EVolve Hackathon

Panel: Future of Transportation

Friday, November 24th at 5:15-6:15 pm 

Highland Hall Event Centre, Main Stage

Irena Creed (Moderator)

Irena Frances Creed is Professor and Vice Principal, Research & Innovation, University of Toronto—Scarborough and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (2019). She currently holds the Wallenberg Professorship (2021-2024) from the Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry (KSLA). This distinguished international guest professorship award supports work on her project, “Wetlands as a nature-based solution to support a thriving green sector.” Former Tier II Canada Research Chair in Watershed Sciences (2007- 2017), Professor Creed’s full range of research expertise encompasses planetary health, climate change, watershed sciences, hydrology, biogeochemistry, ecology, terrestrialaquatic linkages, forests, freshwater harmful algal blooms, carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, iron, sustainability, ecosystem services, communities-at-risk, scenario planning, risk management, and science-policy interface. In recent years, her research accomplishments have been recognized by an Honorary Doctor of Agricultural Sciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden (Bestowed 2019) and the Royal Society of Canada’s Bancroft Award (2020), which honours those notable for a combination of publication, instruction, and research in the earth sciences that has also contributed to public understanding and appreciation. 

Professor Alex Voznyy 

Alex earned his Ph.D. in Physics from Chernivtsi National University, Ukraine, where he investigated the electronic properties of nitride semiconductor alloys. In 2004 he joined the Quantum Semiconductors and Bionanophotonics Lab at the University of Sherbrooke as a Post-Doctoral Researcher, working on theoretical modeling of laser-assisted quantum well intermixing and self-assembly processes of organic monolayers on metal and semiconductor surfaces for applications in bio-sensing. In 2008, he moved to Quantum Theory Group at the National Research Council of Canada in Ottawa, where he worked on many-body problems in epitaxial and colloidal semiconductor and graphene quantum dots, more specifically, simulations of multi-exciton generation, Auger processes and optical properties of nanocrystals used in hybrid polymer-semiconductor solar cells. Alex joined Ted Sargent’s Nanomaterials for Energy Group in 2011, and worked on characterization and modeling of the semiconductor nanocrystal surfaces and development of the synthesis methods for nanomaterials with improved optical and transport properties for photovoltaics. In 2018, Alex joined the Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences at the University of Toronto, Scarborough as an Assistant Professor in Clean Energy. His topics of interest are materials for energy storage and the discovery of novel materials using high-throughput experiments and machine learning. 

Professor Paty Romero-Lankao 

Dr. Paty Romero-Lankao is a Sociology Professor at the University of Toronto and recipient of a Canada Excellence Research Chair in Sustainability Transitions. Her work focuses on crucial intersections among people, climate change and cities worldwide. She has developed many innovative methods (e.g., clustering techniques) to examine how inequalities in income, education, and decision-making power across populations relate to the distribution of benefits or negative impacts of policies. She has developed tools such as listening sessions and fuzzy cognitive maps to examine the energy and climate needs and aspirations of underrepresented groups. Dr. Romero-Lankao has extensive experience as a sociologist working across disciplines and at the science-society interface in the United States and internationally. She was a co-leading author in a working group contributing to the Nobel Prize-winning Fourth Assessment Report published by the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.  

Raseeka Rahumathulla 

Raseeka Rahumathulla has led Government and Regulatory Affairs for Volkswagen Group Canada since 2011 and champions their sustainability agenda. She is a passionate bridge-builder in advancing the company’s electric transformation and broader EV ecosystem.  In 2019, Raseeka steered the founding of Electrify Canada to support ultra-fast and convenient charging (in collaboration with Electrify America) and co-championed an industry-led EV battery recycling backstop program to advance the circular economy. Prior to this, she worked for federal regulators in Ottawa and holds a BASc (Chemical Engineering)/BSc (Biochemistry) from the University of Ottawa. 

Fri, November 24th at 3:00 pm to 8:30 pm

• Networking/Team Formation
• Challenge Statement Reveal
• Panel of the Future of Transportation

Sat, November 25th at 9:00 am to 8:30 pm

• Workshops
• Hacking Time 
• Destressing

Sun, November 26th at 10:00 am to 3:30 pm

• Pitching & Judging 
• Awards Ceremony

We are looking for the following!

• Hackathon Participant
• Volunteer
• Panel/Keynote
• Expert/Mentor
• Sponsor

Sign up here: https://forms.gle/bYxet7eE23mFo2fD8