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Meet our faculty, Dr. Jennifer Drake

Urban flooding is a multi-billion challenge for Canadians. Urbanization, population growth and climate change all increase the stress and strain on our stormwater infrastructure. In addition to flood risks, urban stormwater transports pollutants to our lakes and streams. Dr. Drake has distinguished herself as one of Canada’s leading experts in stormwater management, low impact development (LID) and green infrastructure. Her work draws heavily on principles of sustainability, best management practices and holistic, interdisciplinary design, and she has made significant contributions that have an advanced stormwater design, operations, and maintenance for the unique climate and urban environments of Canadian cities. Dr. Drake is distinctive in that her research has advanced the state of knowledge for a broad and diverse range of stormwater systems including conventional conveyance and end-of-pipe controls, vegetated or living infrastructure and infiltration-based technologies.

Dr. Drake completed her Ph.D. at the University of Guelph and was formerly a professor in Civil & Mineral Engineering at the University of Toronto for ten years. Dr. Drake’s group works to advance, pilot and evaluate emerging stormwater technologies like green roofs, permeable pavements, bioretention systems, stormwater management ponds, sensors and data management systems for Canadian environments. Her contributions to the engineering field have been recognized by the PEO Engineering Medal – Young Engineer (2018) and Engineers’ Canada Young Engineer Award (2019).

Dr. Drake’s work has had a direct impact on public policy and engineering design. Flood equations, produced by her research team, are employed by the Ontario Ministry of Transportation to size bridge and culvert crossings on ungauged water courses throughout Ontario. Runoff coefficients and curve numbers for green roofs are used for green roof design, and the permeable pavement industry has adopted best management practices for restoration maintenance based on her work. Dr. Drake has directly applied her expertise as a Board Member for the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority.

Outside academia, Dr. Drake is a happy mother of two and enjoys running, knitting and cooking.