Faculty

Peter Carrington

Kim Boucher — Tue, 26 Apr 2022 21:33:35 +0000

Peter Carrington Kim Boucher Tue, 04/26/2022 - 17:33

Peter Carrington retired in 2019 as Professor of Sociology at the University of ��ݮ��Ƶ, and is now Adjunct Professor in the Department of Knowledge Integration. His current research project, the Canadian Criminal Careers and Criminal Networks Study, combines his long-standing interests in social network analysis and in the development of crime and delinquency. His articles have appeared in various journals, including the Journal of Mathematical Sociology, Social Networks, Criminology, Canadian Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice, and Criminal Justice Policy Review. He is editor of Applications of Social Network Analysis (Sage Publications, 2014) and co-editor of The SAGE Handbook of Social Network Analysis (Sage Publications, 2011) and Models and Methods in Social Network Analysis (Cambridge University Press, 2005).

Mathieu Feagan

Kim Boucher — Tue, 21 Dec 2021 20:50:51 +0000

Mathieu Feagan Kim Boucher Tue, 12/21/2021 - 15:50

mathieu.feagan@uwaterloo.ca
519-888-4567, ext. 40859
EV1 212

Matt is a critical social scientist working on interdisciplinary pedagogies of social transformation and ecological consciousness, using qualitative methods and global networks to achieve climate justice across different ways of knowing. Matt has held positions with the International Development Research Centre’s EcoHealth program, Arizona State University’s School of Sustainability and School for the Future of Innovation in Society, and the University of Toronto’s Department of Leadership, Higher & Adult Education. He holds a PhD in Communication and Culture from Toronto Metropolitan University (formally Ryerson), a Masters in Canadian and Native Studies from Trent University, and a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology from McGill University.

Here are some examples of Matt’s work:

Feagan M, Muñoz-Erickson TA, Hobbins R, Baja K, et al. (2024). “Co-producing new knowledge systems for resilient and just coastal cities: A social-ecological-technological systems framework for data visualization,” in Cities: The International Journal of Urban Policy and Planning, Volume 156, 2025,105513, ISSN 0264-2751, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2024.105513.
Principal Investigator: Dr. Mathieu Feagan. Co-PI: Dr. Leslie Wexler. 2023 New Frontiers in Research Fund – Exploration (NFRF, $250,000). Just transitions as consciousness change: Learning with front-line communities.
Feagan M, Fork M, Gray G. et al. (2023). “Critical pedagogical designs for SETS knowledge co-production: online peer- and problem-based learning by and for early career green infrastructure experts,” in Urban Transformations 5, 6 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1186/s42854-023-00051-1
Member of the Urban Resilience to Extremes Sustainability Research Network, and guest editor for a special issue of Environmental Science & Policy on Knowledge Systems for Urban Resilience
Co-principal investigator on National Science Foundation Smart and Connected Communities Planning Grant
Co-principal investigator on National Science Foundation RULA IRES Nature-Based Solutions Research in Urban Latin America: International Research Experience for Students
Early Career Scholar and co-organizer of holistic green infrastructure network Get SETS GI!
Core team member for Neighborhood Heat Action Planning in Phoenix
Antipode International Workshop Award – the role of activists and academics in addressing health and environmental issues associated with resource extraction
Dissertation: Ecological Consciousness and the Limits of the Academy

Matt teaches INTEG 220/SOC 312 The Nature of Scientific Knowledge, GEOG 410 Climate Justice, ENVS 410 Urban Futures Project, INTEG 375 Action Research and Student-Produced Knowledge, INTEG 251 Creativity and Innovation, and the capstone INTEG 420 Senior Honours Project course.

For more information about his research, visit Mathieu Feagan's faculty web page.

Vanessa Schweizer

Kim Boucher — Mon, 09 Sep 2013 14:12:42 +0000

Vanessa Schweizer Kim Boucher Mon, 09/09/2013 - 10:12

vanessa.schweizer@uwaterloo.ca
519 888-4567, ext. 45106
EV1 208

Vanessa's fundamental training was in Physics, and she holds minors in Mathematics, Philosophy, and Speech Communication. She also holds a Masters in Environmental Studies and a PhD in Engineering and Public Policy. She blends these interdisciplinary interests through her work on scenarios, which are common tools for collective decision-making. In a variety of contexts, collective decision-making includes many processes such as articulating aspirations and values, exercising foresight, confronting uncertainties and risks, and negotiating tradeoffs.

Vanessa's teaching includes coursework on design and problem-solving. Her research focuses on the problem of cross-disciplinary knowledge integration and the design of scenarios for the human dimensions of large-scale environmental change. She also has ongoing projects around problems in long-term decision-making such as forecasting and discontinuities (that is, developments that could be considered "game changing" compared to the status quo). Her recent work has included the influence of occupational, interpersonal, and cultural conflicts on climate change attitudes.

Vanessa is currently teaching INTEG 121: Design and Problem Solving, INTEG 251: Creative Thinking, INTEG 452: Real World Problem Solving, and INTEG 475 Special Topics: Evidence-Based Decision Making.

Read about her research: Climate change: Is your weather forecaster telling the whole truth?

Visit Vanessa Schweizer's faculty web page.

John McLevey

Kim Boucher — Mon, 01 Jul 2013 13:35:41 +0000

John McLevey Kim Boucher Mon, 07/01/2013 - 09:35

john.mclevey@uwaterloo.ca

John McLevey taught in Knowledge Integration from 2013-2024. He moved into an adjunct position in 2025 to maintain his connection to the KI and ENV community while taking on a new role. He is currently Professor and Head of Sociology at Memorial University. He lives in St. John’s NL with his partner Ally and their twins, Quinn and Nora.

