Research
The group studies how cities manage water under a changing climate. The work spans field monitoring, laboratory studies, and computational modelling. Recent projects connect environmental data and modelling with urban stormwater systems, green infrastructure, and climate adaptation.
Climate adaptation and green infrastructure
Low impact development (LID) practices — bioretention cells, permeable pavements, porous asphalt, and rainwater tree trenches — can support urban climate adaptation. Recent work looks at how these systems perform across scales, how they treat nutrients and metals, and how they reduce runoff and urban heat.
- LID performance and scaling in urban catchments
- Rainwater tree trenches for urban cooling and stormwater control
- Permeable pavement and porous asphalt performance in cold climates
Bioretention, water quality, and monitoring
This area combines laboratory studies, field monitoring, and sensing. It examines how green infrastructure treats stormwater and how that treatment can be tracked over time.
- Nutrient leaching in amended and non-amended bioretention systems
- Heavy metal removal in porous and bioretentive media
- Biomass and vegetation monitoring in green infrastructure
- Microbial water quality in stormwater systems and ponds
Hydrologic uncertainty and urban systems modelling
Modelling work examines how uncertainty in spatial inputs affects runoff prediction and flow estimates. It also looks at how modelling workflows can be made faster and more reproducible.
- Fuzzy-entropy approaches to watershed-scale hydrologic uncertainty
- Entropy-based quantification of infiltration model-form uncertainty
- Reproducible and agentic stormwater modelling workflows
- Comparisons between deterministic hydrologic methods and large language models
- Flood impacts on transportation and infrastructure systems
Featured project: Urban forestry and climate change mitigation
The project Tackling Climate Change One Tree At A Time was featured in Chatelaine Magazine, April 2024. Supported by the Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions, it is carried out with the City of Vancouver and collaborators at the University of Victoria and the University of Calgary.
The project studies how urban forestry reduces extreme heat and improves stormwater performance in dense urban settings. It examines Rainwater Tree Trenches, which combine structural soils, subsurface drainage, and tree planting.
Collaborations
The research program runs with academic colleagues, municipalities, public agencies, and industry partners working on urban hydrology, water quality, monitoring, and green infrastructure.
Academic collaborators
University of Calgary
- Dr. Angus Chu, Civil Engineering — bioretention cells, permeable pavements, and LID technologies
- Dr. Jianxun He, Civil Engineering — water quality modelling, urban hydrology, and watershed management
- Dr. Cathryn Ryan — hydrogeology and water quality
- Dr. Sylvia Checkley — microbial water quality
- Dr. Usman Khan, Civil Engineering — environmental informatics
University of Victoria
- Dr. Rishi Gupta, Civil Engineering — sustainable construction materials and green infrastructure
- Dr. Rustom Bhiladvala, Mechanical Engineering — sensor development for environmental monitoring
- Dr. Phalguni Mukhopadhyaya, Civil Engineering — green roof systems and building envelope performance
Other institutions
- McMaster University — environmental hydraulics and water quality modelling
- University of Alberta — Dr. Norman Neumann, microbiology
- National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan — hydrological modelling
- IHE Delft Institute for Water Education, Netherlands — urban water management
Government and municipal partners
- City of Vancouver — rainwater tree trenches and urban heat island mitigation
- City of Victoria — stormwater management infrastructure assessment
- Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions (PICS) — funding for urban climate adaptation research
- Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) — Discovery Grant support
- Department of Fisheries and Oceans — Dr. Charles Hannah, ocean circulation modelling
Industry partners
Collaboration with environmental consulting firms, technology companies, and the construction and materials industry covers LID design and implementation, stormwater monitoring, environmental sensors, and permeable pavement materials.
Recent collaborative projects
- Urban Forestry for Climate Adaptation (2022–2025) — with the City of Vancouver, University of Calgary, and PICS
- Hydraulic Analysis of LID Systems (2018–2023) — with the University of Calgary and City of Calgary
- Stormwater Microbial Contamination (2020–2024) — with the University of Calgary and Health Canada
- Green Infrastructure Sensors (2021–2024) — with UVic Mechanical Engineering and environmental consultancies
Potential collaborators are welcome to get in touch about projects that align with these research areas — see the Contact page.