Thesis Defenses and Final Project Presentations

Defenses and presentations may be in person or online. If you wish to remotely attend an online defence via Zoom videoconferencing, please register using the attached Eventbright link. Guests are asked to enter an online defence with their mic and video turned off. If you are unfamiliar with using Zoom, it is recommended you practice prior to logging in to the defense. If you have problems with the link, email the Graduate Program Assistant.

Defences and presentations are listed in reverse order with the latest one at the top. All events are open to the public.

Master of Resource Management Thesis
Candidate: Olivia Schaefer (Supervisor Brett VanPoorten)
Title:  Assessing Potential Harvest Regulations of a Remote Bull Trout Fishery in BC by Directly Estimating Exploitation Rate
Date: Tuesday January 27th, 2026
Time: 10:00 a.m.
Location: REM Seminar Room (TASC 8219)

Completed Defenses and Presentations

Master of Resource Management (Planning)
Candidate: Mieke Boecker (Supervisor Andreanne Doyon)
Title: Exploring equity considerations in urban forest management plans in British Columbia
Date:Thursday January 22 2026
Time: 10:00 am
Location: REM Seminar Room (TASC1 8219)

Master of Resource Management (Planning)
Candidate: Martha Killian (Supervisor Tom Gunton)
Title: Evaluating Canadian Provincial Climate Policy
Date: Monday January 19th, 2026
Time: 10:00 a.m.
Location: Online (if you do not want to submit your personal information to Eventbrite, please email the department)

Master of Resource Management Thesis
Candidate: Samuel Ofoe (Supervisor Brett VanPoorten)
Title:  Evaluating the Effects of Survey Data Gaps on Model-Based Decision Making in Recreational Spot Prawn Fisheries of the Strait of Georgia
Date: Tuesday December 9th, 2025
Time: 7:30 a.m.
Location: Online Event

Masters of Resource Management Project
Candidate: Michelle Douglas (Supervisor Sean Cox)
Title: Quantifying uncertainty in preseason forecasts of en-route mortality used in Fraser River sockeye management
Date: Tuesday December 16th, 2025
Time: 9:00 a.m.
Location: REM Seminar Room (TASC1 8219)

Master of Resource Management
Candidate: Ashley Kelsey (Supervisor Andrés Cisneros-Montemayor)
Title: All Tide Up: Addressing the Regulatory and Environmental Barriers Affecting Tidal Energy Development in British Columbia
Date: Friday November 28th, 2025
Time: 2:00 p.m.
Location: Dean's Conference Room TASC 2 8570

Master of Resource Management (Planning)
Candidate: Aubrie Verleur (Supervisor Meg Holden)
Title: How Does Burnaby's Urban Forest Strategy Integrate the Planning Objectives of Natural Assets, Emergency Planning, and Climate Change Adaptation?
Date: Friday November 28th, 2025
Time: 10:00 a.m.
Location: REM Seminar Room TASC 1 8219

Doctor of Philosophy
Candidate: Angela Lara (Supervisor Zafar Adeel)
Title: Re-imagining Resettlements: Rebuilding Ecosystems and Livelihoods (RELi)
Date: Friday November 28th, 2025
Time: 2:00 p.m.
Location: REM Seminar Room TASC 1 8219

Doctor of Philosophy
Candidate: Aaron Pardy (Supervisor Mark Jaccard)
Title: Policy, consumers, and technology transitions in decarbonization: Insights from transport, home heating, and solar photovoltaics
Date: Wednesday November 26th, 2025
Time: 9:00 a.m.
Location: REM Seminar Room TASC 1 8219

Master of Resource Management
Candidate: Jackson Fitzgerald (Supervisor Jonn Axsen)
Title: Where to plug-in? Comparing electric vehicle charging preferences among Canadian residence types.
Date: Wednesday, November 5th 2025
Time: 11:00 a.m. 
Location: Online

Master of Resource Management
Candidate: Rosalyn Shepherd (Supervisor Mark Jaccard)
Title: How could the iron and steel sector contribute to a net-zero future? 
Date: Wednesday, September 24, 2025
Time: 9:30 a.m.
Location: Online

Masters of Resource Management Thesis
Candidate: Michele Grenier (Supervisor Anne Salomon)
Title: Indigenous knowledge reveals recent predator relationships along the northwest coast of North America were enduring features of late Holocene shorelines
Date: Thursday August 28, 2025
Time: 10:30 a.m.
Location: REM Seminar Room (TASC1 8219)

Masters of Resource Management Thesis
Candidate: Michele Grenier (Supervisor Anne Salomon)
Title: Indigenous knowledge reveals recent predator relationships along the northwest coast of North America were enduring features of late Holocene shorelines
Date: Thursday August 28, 2025
Time: 10:30 a.m.
Location: REM Seminar Room (TASC1 8219)

Master of Resource Management Project
Candidate: Jiaqi Zhang (Supervisor Mark Jaccard)
Title: Policy Analysis of British Columbia Liquified Natural Gas’ Economic and Geopolitical Implications
Date: Wednesday August 20, 2025
Time: 5:00 p.m.
Location: 2250 Westcoast Energy Executive Room, SFU Harbour Centre

