The spring semester was barely a week old, and Professor Alexander J.B. Zehnder from Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University came to Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech). He was on campus to give the 147th lecture in the SUSTech Lecture Series, where he spoke about “Sustainability, and how to implement it at the university level.” SUSTech Vice President hosted the lecture, which saw the lecture theatre full of eager students and enthusiastic faculty members.
Professor Alexander J.B. Zehnder is a visiting professor and board member of Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University (NTU). He is also the Scientific Director of the Alberta Water Research Institute (Canada), the found and director of triple Z Ltd. and Professor emeritus of ETH Zurich.
Professor Zehnder described some of NTU’s successful sustainable practices, as they work towards their goal of becoming the greenest university in the world. He pointed out that the innovative ideas of students play a critical role in their sustainable development projects, as they gain a greater sense of participation and achievement by starting with changes that are around them.
He referred to NTU research that found that sustainable development helps society in key areas. In his view, successful sustainable development is based mainly on interdisciplinary cooperation, as only some disciplines promote the use of scientific and engineering solutions in their quest for sustainable development, while other disciplines find other methods.
NTU actively encourages the entire university community to be involved in its sustainable education program, in order to create a green campus. NTU has also built platforms and test sites for scientists, engineers, the private sector and government agencies to create sustainable technological solutions that meet market demand and expectations.
Professor Zehnder took many questions from the audience in a free-spirited Q&A session, in which he went into further detail on some of the points he made earlier.