Visit John McLevey's KI faculty web page.

Katie Plaisance

Lisa Marie Proctor — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 19:16:14 +0000

Katie Plaisance Lisa Marie Proctor Tue, 01/24/2012 - 14:16

If you're contacting Katie in her capacity as Associate Chair/Director, Knowledge Integration, please use: ki.ug.associatechair@uwaterloo.ca

kathryn.plaisance@uwaterloo.ca
519-888-4567, ext. 48612
EV1 214

Katie received her Bachelor of Science in both Philosophy and Molecular Biology from the University of Wisconsin in 2000, followed by a Masters and PhD in Philosophy, with a minor in Bioethics, from the University of Minnesota in 2006. Before coming to the University of ��ݮ��Ƶ, Katie was a postdoctoral fellow in the Center for Philosophy and Ethics of Science at the Leibniz University of Hannover in Germany.

Katie’s interest in philosophy began with the Theory of Knowledge course she took as an International Baccalaureate (IB) student. Since then, she has pursued and combined her interests in philosophy, biology, and psychology, and shares with other members of the Department of Knowledge Integration a passion for interdisciplinary education. Her research interests include: engaged philosophy of science, philosophy of the behavioural sciences, and interdisciplinary expertise. Katie’s work is highly collaborative – she has published with students and faculty researchers in the social sciences, behavioural sciences, and in philosophy.

Katie is currently leading a 5-year grant-funded project that seeks to foster meaningful collaboration between philosophers of science, on the one hand, and scientists and engineers, on the other. She is also a member of the International Network for the Science of Team Science (INSciTS), a field of scholars and practitioners that trains people how to work effectively in teams.

Katie regularly teaches INTEG 220: Nature of Scientific Knowledge, INTEG 221: The Social Nature of Knowledge, and INTEG 210: Making Collaboration Work. She also teaches a number of rotating special topics courses, including INTEG 375: Science, Society, and Values, INTEG 410: Interdisciplinary Collaboration, and INTEG 475: Socially Relevant Philosophy of Science, as well as INTEG 420 A & B, Senior Research Project A & B.

She has been recognized for her teaching excellence and dedication with the honour of the University of ��ݮ��Ƶ Distinguished Teacher Award in 2016, the 2020-2021 Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations (OCUFA) Teaching Award, and the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance (OUSA) Teaching Excellence Award, 2022.

For more information about her research, visit Katie Plaisance's faculty web page.

Rob Gorbet

Lisa Marie Proctor — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 19:10:39 +0000

Rob Gorbet Lisa Marie Proctor Tue, 01/24/2012 - 14:10

rbgorbet@uwaterloo.ca
519-888-4567, ext. 43489
EV1 203

Formally trained as an electrical engineer, Rob is an interdisciplinarian, a mechatronics specialist, an award-winning teacher and a technology artist. He loves words, art, design, teaching, travel, squash, and his friends and family.

Rob’s teaching includes courses on the profession of engineering, microcontrollers, robotics, control systems, and technology art. His engineering research involves the design of actuators made of Shape Memory Alloys (SMA), for everything from car door locks to subtle next-generation actuation systems for responsive architectural environments.

Rob is a key member of Gorbet Design, a design firm and consultancy specializing in public interactive artwork and experiences, and also collaborates with other designers, artists, and architects. Gorbet’s collaborative interactive artworks have been exhibited across Europe and North America and have won several awards, including the international FEIDAD and VIDA 11.0 first prize, and being selected to represent Canada at the 2010 Venice Architecture Biennale. They have been featured in major print and online media, and on the Discovery Channel’s Daily Planet.

Rob teaches INTEG 320 & 321, The Museum Course: Research & Design, and Practicum & Presentation. He also teaches INTEG 375, Special Topics in Knowledge Integration: Technology Art Studio, an upper-year elective course in which interdisciplinary teams of students collaborate to create and exhibit works of technology-mediated sculpture.

Watch a video interview with Rob done for Creativity Matters, Atlantic Centre for Creativity Online Journal.

Visit Rob Gorbet's faculty web page.

Ed Jernigan

Lisa Marie Proctor — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 19:07:36 +0000

Ed Jernigan Lisa Marie Proctor Tue, 01/24/2012 - 14:07

jernigan@uwaterloo.ca

Ed joined ��ݮ��Ƶ in 1976 after completing his Bachelor of Science, Master of Science, and PhD degrees from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was a professor and founding director of the Bachelor of Knowledge Integration program and former chair of the Department of Systems Design Engineering.

A dedicated teacher, Ed has been recognized with both the Distinguished Teacher Award of the University of ��ݮ��Ƶ and the Teaching Excellence Award for the Faculty of Engineering.

From 1984 to 2015 Ed served as the Program Director for the Shad summer enrichment program, living in residence with 48 high school students during the month of July. In 2004 he created a university-wide enrichment program for high school students of exceptional potential, ��ݮ��Ƶ Unlimited, which he directed until the program ended in 2017.

In 2019, Ed was designated Honorary Member of the University in recognition and thanks for his four decades of impactful service in teaching and administration, and for his work to break down disciplinary boundaries. He was a mentor, friend, and inspiration to students and colleagues alike, and his passion is legendary for giving students tools to know the world, and skills to change the world.

Ed has taught INTEG 275: Special Topics: Mathematical Models in Knowledge Integration: Recognizing Patterns Across Disciplines, INTEG 121, Introduction to the Academy: Design and Problem Solving, INTEG 420: Senior Research Project, and INTEG 475: Special Topics in Knowledge Integration: Real World Problem Solving, along with many Systems Design Engineering courses.

He retired in 2016 and continues to be a part of the KI community.

Ed shares the story of how KI was founded: Education by Design: The KI Story