Meet the team

Chris ParsonsChris Parsons, PhD - Research Scientist & Adjunct Professor
Chris leads the stream and watershed biogeochemistry team and holds an appointment as an adjunct professor at the University of Waterloo where he is affiliated with the Ecohydrology Research Group in the Department Earth and Environmental Sciences.
His research focuses on improving understanding of trace contaminant and nutrient mobility in dynamic environmental systems. He draws upon a range of complementary disciplines including, geochemistry, hydrology, microbiology, spectroscopy, thermodynamic modelling and statistics. Chris is particularly interested in the behaviour of redox-sensitive inorganic contaminants in freshwater aquatic sediments.
[email protected]
Zoey DugganZoey Duggan, MSc, BSc (Hons) - Aquatic Ecologist
Zoey supports research into land use effects on nutrient export in streams and rivers. In this role she coordinates and implements field programs, liaises with conservation authorities and university partners and provides field expertise and training to students. Her job with ECCC has allowed her to work in a variety of environments across Canada, from remote field sites in northern Alberta (helicopter access only) to the agricultural streams of the prairies and southern Ontario. Zoey also works in the lab processing water samples, maintaining, testing and calibrating equipment and in the office processing data. Zoey holds an Honours Bachelor of Science degree from Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia and a Master of Science degree in Marine Biology from the University of North Carolina Wilmington.
[email protected]
Ross MackayRoss MacKay - Research Technician
Ross has almost 30 years of experience with ECCC. He has spent the majority of his career as a field technician assisting scientists with hydrologic and meteorologic studies in a wide range of challenging environments including glaciers, mountains, the arctic, the prairies, the Great Lakes and southern Ontario. He is adept working from a variety of field platforms including small boats, research vessels, skidoos, ATVs, skis, and helicopters. Ross is also proficient in the analysis of sediment and water in the laboratory, and has provided programming support, using MATLAB, to numerous studies. Notably, Ross assisted with a comparison of global climate models, helping to predict future hydrologic conditions across Canada.
[email protected]
Jordan LiJordan Li - Research Assistant
Jordan is an undergraduate student at the University of Waterloo. She is currently going into her fourth year, pursuing a degree in Environmental Science with a specialization in Water Science. During her co-operative term with the lab, she will be assisting in studying the resilience and legacy of phosphorus in multiple restored and constructed wetlands within the Lake Erie Watershed.
[email protected]

Current students

NameInstitutionDegree programTopic
Bowen ZhouUniversity of WaterlooPhD - Earth and Envrionmental SciencesFate and speciation of phosphorus in stormwater management systems and implications for urban phosphorus cycling under climate change

Former students

NameInstitutionDegree programTopicGraduation year
Sebastian LingertatUniversity of WaterlooBSc - Mathematical PhysicsCo-op term: Field and laboratory research assistant2025
Kate LeungUniversity of WaterlooBASc - Systems Design EngineeringCo-op term: Development of a real-time IoT water quality sensor system2024
Nady KaoUniversity of WaterlooMSc - Earth and Envrionmental SciencesInfluence of a dammed reservoir on nutrient (N, P, Si) loads and ratios of the Thames River, Ontario2021
Lu HuangUniversity of WaterlooPhD - Earth and Envrionmental SciencesMechanisms controlling the recycling of nutrient silicon in freshwater sediments: An experimental study of the interactions between silicon, iron and phosphorus2020
Md Abdus SaburUniversity of WaterlooPhD - Earth and Envrionmental SciencesInteractions of phosphate and silicate with iron oxides in freshwater envrionments2019
Christine RidenourUniversity of WaterlooMSc - Earth and Envrionmental SciencesBiogeochemical cycling of nutrient silicon in a human-impacted large lake nearshore environment (Hamilton Harbour Area of Concern, Lake Ontario, Canada)2017