Amanda Giang

Assistant Professor

Canada Research Chair in Environmental Modelling for Policy

Jointly appointed in the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability
B.A.Sc. (University of Toronto), M.S. (MIT), Ph.D. (MIT), Postdoctoral Appointment (MIT, Harvard)

Research Interests

My research addresses challenges at the interface of environmental modelling and policy through an interdisciplinary lens, with a focus on air pollution and toxics. How can we use simulation, statistical, and qualitative methods to assess the environmental and health impacts of technology and policy? How do we take into account uncertainty in human, technological, and natural systems? And how can we use environmental modelling to better empower communities and inform policy decision-making, from local to global scales?

Current Research Work

• Modelling the prospective impacts of policy on the sources, fate, and transport of global toxic pollutants (mercury, persistent organic pollutants)
• Developing computationally efficient air quality modelling and risk assessment tools to support uncertainty analysis, stakeholder decision-making, and community organizing for environmental justice
• Developing data analysis methods (and assessment processes) for evaluating the effectiveness of environmental policy, given uncertainty

Selected Publications

• Giang, A., Edwards, M.R., Fletcher, S., Gryba, R., Mathias, J.D., Vernier-Cambron, C., Anderies, J., Berglund, E., Carley, S., Erickson, J., Gardner-Frolick, R., Grubert, E., Hadjimicahel, A., Hill, J.D., Mayfield, E., Nock, D., Pikok, K., Saari, R., Samudio Lezcano, C.M., Siddiqi, A., Skerker, J., Verburg, P. Equity and modeling in sustainability science: examples and opportunities throughout the process. PNAS, In Press.
• Laskar, I.I., Giang, A. 2023. Policy approaches to mitigate in-use methane emissions from natural gas use as a marine fuel. Environmental Research: Infrastructure and Sustainability, 3:025005. https://doi.org/10.1088/2634-4505/accf33
• Elder, S., Wittman, H., Giang, A. 2023. Building sustainability research competencies through scaffolded pathways for undergraduate research experience. Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene, 11:1. https://doi.org/10.1525/elementa.2022.00091
• Chakraborty, M., Giang, A. and Zimmerman, N. 2023. Performance evaluation of portable dual-spot micro-aethalometers for source identification of Black Carbon aerosols: Application to wildfire smoke and traffic emissions in the Pacific Northwest. Atmospheric Measurement Techniques, 16:2333-2352. https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2333-2023
• Rodgers, T., Giang, A., Diamond, M., Gillies, E., Saini, A. 2023. Emissions and Fate of Organophosphate Esters in Outdoor Urban Environments. Nature Communications, 14:1175. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-36455-7
• Li, M., Gillies, E.J., Briner, R., Hoover, C.A., Sora, K.J., Loseto, L.L., Walters, W.J., Cheung, W. and Giang, A. Investigating the dynamics of methylmercury bioaccumulation in the Beaufort Sea Shelf food web: a modeling perspective. Environmental Science: Processes and Impacts. 24(7), pp.1010-1025, 2022. doi:10.1039/D2EM00108J
• Giang, A., Boyd, D.R., Ono, A.J. and McIlroy-Young, B. Exposure, access, and inequities: Central themes, emerging trends, and key gaps in Canadian environmental justice literature from 2006 to 2017. The Canadian Geographer/Le Géograpje canadien. 66(3), pp.434-449, 2022. doi:10.1111/cag.12754
• Gardner-Frolick, R., Boyd, D.R. and Giang, A. Selecting Data Analytic and Modeling Methods to Support Air Pollution and Environmental Justice Investigations: A Critical Review and Guidance Framework. Environmental Science & Technology, 56(5), pp. 2843-2860, 2022. doi:10.1021/acs.est.1c01739
• *Rossa-Roccor, V., Giang, A., Kershaw P. Framing climate change as a human health issue – enough to tip the scale in climate policy? The Lancet Planetary Health, Viewpoint, 5(8), e553-e559, 2021. doi:10.1016/S2542-5196(21)00113-3
• Edwards, M.R., Giang, A., Macey, G.P., Magaivi, Z., Nicholas, D., Ackley, B., Schulman, A.. Repair Failures Call for New Policies to Tackle Leaky Natural Gas Distribution Systems. Environmental Science & Technology. 55(10), pp. 6561-6570, 2021. doi:10.1021/acs.est.0c07531
• Giang, A. and Castellani, K.. Cumulative air pollution indicators highlight unique patterns of injustice in urban Canada. Environmental Research Letters, 15(12), p.124063, 2020. doi:10.1088/1748-9326/abcac5
• Mulvaney KM, Selin NE, Giang A., Muntean M, Li CT, Zhang D, Angot H, Thackray CP, Karplus VJ. Mercury Benefits of Climate Policy in China: Addressing the Paris Agreement and the Minamata Convention Simultaneously. Environmental Science & Technology. 54(3):1326-35, 2020.

For a full list of publications, visit my profile on: