Profiles

Sharmalene Mendis-Millard (she/her) is a mixed-methods geographer who is passionate about non-profits and harnessing the resources of academia for community benefit. She worked for several interdisciplinary research centres that aim to advance community well-being and social justice through community partnerships, program evaluations, and learning opportunities, and helped develop the pilot RAIN program to engage communities in stormwater management at Reep Green Solutions  Sharmalene now focuses on multi-hazard resilient retrofits, and equity in climate risk reduction and adaptation. 

sharmalene.mendis-millard@uwaterloo.ca
Office: evolv1
Sharmalene's profile and LinkedIn

Jason is an Associate Professor in the School of Environment, Enterprise and Development (SEED) at the University of Waterloo, Associate Director, Graduate Studies in the Faculty of Environment, and Associate Director for Partners for Action (P4A). His research focuses on innovative strategies designed to reduce the economic impacts of extreme weather and climate change. 

j2thistlethwaite@uwaterloo.ca
519-888-4567, ext. 39102
Office: Environment 3 (EV3) 4267
Jason's profile and LinkedIn

Felicia is a Master of Environmental Studies student at the University of Waterloo, Department of Geography and Environmental Management. Building on her previous studies in International Relations, Felicia’s thesis research focuses on climate resilience, post-disaster recovery, and flood adaptation policies.

felicia.watterodt@uwaterloo.ca
Felicia's profile and LinkedIn

Brent is an Associate Professor in the Department of Geography and Environmental Management (GEM) at the University of Waterloo. His research focuses on disaster recovery, disaster risk reduction, and climate change adaptation, with a special concentration on managed retreat (aka ‘planned relocation’). Brent is the PI on a P4A-supported NFRF-I project entitled “Retreating From Risk: Decision Supports For The Equitable Implementation of Retreat to Build Climate Resilience” which will run from 2024 until 2028.

bdoberst@uwaterloo.ca 
519-888-4567, ext. 43384
Office: Environment 1 (EV1) 220
Brent's profile and LinkedIn

Shaieree is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Geography and Environmental Management at the University of Waterloo and the coordinator for the Canadian Coastal Resilience Forum. Shaieree's research is on climate change adaptation and Canadian policies related to disaster recovery, managed retreat and resilience building against hazards.

scottar@uwaterloo.ca
Shaieree's profile and LinkedIn

Rodrigo Costa is an assistant professor at the Department of Systems Design Engineering at the University of Waterloo. Costa's research investigates how communities' physical, economic, and social systems interact to create disaster risk and exacerbate socioeconomic and racial inequalities. Costa works in the interface between engineering, planning, and social sciences. Costa is a co-PI in the HUD-funded Center of Excellence in Climate Resilient and Equitable Housing. With P4A, Costa is a co-PI in the NFRF-I funded Retreat from Risk project investigating the viability of managed retreat as a disaster risk reduction alternative.

rodrigo.costa@uwaterloo.ca
519-888-4567 x 41533
Office: E7 6412

Kasra Motlaghzadeh is a Ph.D. student in System Design Engineering at the University of Waterloo. His research explores complexities around socio-environmental systems, climate change mitigation, and adaptation. 

kmotlaghzadeh@uwaterloo.ca
Kasra's profile and LinkedIn

Sumana completed a Masters in Climate Change in Geography and Environmental Management at the University of Waterloo. With an interdisciplinary background in civil engineering and transport planning, she is helping to develop a database of climate change adaptation measures for retrofits applicable to Canadian residential buildings as a research assistant with Partners for Action.  With an interdisciplinary background in civil engineering, transport planning and climate change, Sumana specialises in cost-benefit analysis of highway projects and has been involved in several such projects in Africa, India and UK funded by leading multilateral donor agencies. Sumana’s goal is to create connected communities with transportation systems that are both economic and environmentally sustainable.

s6mitra@uwaterloo.ca

Liton Chakraborty is a post-doctoral Research Associate at the University of Waterloo. He is a senior policy analyst in the Emergency Management and Programs Branch of Public Safety Canada.  As a lead researcher on socioeconomic vulnerability analysis and flood risk assessments at the Partners for Action (P4A) ’s program, Liton contributed to several research initiatives, such as community-engaged inclusive resilience, flood vulnerability mapping, and developing innovative methodologies on climate change risk assessment emphasizing an equity-centred approach.

