Seminars

May 13, 2024

Unravelling the Role of Dissolved Organic Matter as a Vector for Contaminant Transport

Dr. Vaughn Mangal, Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry, Brock University

• Dr. Mangal studies carbon sources and pathways into freshwater ecosystems as well as how the chemical makeup of carbon or dissolved organic matter (DOM) influences the transport of other contaminants such as inorganic metals or mercury. Carbon has been found by Dr. Mangal to also influence how other contaminants such as mercury are used by microbes in the natural environment. 

April 16, 2024

A Multidisciplinary Approach to Assess the Interplay of Human, Carbon, and Climate Dynamics in Watersheds Facing Salinization

Dr. Tao Wen, Assistant Professor, Earth and Environmental Science Department, Syracuse University

• Dr. Wen models the water chemistry of various U.S. rivers to better understand the influence of anthropogenic forces such as salinization. For instance, he monitored trends in conductivity and pH at 332 U.S. river sites and used modelling to determine the most important contributing watershed characteristics. 

March 12, 2024

Safeguarding Healthy Great Lakes: The Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research

Dr. Robert Michael McKay, Director and Professor, Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research, School of the Environment, University of Windsor

• Dr. McKay presented on some of the work of the Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research which is an interdisciplinary research centre which includes a graduate program, Freshwater Restoration Ecology Centre, and 19 extensively equipped labs. Some of the research projects include the establishment of Canada's second National Urban Park, restoration ecology of fish, harmful algal blooms, and problems associated with reduced ice cover. 

February 13, 2024

Energy Disasters and the Construction of Vulnerable Subjects

Dr. Teresa Kramarz, Assistant Professor, School of the Environment, University of Toronto

• Dr. Kramarz's work focuses on the interactions between environmental disasters and social vulnerability through social, political, and economic lenses. Moreover, a community's assets are considered as part of their capacity to respond to slow violence versus fast violence disasters. 

November 7, 2023

One WATER + Urban Water TMU Networking Event

One WATER, York University, Toronto 

• One WATER researchers Satinder Brar, Sapna Sharma, Stephanie Gora, Caroline Duncan, Ali Asgary, Mahta Fazlyab, Jose Etcheverry, and Ali Doostmohammadi joined us to share the diverse research interests that encompass One WATER. This ranged from bioremediation of wastewater to contaminant flood risk, with chances to collaborate in the near future. 

October 17,  2023

The Port Lands Flood Protection Project: Transforming Toronto's Waterfront

Steve Desrocher, Director of Soil and Groundwater Management, Waterfront Toronto

• Waterfront Toronto is focused on mitigating flood risk in the Don River by creating new naturalized outlets for waters during periods of flooding (i.e., the Don Spillway). This presentation discussed the progress of this project with a focus on environmental management and risk mitigation. 

April 12, 2023

Development of an Adaptive Monitoring and Management Framework for Environmental Substances of Concern (ESOCs) in Wastewater – a Collaborative Research and Innovation Demonstration

Christine O’Grady, Program Manager, Advancing Canadian Water Assets (ACWA)
Patricija Marjan, Research Associate, Dept. of Biological Sciences, University of Calgary

• Summary of the Advancing Canadian Water Assets (ACWA) program and Bow River Ecosystem Health Assessment (BREHA) at the University of Calgary, which involves an interdisciplinary, multi-institutional research group developing an integrated research approach to assess the health of the Bow River ecosystem. 

March 15, 2023

The role of trees in urban watersheds: preliminary field data from Minneapolis – St. Paul LTER

Dr. Diana Karwan, Department of Forest Resources at the University of Minnesota

• Preliminary findings from the team’s first summer of data collection across parks in the City of St. Paul, MN and how this work fits within the broader goals of stormwater management and long term urban ecosystem research in Minneapolis- St.Paul.
  

February 15, 2023

Nuisance benthic algae and nearshore water quality in Western Lake Ontario: uncertain connections?

Dr. Todd Howell, Ontario Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks

• In this presentation, variability in phosphorus along the nearshore will be described. This provides insight on where there may be scope for response by benthic algae to patterns and perturbation in nutrient supply associated with the influence of the adjacent shoreline.

January 18, 2023

WOW (Water Quality, Outreach, and Wellness) Lab Research on Urban Agriculture Irrigation Water Quality

Dr. Rachel Rosenberg Goldstein, University of Maryland School of Public Health

• This seminar will provide an overview of water challenges specific to urban agriculture and showcase WOW lab research results on harvested rainwater quality and related outreach materials.

December 07, 2022

Native species on the move: Decoding the future of Himalayan fishes under conjoint impacts of invasion and climate change

Dr. Aashna Sharma, Wildlife Institute of India

• A glimpse on understanding the multifarious responses of native snow trout to the pressures posed by brown trout invasion and climate change in Himalaya. With no research available for scientifically-backed conservation and management of native species in invaded Himalayan riverscapes, the work presented is specifically targeted to support policy decisions.

November 08, 2022

Building Hydrological Observatories for Assessment of Erosion and Gully Formation in the Ethiopian Highlands

Dr. Christian Guzman, University of Massachusetts Amherst

• Community-based research on hydrological and geomorphological processes in the Ethiopian Highlands
  

October 05, 2022

Rethinking stormwater in our neighborhoods: Can distributed stormwater control maintain stream functions?

Dr. Kristina Hopkins, Research Scientist, U.S. Geological Survey, South Atlantic Water Science Center, Raleigh, NC

• Dr. Hopkins’ seminar will take us on a journey that explores how rainwater moves through our neighborhoods. She will discuss how neighborhoods in Clarksburg, Maryland, USA were designed to incorporate engineered and green stormwater infrastructure practices to minimize the impacts of development on local streams.