Rebecca Saari

Assistant Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering

Dr. Rebecca Saari has interdisciplinary training and professional experience in sustainable engineering. Prior to joining the University of Waterloo, she worked as an air quality engineering consultant and atmospheric scientist with Environment and Climate Change Canada. She completed her PhD in Engineering Systems from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Her research seeks to quantify the health risks and benefits of engineering and policy responses to the threat of climate change, including mitigation and adaptation. Her results have been requested by White House staff, cited by the head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in the press, and used to support climate legislation in federal court. 

Dr. Saari supervises students in Civil and Environmental Engineering in the Faculty of Engineering, and Geography and Environmental Management in the Faculty of Environment. Her students develop methods to quantify the impacts of emissions that contribute to climate change and air pollution, and evaluate efforts to reduce emissions. She advises students from a variety of engineering and science backgrounds with an interest in sustainable engineering and atmospheric issues.

Selected Publications:

• Wang. W., R.K. Saari, C. Bachmann, U. Mukherjee, “Estimating damages from climate change and air pollution for subnational incentives for green on-road freight”. Transp. Res. Part Trans. Environ. 2020, 82, 102325.
• Saari, R. K.; Mei, Y.; Monier, E.; Garcia Menendez, F. Effect of Health-Related Uncertainty and Natural Variability on Health Impacts and Co-Benefits of Climate Policy. Environ. Sci. Technol. 2019, 53 (3), 1098-1108.
• Thompson, T. M.; Rausch, S.; Saari, R. K.; Selin, N. E. A Systems Approach to Evaluating the Air Quality Co-Benefits of US Carbon Policies. Nature Clim. Change 2014, 4 (10), 917–923.