Rebecca Saari, PhD, PEng (She/Her)

Rebecca Saari is a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Global Change, Atmosphere, and Health, and an Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Waterloo. Her research advances the field of health impact assessment by using coupled human-natural systems (CHANS) models to identify policies – for mitigation and adaptation – that robustly and equitably protect health from air pollution under a changing climate. Her work appears in top journals like Nature Climate Change and the Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences. Dr. Saari has been invited by the World Health Organization, Health Canada, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Energy to set guidelines for climate impacts research. Her findings have been requested by White House staff, quoted by the head of the USEPA in the press (including CBC, NBC, and the New York Times), cited in over 80 policy documents, and used to support major climate legislation in U.S. federal court.

• Health and economic impacts of air pollution, Environmental inequality, Air quality policy analysis, Sustainable infrastructure, co-benefits of climate policy, Health impacts of air pollution under climate, integrated assessment models, Health impact assessment, MultiSector Dynamics, adaptation to air pollution, air quality alerts

The Integrated Climate and Air Impacts Research (ICAIR) group ultimately seeks to ask: How do we equitably protect health from air pollution under global change? ICAIR members develop tools to evaluate climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies’ impacts on health while addressing gaps identified by Health Canada. Its research focuses on the health implications of air pollution and climate variability, evaluating the costs and benefits of solutions like carbon pricing, alerts, and improved building codes. The aim is to reduce health risks, including from heat and wildfires. ICAIR insights help policymakers equitably protect Canadians from air pollution, supporting sustainable policy solutions amid climate change.

• 2015, Doctorate Engineering Systems, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA
• 2007, Master of Applied Science Mechanical and Environmental Engineering, University of Toronto, Canada
• 2005, Bachelor of Applied Science Engineering Science, University of Toronto, Canada

• CIVE 495 - Design Intensive Special Topics in Civil Engineering
  • Taught in 2024
• CIVE 497 - Special Topics in Civil Engineering
  • Taught in 2019
• CIVE 770 - Topics in Environmental Engineering
  • Taught in 2019, 2023, 2024
• ENVE 277 - Air Quality Engineering
  • Taught in 2019, 2022, 2023, 2024
• ENVE 335 - Decision Making for Environmental Engineers
  • Taught in 2019, 2022, 2024
• ENVE 497 - Special Topics in Environmental Engineering
  • Taught in 2023

* Only courses taught in the past 5 years are displayed.

