COSIA Director Joins Wilfrid Laurier Water Initiative

Kelly Munkittrick has been named Wilfrid Laurier’s executive director of cold regions and water initiatives, a newly created position within the university.

A former director of monitoring with the Canada’s Oil Sands Innovation Alliance (COSIA) and scientific director of the Canadian Water Network, Munkittrick will work to advance research initiatives and, student training opportunities supporting Laurier’s growing commitment to cold regions and water science. The position was created to advance a partnership with the Government of the Northwest Territories, the Global Water Futures program, and other cold regions and water science initiatives.

Munkittrick has a rich background in water sciences and a passion for fish.

He has worked for Environment Canada as the project chief with the Ecosystem Health Assessment Project at the National Water Research Institute, and as a research scientist with Fisheries and Oceans’ Great Lakes Laboratory for Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences. He has developed regional and national monitoring programs in South America, Asia and North America, and has worked with governments to improve environmental assessment models.

Dr. Munkittrick received a B.Sc. in fish and wildlife biology in 1980 and an M.Sc. in environmental physiology in 1983, both from the University of Guelph. He completed his PhD in 1988 in Aquatic Toxicology at the University of Waterloo.