The University of Waterloo’s Suzanne Kearns is a global leader in sustainable aviation, but her flight path wasn’t without turbulence.

Suzanne Kearns grew up in Wiarton, Ont., where she would lie in the grass and watch airplanes from the local airport take flight overhead. Her dreams of flying led to a fixed-wing licence at 16 and helicopter licence a year later. At 24, she was a full-time university lecturer on aviation. Today, as the founder of the Waterloo Institute for Sustainable Aeronautics, she is helping curb the environmental impacts of flight and inspiring the next generation of aviation professionals in the process.

Want to know more?

• Suzanne Kearns biography  from the University of Waterloo.
• More about the history, mission and vision  of the Waterloo Institute of Sustainable Aeronautics (WISA), its research studies  and its flight simulator lab.  
• Pipistrel Aircraft  , a light aircraft manufacturer aiming to provide sustainable and environmentally-friendly solutions to the aircraft industry.
• Read about University of Waterloo alum Jeremy Wang and his company Ribbit, an innovator in pilotless planes.