Associate Professor
Background
Research Opportunities
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Contact
Jennifer Drake
Department of Civil & Mineral Engineering
University of Toronto
35 St. George St.
Toronto, Ontario
Canada, M5S 1A4
Room GB 426
Tel: 416-978-8248
Background
Professor Jennifer Drake is working to solve the problem of how to sustain our limited water and energy resources while simultaneously continuing to accommodate the growing worldwide demand on these resources. She collaborates with industry and government partners to identify ways to increase efficiency in regional water, storm water and sewage distribution systems, and hydro dams. Utilizing emergent methodologies such as low impact development, and newer sensor technologies for advanced performance monitoring, they seek to move engineering knowledge beyond the static models conventionally used for evaluating the sustainability of systems. Her work will help equip engineers with the ability to monitor and predict issues before they arise, to gauge risk before failures occur, to generate less waste, and to develop better policies that will lead to a more sustainable future.
She is the Co-Researcher, Hydrology at the Green Roof Innovation Testing Laboratory in the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design.
Education
- Ph.D. Civil Engineering (2013) University of Guelph
- M.A.Sc. Water Resource Engineering (2009) University of Guelph
- B.Eng Civil Engineering and Society (2007) McMaster University
Research Opportunities
POSTED JUNE 2, 2022 - Postdoctoral Research Position – Soil moisture monitoring for a multi-sensor green roof and green wall system (Apply by June 27, 2022)
Research Team

Yin Yin
Ph.D. Candidate
Thesis: Pre-development hydrologic processes

Kelsey Smyth
Ph.D. Candidate
Thesis: Microplastics in urban stormwater and removal processes in bioretention systems

Jody Scott
Ph.D. Candidate
Thesis: Clogging and maintenance of permeable interlocking concrete pavements

Wenxi Liao
Forestry/Engineering Ph.D. Student
Thesis: Biochar amendments for green roof growing media

Ke Qin
M.A.Sc. Candidate
News Mentions
A family of geese was successfully relocated from a rooftop lab at U of T. Led by the Toronto Wildlife Centre, CivMin’s Professor Jennifer Drake and MASc candidate Jad Saade assisted with the rescue the afternoon of Friday, April 29. The operation resulted in the successful rescue of two adult geese and their five goslings,… Read more »
Always on green: From rooftop labs to the playing field Giuliana Frizzi is a Civil Engineering MASc candidate, working under the supervision of Prof. Jennifer Drake, who not only excels at academics, but competitive sports as well. Frizzi grew up in the New Jersey town of Verona, population just over 13,000, some 20 miles west… Read more »
Q&A with Prof. Elodie Passeport: Can green infrastructure keep microplastics out of the environment?
You may have heard of the Great Pacific garbage patch, but the majority of plastic waste in the environment is more subtle: tiny particles ranging from the size of a pea to the thickness of a human hair — and even smaller. A team of U of T Engineering researchers — including Professor Elodie Passeport (CivMin, ChemE),… Read more »