b'BUILDING SCIENCE EDUCATIONDR. PHALGUNI MUKHOPADHYAYAAT THE UNIVERSITY OF VICTORIA.BUILDING A BETTER EDUCATIONUVic and UNBC reflect on their budding building science programsBy Kelly ParkerD ue to its notoriously wetThe civil engineering program at UVic isAfter UVic made the decision to launch a civil climate, British Columbia is arelatively new, explains Associate Professor,engineering program, it conducted a survey hotspot for environmentally- Dr. Phalguni Mukhopadhyaya. The buildingthat canvassed industry and government influenced building envelopescience undergraduate course was offered forstakeholders, leading to a decision to focus issues and failures, and bythe first time about five years ago, and in 2018,primarily on building science. Dr. Mukho-the same token, it is exactlyDr. Mukhopadhyaya started a graduate coursepadhyayas background spans more than 20 the right place for advanced building sciencecalled Advanced Building Science. We also haveyears, the majority of which was spent working university programs. Two B.C. universitiesa course called Green Building Design that is afor the National Research Council of Canada, have taken up the challenge in this area,fourth-year elective course, he explains, and itbeginning with its work on B.C.s infamous with the University of Victoria (UVic) offeringhas some building science embedded within it,leaky condominium problem. I was aware building science courses within its civil engi- as well as a building science research program.of how important building sciences were, not neering program, and back on the mainlandWe work on building envelope materials, energyonly here in British Columbia and in the rest in the B.C. Interior, the University of Northernefficiency in building enclosures, next-genera- of Canada because of the differing and often British Columbia (UNBC) in Prince Georgetion thermal insulation materials, eco-friendlyharsh climates, says Dr. Mukhopadhyaya, but offers a Master of Engineering program inbuilding materials, innovative building envelopeparticularly on the west coast because of the Integrated Wood Design. solutions and other aspects of design. moisture load with all of the rain.18 BCBEC ELEMENTSA BCBEC PUBLICATION'