Background and PII History
Our communities rely on pipelines every day. The water we drink, the civil infrastructure in our lives, and the energy we consume all rely on safe, reliable pipelines to keep our communities healthy and thriving. All of these pipelines involve ongoing monitoring and supervision, as well as upgrades over the coming decades. At the same time, many of Canada’s skilled pipeline engineers are nearing retirement. It is essential that a new cohort of qualified engineers take their place, armed with the education and the applied research to work towards zero-incident pipelines that serve the needs of communities and the environment.
In 2014, in response to these needs, the Pipeline Integrity Institute was started by Professor Dharma Wijewickreme of UBC Civil Engineering and Professor Akram Alfantazi of UBC Materials Engineering, with direct and indirect support of provincial government, industry and federal government partners, to help address pipeline safety and integrity in Canada and beyond.
Goals
The goals of the institute are to:
- Educate qualified engineers for the pipeline sector through undergraduate and graduate courses at UBC and targeted short courses for partners.
- Contribute applied research and innovative technology solutions towards a zero pipeline-incident rate.
- Provide objective third-party analysis of new approaches and disseminate factual technical information to inform best practices in construction and policy / regulatory development.