UofT Talks 2021 (Presented with Raw Talk Podcast)

Proudly Franco-Albertan, Chúk’s passion lies in the interactions between culture, health and the environment. Outside of this work with Future Ancestors Services, he is the cofounder of The Poison and The Apple and is completing his PhD in Medical Geography after completing a masters degree from the School of Public Health at the University of Montréal. Chúk is your typical urbanite, in love with technology and fashion, all the while retaining a connection with nature and integrating green and blue spaces into his everyday. His vision is to reconnect humanity with nature in a way that accommodates modernity, sparking that green revolution without decimation of the present.

Alex is a PhD candidate in the Materials Science and Engineering Department, under the supervision of Geoffrey Ozin and Benjamin Hatton. Her PhD research on light-driven chemical reactions that utilize greenhouse gases is being commercialized through Solistra, a spin-off company from the U of T Solar Fuels Research cluster that was funded by Natural Resources Canada’s Women in CleanTech Challenge. Alex has an undergraduate degree in chemical engineering from the University of Toronto, and previously worked in the Advanced Energy Centre at the MaRS Discovery District. Her interests are centred on sustainable resource system development and ethical engineering practices as they relate to the energy transition.

Martha Hall Findlay is the Chief Sustainability Officer at Suncor Energy Inc. Martha plays a key role in stewarding Suncor’s many external relationships and strategic collaborations in support of the company’s ongoing economic, environmental and social performance leadership. Martha oversees Suncor’s sustainability strategy, public policy and government relations efforts, and internal and external communications. She is responsible for the continued deepening of the company’s Indigenous, stakeholder, and community relations, as well as being accountable for Suncor’s social innovation agenda, including through her involvement on the Board of the Suncor Energy Foundation. Prior to joining Suncor, Martha was the President and CEO of the Canada West Foundation, one of Canada’s most important public policy think tanks, where her focus was strong public policy recommendations for the economic and social prosperity of western Canada, and by extension Canada as a whole.

Zen Mariani was selected as one of the final 32 Canadian Space Agency’s astronaut candidates for the 2017 astronaut selection campaign. He graduated from Western University with a B.Sc. in physics and, as part of his M.Sc. and Ph.D. in physics at the University of Toronto, he frequently traveled to a remote high-Arctic site to conduct climate observations near the North Pole. He currently works as a research scientist in the meteorological research division at Environment and Climate Change Canada where he leads research projects aimed at improving weather observation and forecast capabilities in Canada, with a focus on Arctic meteorology.

Kathryn Harrison is a Professor of Political Science at the University of British Columbia. Harrison received Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Chemical Engineering before completing her PhD in Political Science. Before entering academia, Harrison worked as a policy analyst for both Environment Canada and the United States Congress. She also has served as Senior Associate Dean and Acting Dean in the UBC Faculty of Arts. Professor Harrison has published widely on Canadian and US climate policy. She has advised governments from the local to international level, and is a frequent media and social media commentator on climate policy.