• Achebe J., Saari R., Mukherjee U., Tighe S., and Penlidis A., Informing Sustainable Pavement Maintenance Policy with Environmental Cost, Lecture Notes in Civil Engineering, Volume 127, 583-593, Canada, 2024.
• Liu M., Saari R.K., Zhou G., Li J., Han L., and Liu X., Recent trends in premature mortality and health disparities attributable to ambient PM2.5 exposure in China: 2005–2, Environmental Pollution, Volume 127, China, 2021.
• Achebe J., Oyediji O., Saari R.K., Tighe S., and Nasir F., Incorporating flood hazards into pavement sustainability assessment, Transportation Research Record, Volume 127, 1025-1042, Canada, 2021.
• Sanchez B., Rausch C., Haas C., and Saari R., A selective disassembly multi-objective optimization approach for adaptive reuse of building components, Resources, Conservation and Recycling, Volume 127, Mexico, 2020.
• Mukherjee U., Saari R.K., Bachmann C., and Wang W., Multipollutant impacts to U.S. receptors of regional on-road freight in Ontario, Canada, Journal of the Air and Waste Management Association, Volume 70, 1121-1135, Canada, 2020.
• Wang W., Saari R.K., Bachmann C., and Mukherjee U., Estimating transboundary economic damages from climate change and air pollution for subnational incentives for green on-road fre, Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment, Volume 82, Canada, 2020.
• Liu M., Saari R.K., Zhou G., Liu X., and Li J., Size-differentiated patterns of exposure to submicron particulate matter across regions and seasons in China, Atmospheric Environment, Volume 127, Canada, 2020.
• Hess J.J., Ranadive N., Boyer C., Aleksandrowicz L., Anenberg S.C., Aunan K., Belesova K., Bell M.L., Bickersteth S., Bowen K., Burden M., Campbell-Lendrum D., Carlton E., Cisse G., Cohen F., Dai H., Dangour A.D., Dasgupta P., Frumkin H., Gong P., Gould R.J., Haines A., Hales S., Hamilton I., Hasegawa T., Hashizume M., Honda Y., Horton D.E., Karambelas A., Kim H., Kim S.E., Kinney P.L., Kone I., Knowlton K., Lelieveld J., Limaye V.S., Liu Q., Madaniyazi L., Martinez M.E., Mauzerall D.L., Milner J., Neville T., Nieuwenhuijsen M., Pachauri S., Perera F., Pineo H., Remais J.V., Saari R.K., Sampedro J., Scheelbeek P., Schwartz J., Shindell D., Shyamsundar P., Taylor T.J., Tonne C., Van Vuuren D., Wang C., Watts N., West J.J., Wilkinson P., Wood S.A., Woodcock J., Woodward A., Xie Y., Zhang Y., and Ebi K.L., Guidelines for modeling and reporting health effects of climate change mitigation actions, Environmental Health Perspectives, Volume 127, 1-10, United States, 2020.
• Sanchez B., Rausch C., Haas C., and Saari R., Multi-objective optimization analysis for selective disassembly planning of buildings, Proceedings of the 36th International Symposium on Automation and Robotics in Construction, ISARC 2019, 128-135, Canada, 2019.
• Torres-Machi C., Nasir F., Achebe J., Saari R., and Tighe S.L., Sustainability Evaluation of Pavement Technologies through Multicriteria Decision Techniques, Journal of Infrastructure Systems, Volume 25, United States, 2019.
• Liu M., Zhou G., Saari R.K., Li S., Liu X., and Li J., Quantifying PM2.5 mass concentration and particle radius using satellite data and an optical-mass conversion algorith, ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, Volume 127, 90-98, Canada, 2019.
• Saari R.K., Mei Y., Monier E., and Garcia-Menendez F., Effect of Health-Related Uncertainty and Natural Variability on Health Impacts and Cobenefits of Climate Policy, Environmental Science and Technology, Volume 53, 1098-1108, Canada, 2019.
• Pienkosz B.D., Saari R.K., Monier E., and Garcia-Menendez F., Natural Variability in Projections of Climate Change Impacts on Fine Particulate Matter Pollution, Earth's Future, Volume 7, 762-770, United States, 2019.
• Liu M., Zhou G., Saari R.K., and Li J., Long-term trend of ground-level PM2.5 concentrations over 2012-2017 in China, International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS), Volume 127, 7842-7845, Canada, 2019.
• Yeung J., Walbridge S., Haas C., and Saari R., Understanding the total life cycle cost implications of reusing structural steel, Environment Systems and Decisions, Volume 37, 101-120, Canada, 2017.
• Chang K.M., Hess J.J., Balbus J.M., Buonocore J.J., Cleveland D.A., Grabow M.L., Neff R., Saari R.K., Tessum C.W., Wilkinson P., Woodward A., and Ebi K.L., Ancillary health effects of climate mitigation scenarios as drivers of policy uptake: A review of air quality, transportation an, Environmental Research Letters, Volume 12, United States, 2017.
• Saari R.K., Thompson T.M., and Selin N.E., Human Health and Economic Impacts of Ozone Reductions by Income Group, Environmental Science and Technology, Volume 51, 1953-1961, United States, 2017.
• Menendez F.G., Saari R., and Monier E., Assessing key uncertainties in projections of Climate change impacts on air quality, Proceedings of the Air and Waste Management Association's Annual Conference and Exhibition, AWMA, United States, 2017.
• Thompson T.M., Rausch S., Saari R.K., and Selin N.E., Air quality co-benefits of subnational carbon policies, Journal of the Air and Waste Management Association, Volume 66, 988-1002, United States, 2016.
• Garcia-Menendez F., Saari R.K., Monier E., and Selin N.E., U.S. Air Quality and Health Benefits from Avoided Climate Change under Greenhouse Gas Mitigation, Environmental Science and Technology, Volume 49, 7580-7855, United States, 2015.
• Saari R.K., and Selin N.E., Air quality under state-level limits or regional trading to regulate CO2 from existing power plants, Proceedings of the Air and Waste Management Association's Annual Conference and Exhibition, AWMA, Volume 2, 860-865, United States, 2015.
• Saari R.K., Selin N.E., Rausch S., and Thompson T.M., A self-consistent method to assess air quality co-benefits from U.S. climate policies, Journal of the Air and Waste Management Association, Volume 65, 74-89, United States, 2015.

• Interdisciplinary research calls for action on worsening air quality inequalities
• Researcher examines effects of Canadian wildfires