liton.chakraborty@uwaterloo.ca
Liton's profile and LinkedIn

Sina Jahangir is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Waterloo, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, working under the supervision of John Quilty. He is using his expertise in mathematical modeling, hydrology, and computer science to tackle pragmatic, and large-scale problems such as smart and effective flood planning. 

msjahangir@uwaterloo.ca
Sina's profile and LinkedIn

Tyler is a Ph.D. Candidate in Civil and Environmental Engineering and part of the Structural Timber and Applied Research Team led by Dr. Daniel Lacroix. He led two winning structural design competition submissions, including the top prize in the student category of “Build the (Im)possible,” an international competition to increase the visibility of mass timber innovation. His research focuses on the advancement of the wood construction as a sustainable alternative to concrete and steel.

tyler.hull@uwaterloo.ca 
Tyler's profile and LinkedIn

Benedictus Haryanto is a Masters in Climate Change candidate in the Department of Geography and Environmental Management. He completed a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Sciences at the University of Guelph, in which he majored in Environmental Economics and Policy. He has internship experience as a policy Analyst for Environment Canada, a researcher for the Ontario Energy Board, and a sustainability analyst in the real estate industry. Benedictus holds a special interest in climate governance and adaptation policy.

bhharyanto@uwaterloo.ca 

Herry Chen, currently pursuing a Master's degree in Applied Science within the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department. Graduating from the inaugural Architectural Engineering undergraduate program at the University of Waterloo, Herry is dedicated to advancing wood's role in sustainable construction, particularly through utilizing mass timber in building and infrastructure projects. In addition to his academic pursuits, Herry has led winning teams in two structural design competitions aimed at fostering a new wave of environmentally conscious design. 

herry.chen@uwaterloo.ca

Elena Christy (she/her) supports Partners for Action's stakeholder engagement, communications, and knowledge mobilization. With a background in community and international development, community-based research, and design, Elena is particularly interested in how transdisciplinary engagement can lead to the innovative solutions needed to address some of the world’s most pressing issues and bring about social change. 

echristy@uwaterloo.ca
Office: evolv1
Elena's profile and LinkedIn

Rachel Krueger holds a University of Waterloo Master of Environmental Studies in Sustainability Management (Water, 2022) whose research focused on flood risk communications and who worked on P4A’s Inclusive Resilience project funded by Public Safety Canada via the Canadian Red Cross. Rachel has reviewed recent disaster studies literature and was a City of Mississauga stormwater drainage intern.

r3krueger@uwaterloo.ca
Rachel's profile and LinkedIn

Monika is an incoming Ph.D. student in Civil Engineering at the University of Victoria. She is curious about machine learning and how it can be applied to generate data-driven recommendations for energy policy. Her past interdisciplinary research during her Master’s in Sustainability Management from the University of Waterloo looked at analyzing net-zero energy performance of a case study office building. Her undergraduate degree in Chemical Engineering inspires her systems thinking as she expands her perspective to create creative and sustainable energy solutions! 

monika.mikhail@uwaterloo.ca
Monika's profile and LinkedIn

Devon is a Master of Environmental Studies student whose research focuses on nature-based solutions in coastal areas, with City of Surrey as a case study. She is a Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions (PICS) Scholar working on the Living With Water Project, and recently published a paper titled, “Encouraging co-benefits in climate-affected hazard adaptation: Developing and testing a scorecard for project design and evaluation.”

devon.jones@uwaterloo.ca
Devon's profile and LinkedIn

Kalindi Shah (she/her) graduated with a Masters of Climate Change (MCC) from the Department of Geography and Environmental Management at the University of Waterloo in the Fall 2022. She supports the Director, Manager of Research Partnerships and Stakeholder Engagement Coordinator in creating research project documentation, conducting targeted literature reviews and in all other logistical components of research.

kn3shah@uwaterloo.ca
Kalindi's profile and LinkedIn

Cameron recently completed her Master of Environmental Studies in Sustainability Management where her thesis explores the effectiveness of sustainability standards as governance mechanisms. Her background includes environmental governance, corporate sustainability, and implementing sustainability standards. Cameron supports Partners for Action by conducting literature reviews, organizing information, and producing communication pieces. 

cmmcgladebouchard@uwaterloo.ca
Cameron's profile and LinkedIn

p4a.info@uwaterloo.ca
Location: evolv1