People

Lab Directors

Steven Bednarski
Director

Director for the Environments of Change since 2019, Director for The Herstmonceux Project  (2012 – 2017) and the DRAGEN Lab since 2016.

stevenb@uwaterloo.ca

Ann Marie Rasmussen
Co-Director

Right Honourable John G. Diefenbaker Memorial Chair in German Literary Studies at the University of Waterloo since 2015, Director of the Medieval Badges and Community Formation.

amrasmus@uwaterloo.ca

David Porreca
Associate Director

Professor of Classical and Medieval Studies, St. Jeromes University.

dporreca@uwaterloo.ca


Andrew Moore
Assistant Director

PhD History, University of Waterloo; MA History, University of Waterloo (2013); DRAGEN Lab Member since 2016. Research Facilitator for Environments of Change.

a5moore@uwaterloo.ca

Shannon Blackmore
Assistant Director

MA Communications, Wifrid Laurier University (2022); DRAGEN Lab Member since 2022; Project Manager for Environments of Change.

shannon.blackmore@uwaterloo.ca

Zack MacDonald
Associate Director

Map Librarian, Archives and Special Collections at Western University, Digital Librarian for Environments of Change 

zack.macdonald@uwo.ca

Research Fellows

Senior Research Fellows

Richard Hoffmann

Professor Emeritus, York University; Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.
PhD Medieval Studies, Yale University.

medfish@yorku.ca

Chris L. Nighman

Professor, History; Coordinator, Medieval and Medievalism Studies Program, Wilfrid Laurier University

cnighman@wlu.ca


Research Fellows

Tim Alamenciak

Postdoctoral Fellow, Bennett Lab, Carleton Universityl; Adjunct Associate Professor, Knowledge Integration, University of Waterloo; PhD Social and Ecological Sustainability, University of Waterloo, (2024); DRAGEN Lab Member since 2024.

tim.a@uwaterloo.ca

Nicholas Must

Sessional Lecturer, Wilfrid Laurier University; PhD History, McMaster University (2014), MA History, Wilfrid Laurier University (2007).

nmust@wlu.ca

Owais Hamid

MASc System Design Engineering​, University of Waterloo; DRAGEN Lab member since 2019.

owais.mateen.abdul.hamid@uwaterloo.ca

Stephanie Hartmann

BEd, Wilfrid Laurier
University (2019); MA History, University of Waterloo (2017); DRAGEN Lab Member since 2016.

kentigurn@hotmail.com

Graduate Fellows

Jamie Zettle

PhD Candidate, History, University of Waterloo; MA History, University of Windsor (1994); DRAGEN Lab Member (since 2019).

jamie.zettle@yahoo.ca

Patrick Shaghaghi

PhD Candidate, Systems Design Engineering, University of Waterloo; MASc Engineering, Ryerson University (2019). DRAGEN Lab Member & Associate Manager, Maker Space (since 2019).

sahand.shaghaghi@uwaterloo.ca

Erin Kurian

PhD Candidate, History, University of Waterloo; MA History, University of Waterloo (2021); DRAGEN Lab Member (Since 2017) & Communications Coordinator for Environments of Change.

erin.kurian@uwaterloo.ca

Gillian Wagenaar

PhD Student, History, University of Waterloo; MA History, University of Waterloo (2023). DRAGEN Lab Member (since 2021).

gawagenaar@uwaterloo.ca

Muràd Alizada-Hamidlinski

PhD Candidate, History, University of Waterloo; MA History, University of Waterloo (2023). DRAGEN Lab Member (since 2021) DRAGEN Lab Member (since 2021).

malizada@uwaterloo.ca

John Loudfoot

PhD Candidate, History, University of Waterloo; MA History, University of Waterloo (2023). DRAGEN Lab Member (since 2022).

jchloudfoot@uwaterloo.ca

Jordan Tardif

PhD Student, History, University of Waterloo; MLIS, Western University (2023), MA Classical Studies, University of Waterloo (2021); DRAGEN Lab Member (2016 - 2020, 2024).

jatardif@uwaterloo.ca

Étienne Chevalier

PhD Student, History, University of Waterloo; MA, History, Université de Sherbrooke (2024); DRAGEN Lab Member (since 2024).

Etienne.chevalier@waterloo.ca

Kian Drew

MSc Earth Science (Geology) Candidate, University of Waterloo; BSc, University of Waterloo (2022); DRAGEN Lab Member (since 2022).

kian.drew@uwaterloo.ca

Nicole Vankooten

MA History Candidate, University of Waterloo; BAS, University of Guelph (2023), DRAGEN Lab Member (since 2023).

nvankooten@uwaterloo.ca

Cat Huang

MA History Candidate, University of Waterloo; BA, University of Toronto (2024), DRAGEN Lab Member (since 2024)

c353huang@uwaterloo.ca

 

Undergraduate Interns

Caileigh Davies-Kneiss

BA, University of Waterloo; DRAGEN Lab Member since 2020.

