2024 Spotlight Speakers

Tiannie Paul, EIT

Master's Student at Dalhousie’s Centre for Water Resources Studies & Operations Engineer at Atlantic First Nations Water Authority  

An engineering graduate advancing research on water safety for First Nations, blending traditional and scientific knowledge. Tiannie is a Master's student at the CWRS and Operations Engineer for the AFNWA. She is a proud member of Eskasoni First Nation and brings her respect and responsibility for water to her research and work. Tiannie's research involves using both Eyes to guide water engineering in communities. Tiannie works with the CWRS to strengthen Indigenous ways of knowing in engineering and water science at Dalhousie University. 

Presentation: Two-Eyed Seeing: Case study on Residential Lead Monitoring in First Nation Communities 

The important concepts of Msit No'kmaq (all my relations), netukulimk (sustainability) and Etuaptmumk (two-eyed seeing) while conducting the first of its kind Community Lead Sampling Program. First Nations communities have a lived experience of unsafe water quality and insufficient water quantity, and this is due to complex issues of colonization. Although this can't fully be tackled in a 20-minute presentation, Tiannie will share how we partner with, and provide services to First Nations communities is vitally important. While provincial regulations and standards are not legally applicable in First Nations, we should be building relationships and strengthening our support of these communities.  

 

Dawne Skinner, P.Eng.  

Co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer of Acuicy

Dawne Skinner, co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer of Acuicy, is an environmental engineer with over 20 years of industry experience and expertise in circular supply chains. She is a passionate climate activist who is excited to be using her expertise to scale access to the business intelligence that companies need to reduce emissions. Dawne is also a PhD candidate in Industrial Engineering at Dalhousie University, focusing her research on circular supply chain data analytics and optimization.  

Presentation: Acuicy - Tackling Net Zero with AI 

As long-time practitioners in the sustainability space, Acuicy co-founders Dawne Skinner, MASc., MBA, P.Eng. (PhD candidate) and Allison Murray, BA., MSc., recognized the need to scale access to the business intelligence that companies need in order to make informed decisions on the best ways to reduce emissions at the lowest cost to their business. Harnessing the power of AI, Acuicy, a Halifax startup, provides businesses with the financial business case for a range of low carbon options tailored to their business. Companies can share their emissions data with their customers, allowing customers with Net Zero targets to track their supply chain emission reductions in real time. In her presentation, Dawne will talk about the Acuicy platform, their company's current traction and the benefits of startup life in Nova Scotia. 

 

Debra McLellan, P.Eng., & Elizabeth Dionne, P.Eng.

Project Manager and Senior Technical Advisor of Energy Storage at Nova Scotia Power, and Senior Electrical Engineer at Nova Scotia Power 

Whether at home or on the job, Debra has a fervor for learning about technology and how to beneficially implement it. This has led to seeking project opportunities during her 25-year career at Nova Scotia Power and Emera including wind energy, solar energy, bidirectional electric vehicle charging, and most recently utility scale batteries. Vacation highlights also involve innovative events like travel in 2023 to see a Formula E race. 

Elizabeth Dionne is a Senior Electrical Engineer at Nova Scotia Power with over 15 years of experience. Her background includes working at the NS Power Energy Control Centre as Transmission Outage Coordinator, which has provided her with in-depth awareness of the challenges and struggles facing the entire electricity network during the energy transition. She has an avid interest in the energy transition away from conventional carbon-based sources and is keen to be involved in solving the technical challenges facing the power system during this transition. Outside of work Elizabeth can often be found outside hiking or biking with her children, husband and dog. 

Presentation: Batteries – Enabling a Clean Energy Transition   

Nova Scotia is amid an historic energy transition, of which new technology and innovative solutions are needed to help reach federal and provincial environmental targets, including reaching 80% renewable and phasing out the use of coal by 2030. While this transition needs to happen fast, it also needs to be done in a way that maintains reliability for customers as our world becomes more electrified and dependant on our grid. Join Debra McLellan and Elizabeth Dionne from Nova Scotia Power as they share details on one of the proposed projects that will help reach this goal. The proposed utility-scale battery project, the first of its kind in the province, offers unique benefits to the grid. They’ll talk about the various uses for the batteries that will help stabilize the grid while we continue our path to 2030.