which is developing the next generation of energy innovations the world so urgently needs.