John Stapleton

BA Honours, University of Waterloo; DRAGEN Lab Member since 2021.

Juan Paguaga

BA, Undergraduate at University of Waterloo; DRAGEN Lab Member since 2019.

Melissa Gatti

BA, Arts and Business, University of Waterloo; DRAGEN Lab Member since 2023.

Past Members

Andrei Tudorancea
BA History & English, University of Waterloo (2018); DRAGEN Lab Member (2018).

Caley McCarthy
Contract Academic Staff, St. Jerome’s University; PhD, McGill University (2020); DRAGEN Lab Assistant Director (2016 - 2024)

David Zelek
BA, University of Waterloo; DRAGEN Lab Member (2019 - 2021).

Daphne van Delst
B.Sc. (Env.), University of Waterloo (2019); DRAGEN Lab Member (2016 - 2018).

Ellen Siebel-Achenbach
BA, University of Waterloo (2023); DRAGEN Lab Member (2019-2023).

Hayley Ellis
MA History, University of Waterloo (2020); BA, University of Waterloo (2018); DRAGEN Lab Member (2018 - 2020).

Jack McCart
PhD Candidate, University of Toronto; MA Medieval Studies, University of Guelph (2020); BA, University of Guelph (2018); DRAGEN Lab Member (2018).

Jack Zhou
BMath, BA Medieval Studies, University of Waterloo; DRAGEN Lab Member (2016-2017).

Jacqueline Gergal
MA History, University of Waterloo (2021); BA, University of Waterloo (2019); DRAGEN Lab Member & Social Media Coordinator (2019 - 2021).

Jason Lee
Harvard Law School (2022-2024), BA Honours History, University of Waterloo (2022); DRAGEN Lab Member (2019 - 2022).

Jessica Verschoor

MS Geological and Earth Sciences, University of Toronto (2023); BSc Honours Earth Science, University of Waterloo (2021); DRAGEN Lab Member (2019 - 2021).

Jolanta Komornicka
Assistant Director of Medieval History, St. Jeromes University (2017 - 2019); DRAGEN Lab Associate Director (2017 - 2020).

Kendall Diemer
MA Medieval Studies Candidate, University College London; BA Medieval Studies, University of Waterloo (2023); BSc Biological Sciences, University of Windsor; DRAGEN Lab Member (2021-2023).

Mackenzie Pritchard
MA Classical Studies, University of Waterloo (2021); BA, University of Waterloo (2019); DRAGEN Lab Member (2016 - 2020).

Max Wang
BA History, University of Waterloo; DRAGEN Lab Member (2019 - 2021).

Megan Lucas
BA Classical Studies and Medieval Studies, University of Waterloo (2021); DRAGEN Lab Member (2019-2021).

Melanie Brunet
MSc Candidate, University of Waterloo; BSc Honours, University of Waterloo; DRAGEN Lab Member (2019 - 2021).

Michelle Serrano-Sandoval
BA History, University of Waterloo (2019); DRAGEN Lab Member (2016 - 2020).

Moira Scully
MA Classical Studies, University of Waterloo (2021); BA, University of Waterloo (2019); DRAGEN Lab Member (2017 - 2020).

Monika Novta
MA, TESOL Candidate. University of Birmingham; TESL Certificate, Conestoga College; MA History, University of Waterloo; DRAGEN Lab Member (2016-2017).

Peter del Rosso
MA Medieval, University of Waterloo (2022); BA, University of Waterloo (2020); DRAGEN Lab Member (2017 - 2021).

Rebecca MacAlpine
PhD History Candidate, University of Waterloo; MT, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (2018); MA History, University of Waterloo (2016), DRAGEN Lab Member (2017-2019).

Rebecca Nickerson
MA History, University of Waterloo (2021); BA Geography and History, Brock University (2019)

Sara Fontes
MI, MMsT, University of Toronto (2021); BA, University of Waterloo (2019); DRAGEN Lab Member & Web Developer (2019 - 2021).

Sarah Johnston
MLIS, Western University (2021); MA History, University of Waterloo (2019); BA, University of Waterloo (2018); DRAGEN Lab Member (2018 - 2020).

Shannon Phaneuf
BA History, University of Waterloo (2019); DRAGEN Lab Member (2017-2019).

Sonya Pihura
PhD History, McGill University (2021); MA, University of Waterloo (2017); BSc, University of Waterloo (2016); DRAGEN Lab Member (2017).

Steven Casta
MA History, University of Waterloo (2017); DRAGEN Lab Member (2016 - 2017).

Zack Kachuk
MA History, University of Waterloo; BA, Mount Royal University (2019), DRAGEN Lab Member (2020 - 2021).

Ziad Wadi
BA Medieval Studies, University of Waterloo; DRAGEN Lab Member (2016-2018).

Zohra Faqiri
MA History, University of Waterloo (2020); BSc, University of Toronto (2017); DRAGEN Lab Member (2018 - 2020).