Scholarship Winners

BSAO Undergraduate Scholarship Winner

2026-2027

Oskar Linkruus – Algonquin College
During high school, a common question asked of me was “What do you want to do when you grow up?” I hated this question, as I never had an answer, and that worried me. What I was able to answer was two things: something in construction, a field that had fascinated me since I had laid eyes on an excavator digging a foundation across the street, and I knew I wanted to do something related to the environment, even if the impact was small.

The answers to this question began during the 2020 COVID pandemic, when my parents bought, gutted, and renovated an old 1960s bungalow in Ottawa, which saw me help them completely redo the house. This became my first exposure to the world of project management, design, and building science, and for the first time in my life, it was work I looked forward to doing every day.

This momentum carried over into 2022, when I applied for the Bachelor of Building Science program at Algonquin. Through this program, I have learnt an incredible range of information on the complexities that not only go into constructing a building, but building one the right way, so that it stands the test of time and can be a model for efficient design in the industry.

Whether in the classroom or in the program’s mandatory co-op terms, the building science field has given me an abundance of opportunities, both for my career and academically, and I have been privileged enough to be surrounded by many intelligent, creative, and open-minded individuals.

BSAO Graduate Scholarship Winners

2026-2027

Kevin Cai – Toronto Metropolitan University
As with many, building science wasn’t on my radar early into my undergraduate degree civil engineering, I thought I was destined to go down the path of structural engineering but then I landed my first coop in general contracting/construction management I thought that would be the job for me for the rest of my life. I had built strong relationships within the company, I was excelling in my position, and I truly enjoyed the work. However, unbeknownst to me when I had plans to return for my next coop things didn’t work out and I had to search for a new coop; little did I know this would be a blessing in disguise.

At this point I was fixated on making my way into general contracting and so I was gunning for every junior field coordinator position I could find but after talking it out with my mother she advised that I should broaden my search for a wider range of experiences. I was reluctant at first as I had really enjoyed being a part of a GC, but eventually I started applying to other positions in adjacent industries. This is when I had first ever even heard of building science, as I read more about the job description, I became intrigued.

BSAO Graduate Scholarship Winners

2026-2027

Odel Linetska - Toronto Metropolitan University
 My interest in building science started in my undergraduate studies when I was attending my third-year studio class, which was not inherently building science focused, in fact it was far more architectural. The professor in this course would bring books with detailing from Scandinavian countries, which is a bit of a different detailing technique than we are used to in Toronto (ie, we don’t really build load bearing brick buildings anymore). The detailing found in these books caught my attention and I was hooked, because I could not just understand the building science side of detailing, it was also expressive of architectural intention. After that semester, I was on to my first architectural job (co-op) at Duncan Patterson Architecture (dPA), which is a small-scale residential firm in Toronto, and with about four employee’s total. I remember the very first detail Duncan assigned to me, it was a dormer detail, and it took quite a bit of time to understand and get the hang of. However, after this instance I requested that I get as many detailing assignments as possible, and I was given near daily detailing work to complete. I got to experience all sorts of assembly detailing, transition detailing, hygrothermal assembly modelling and so on. I have recently become a Certified Passive House Consultant, which feels like a natural extension of that early obsession with detailing. When I came back to finish my fourth year, after the 16-month co-op, I selected the building science concentration option which ultimately led me down the graduate building science path.

BSAO Graduate Scholarship

2025-2026

Lina Lopez-Castillo - Toronto Metropolitan University
 
Lina’s interest in architecture and building science began in her early teens, sparked by a fascination with the way structures shaped the world around her. She realized that architecture was not just about aesthetics but also about solving real-world problems—creating spaces that were sustainable, efficient, and human-centered. This curiosity deepened during her final year of undergraduate at TMU where she specialized in Building Science. Especially when she took BSC 820 - Building Science Design Studio, she became increasingly interested in the technical aspects of building science—the building envelope, materials, energy, and environmental factors influence design. Ultimately, it was the intersection of creativity and problem-solving in architecture that captivated her, leading her to pursue a path in this dynamic and impactful field of
building science.

