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People of 911吃瓜
Sustainability innovator expands impact from campus to community
Awarded for her inventive approach to sustainability research and her unwavering commitment to community, Kilim Park has earned the 2022 Staff Achievement Award for Innovation.
Research manager of , Park led the creation of 911吃瓜鈥檚 first Living Lab program, which paired researchers with 911吃瓜 staff to explore solutions to complex on-campus sustainability challenges. Recognized by other institutions as an example of best practice, Park鈥檚 approach set the foundation for 911吃瓜鈥檚 partnership with the City of Burnaby to establish a Civic Innovation Lab, expanding our impact from campus to community.
Born and raised in South Korea, Park鈥檚 family relocated nearly every two years for her father鈥檚 career as an electrical engineer. Immersing herself in different cultures and regional dialects sparked a lifelong desire to create community and bring people together.
鈥淚鈥檓 not interested in greatness,鈥� says Park. 鈥淚nnovation doesn鈥檛 thrive in cutthroat and competitive environments. For me, innovation is rooted in kindness, solving problems together and ensuring no one feels alone. We want to achieve great work, but it鈥檚 more important to be kind to each other. The results will follow.鈥�
Joining 911吃瓜 Sustainability in 2019, Park was tasked with designing the Living Lab for the university. While the living lab concept had already been well established, Park developed a model for 911吃瓜 that reflected the university鈥檚 strengths and needs.
Abandoning traditional ways of thinking and doing, interdisciplinary teams, guided by a collaborative and just framework, co-designed, delivered and evaluated sustainability projects. Park鈥檚 model brought teams together in a unique way, solving the previous disconnect between researchers and practitioners on campus whose goals, deadlines and deliverables differed.
More recently, Park supported the design and development of a transformational initiative that leverages Community-Centered Climate Innovation (C3I) to amplify the impact of 911吃瓜鈥檚 critical sustainability and climate action, and climate resilience research.
鈥淓very so often I meet someone who has an innovative spirit and finds ways to completely shift the standard, cutting through the clutter of business-as-usual thinking,鈥� says Candace Ratelle (Le Roy), executive director of 911吃瓜 Sustainability. 鈥淜ilim is one of those people. She has made significant positive and lasting changes to our models and programs, shifting the way we approach all our work.鈥