Dr. Laura Minet joins University of Victoria faculty

head shot of Dr. Laura Minet
Dr. Laura Minet

Congratulations and best wishes to Dr. Laura Minet on starting a new position as Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at University of Victoria on January 1, 2022.

Laura earned her PhD in 2020 from the Department of Civil & Mineral Engineering at the University of Toronto under the supervision of Professor Marianne Hatzopoulou. Her thesis is “From Bike Lanes to Highway Trucks, Assessing the Impact of Transportation Policies on Air Pollution Exposure at Local and Regional Scales.”

She previously completed her MASc at McGill University, and MEng and BEng degrees at École Centrale de Nantes, France.

While at U of T, Laura was President of the University of Toronto Institute of Transportation Engineers Student Chapter (UT-ITE) in 2018-2019. She won the Frances Bradfield Graduate Fellowship in Environmental Engineering twice. She was also featured in “Something in the Air,” a documentary from CBC’s The Nature of Things, and contributed to the project “Clearing the Air: How Electric Vehicles and Cleaner Trucks Can Help Reduce Pollution, Improve Health and Save Lives in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area” with Environmental Defence and the Ontario Public Health Association.

Laura says:

The highlight of my studies at U of T was being part of a thriving, enthusiastic and outstanding community of researchers and students striving to address pressing urban challenges.

I had many exciting opportunities at U of T that enhanced my PhD experience—being president of UT-ITE, and participating in the launch of the School of Cities Student Academy, to name just two.

After completing her PhD, Laura held a postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Earth Sciences at U of T until June 2021, when she accepted a postdoctoral fellowship at the Department of Civil Engineering at University of Victoria and started developing a teaching and research program in air quality and transportation engineering.

Laura says she is looking forward to her new position at the “greenest” civil engineering department in Canada, where sustainability is at the core of all teaching and research.