The manufacturing and construction sectors are essential pillars of Ontario’s economy and workforce. To remain competitive, both sectors benefit from innovative new materials and processes developed by researchers under this theme. Interests range from nuclear materials, industrial design, and manufacturing automation research in the Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, to innovative building materials and structures research in the Department of Civil Engineering, to the design of new polymers and biosensors in the Department of Chemical Engineering.
This research aligns with multiple subthemes of the Queen’s Strategic Research Plan, including one under theme six (“Materials discovery and molecular design”) and two others under theme five (“Alternative energy solutions and energy policy” and “Cleantech”). To support these strategically important research areas, Queen’s has made significant investments across disciplines and Faculties in state-of-the-art facilities, including the Reactor Materials Testing Laboratory (RMTL), NanoFabrication Kingston (NFK), and the "Rolling Load Simulator (ROLLS).