Dr. Kristiina Valter Mai
Areas of Academic Interest
Environmental sustainability
Health engineering
Language and sensory perception
Spotlight
From the beginning, Kristiina Mai has challenged the status quo. Her path to engineering began as with many others: a love of math, science and problem solving. But Mai鈥檚 destiny wasn鈥檛 solidified until she faced resistance. 鈥淚 learned about engineering when I was in my upper high-school years,鈥 she recalls. 鈥淎 guidance counsellor said to me, 鈥榊ou can鈥檛 do that. That鈥檚 for boys.鈥 I replied, 鈥楻eally? I will try it.鈥 And I really enjoyed it.鈥
Out of Mai鈥檚 master鈥檚 studies exploring human perception, along with her work in motion sickness in space, grew a fascination with spaceflight. This ultimately landed her a job with the Canadian Space Agency in its inaugural year. And spaceflight helped Mai to see Earth's complexities. After working in industry with sensors and systems, she now directs the Ryerson Resilience Engineering Lab. Here, she applies sensing, networks and systems to the study of mental health factors and to food and water systems, like Mai鈥檚 smart irrigation and moisture sensing system for rooftop farms. 鈥淩esilience engineering speaks to adaptation and interaction with environments, be they in space or on Earth,鈥 says Mai.
鈥淭o nurture the healthiest self possible is to live in a healthy environment.鈥
The Toronto Metropolitan Resilience Engineering Lab (TMREL) explores human interaction with the environment focusing on the basics: food, water, shelter, health and wellbeing.- LabSustainability, Health and Environmental Engineering Lab