Aqualunar Challenge

Monica Emelko is a Professor and the Canada Research Chair in Water Science, Technology & Policy at the University of Waterloo in Canada. She is a Professional Engineer and a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering. Dr. Emelko holds chemical and environmental engineering degrees from MIT, UCLA, and the University of Waterloo. Her research on water treatment and risk analysis has informed water regulations globally. She has worked on wildfire and its implications to drinking water treatment since 2004. Her team was the first globally to describe wildfire effects on drinking water treatability and received the Canadian Council of the Federation Award of Excellence in Water Stewardship in 2014. They assisted as first responders helping with water treatment response and re-entry risk management during and after the wildfire in Fort McMurray in 2016 and received a citation from the Premier for service to the province. Monica is the Scientific Director of “forWater” a Canada-wide and internationally partnered research network focused on maximizing benefit from concurrent forest management-based approaches for drinking water source protection and enhanced resilience in water treatment, operations, and risk management.

Konstantin is a research engineer and head of the Water Management Section at CanmetMINING, Natural Resources Canada. He and his team work on the development, evaluation, and demonstration of technologies for treating aqueous streams generated in the mining industry. Konstantin's research focuses on critical mineral recovery, efficient mining practices, and climate change mitigation (carbon sequestration).

Madjid Mohseni (PhD, PEng) is a Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at the University of British Columbia. He is an expert in the area of water quality and treatment, with specific focus on novel and robust water treatment processes for the removal and degradation of emerging contaminants from drinking water supplies. His research involves laboratory scale development and investigation, as well as field evaluation of the technologies under real operating conditions at partner community sites in rural and Indigenous communities. 

Madjid is the Scientific director of “Community Circle on Scaling Business Innovation for Humanity”, a non-profit organization funded by Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED), and partners from industry, communities, government and NGOs, focusing on achieving socioeconomically and technologically sustainable outcomes in water health and well-being for Indigenous and rural communities.

Stephanie Gora is an assistant professor at the Lassonde School of Engineering at York University in Toronto where she leads the Safe and Sustainable Water Research Group. Her team’s research is focused on light-based technologies (e.g. UV, advanced oxidation, photocatalysis) for drinking water and wastewater treatment. The team also works on projects that aim to develop sustainable drinking water solutions for small, remote, and underserved communities, particularly in Inuit Nunangat. Stephanie teaches courses about drinking water, wastewater, water resources engineering, and engineering design principles. She is also a contributor to the Dahdaleh Institute for Global Health Research’s Humanitarian Water Engineering Intensive Course and the UN Global Water Academy at York. Stephanie holds a PhD from the University of Toronto and is registered as a professional engineer with Engineers Nova Scotia and Professional Engineers Ontario.

Research website:https://www.yorku.ca/lassonde/research/sswrg/

Rahim Kanji is a recognized leader in Ontario and Canada’s water innovation sector, with a nearly 20-year track record spanning a variety of roles marked by pivotal positions including Executive Director of the Ontario Water Consortium and key contributor on the boards of directors for Water for People both globally and in Canada. His expertise in strategic planning, operational management, and stakeholder engagement has significantly advanced the innovation ecosystem across Ontario and Canada while championing water access, sanitation, and sustainable development globally. Rahim combines an engineering background with a Master's in Business with a focus on entrepreneurship and technology, positioning him to align innovation with strategic business goals. His efforts have made him a key and trusted figure in addressing today's water resource challenges.

Peter Jarmics is the CEO of H2OKnow Water Group Ltd., a company specializing in water purification technologies with a focus on water distillation for residential and light commercial use. Holding degrees in History and Education from York University, he's also a certified Master NLP Practitioner with extensive certifications spanning Business, Marketing, Technology, and Education. He is passionate about education, particularly in accelerated learning methods and critical and analytical thinking, and carries this into his role as a business leader. Peter advocates for sustainable water solutions, aiming to advance both the field of water purification and responsible environmental practices.

Jennifer Crosby is the Director of the Project Management Office for Metro Vancouver, one of the largest public utilities in Canada delivering a $20B+ water infrastructure portfolio. Her department is the centre of project delivery expertise for the organization, responsible for leading transformative organizational initiatives. She has a chemical engineering degree from McGill University and over 25 years of experience in planning, design, construction and operation of large public water infrastructure.

Jennifer’s passion for championing improved water quality is evidenced in her substantial volunteer efforts with local and international organizations, such as Water for People. She currently serves on the Advisory Board of the University of British Columbia Master of Engineering Leadership in Integrated Water Management, as well as the Utility Management Symposium for the Water Environment Federation. She is a Past-President of the British Columbia Water & Waste Association and past Director for the Canadian Water & Wastewater Association Board. After the devastating 2010 earthquake in Haiti, Jennifer was sought out to lead a challenging water project related to the recovery efforts. Jennifer has received numerous awards for her leadership, vision and contributions to the water sector and is known for leading collaborative teams to deliver on complex projects.

Born in New Brunswick, Jennifer has lived in five Canadian provinces, one American state, enjoys playing soccer in a local women’s league and travelling. She is a proud stepmother to three amazing young women now pursuing their own STEM careers in geology, biology and nursing.

