Prospective Students & Postdocs

Postdoctoral Fellows and research associates:

Scroll down to review current openings, or email the professor of interest.

Students

The Sustainable Systems Research Group encourages applications from talented, independent, and motivated students who are interested in interdisciplinary engineering research. For details about the application process, please consult the Civil and Mineral Engineering Graduate Admissions page.

Below, you will find a quick description of the specific interests of the different Professors in the group:

• Heather MacLean: My primary area of research involves developing and applying life cycle assessment and techno-economic methods to evaluate the technical and externality impacts of conventional and alternative energy and transportation systems and elements of the built environment more generally. The research is interdisciplinary, incorporating civil, environmental, chemical and mechanical engineering, economics and public policy components to name a few.
• Daniel Posen: As of 2025, I have a number of ongoing projects related to the development of the Canadian Open Energy Model, carbon dioxide removal strategies, carbon conversion technologies, alternatives to single use plastics, transportation sector decarbonization, and critical minerals / other constraints to the energy transition, among others. I generally admit 1-2 MASc or PhD students each year. As of the last website update, I am no longer recruiting for 2025 and do not yet know what specific openings I will have for 2026. Please feel free to submit an expression of interest form and reach out for more information. I welcome applications from both domestic and international PhD candidates, as well as domestic MASc students. Unfortunately, due to the high cost of tuition, I am generally unable to accept international MASc applicants.
• Shoshanna Saxe: Each year I admit M.A.Sc. and Ph.D. students for interdisciplinary research investigating civil infrastructure and sustainability. This research calls on methods from construction engineering, construction governance, structural engineering, geotechnics, transport engineering, industrial ecology, land use planning and data analysis.

Interested candidates should submit an unofficial expression of interest here, and then email the professor(s) of interest to notify them.

 

You may also send an email including a CV, unofficial transcripts, and a brief research proposal (max. 1 page). Candidates are strongly encouraged to search for advice for effective proposal drafting in advance—a strong introductory email is a great first step towards graduate school admission. Due to a high volume of emails, we only respond to emails that include the requested attachments. Note that we can't always respond to emails in advance, but interested students are encouraged to apply regardless. Specifying your preferred potential supervisor(s) during the application process will help us find your application.

This webpage will be updated periodically with specific work and research opportunities. Note that the list provided below is not necessarily exhaustive.