Dr. Behzadfar is a faculty member at Toronto Metropolitan University’s Creative School. He joined academia in 2018 after spending more than four years in the packaging industry. With the decline of natural resources, his research focuses on developing sustainable solutions for polymeric material design. His approach is understanding the structure-process-property relationship in polymers and bio-composite materials through fundamental approaches to modern physics. He is the author of more than 25 peer-reviewed journal papers and has presented their research findings at several conferences.

Taylor Stimpson holds a B.Eng & Society and MASc in Chemical Engineering from McMaster University and has over 6 years of expertise in interfacial engineering with a focus on bio-based, sustainable, and compostable materials. She is, at heart, a passionate problem-solver and environmentalist working to lead systems change toward a more climate-positive, equitable, and socially-just future, letting her passion guide her to her current role as Program Manager at the Academy for Sustainable Innovation (ASI).

Esmeralda Bukuroshi completed her PhD in chemical engineering at the University of Toronto, specializing in material engineering for organic solar cells. During her PhD, she developed an interest in science policy and explored roles leaning more toward science advocacy. With her previous co-op experience as a chemist at Nova Chemicals, she went on to take a role as a Senior Analyst for more than a year before joining her current role as a Lead of COVID Response Operations at Ontario Health.

After obtaining his BASc in Chemical Engineering and working in the oil and gas industry for a few years, Matthew Small decided to make a career shift and worked toward the MBA program at the Rotman School of Management. From there, he embarked on a new journey in the clean energy space and became the Director of Project Development at StormFisher Hydrogen, a developer and operator of hydrogen-based clean fuel production facilities.

Monica Kwong graduated from the Chemical Engineering program at Ryerson in 2018 and is currently working toward her P.Eng license. Having worked at Sofina Foods as both a co-op student and full-time Process Engineer, Monica leveraged her expertise in the food industry to advance her career as Operation Leads at Ingredion Incorporated, a leading global ingredients solutions company. Besides that, she has demonstrated excellent leadership volunteering for various organizations, including her role as CIC Toronto’s chair in 2017.

Dr. Todd Hoare is a Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at McMaster University and the Canada Research Chair in Engineered Smart Materials. Research in the Hoare Laboratory for Engineered Smart Materials focuses on hydrogel and cross linked polymer networks - in drug delivery, agriculture, anti-infective surfaces, tissue engineering and various other applications.

Cover photo credit: Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), 2022