As a Space Resources Engineer for the European Space Agency at ESTEC in the Netherlands, Melchiorre supports the development of in situ research utilization-related initiatives and contribute to the creation of the European Space Resources Innovation Centre located in Luxembourg. With a background in terrestrial chemical processes, he applies his expertise towards the development of regolith-based oxygen-evolving processes geared towards a sustainable human and robotic exploration.

Lawrence has over 15 years of professional research engineering and consulting experience across the energy, minerals and environmental sectors. He holds a B.A.Sc. in Geological and Environmental Engineering from Queen’s University, a M.A.Sc. in Mining Engineering and Mineral Processing from the University of British Columbia as well as professional training in supply chain and operations management. He has served as Convenor and Chair for an International Standards Organization (ISO) Mining Standards Task Force and currently serves as advisor to the Canadian Standards Association Natural Resources Strategic Steering Committee. Lawrence has recently served as judge for NASA’s Break-the-Ice Lunar Challenge, a Centennial Challenge managed by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center and NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. As Senior Project Advisor and Initiative Manager at the National Research Council of Canada, Lawrence is currently responsible for the administration of a strategic research and development program in the Clean Energy Innovation Research Centre. Lawrence is a licensed Professional Engineer and Professional Geoscientist, and feels very privileged to have provided project leadership experience from the Canadian Arctic to the Australian Outback. Lawrence’s personal mission is to align people, technology and opportunity to thoughtfully develop our shared natural resources and energy supply chains for future generations, so they can do even better.

Mr. Chaulk holds a Bachelor of Biological Engineering and a Masters of Civil Engineering from Dalhousie University. He has over 20 years of experience in the field of water and wastewater treatment projects. He has extensive technical and project management experience in process engineering, specifically in the areas of drinking water supply and treatment, wastewater treatment, infrastructure project management, conceptual designs and planning, process design, membrane technologies, distribution system protection, process optimization, and pilot/small-scale water system optimization. He has managed engineering services in both design-build and P3 water treatment plant projects as well as conventional design-bid-build projects. Mr. Chaulk is a Past Chair of the Atlantic Canada Water and Wastewater Association and is an AWWA Fuller Awardee.

Dr. Meganne Christian is Reserve Astronaut and Exploration Commercialisation Lead at the UK Space Agency, developing strategy on human and robotic spaceflight in the post-ISS landscape. In November 2022 she became a member of the European Space Agency astronaut reserve, one of the class of 17 candidates selected from a pool of over 22,500 applicants across Europe. She holds a Bachelor of Engineering and a PhD in Industrial Chemistry from the University of New South Wales. From 2014 to 2023 she was a materials science researcher at the National Research Council of Italy, and participated in two parabolic flight campaigns to test graphene coatings for thermal management in satellites. She has also undertaken two missions, including a winter-over, to Concordia Station in Antarctica where she was a research scientist in charge of atmospheric physics and meteorology.

Marc leads Hard Climate's ambitious project to build Cananda’s first venture studio dedicated to climate/clean tech. It is his core belief that the path to a net-zero economy must include business model innovation to accelerate the promotion of early-stage technologies to becoming impactful industrial solutions. To assist him in making his vision a reality, Marc has 20 years of experience in various sectors of finance. Previously an early-stage entrepreneur and executive, he also held finance and strategy roles in a large Canadian public company and, prior to this, was an FX derivatives trader for multinational banks. Marc holds a doctorate in theoretical physics from the University of Cambridge, a master’s in advanced mathematics and bachelor in astrophysics.

Francis is a water and wastewater Engineer and a subject matter expert in environment. Strategic thinker with a business acumen, he excels at solving complex problems. He has been helping cities and industries meet their needs for water quality and quantity for over 2 decades.

He studied Mechanical Engineering at the Montréal Polytechnic School and at the Monterrey Institute of Technology, Mexico. After working in construction in northern Québec and traveling to Argentina, his desire to change people’s lives pushed him to pursue a master’s degree in applied science from Montréal’s Polytechnic. There he studied water and wastewater treatment technologies and researched water disinfection by-products formation in water distribution systems.

He worked in R&D and in Montreal; improving water treatment plants performance. Then, he moved to Toronto to pursue greater challenges and continue his career in water. After travelling to Africa, the Himalayas and a career in startup, construction, and design of Water and Wastewater treatment plants, he obtained an MBA from the Sauder School of Business in Vancouver. This training helped him become an accomplished sales and business development professional.

With a deep understanding of the current and future challenges the water industry is facing, he now dedicates himself to combine business and technology to overcome those challenges. Chat with him in English, French and Spanish!

Engineer, astrophysicist, physician and pilot, David Saint-Jacques is an astronaut with the Canadian Space Agency. He is married and has three children.

Prior to joining the Canadian space program, he was practising medicine in Inuit communities overlooking Hudson Bay.

He was selected in 2009 and joined the 20th NASA astronaut class. Upon completion of training, he held various operations, planning and support functions for NASA’s Mission Control Center and Astronaut Office.

In 2018, David flew as co-pilot of the Soyuz MS-11 rocket to the International Space Station, where he lived 204 days and worked as flight engineer and crew medical officer of Expedition 58/59. There he conducted numerous scientific experiments, performed a spacewalk and used Canadarm2 to berth a visiting spacecraft.