'Helping the people I grew up with': U of T undergrad returns home with a passion for sustainability

Growing up on Walpole Island First Nation, Connor Isaac experienced a creative impulse from an early age – a trait that ultimately led him to the University of Toronto where he's exploring sustainability solutions. 

“I would take apart electronics, I would play with Legos, play puzzle games, different things like that – it kind of fostered this creative mindset,” he says of his childhood.  

“My teacher recommended that I look into engineering, and I thought, ‘You know what? That’s not a bad idea.’” 

Now a third-year mechanical engineering student in U of T’s Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, Isaac says he is preparing to give back to the community where he got his start. 

He is embarking on a 12-month role working alongside Chief and Council on Walpole Island First Nation as part of the Professional Experience Year Co-op Program (PEY Co-op). As U of T Engineering’s flagship work-experience program, the co-op allows students to graduate with up to 20 months of meaningful work experience while earning a competitive salary and gaining professional skills in industry.  

“I started working with Chief and Council last summer, sitting in their meetings and just kind of assessing projects on the island. I told them that I would be completing a PEY Co-op work term, and they said it would be great if I could come back,” Isaac says. 

“This time my work is going to be more focused on Walpole Island First Nation’s renewable energy future. Since it’s a whole year, I’m hoping that it gives me a good idea of what it’s like working in industry.”  

Isaac, who is Chippewa (Ojibwe) and Potawatom, and was raised between Walpole Island First Nation and the nearby town of Wallaceburg, Ont., says one of his biggest motivators for returning to Walpole Island is the chance to bring awareness of new, sustainable technologies to the community. 

“I’m looking forward to helping the people living on Walpole Island First Nation understand what technology we’re using, because there’s a big disconnect,” he says. “I want to help inform the community about the various things that the Council is doing that will help them.”  

Isaac’s commitment to sustainability goes beyond his PEY Co-op. He’s also involved in undergraduate research with David Sinton, a professor of mechanical and industrial engineering, and his team. 

“I have been working with Professor Sinton on CO2 to ethanol research, which is a carbon capture clean technology where we capture CO2 from the air to be run through an electrolyzer. This will allow us to generate ethanol and other useful carbon-based products,” Isaac says.  

He is also working alongside Tracy Galloway, an associate professor of anthropology at U of T Mississauga, as a research assistant on the CANSTOREnergy project, a U of T-led collaboration that includes researchers from 11 Canadian universities. The team is developing clean energy technologies tailored to the needs of communities in the Yukon. 

“Professor Sinton told me about the CANSTOREnergy project, and I mentioned that I have worked with my reserve during the summer, communicating similar ideas to the Chief and Council, but not so much to the community,” he says. 

In the past, researchers have come into Indigenous communities to conduct studies without consulting the people affected, adds Isaac.

“We’re trying to avoid that.”

Upon graduation, Isaac hopes to pursue graduate studies.

“I am heavily considering a master’s degree, but I’m not too sure in which area. I don’t want to plan too far ahead because sometimes life gets in the way,” he says. 

“My focus right now is helping the people that I grew up with and giving back to the community that raised me.”