Master of Resource Managment Thesis
Candidate: Emma Griggs (Supervisor Jonathan Moore)
Title: Developing and applying a framework to evaluate the efficacy of cumulative effects management in policy
Date: Tuesday August 19, 2025
Time: 10:00 a.m.
Location: Library Thesis Defense Room (WAC 2200)

Master of Resource Management Thesis
Candidate: Mackenzie Skuce (Supervisor Karen Kohfeld)
Title: Insights from Diatom Abundance and Morphology over the last 300,000 years in the southwest Pacific Sector of the Southern Ocean
Date: Tuesday August 5, 2025
Time: 10:00 a.m.
Location: REM Seminar Room TASC1 8219

Master of Resource Management Thesis
Candidate: Cassandra Pereira (Supervisor Karen E Kohfeld)
Title: Tracing Environmental Change through Pollen Records: Holocene Vegetation History in Southern British Columbia
Date: Monday July 28, 2025
Time: 9:00 a.m.
Location: REM Seminar Room TASC1 8219

Master of Resource Management Project Presentation
Candidate: Alli Di Giovanni (Supervisor Andreanne Doyon)
Title: In the Wake of Extreme Heat: Equitable Urban Heat Planning for Residential Buildings
Date: Thursday July 24, 2025
Time: 9:00 a.m.
Location: REM Seminar Room TASC1 8219

Master of Resource Management
Candidate: Edmund Strachan (Supervisor Sophie Wilkinson)
Title: Carbon Dynamics in Managed Peatlands: Understanding the Early Recovery Phase Post-Wildfire
Date: Thursday July 3, 2025
Time: 10:00 am
Location: REM Planning Room TASC2 7520

Master of Resource Management
Candidate: Maya Townend (Supervisor Brett van Poorten)
Title: Identifying Values-Based Objectives and Informing Reference Points for Dolly Varden Subsistence Fisheries Through Gwich’in and Inuvialuit Knowledge
Date: Thursday June 26, 2025
Time: 2:00 pm
Location: Online

Doctor of Philosophy
Candidate: Jessica Skye Augustine (Supervisor Anne Salomon)
Title: Bringing our beaches to life again: the resurgence of Coast Salish clam gardening territory
Date: Tuesday June 10, 2025
Time: 10:00 am
Location: HC 2270 SFU Vancouver

Master of Resource Management (Planning)
Candidate: Megan Roxby (Supervisor Cliff Atleo)
Title: "We’re Fighting for Our Future”: Navigating Cross-Jurisdictional Complexity in Establishing Indigenous-Led Conservation of the Skagit Headwaters.
Date: Monday June 2, 2025
Time: 9:30 am
Location: Sto:lo Research and Resource Management Centre, 7201 Vedder Road, Chilliwack

Doctor of Philosophy
Candidate: Hossein Ayouqi (Supervisor Duncan Knowler)
Title: Sustainable Aquaculture in British Columbia: Bioeconomic Insights into Integrated Multitrophic Aquaculture (IMTA)
Date: Friday May 30, 2025
Time: 9:30 am.
Location: Library Thesis Defense Room 2020, WAC Bennet Library

Master of Resource Management (Planning)
Candidate: Dana Kluchinski (Supervisor Sean Markey)
Title: From Ownership to Stewardship: Centering Belongings in Indigenous Heritage Management in the Salish Sea
Date: Friday April 25, 2025
Time: 10:30 am
Location: REM Seminar Room TASC 1 8219

Master of Resource Management (Planning)
Candidate: Jordan Wilson (Supervisor Sean Markey)
Title: Renewing Rural Economies: Exploring the Connection Between Land Use Planning and Regenerative Economic Development in the Cowichan Valley, British Columbia
Date: Thursday April 24, 2025
Time: 10:30 am
Location: REM Seminar Room TASC 1 8219

Doctor of Philosophy
Candidate: Katarina Kwon (Supervisor Murray Rutherford)
Title: Moving beyond assessment: Indigenous-led cumulative effects management in Metlakatla First Nation territory
Date: Wednesday April 23, 2025
Time: 12:30 pm.
Location: Library Thesis Defense Room 2020, WAC Bennet Library

Master of Resource Management (Planning)
Candidate: Christina Gemino  (Supervisor Tammara Soma)
Title: The Silent Death of Agriculture in Metro Vancouver: When Farmland Protection Isn’t Enough
Date: Monday March 24, 2025
Time: 11:00 am
Location: REM Seminar Room (TASC1 8219)

Master of Resource Management (Planning)
Candidate: Jordyn Carss  (Supervisor Tammara Soma)
Title: Feeding our Friends: An Assessment of the Prince Rupert Food System through a Social-Ecological Resilience Lens
Date: Monday March 17, 2025
Time: 9:00 am
Location: Online

Master of Resource Management
Candidate: Jeremy Ross (Supervisor Brett van Poorten)
Title: Predicting public responses to proactive management of aquatic invasive species through stated preferences for lake attributes in Jasper National Park
Date: Tuesday February 4. 2025
Time: 11:00 am
Location: Online