[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/Shearer_Howard.jpg” caption=”Howard Shearer, president and chief executive officer of Hitachi Canada Ltd.”]Concerns over climate change, increasing demand for clean energy and our dependency on overseas supplies of fossil fuels have placed nuclear energy back on the policy agenda and generated talk of a nuclear “renaissance.”

Howard Shearer, president and chief executive officer of Hitachi Canada Ltd., will discuss the current state of nuclear power as this year's J.W. Hodgins Memorial Lecturer on Wednesday, March 12 at 7 p.m. in the Information Technology Building, Room 137. The presentation is open to the public and free of charge. Refreshments will be served following the presentation.

In addition to his current role at Hitachi Canada, Shearer sits on the Board of Directors of GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy of Canada Inc. and the Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO). He is a member of the Energy Council of Canada, Canadian Nuclear Society, Mississauga Board of Trade and the Mississauga International Investment Development Board.

During his presentation, Shearer will discuss how nuclear energy has been placed back on the policy agenda of many countries, with projections for new power reactors to be built around the world. This is in response to increased public awareness of the effects of global warming and climate change, and a growing understanding that the use of fossil fuels must be reduced and replaced by low-emission sources of energy.

Shearer is an alumnus of McMaster University, where he earned a bachelor of engineering degree in electrical engineering. He is also a member of the University's Board of Governors.

Shearer sits on the boards of several non-profit organizations, including The Canadian Nurses Foundation, Responsible Gambling Council of Canada and the Japan Society. He serves on the Special Advisory Committee to the League for Human Rights, B'nai Brith Canada.

The annual J.W. Hodgins Memorial Lecture was established by the Faculty of Engineering in 1983 as a memorial to Hodgins, the first dean of Engineering at McMaster University. The focus of the lecture is on the engineer in society.

The lecture is being organized in conjunction with the Faculty of Engineering's 50th anniversary celebrations.