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Work

Ruth Tamas

Profile

Engineering graduate and professional sustainability consultant experienced in academic, public, and private fields. Comprehensive experience leading fast-paced projects, authoring technical reports, and working with stakeholders. Significant experience (8+ years) leading building performance research. Advised and collaborated on teams in Canada, Germany, and Italy related to sustainable, occupant-centric design in residential and commercial buildings.  Further work as a consultant for the Government of Canada, implementing research strategies and workflows to support environmental policy and regulation development. Currently owning and operating Redraft, an engineering consultancy business. 

Education

Skills

MASc. Civil Engineering

Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Carleton University

First Class | Honours  | 4.0 GPA | 97% Average 

05/20 - 08/22

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BEng. Environmental Engineering

Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Carleton University

First class | Honours | 4.0 GPA | 78% Average

09/15 - 04/20

  • Mixed-methods research

  • Stakeholder communication

  • Occupant-centric design

  • Project management

  • Data dissemination

  • Environmental design

  • Technical writing

  • Microsoft suite

  • Figma

Work

08/23 - CURRENT

Founder, Owner

Redraft Consultancy

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Current and Previous Clients:

Sustainable Buildings Canada

  • Ongoing project: Better Buildings Bootcamp program evaluation for condominium refurbishment in Toronto, Canada

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Peel Passive House

  • Ongoing project: post-occupancy evaluation strategy for major Canadian passive home developer

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Carleton University

  • Administered and delivered an investigation seeking the expert opinion on thermostat standardization (see publication 1)

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National Research Council of Canada

  • Led research group investigating possible National Building Code enhancements

  • Authored internal and external reports with specific building code recommendations​

01/23 - 08/23

Environmental Policy Consultant

Transport Canada, Government of Canada

  • Streamlined workflow for international shipping (CII and EEXI) regulation development

  • Led cross-functional collaboration and engagement with stakeholders, industry partners, and NGOs

04/20 - 08/22

Graduate Researcher

Fraunhofer IBP & University of Perugia

  • Designed and delivered 2022 “cabin comfort testing” interface for BMW

  • Designed and delivered “digital thermostat control” interface for Fraunhofer IBP

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Carleton University

  • Executed two major research studies, resulting in multiple publications (see publications 2, 3, 5)

  • Presented research findings to stakeholders:

    • 5th International Conference on Building Energy and Environment

    • 7th International Symposium on Occupant Behaviour

  • Delivered two successful research proposals: secured funding and approvals for sustainability investigations of building interfaces

  • Managed and advised undergraduate research assistant (see publication 4)

  • Independently recruited and interviewed 50+ research participants

  • Generated concrete research insights from large datasets

04/21 - 12/21

Lecturer

Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Carleton University

  • Delivered teaching and learning to fourth year undergraduate students: Climate Change Engineering

  • Laboratory coordinator and instructor for second year undergraduate students: Mechanics of Solids 

09/18 - 07/19

Environmental Policy Advisor (Co-op year)

Transport Canada, Government of Canada

  • Drafted reports, placemats, briefing notes, and presentations for directors and ministers 

  • Expanded and improved impact assessment analysis

  • Coordinated across teams and departments to maintain dynamic timelines and deliverables

05/16 - 08/18

Research Assistant

Carleton University

  • Independently recruited and interviewed 200+ participants for research projects related to occupants and sustainability in the built environment

  • Developed, executed, and published research studies (see publications 6, 7, 8)

Publications

1.    Thermostat Standardization, Technology Trends, Future Considerations: Expert Interviews

Ruth Tamas, William O’Brien, Philip Agee

Energy & Buildings (2024)

2.    Developing Thermostat User Mental Models to Inform Energy-Saving Design

Ruth Tamas, William O’Brien, Mario Santana Quintero

Springer Nature (2023)

3.    Evolving Interaction: A Qualitative Investigation of User Mental Models for Smart Thermostat Users

Ruth Tamas, William O’Brien, Mario Santana Quintero

Architectural Science Review (2023)

4.    Comparative Usability Study Between Two Prototype Commercial Building Thermostat Interfaces

Justin Vezeau, Ruth Tamas, William O’Brien, Philip Agee

Science and Technology for the Built Environment (2023)

5.    Residential Thermostat Usability: Comparing Manual, Programmable, and Smart Devices

Ruth Tamas, William O’Brien, Mario Santana Quintero

Building and Environment (2021)

6.    A Field Study on the Effect of Building Automation on Perceived Comfort and Control

Ruth Tamas, William O’Brien, Mario Santana Quintero

Building and Environment (2021)

7.     Usability and Comfort in Canadian Offices: Interview of 170 University Employees

Mohamed M. Ouf, Ruth Tamas, William O'Brien

IOP Conference Series (2019)

8.    Summertime Window Use Behaviour in Air-Conditioned Condominiums 

Ruth Tamas, William O'Brien, Burak Gunay

IBPSA Canada Conference Series: Building Simulation to Support Building Sustainability (2018)

Ruth Tamas

MASC., B.Eng

ruth@redraft.ca

London, UK

LinkedIn

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