Researcher

The University of Toronto has a long and outstanding record of research and innovation in matters related to energy and the environment, including climate change. Over 200 U of T faculty members across our three campuses are engaged in these endeavours, many in collaboration with leading national and international institutions and organizations. They represent a wide range of disciplines – from Engineering and Physics to Biology and Public Health, Law and Political Science – and they are based in more than 30 academic units and affiliated hospitals. They also figure prominently among the University’s leading scholars and scientists, constituting almost 10 per cent of our Canada Research Chairs.

U of T’s contributions to research in relevant fields are magnified by the rare breadth and depth of academic excellence concentrated on our campuses.

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U of T’s CERT team advances to finals of international competition Carbon XPRIZE

A team led by the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering that is working to capture greenhouse gas and recycle it into useful chemicals has advanced to the finals of the international NRG COSIA Carbon XPRIZE.

The competition presents this challenge: capture carbon emissions from power plants and efficiently convert them into valuable chemical products.

Original Story

World’s largest high Arctic lake shows startling new evidence of climate change

Remote areas in Canada’s Arctic region – once thought to be beyond the reach of human impact – are responding rapidly to warming global temperatures, the University of Toronto’s Igor Lehnherrhas found.

His research, published in Nature Communications, is the first to aggregate and analyze massive data sets on Lake Hazen, the world’s largest lake by volume located north of the Arctic Circle.

Original article

Environment more important to respiratory health than genetics: U of T researcher

A University of Toronto researcher has found strong evidence that environmental exposures, including air pollution, affect gene expressions associated with respiratory diseases much more than genetic ancestry.

Senior author Philip Awadalla, a professor in the department of molecular genetics, analyzed more than 1.6 million data points from biological specimens, health questionnaires and environmental data sets. His study is one of the largest ever to examine the relationship between gene expression and environmental stimuli.

Original article

U of T research finds ponds in High Arctic could be significant source of carbon emissions

A new Canadian study involving researchers from the University of Toronto has found that carbon released by some ponds in the High Arctic could potentially be a hidden source of greenhouse gas emissions.

The study looked at how dissolved organic carbon (DOC) stored in Arctic permafrost – which is thawing at an accelerated rate due to climate change – is being released into Arctic watersheds as a result of physical disturbances that relocate nutrients across the landscape. For the first time, researchers were able to determine that the chemical composition of carbon in these ponds is vastly different than in rivers in the High Arctic.

Original article