2024 William Muir Edwards Citizenship Award — Connor Povoledo

Connor Povoledo is one of the 2024 recipients of the William Muir Edwards award.

Engineer and entrepreneur — two words that describe fifth year biomedical engineering student Connor Povoledo. Somewhere in between those two designations, however, is the story of a community-builder and sustainability advocate who has used his skills and vision to make the world a better place.

For the last five years, Connor’s innovative mind has been focused on two initiatives — the first one, Level 7 Plastics, is an in-house recycling facility at the University of Alberta which diverts difficult-to-sort plastic from landfills. 

“In Canada, only nine per cent of plastic waste is recycled, the remaining plastics are incinerated or landfilled,” explains Connor. “I had the opportunity to tour the Edmonton

Waste Management Centre in 2019 and was stunned by the amount of waste; thousands of tonnes of completely recyclable material was being landfilled because it had no market. To me, each individual item represented an instant of good-will felt by an Edmontonian.”

Shortly after the tour, Connor founded Level 7, putting in thousands of hours of his free time recruiting members, designing machines, and personally welding all of the metal and tightening every bolt. He also wrote dozens of grant applications (raising over $300,000).

Today, Level 7 is fully operational. Connor and his team recycle 250,000 plastic bottles

per year, transforming them into useful products, including furniture, building materials and

outdoor sporting equipment.

“I believe the community I fostered at the U of A is the first step in tackling the global plastic waste crisis — one small-scale recycling plant at a time."

The second initiative is Wound³ , an AI-driven, mobile-friendly software that captures high-fidelity, accurate information of a wound, automatically uploading the results to the patient's electronic medical record (EMR).

These two initiatives are clear examples of Connor’s ability to see challenges as opportunities. 

“Connor as the most brilliant problem-solving student that I have met and he uses his

unique ability to solve problems that are consequential to mankind,” says one of his co-op supervisors, adding that Wound³ is not only far superior to that of any of the major wound care applications, it also has the potential to revolutionize wound treatment worldwide.

As the company’s CEO and leader, Connor continues to forfeit his salary, directing it instead toward hiring more developers and improving the product to benefit as many future users as possible.

“My life — no exaggeration — is completely dedicated to my vision of building an organization that helps people.” 

To date, he says, Wound³ has raised $1,300,000 (notably, achieving funding through the Alberta Innovates AICE program ), surpassed Health Canada Class I Medical Device approval, and is presently executing human trials.

In 2022, his innovative work was recognized internationally with the Wound Healing Society Innovation Prize, and in Alberta with the 2023 Student Changemaker of the Year from ASTech (in recognition of both Wound³ and Level 7).

“Connor’s passion for community stewardship and his exceptional ability to perform innovative work results in providing more direct benefit to his local and global community than any other student you will ever meet,” says Jacob Damant, a fellow biomedical engineering student and co-founder of Level 7 Plastics (and a 2022 recipient of the William Muir Edwards Citizenship Award). “His focus is always directed towards community stewardship, and he believes work is only productive if it is aimed toward solving meaningful problems.”.

Connor says he is a good citizen and community member because, quite simply, he acts like one. “I will not hesitate to endure discomfort if it means I can help someone."

Named in honour of the Faculty of Engineering’s founding professor, the William Muir Edwards Citizenship Award recognizes Engineering at Alberta undergraduate students who have made exceptional contributions to society. It’s a celebration of citizenship and of engineering students who go to extraordinary lengths to make our world a better place. Special thanks to the David Morris Family Foundation for supporting our students and making the William Muir Edwards Citizenship Awards possible. 

Do you know an undergraduate student whose volunteerism, contributions, and efforts, both on-campus and off-campus, work to make the world a better place? Learn more about the nomination process »