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!
Jiaqi Tang
Jiaqi Tang is a Research Assistant at the Future Cities Institute, working on Ontario’s Financial Information Return dataset to provide user-friendly data visualizations for Municipalities. As a Data Science major from the Faculty of Mathematics, she has a strong foundation in data analytics, computer science, and problem-solving, with past co-op experiences in data visualization and web development. She is eager to apply these skills to real-life changes in developing better communities, and is extremely excited to work on the interdisciplinary team at Future Cities Institute.
Frank Le
Frank Le is the Communications Assistant at the Future Cities Institute, where he contributes to sharing the organization’s voice across multiple platforms. He supports communications initiatives that strengthen the FCI’s brand presence, build meaningful audience relationships, and amplify the institute’s community impact. With a background in Global Business and Digital Arts, Frank brings a foundation in design, an interdisciplinary mindset, and a human-centric perspective to his work. He is excited to grow with FCI and to bring fresh ideas, energy, and creativity to the team.
Taran Mangar
Taranjit Mangar is a Research Assistant at the Future Cities Institute, where she is contributing to housing innovation and urban technology initiatives. She is supporting the Build Now Waterloo Region project, a partnership focused on delivering 10,000 affordable “missing middle” homes by 2030, and Smartshift, a collaboration with the City of Edmonton, developing an AI-driven scheduling tool to improve efficiency and compliance in municipal staffing. Taranjit is an Honours Planning student at the University of Waterloo, specializing in land development with a minor in urban economics and finance. She brings practical experience from co-op placements in both municipal government and private planning firms.
Chavi Karunagoda
Chavi Karunagoda is a second-year Public Health student at the University of Waterloo, currently working as a Partnerships Assistant with the Future Cities Institute. In this role, she supports new partnership and research opportunities, contributes to grant proposals, and helps grow the institute’s network of collaborators. She has a strong interest in public transit and sustainable transportation and hopes to continue building experience in this area. Previously, Chavi worked as a Project Coordinator with the Region of Waterloo, where she supported the development of an anti-hate campaign. This role gave her valuable experience working with municipalities, while also strengthening her skills in project coordination, collaboration, and research.
Paige Stone
Paige Stone is a research assistant and coder at the Future Cities Institute working to expand the FCI’s growth management tool. As a biostatistics student minoring in applied mathematics, Paige’s interdisciplinary expertise will be crucial as she investigates the environmental impact of new housing developments with a focus on lifetime carbon emissions. Her previous work experience includes software product development, academic research, and mathematics education. Paige is thrilled to be collaborating with the FCI team and its partners to shape the cities of tomorrow.
Sarah Cloughley
Sarah Cloughley is a Research Assistant and Coder at the Future Cities Institute, where she is developing a tool to help municipal planners visualize trade-offs and impacts in growth management and land-use decisions. She is pursuing a degree in Computer Science alongside a Diploma of Excellence in Geographical Information Systems, combining strong programming and spatial analysis skills. With prior co-op experience in web development and software engineering, Sarah is eager to apply her skills to interdisciplinary challenges and contribute to building more sustainable, resilient cities.
Kaarthick Rameshkumar
Kaarthick Rameshkumar is working as a Research Assistant and Coder at the Future Cities Institute, where his role is to help improve the growth management model. He is currently studying Statistics with a minor in Pure Math, and has work experience in software development, data science, and research. He hopes to apply his technical knowledge to help municipalities plan for their future.