Skip to main content
Dr. Jennifer McKellar's headshot

Jennifer McKellar
PhD

Department Chair & Associate Professor

Department of Energy and Nuclear Engineering

Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science

Contact information

Energy Systems and Nuclear Science Research Centre (ERC) - Room 4022
North Oshawa
2000 Simcoe Street North
Oshawa, ON L1G 0C5

905.721.8668 ext. 5498

jennifer.mckellar@ontariotechu.ca

Education

  • PhD University of Toronto 2012
  • MASc University of Toronto 2005
  • BASc University of Toronto 2003

Courses taught

  • ENGR 3730U Solar Energy Technologies
  • ENGR 3840U Fuel Cell Design
  • ENGR 3930U Heat Transfer
  • NUCL 2860U Fluid Mechanics
  • NUCL 5090G Occupational Health and Safety
  • NUCL 5005G Special Topics:  Life Cycle Assessment in Nuclear Applications

Research and expertise

Tools for the techno-economic and environmental assessment of energy systems involving:

  • Life cycle assessment
  • Life cycle costing
  • Real options analysis
  • Expert elicitation

Analysed systems include: conventional nuclear power plants, small modular reactors, unconventional fossil fuels (e.g., oil sands by-product coke), and conventional fuels used in unconventional ways (e.g., coal for polygeneration of electricity, steam and hydrogen).

  • Postdoctoral Fellow, Institute for Sustainable Energy, Environment & Economy, University of Calgary; Department of Civil Engineering, University of Toronto, 2012
    Research area: Oil sands industry future greenhouse gas emissions
    Supervisors: Dr. Joule Bergerson, Dr. Heather MacLean.
  • Air Quality Engineer-in-Training, Golder Associates, Ltd., Mississauga, Ontario, 2005-2006.

Involvement

  • Selected journal papers
    • McKellar, J.M., Bergerson, J.A., Kettunen, J., and MacLean, H.L., Predicting project environmental performance under market uncertainties: Case study of oil sands coke. Environmental Science & Technology. 47: 5979-5987 (2013).
    • McKellar, J.M., Bergerson, J.A., and MacLean, H.L., Replacing natural gas in Alberta’s oil sands: Trade-offs associated with alternative fossil fuels. Energy & Fuels. 24: 1687-1695 (2010).
    • McKellar, J.M., Charpentier, A.D., Bergerson, J.A., and MacLean, H.L., A life cycle greenhouse gas emissions perspective on liquid fuels from unconventional Canadian and U.S. fossil sources. International Journal of Global Warming. 1: 160-178 (2009).
  • Affiliations
    • Professional Engineer in the Province of Ontario
    • Member of International Society for Industrial Ecology
    • Member of Chemical Institute of Canada (Canadian Society for Chemical Engineering)
    • Member of Golden Key International Honour Society

    • Member of Canadian Nuclear Society

  • Awards
    • Ontario Graduate Scholarship, 2010-2011
    • Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada – Postgraduate Scholarship D2, 2008-2010
    • Government of Ontario/DuPont Canada Scholarship in Science and Technology, 2003-2004
    • Mackay Hewer Memorial Prize, 2003
    • Canadian Society for Chemical Engineering Medal, 2002
  • Selected conference presentations
    • McKellar, J.M., Khan, D. (2020) Exploring the environmental performance potential of small modular reactors. Virtual International Symposium for Sustainable Systems and Technology (ISSST) 2020; June 9-July 1; Online.
    • McKellar, J.M. (2019) Oil sands energy supply and lessons for other major Canadian projects. 69th Canadian Chemical Engineering Conference; October 20-23; Halifax, NS.
    • McKellar, J. (2019) Decisions on energy supply and sustainability: Opportunities and challenges for existing urban areas. Sustainability: Transdisciplinary Theory, Practice, and Action; October 16-18; Mississauga, ON.
    • McKellar, J.M., Diependaal, E. (2018). The need for sustainability thinking in Ring of Fire developments. 2018 ONSEP (Ontario Network for Sustainable Energy Policy) Annual Workshop; April 23-25; Picton, Ontario.