Douglas Stuart Walkinshaw, Ph.D., P.Eng.

Abbreviated Biography

McMaster University Article
Profile of Doug Walkinshaw published in MacEngineer,
Volume 125, Fall 2012, page 13.

Douglas Stuart Walkinshaw obtained a PH.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Alberta (Edmonton, Alberta) in 1970, and Master's and Bachelor's degrees in Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics from McMaster University (Hamilton, Ontario) in 1966 and 1964, respectively. He is a registered P.Eng. in the province of Ontario.

Doug has combined science and engineering accomplishments throughout his professional career. He is a world recognized authority on the sick building syndrome (SBS). His ventilation technology inventions have been granted patents in Canada, the USA, the UK, Germany, France, Sweden and Spain. His work has won awards from the Ottawa Carleton Home Builders' Association, the US Environmental Protection Agency, the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), and the International Society of Indoor Air Quality and Climate (ISIAQ).

Doug created the National Research Council's first indoor air quality research program in 1982. He contributed to Health Canada's first indoor air quality guidelines in 1987. He co-founded the International Society of Indoor Air Climate and the International Academy of Indoor Air Sciences in 1992. He managed the first ISIAQ Secretariat on a volunteer basis between 1992 and 1996.

In 1987, Doug was elected by his peers from the USA, Denmark, Sweden and Germany to be the President of the 5th International Conference on Indoor Air Quality and Climate, Indoor Air '90. This is the major international conference in the field, and is staged every third year. Under his leadership, Indoor Air '90 was held in Toronto and contributed over 500 scientifc papers on IAQ, attracted some 1000 scientists from around the world, and featured the first IAQ industrial exposition, with 100 exhibitors.

Doug has conducted over 400 indoor air quality investigations and commissioned over 300 ECHO System ventilated and depressurized basement envelopes. His IAQ investigations have pioneered protocols for identifying VOC and fungal sources, carbon dioxide data interpretation, and the application of laser particle counting of RSP. He introduced the idea that the integral-of-exposure-with-time can be a more important indicator of air quality than either air change rate or ventilation rate, and that occupancy density plays a key role in this integral. His investigation of ETS dissemination in three Ontario prisons in the mid 1990s led to the banning of smoking in all Ontario prisons. He conducted one of the largest IAQ studies of an office building, measuring over a three year period (2002-2004): VOCs, SVOCs, fungi, bacteria, radon, respirable particles in air and in carpets, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, temperature and relative humidity, many of these in the soil and air surrounding the 200,000 square foot Macdonald Cartier building in Kingston, Ontario, as well as in the building itself.

Doug is the President of four companies: Indoor Air Technologies Inc (USA), Indoor Air Technologies Inc (Canada), ECHO Air Inc (Canada) and VEFT Aerospace Technologies Inc (Canada). He has residences in Ottawa, Ontario, New Glasgow, Prince Edward Island and Bonita Springs, Florida.

• The Air That You Breathe
  Doug Walkinshaw has had a major impact on indoor air quality across Canada, and around the world
  By RICHARD CAIRNEY
  Published in the U of A Engineer, Fall 2010