Keagan Hudson Rankin

Research

I am a PhD student and Vanier Scholar at University of Toronto Engineering. My research (supervised by Shoshanna Saxe and Daniel Posen) investigates the material demands of cities and infrastructure systems. I am determining the amount of materials we need, how demand for materials effects our energy systems, and how we can meet material demands without overstepping climate limits. I'm also interested epistemic questions regarding how we build, use and interpret models (e.g. machine learning) in applied science. Some examples of my research:

• The Future Infrastructure Growth (FIG) model, a simulation tool we created that won a national research award from the Canadian Government.
• A dataset we built using LCA and BIM tools to determine why some types of housing have lower material GHG emissions than others. This work helped inform changes to Toronto's housing policy.

Personal Stuff

Here are some other things I enjoy:

• I try to read non-PhD related material when I get the chance (i.e. rarely). Here are some books I am currently part way through or recently finished:
  Imperial Twilight: The Opium War and the End of China's Last Golden Age - Steven Platt
  One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
  Game Wizards: The Epic Battle for Dungeons & Dragons - Jon Peterson
• I lived in and have sat on the board of directors for CCRI, Canada's oldest housing cooperative. We're a democratic entity that provides housing to >200 students in downtown Toronto at well below market rate.
• I was a lightweight rower in a past life. I picked up the sport again while in Cambridge, and I am trying to regain my former speed.
  My last 2k was: 6:54 in Jan 2025.
  My current goal: maintaining and
  sub 7 by Fall 2026.