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Ontario Tech acknowledges the lands and people of the Mississaugas of Scugog Island First Nation.

We are thankful to be welcome on these lands in friendship. The lands we are situated on are covered by the Williams Treaties and are the traditional territory of the Mississaugas, a branch of the greater Anishinaabeg Nation, including Algonquin, Ojibway, Odawa and Pottawatomi. These lands remain home to many Indigenous nations and peoples.

We acknowledge this land out of respect for the Indigenous nations who have cared for Turtle Island, also called North America, from before the arrival of settler peoples until this day. Most importantly, we acknowledge that the history of these lands has been tainted by poor treatment and a lack of friendship with the First Nations who call them home.

This history is something we are all affected by because we are all treaty people in Canada. We all have a shared history to reflect on, and each of us is affected by this history in different ways. Our past defines our present, but if we move forward as friends and allies, then it does not have to define our future.

Learn more about Indigenous Education and Cultural Services

headshot of Jennifer McKellar

Jennifer McKellar
PhD

Department Chair (Acting) & 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.