BSAO Graduate Scholarship

2025-2026

Yazan Zamel - University of Toronto
 
Yazan’s passion for building science and the building envelope stems from a commitment to improving energy efficiency in lowcost housing and advocating for equitable energy access. As a graduate student in the Building Energy and Indoor Environment Lab at the University of Toronto, his research focuses on post-occupancy performance evaluations in retrofitted multi-unit residential buildings (MURBs), primarily occupied by underrepresented communities. This research assesses energy performance gaps by analyzing energy use, ventilation airflow rates, and indoor air quality. By identifying these discrepancies, his aim is to contribute to sustainable building design, ensuring that marginalized communities benefit from energy-efficient housing and healthier indoor environments.

BSAO Graduate Scholarship

2023-2024

Marley Dowling - University of Waterloo

Marley is undertaking her Master of Applied Science in Civil Engineering at the University of Waterloo. Marley has been a member of the BSAO UW chapter for approximately two years. At the start of this past academic year, she took on a more involved role with the University of Waterloo student chapter and was selected as a co-executive for the year. As one of the first ever graduate students of architectural engineering and now as a master’s student she was well suited to help engage and grow the chapter.ery involved with the Building Science Association of Ontario, presenting at BSAO events, and co-authoring papers presented at the Canadian Conference on Building Science & Technology. 

Marley’s profound interest in building science and the building envelope has been cultivated over the span of six years, beginning with her undergraduate studies in architectural engineering. Throughout her academic journey, she dedicated herself to understanding the intricate complexities of building systems, particularly through specialized coursework in building science. This educational foundation sparked a deep-seated curiosity in her, particularly regarding the multifaceted challenges inherent in optimizing building performance while satisfying the diverse array of stakeholder interests.

BSAO Undergraduate Scholarship

2023-2024

Colin Gu - University of Toronto

Colin is a University of Toronto student in the Civil Engineering undergraduate program BASc. Colin has participated in many BSAO events over the years as well obtaining an internship with a BSAO member company. Between the third and the fourth year of the undergraduate program, Colin interned at RDH Building Science as an Engineering Assistant. His responsibilities on this role included but were not limited to conducting site visits (roof condition reports, heritage building restoration, condo new construction quality assurance (TARION), water leakage investigation and repairs recommendation) and in-office design work (commercial and residential architectural detail reviews, thermal bridging and energy loss calculations, energy retrofit options recommendations, etc.).

Colin was drawn to the field of building science because it touches on both the design of the building enclosure, and the construction and installation of its components. From a design perspective, we could calculate the theoretical best of the performance. But in the meantime, we need to pay attention to aspects like material compatibility & properties, construction sequencing, construction quality assurance, etc., so that we have a high degree of confidence that what gets installed in the field aligns with what is prescribed. Building science covers both the design and the installation and assures that the finished product delivers the claimed performance in thermal, energy and occupant comfort. It is the dedication to truth that draws my interest!

BSAO Graduate Research Scholarship

2022-2023

Dorothy Johns - Toronto Metropolitan University

Dorothy is a PhD Building Science student at Toronto Metropolitan University.  Dorothy is very involved with the Building Science Association of Ontario, presenting at BSAO events, and co-authoring papers presented at the Canadian Conference on Building Science & Technology. 

Her further research interests are rooted in building science scholarship in architectural education and practice, with a focus on low-embodied carbon materials and material performance, high performance design utilizing passive and active systems, as well as low-energy and low-carbon design for human comfort from a holistic perspective on human health including physical and mental health.

BSAO Undergraduate Research Scholarship

2022-2023

Serena Kam - University of Waterloo

Serena is in her 4th year of study at the University of Waterloo, Honors Architectural Engineering & Co-op of Applied Science.  Serena has a strong passion for sciences, architectural engineering, and their integration in the building envelope.

Serena’s career goal is to apply science and physics to optimize energy performance and sustainability in the built environment by designing high quality building enclosures.  Retrofit is my major interest because it makes use of what we already have and avoids an enormous amount of waste from demolition and carbon emissions from producing new structural materials like concrete and steel.