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Speakers and team leads: Allison Bennett & Laura Minet
Allison Bennett
Allison is a graduate student in the Civil and Mineral Engineering Department. She is presently working towards her Masters in Cities and Engineering Management, after spending the last few years personally invested in bringing mass transit to our growing City; through her work as a Geostructural Engineer and Project Manager on the Eglinton Light Rail Transit Project. She is currently researching ways in which we can better understand the materials that currently exist in Toronto's 400,000+ building stock, with hopes that we can proactively design for improved material re-use at the end of each buildings' life.
Laura Minet, MSc
Laura is a PhD Candidate in Transportation and Environmental Engineering. Passionate by the issues related to the environment, Laura is particularly excited by the topic of air quality and especially the potential adverse health effects of exposure to air pollution, and is currently investigating the impacts of trucks and electric vehicles on the air quality of Toronto. Laura was recently featured in “Something in the Air”, an episode from the documentary series The Nature of Things tackling the issue of urban air pollution and health.
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Speakers: Jennifer Sparks & Aysha Afzal "Urban Outdoor Education"
Jennifer Sparks
Jennifer is a PhD candidate in the Department of Leadership, Higher & Adult Education at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE), University of Toronto. Her dissertation is focused on understanding family (parent) involvement in relation to student success in education. She is currently leading a study involving prospective and enrolled postsecondary students, parents of students and education professionals. One of the goals of the study is to collect data to describe family involvement behaviours and patterns in urban education settings versus rural. Her current study is an extension of the research and community outreach she began last year in association with the Toronto District School Board to encourage first-generation students to apply to and succeed in post-secondary education in Ontario. Jennifer's work was funded by the Ontario Ministry of Education’s Parents Reaching Out regional grant program.
Aysha Afzal
Aysha is pursuing a Bachelor of Science Degree in Biology and Bio-Medical Communications at the University of Toronto, Mississauga. She is passionate about tackling issues humans face in their day to day lives and working towards improving the lives of patients who are terminally ill at hospitals by practicing concepts of whole-person care. Currently, she is part of a fellowship in which initiatives are taken to tackle intergenerational prejudice within communities. Moving forward, she hopes to get involved in urban innovation that proves to be sustainable and provides equal opportunity for all individuals.
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Speakers: Lubna Alli, Drishya Nair, Ifrah Yousuf, Entisar Yusuf
Lubna Alli
Lubna is a fourth-year student at the University of Toronto pursuing a double major in City Planning and Public Policy. She has lived and studied in Siena, Italy; Brno, Czech Republic; and, Seville, Spain, and has recently been hand selected to go to Tokyo, Japan for a competitive urban design seminar with Masters of Planning students from Germany, China and Japan at the University of Tsukuba. In April 2019, Lubna was selected to be a Daughter of the Vote and join 337 other womxn in Ottawa for a historic seating in the Parliament of Canada, representing the riding of Ajax for The Honourable Mark Holland. Prior to this, Lubna placed 1st in the "UTSC: 50 Years Later" Case Competition for her redesign of the proposed University of Toronto Scarborough Campus Master Plan. Currently, as a Parks Planning Intern with The Town of Whitby, and as a Research Fellow with the School of Cities, Lubna continues to feel the responsibility that each city-builder has to be hyperaware of the role that race, status, and income plays in their decision-making process.
Drishya Nair
Drishya is a first-year student at University of Toronto's Master of Engineering in Cities Engineering and Management. She finished her undergraduate studies in Civil Engineering from Gujarat Technological University. Her final-year project on a proposed skyway in a congested central area of Ahmedabad was awarded one of the best projects of the year in 2017-18. She also worked as a research associate, in two key projects at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. Drishya's area of primary interest in the CEM program is a mix of urban policy and resilient cities, and she is keen on exploring how can we leverage inclusivity to make our cities more appealing, more livable.
Ifrah Yousuf
Ifrah is a first-year Master of Information student concentrating in User Experience Design. With a fundamental belief in the power of inclusion and a passion for youth advocacy, she has been involved in many initiatives to improve her community. Ifrah’s academic interests include inclusive design and accessibility, and as a black woman navigating the tech industry, she is passionate about diversity and inclusion in technology.
Entisar Yusuf
Entisar is a first-year Master student at OISE, University of Toronto. She is completing her Master in Educational Leadership and Policy with specialization in Comparative, International and Development Education. Professionally, she taught English, Math and Science overseas for eight years. In addition to her role as Grade 3 Teacher, she became Co-Team Lead for a team of eight teachers. She demonstrated effective management skills when overseeing, mentoring and evaluating teachers. Along with organizing and delivering regular team meetings, she guided teachers to achieve best practice and was the main point of contact between teachers and senior administrators.
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