Aster Penney
Aster Penney is the Partnerships Assistant at the Future Cities Institute, working to expand the FCI’s vast network of collaborators, identify funding opportunities, and assist drafting proposals. He brings a diverse range of expertise in research, writing, and data analysis from their educational background in Health Sciences. He has previously worked in research, communications, and advocacy, and volunteers regularly on campus. Aster is excited to expand their knowledge and work alongside the passionate team at the Future Cities Institute!
Ben Kroeker
Ben Kroeker is a Partnerships Assistant at the Future Cities Institute. His work involves supporting and managing grant proposals and reports, highlighting FCI project outcomes and impacts. He maintains partner databases and supports internal documentation and record-keeping. Majoring in Environment, Resources and Sustainability, Ben brings a comprehensive understanding of environmental policy and sustainability, further informed by his completion of a certificate in Renewable Energy Techniques and ongoing studies in Environmental Policy, Politics, and Governance.
Shina Mao
Shina Mao is a Research Assistant and Coder at the Future Cities Institute, where she contributes to the Growth Management Project. Her work focuses on the urban heat component of the tool, including tree canopy growth, land surface temperature, and population vulnerability. With a background in geomatics and spatial data analysis, she is interested in using GIS and data to better understand how development may affect urban environments. She is looking forward to building on these skills through her work at FCI.
Steven Men
Steven Men is a Research Assistant at the Future Cities Institute, where he contributes to the development of the Growth Management Platform, a decision-support tool for data-driven municipal planning. His work focuses on the financial analysis, including Economic Lens development charges, construction cost estimation, affordability analysis, and scenario comparison. As a Financial Analysis and Risk Management student at the University of Waterloo with a minor in Statistics, Yizhou brings experience in finance, data analysis, and software development. He is excited to apply these skills to real-world urban planning challenges and support more informed municipal growth decisions.
Lirong (Evelyn) Wang
Lirong (Evelyn) Wang is a Partnerships Assistant at the Future Cities Institute (FCI) at the University of Waterloo. She is currently researching funding opportunities and helping find the right fit for FCI’s projects. She also helps identify potential partners and supports grant applications. This term, she is looking forward to working with people from different backgrounds and learning more about what goes into building successful research partnerships. She is especially interested in seeing how the work happening at FCI can make a difference in cities and communities.
Jimmy Phan
Jimmy Phan is a Research Assistant at the Future Cities Institute, where he leads the development of a municipality-wide development charges dashboard and specializes in transforming FCI’s proprietary datasets into actionable insights. With a background in Computer Engineering and extensive co-op experience in machine learning and data analytics, Jimmy is excited to leverage an engineering mindset to drive data-informed decision-making and is dedicated to collaborating across interdisciplinary teams to create a measurable impact on communities.
Isabella Da Rosa
Isabella Da Rosa is a Research Assistant at the Future Cities Institute, where she is contributing to the BUILD NOW project in partnership with Habitat for Humanity. As a fourth-year Planning Student specializing in Land Development, Isabella is passionate about creating complete, vibrant, and sustainable communities. She has previous co-op experiences in policy and land use planning, as well as in the non-profit sector. She is excited to apply these skills while expanding her learning and making meaningful impact with the FCI.