Dr. McKenzie Kuhn (Geography), Dr. Tarun Khanna (School of Public Policy and Global Affairs), and graduate student Peter de Montmollin (Geography) have been named as recipients of the 2025 Peter Wall Legacy Award.
These prestigious UBC awards provide approximately $4 million to push forward innovative faculty and student research tackling major sustainability challenges in British Columbia and around the world. The Wall Legacy Awards are made possible by an extraordinary gift from Dr. Peter Wall, now exceeding $100 million.
All projects align with three key areas of focus: urban sustainability, environmental protection of coastal areas, and sustainable approaches to resource-intensive industries, with a particular emphasis on the province of British Columbia.
Meet the recipients below:
Wall Research Awards – Individual Faculty Awards
Dr. McKenzie Kuhn (Assistant Professor, Geography) received a research award of $80,000 for her project:
Protecting Northern British Columbia lakes: Building a collaborative monitoring program to quantify climate warming impacts
Lakes are warming worldwide, often leading to lower water levels, reduced oxygen, and increased carbon emissions. In Northern British Columbia, this affects boat travel and fishing, yet the timing and extent of these changes remain unclear. In collaboration with the Kaska Dane Nan Yḗ Dāh Land Guardians, this project will establish a lake monitoring program to track temperature, water level, oxygen, and carbon dioxide from lakes important to local communities. Understanding when, where, and how long lake warming occurs will deepen our knowledge of its impacts and support the long-term stewardship of these vital ecosystems for future generations.
Wall Research Awards – Team Faculty Awards
Dr. Tarun Khanna (Assistant Professor, School of Public Policy and Global Affairs), the principal investigator, along with his team members Dr. Christine Chen (Associate Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering) and Dr. Dominic Liao-McPherson (Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering), each received an award of $200,000 for their project:
Securing a community-led, sustainable, and resilient energy future for BC
British Columbia faces growing challenges to its hydroelectric-based electricity system, including rising energy demand, climate-induced droughts, and ecological concerns about large dams. To address these issues, community energy offers a promising solution, allowing individuals to become “prosumers” who both use and generate electricity through technologies like solar panels and battery storage. These innovations enable the creation of community-led virtual power plants (cVPPs), promoting equitable access, inclusive participation, and sustainable energy solutions. This interdisciplinary project explores the social, policy, technical, and economic factors involved in developing decentralized, community-driven energy systems, aiming to build resilient, sustainable, and locally driven solutions for BC’s evolving energy needs.
Wall Research Awards – Graduate Student Awards
Peter de Montmollin (Doctor of Philosophy in Geography) received an award of up to $30,000.
My research focuses on the history and politics of water management in British Columbia and beyond. Through archival research, I am exploring how government engineers developed and deployed scientific practices to measure, predict and control the behavior of provincial rivers during the twentieth century. The project also compares BC with a similar case in South America (Chile) to understand how states in general have succeeded or failed to manage uncertainty in water systems, especially in the face of extreme floods and droughts. These historical cases will provide helpful perspectives on present-day challenges of expertise and science in public policy.
