Biography

Dr. Etmannski came to UBC in 2014 after completing her PhD in Environmental Engineering at the University of Oxford. Her dissertation included reverse-engineering off-grid, arsenic-removal water treatment systems located in rural India. She focused on using user-centered design principles and various sustainability metrics including LCA and PAM methodologies. Dr. Etmannski holds two undergraduate degrees from the University of Calgary, a BA in International Relations with a minor in Economics, and a BSc Honours in Applied and Environmental Geology (which is akin to our Geologic Engineering program). She is a Professional Engineer (PEng) through EGBC and APEGA. At UBC she is an Assistant Professor of Teaching in the Department of Civil Engineering. Her area of focus is on teaching and educational leadership activities related to ‘engineering leadership’ including topics like: sustainability, engineering impacts, engineering economics and decision-making, entrepreneurship, ethics, and professionalism.

Dr. Etmannski is a Co-Director of both of the Environmental Engineering undergraduate programs that UBC offers. The ENVE program is a partnership between the University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC) and UBC, and jointly offered between the two universities with students living on both campuses during different points in the program. The ENVL program is UBC’s dedicated Environmental Engineering program that students enter into during their second year, and is an internal UBC partnership between the Department of Civil Engineering and the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering.

Dr. Etmannski does not accept graduate students, nor does she run a research group. As such, emails requesting information about research opportunities will go unanswered.

Research Interests

Sustainability, engineering leadership, entrepreneurship, impact metrics, LCA, water management and treatment, water treatment technologies, curricula design and assessment, experiential teaching and learning in engineering

Courses

CIVL 302 Civil Engineering Impacts

CIVL 403 Engineering Economic Analysis

APSC 540 Entrepreneurial Thinking for Applied Scientists

ENVE 203 Environmental Engineering and Sustainability

CIVL 402 Professionalism and Law in Civil Engineering

Awards & Recognitions

• UBC Killam Teaching Award, 2021