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Completing my degree in REM here at SFU has been a great experience—I have certainly learned a lot and have appreciated the warm and welcoming spirit of REM. Thanks to my classmates, my supervisor and the rest of the REM faculty, and my family and friends for your support.
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Tiffany Vass receives Dean of Graduate Studies Convocation Medal
As one of SFU's most outstanding graduate students from the Faculty of Environment Tiffany Vass is being recognized with the Dean of Graduate Studies Convocation Medal. On behalf of SFU, we congratulate Tiffany Vass as well as all Convocation Medal recipients on their outstanding achievements.
Tiffany Vass achieved a stellar 4.3 CGPA over her graduate program courses in the School of Resource and Environmental Management. Her Master’s research used energy-economy modeling to analyze policy options for Canada to achieve its greenhouse gas emission reduction targets, with a focus on flexible regulations due to their potential political acceptability advantage over alternatives such as carbon pricing.
In her Master’s major research project, Trading Off Political Acceptability and Economic Efficiency: Policy Options for Reducing Canada’s Electricity and Transportation Emissions, Vass found that Canada’s current proposed policies will be unlikely to reach the target for emissions reduction by 2030 under the Paris agreement. She analyzes what carbon price would be needed to meet the target if relying solely on emissions pricing and also explores a package of flexible regulations as an alternative way to meet the target.
She has received several prestigious awards, including a SSHRC Canada Graduate Scholarship Master's Award, and an SFU Graduate Fellowship. Her supervisor, Dr. Mark Jaccard, says that she is an excellent, hard-working student.
She also worked as a research assistant for Dr. Jaccard, co-authoring the influential report Is Win-Win Possible? Can Canada’s Government Achieve Its Paris Commitment… And Get Re-Elected? with her research team. This report offered an alternative policy approach regarding climate and emissions pricing, and helped gain attention in discussions about federal climate policy for initiatives such as the recommended coal phase-out policy and clean fuel standards.
Vass continues to work at SFU as a Research Associate with the Energy and Materials Research Group, and is currently working on a project focusing on the application of a national clean fuel standard in Canada. She looks forward to continued work on this and other projects on energy policy design and analysis during this exciting time for climate policy in Canada.
She adds, "Completing my degree in REM here at SFU has been a great experience—I have certainly learned a lot and have appreciated the warm and welcoming spirit of REM. Thanks to my classmates, my supervisor and the rest of the REM faculty, and my family and friends for your support."