Our team

Sarah Burch is an expert in transformative responses to climate change at the community scale, innovative strategies for making progress on sustainability, and the unique contributions that small businesses can make to this solving this complex challenge. 

Jose Di Bella is the manager of research and partnerships at the Waterloo Climate Institute. Jose works closely with the Institutes’ researchers, partners and collaborators to advance community engaged research. He also leads the Institute’s research development strategy and knowledge mobilization programs. Jose’s experience includes a significant international focus on the social and economic aspects of climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction, as well as the design and implementation of climate and sustainability strategies.

Monica Emelko's research interests include water treatment, wildfire, water quality, pathogens, climate change, filtration, land disturbance, environmental and water resources, water and land management, nanoparticle removal during drinking water and wastewater treatment, quantitative microbial risk assessment, water protection and smart infrastructure.

Simon Glauser is the managing director of the Waterloo Climate Institute. He oversees the strategic planning and operations, and the development of the organization’s membership and partnerships.

Natalie Heldsinger is the communications officer at the Waterloo Climate Institute. She has a background in Communication Studies and French (BA) and Environmental Studies (MES). Natalie is responsible for creating communications content, disseminating member research, organizing events, and supporting press releases and media requests for the Climate Institute.  

Chenel Lozon is the project coordinator at the Waterloo Climate Institute. She has a background in environmental management and assessment and has completed a Masters of Environment and Business at UWaterloo. She supports the administration and planning of the Climate Institute’s projects and activities.

Juan Moreno-Cruz's research interests include energy systems, technological change, climate policy, solar and carbon geoengineering technologies, and energy transitions.

Francis Poulin's research focuses are geophysical fluid dynamics, stochastic differential equations, biological fluid dynamics, and computational mathematics.

Waleed Qaisar Ashfaq is the Information Systems Specialist for the Polar Data Catalogue, hosted at the University of Waterloo. He supports Polar Data Catalogue systems and software and is the technical lead for the OpenDAP initiative at the Waterloo Climate Institute.

Chantelle Verhey is a data steward for the Canadian Cryospheric Information Network/Polar Data Catalogue (PDC). She has a Masters of Science in Environmental Management from the University of Reading in the UK. As part of her work with the PDC, Chantelle is collaborating with the Canadian Consortium for Arctic Data Interoperability work on progressing polar semantics.

Greg Vey is the Director of Climate and Environment Information Systems for the Waterloo Climate Institute as well as an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography and Environmental Management, at the University of Waterloo. His role involves the strategic planning of data architecture and infrastructure, with particular attention to data interoperability and FAIR data standards. He oversees operations for the Polar Data Catalogue and Canadian Cryospheric Information Network, which involve strong cross-institutional collaborations through initiatives such as the Canadian Consortium for Arctic Data Interoperability.