Byer, Philip H.

Philip H. Byer was born on January 16th, 1948 in Washington, D.C.. Byer received his Bachelor of Science (1970), Masters of Science (1972), and his Doctor of Philosophy (1975) from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology before joining the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Toronto in 1975, where he lectured until 2011. Byer’s research, teaching, and professional work has focused on environmental planning and decision-making, project evaluation, environmental impact assessment, risk management, and municipal solid waste management. While at the U of T, Byer served as the Chair of the Division of Environment Engineering within the Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering from 1995-2006, and also took up various visiting lecturer positions at the University of Southampton and MIT. Byer also served as the Acting Director of the Centre for Environment at the University of Toronto in 2007.

In addition to his academic work, Byer has served on numerous government and private-sector committees such as the Ontario Environmental Assessment Advisory Committee (1985-1986), the Olympic Environment Committee for the Toronto 2008 Olympic Bid Organization (1991-2001), and the City of Toronto’s New Emerging Technologies Policies and Practices Advisory Group (2003-2004). Byer also served as the Foreign Expert for the National Science Council, Prime Minister’s Office, Lao PDR in 2005.