James Boak, P.Eng. Email & Phone Number

Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada

At Autocase, James works with the Innovation team to develop the analysis tools that will power the next generation of the Carbonsight platform: Carbonsight Pro. James uses the latest open-source technologies to put high-quality, physics-based energy modelling in the hands of every Carbonsight user.

Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada

• Identified and reviewed decarbonization strategies for a wide range of buildings, considering technical feasibility, measure financial performance, and local regulatory requirements
• Contributed to the analysis pipeline (Python) that generated decarbonization recommendations for buildings, at scale
• Reviewed and improved quality of neural-net surrogate energy models based on parametric Energy Plus hourly simulations
• Trained machine learning models to accurately identify roof-top mechanical features in aerial photographs
• Created custom data visualizations and analysis to present Carbon Intelligence for customers
• Supported engineering co-op student with energy modelling, coding, and analysis

Vancouver, Canada Area

• Technical lead for measurement and verification (M&V) research projects, energy modelling for new construction, Passive House modelling, and government policy consulting for commercial and residential buildings
• Wrote custom Python code project data pipelines: data wrangling, cleaning, analysis, presentation of results
• Communicated with clients and colleagues about project progress and results – interim meetings, final presentation, emails, interim reports and final reports
• Co-founded the Project Integrated Data Services (PIDS) Group – the fledgling RDH data science team
• Founding Member of RDH Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Board Committee
• Presented internal Lunch & Learn about straw bale wall natural construction building science

Vancouver, Canada Area

• I worked with clients to achieve persistent water and energy savings in many different building types including: Commercial, University, Public Institutional, Multi-unit Residential, and Hospital
• Building energy and water audit and modelling
• Energy and water benchmarking
• Intuitive visualization of building automation system data
• Identification and evaluation of energy and water conservation opportunities
• Project financial analysis

Vancouver, Canada Area

• Managed a client portfolio of up to 23 companies worth over 2.3 million dollars
• Quickly learned about current state-of-the-art building technologies including: energy efficient glazing, building construction, waste heat recovery, and HVAC controls (BACnet)
• Evaluated industrial research and development work for scientific and technological advancement
• Applied expertise in CRA SR&ED policy to write eligibility determination reports
• Chaired meetings with company leadership and technical staff to gather technical information and provide education services

Vancouver, Canada

• Social enterprise offering web-based communication and services for gardening and urban farming
• In-app purchases, rentals and sharing of gardening tools, services, supplies, education, and produce
• I generated business models, conducted market research and pitched early concept to investors

Vancouver, Canada

• Maintained lab equipment, trained students and assisted executing experiments
• Evaluated and revised clinical experimental protocols for subjects with neurological deficit using a Segway
• Wrote new software (Matlab scripts) for data collection and analysis

UBC, Vancouver, Canada

• Thesis – Master’s of Applied Science: Effects of Age Related Degeneration on Cervical Spine Mechanics
• Designed and validated new experimental methods to improve modeling of geriatric spinal cord injury
• Collaborated with surgeons and engineers to design new lab apparatus and experiments
• Planned and executed 6 cadaver experiments with more than 10 channels of data in partner research lab (ARTORG Center, Bern, Switzerland)
• Wrote custom Matlab scripts and functions to analyze X-ray image data
• Results experimentally demonstrated injury mechanism is affected by increasing spine degeneration

Vancouver, Canada

• Presented weekly tutorials explaining theoretical background of lab experiments to ~50 students
• Prepared, tested, and supervised apparatus demonstrating hydrostatic

• Reprogrammed closed loop control algorithm and user interface for pneumatic actuated bioreactor
• Stability was improved so system could run 10-times faster
• Wrote user’s manual for new bioreactor user interface and trained new users
• Conducted unconfined stress relaxation tests on fibrin gel samples at École Polytechnic Federal Lausanne
• Designed test stage and feedback control system for stress relaxation and creep tests for unconfined, confined, and indentation tests of cartilage and fibrin gel
• System was capable of measuring 0.005N, and 1µm in axis of load and 3µm optical radial expansion resolution

• Developed two and three dimensional computer models, using Exotherm, a pseudo-compositional thermal reservoir simulator, to demonstrate the effects steam-solvent co-injection has on oil production from Alberta's oil.
• Predicted significant improvement in energy efficiency thus reducing the major operating cost of producing oil via steam assisted gravity drainage
• Invited to return to Calgary to present simulation research paper at Canadian International Petroleum Conference, June 2004
• Research paper was later published in the Journal of Canadian Petroleum Technology, January 2007
• Presented research findings on steam solvent co-injection to Petro-Canada management and senior engineers from various business groups
• Presented to partner companies (including Imperial Oil Limited and ChevronTexaco) at Technical Committee Meetings for a Dovap joint industry field test

Vancouver, Canada

• Worked in teams to develop and present interactive projects for students in grades one to ten.
• Designed and constructed a free standing walking assembly. With a person controlling and providing power, it simulated a human’s stride.

Master’S Degree, Mechanical Engineering

• Designed and executed new experimental methods to model elderly neck injuries • Presented research results at nine international.

Bachelor’S Degree, Mechanical Engineering

• Mechanical Design and Technical Drawing • Thermodynamics and Heat Transfer • Fluid Mechanics (Statics and Dynamics) • Electrical Circuit.