Keagan Rankin

Keagan Hudson Rankin

PhD candidate & Vanier Scholar · University of Toronto Engineering

My research investigates the resource demands of future human development. I think about how we can design material & energy systems that meet future demand within planetary limits. I'm also interested in epistemic questions r.e. how we use and interpret computational models (e.g. machine learning, energy system optimizations, stochastic simulations) in applied sciences. I spent part of my PhD at the University of Cambridge Centre for Sustainable Development, and before Toronto I completed a BScEng at the University of New Brunswick.

Keagan Rankin

Research and selected papers

All papers →

My primary doctoral work is supervised by Shoshanna Saxe and Daniel Posen. Our research has helped inform housing and zoning policy in the City of Toronto and other municipalities across Canada. We won national research award from the Canadian Federal Government in 2024 for our research on climate-compatible housing. Our work has been covered by media outlets like Forbes.

I'm also involved in a few collaborations with international colleagues. Several ISIE members and I are researching how rapid developments in AI are affecting the reproducibility of sustainabiltiy science and life cycle assessment. I'm also working with the IRP at the United Nations EP to model the possible growth pathways, and environmental impacts, of cities in developing countries. Links to some recent papers are included below:

Personal stuff

  • I try to read non-PhD related material when I get the chance. 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
    Lincoln in the Bardo - George Saunders
    Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie (this one is collecting dust on my shelf)
  • I used to live in and sit 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, but I'm currently relegated to erging solo a few times a week.
    My last 2k was: 6:54 in Jan 2025.
    My current goal: maintaining and
    sub 7 by Fall 2026.
  • I have this substack, where I might write something someday.