Brock University and Niagara College Students Provided Educational Opportunities with Welland Biodiesel Company

(Great Lakes Biodiesel/BusinessWire) World Class Niagara-based Educational Institutions Provide Companies Like Great Lakes Biodiesel with Access to Top Notch R&D Facilities and Highly Trained Job Ready Graduates

Great Lakes Biodiesel (GLB) in Welland has partnered with Niagara College’s internship program to create opportunities for students looking to gain valuable on the job experience in new and expanding fields like renewable fuels.

The intent of creating the internship program is to establish a mutually beneficial partnership within the community where students are provided the opportunity to share their cutting edge knowledge in the environmental and renewable fuels sector as well as round out their skillset by gaining practical experience.

“We are currently in the third week of a 12 week internship with Niagara College and are happy to report that we are seeing great success,” states Brent Murdoch, GLB General Plant Manager. “The student that we selected for the internship, Allyssa Addis, is working on reviewing GLB’s environmental procedures and will be providing her recommendations to improve where possible any plant procedures.”

Addis is enrolled in the Environmental Management and Assessment Program and has her Environmental Technician – Field and Laboratory diploma from Niagara College. In addition to reviewing environmental procedures, Addis will also be reviewing additional environmental regulations that are in draft stages and working with GLB to proactively determine potential compliance procedures to put in place.

Sandy Herkimer, Internship Coordinator, School of Environmental and Horticultural Studies at Niagara College shares, “Many of our graduates end up getting hired on with their internship employers to continue the projects that they start on, or take on additional roles in the company that they may have identified as being needed. We pride ourselves in having over an 80% average of graduates in the past five years who are employed in a related field within six months of their graduation. “

Murdoch adds, “GLB is proud to offer meaningful opportunities to students that will expose them to real life projects and opportunities that they likely would not have access to through their education alone. It is our hope that through internship, students build invaluable skills and experience making them more employable upon graduation.”

Currently also in discussions with Brock University, GLB is looking to create additional educational and knowledge transfer opportunities with the chemistry program at Brock, which is part of the new Cairns Family Health and Bioscience Research Complex.

A mandate of Brock’s technology transfer office is to connect Niagara and area businesses with Brock researchers who can assist with developing research and design solutions for their organization. The impending partnership with GLB will create knowledge transfer and innovation opportunities for Brock students within the renewable energy sector.

GLB is committed to working with local businesses and educational institutions in Niagara and the surrounding area to continue to create a strong, sustainable community. READ MORE