Building Skills for Climate Change: Low-Carbon Training for Engineering Professionals Curriculum Team

Jenessa Doherty, Infrastructure Canada

Jenessa is a motivated environmental advocate who holds a Master’s degree in Environmental Studies, Graduate degrees in both Environmental Sustainability Education and Business and Sustainability, and a Bachelor of Education in Science and the Environment. Her research background coupled with her experience working with municipalities and utilities across Canada has given her strong knowledge of policy and practice in the water and energy sectors and has complemented her work managing and supporting diverse climate change adaptation and mitigation projects .

Dan Dicarie, Ottawa Community Housing

Dan Dicaire is a Professional Engineer, Certified Energy Manager, and WELL Building Accredited Professional, working on high-performance buildings and renewable energy implementation. Dan’s areas of expertise include large-scale utility management, GHG mitigation strategies, and ESG-focused capital planning. His projects include deep-energy retrofits, Passive House standard construction, net-zero building design, and large-scale GHG reduction, resulting in $59M of cumulative energy savings. Dan’s experience allows him to create science-based business cases and champion the implementation of leading-edge climate projects.

Ryan Zizzo, Mantle Developments

Ryan Zizzo is Founder & CEO at Mantle Developments, a consultancy focused on climate-smart infrastructure and buildings, based in Toronto. Mantle helps projects go beyond energy efficiency, incorporating resilience, embodied carbon emissions, and life cycle approaches to make projects future-proof and net-zero carbon ready. He has led several major projects on embodied carbon and life cycle assessment including with the Government of Canada, several provincial Ministries, and the City of Toronto working to reduce their carbon impact and develop new policy. Ryan has been the embodied carbon expert on the Canada Green Building Council’s Zero Carbon Steering Committee for four years.

Michael Latimer, York Region

Michael is a certified Senior Principal in Asset Management and Certified Asset Management Professional. He currently serves as a corporate asset management policy, research, and initiatives advisor in the regional municipality of York. Michael has experience in Policy and strategy development; Asset management system development and performance monitoring; Risk management; Process development; Financial analysis; Global research, innovation and trend awareness; Systems thinking and awareness building; Advisory and education; Legislation integration; Asset management plan development; and Strategic plan integration and support.

David Lapp, Climate Risk Institute

David Lapp is a professional engineer who retired from Engineers Canada in May 2020 after 23 years of service. His work focuses on assessing and addressing the impacts, risks and vulnerabilities of extreme weather and changing climate on civil infrastructure and buildings in Canada and internationally. The work supports evidence-based climate policy, regulation, codes and standards, engineering practice and climate science needs.

Marianne Touchie, University of Toronto

Marianne Touchie is an Associate Professor jointly appointed in the Departments of Civil & Mineral Engineering, and Mechanical & Industrial Engineering at the University of Toronto and Director of the Building Energy and Indoor Environment Lab. Dr. Touchie’s research team focuses on improving the energy performance and indoor environmental quality of existing buildings to make them more comfortable, healthy and sustainable through comprehensive retrofits. This work includes field monitoring of building energy performance and indoor environmental parameters as well as occupant behaviours and perceptions through surveys.

Devin Causley, Infrastructure Canada

Devin is a passionate leader and collaborative advocate for livable communities through capacity development focused on climate change and inclusion. Blending two decades with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities with a Master in Local Economic Development and a Bachelor of Planning from Waterloo he empower communities with applied avenues to engage in climate change and accessibility alongside contributions to policy and advocacy. His combination of training in planning, lived experience and global travel led him to champion designing visually accessible cities, improving accessibility through urban design and services that result in more welcoming, inclusive urban spaces for everyone.

Yasemin Tanacan-Blacklock, Engineers Canada

Yasemin Tanaçan-Blacklock (she/her) is the Advisor for Equity and Belonging at Engineers Canada, where she works on disbanding systems of marginalization and discrimination in the engineering field. Through her work and volunteerism, she has experience in anti-oppressive education, social justice, political advocacy, feminist international defence and security, and LGBTQIA+ healthcare. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Studies and Gender Studies and a Master’s Degree in Political Studies with a focus on gender, both from Queen’s University.

Eileen Sowunmi, Engineers Canada

Eileen has a Sociology background and works under the Belonging and Engagement department of Engineers Canada, in the role Associate, Outreach and Belonging. In this position, she engages with some of Engineer’s Canada’s stakeholder groups, and works closely with her team on equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) initiatives. Eileen is a member of the Canadian Sociological Association, where she engaged in some editorial work under the Canadian Review of Sociology. Passionate about social theory and the protection of the interests of all marginalized people, Eileen strives to engage in important work toward this goal.

Brook Tessema, Climate Risk Institute

As an Adaptation Research Assistant with the Climate Risk Institute, Brook works with a wide range of stakeholder groups to build climate resilience and capacity. Brook is highly knowledgeable of climate change impacts on the local and global level with experience researching and reporting on climate adaptation initiatives across Canada. Brook supports the facilitation of knowledge exchange to communities and practitioners across a wide range of sectors through webinars, workshops, and training programs.

Jazmin Vargas Najera, Climate Risk Institute

As an Adaptation and Resiliency Analyst at the Climate Risk Institute, Jazmin has experience supporting project leads in climate adaptation initiatives across Canada and abroad. She also plays a large role in facilitating the dissemination of knowledge through practitioners’ networks across various sectors. Additionally, Jazmin possesses expertise in conducting literature reviews, creating compelling case studies, and developing informative materials that showcase climate adaptation strategies.  

Megan Gereghty, Climate Risk Institute

Megan Gereghty is a Climate Change Adaptation Planner with the Climate Risk Institute. As a Registered Professional Planner, Megan is passionate about climate change adaptation and resilient community development. She has experience and expertise in development, land use and policy planning projects. Her work focuses on the advancement of climate change adaptation training for planners. She holds a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree in Environmental Studies from the University of Waterloo as well as a Graduate Diploma in Climate Risk Management from the University of Waterloo.