Professor
MASc and MSc Program Advisor | Member, Clean Energy Research Centre (CERC) | Member, Bioproducts Institute (BPI) | Faculty Associate, Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability (IRES)
Office: CHBE 227
Email: naoko.ellis@ubc.ca
Research Summary
Biomass Utilization, CO2 Capture, Fluidization and Multiphase Systems, Sustainability and Environmental Education, Transdisciplinary Research and Learning
Education
University of British Columbia, 2003, Ph.D.
Western University, 1993, M.E.Sc.
University of Waterloo, 1991, B.Sc., Honours
Research interests + projects
Transdisciplinary Climate Emergency
Exploring complex systems around low carbon futures through transdisciplinary approaches. Collaborating and co-creating with others to advance environmental literacy in higher education and connect with communities and other partners to imagine change. Ongoing curiosity about how collective and relational efforts may help us understand the patterns of interactions and ultimately catalyze effective movements towards hopeful futures.
Transdisciplinary PhD Collaborative on Climate Emergency
Energy Systems and Transitions
Approaching energy transitions through the lens of systems and as processes, research is conducted by connecting technology and communities (e.g., ACET projects), and academic, public and private stakeholders for regional and national decarbonization strategies (e.g., BC CCUS visioning workshop).
Multiphase Systems and Reaction Engineering
Understanding the hydrodynamics of fluidized beds as critical to the design and scaling of fluidized bed reactors that are used as various reactors. Deploying various measurement techniques and modeling methods to study and predict the behaviour of fluidized beds and other multiphase reactors. Fluidized bed applications include biomass utilization for energy production and carbon capture through looping systems.
Essentials of Fluidization Technology Textbook
Awards and honours
Killam Teaching Prize, 2025
American Institute for Chemical Engineering Powder Technology Forum PSRI Lectureship Award in Fluidization, 2022
NSERC University Faculty Award , 2003
Scholarly and professional activities + affiliations
Systems Beings Lab since 2023
DN Education Design since 2022
Fluidization Research Centre, University of British Columbia since 1998
Clean Energy Research Centre, University of British Columbia since 2006
Transdisciplinary PhD Collaborative on Climate Emergency since 2022
UBC Sustainability Initiative 2016
Scholarship of Teaching and Learning 2015
Carbon Capture & Conversion Institute 2015
UBC APSC Sustainability Pathway Initiative 2014
Full Publications List
Selected publications + presentations
Fu, Z., Charchi Aghdam, N., Nekoeian, S., He, J., Cheng, L.B., Nagda, B., Zhang, Y., Ma, Z., Ellis, N., Bi, X., Smith, K., Legros, R., Duo, W. (2025). Hot syngas cleanup for pilot two-stage fluidized bed steam-oxygen biomass gasification plant. Bioresource Technology, 418, 131876.
Chintalapati, P., Evans, G., Gladwin, D., Jamieson, M., & Ellis, N. (2024). Shaping futures: A dialogue on chemical engineering education. The Canadian Journal of Chemical Engineering, 102(5), 1688-1704.
Gladwin, D., & Ellis, N. (2024). Systems beings: Educating for a complex world. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 1-13.
Gladwin, D., & Ellis, N. (2023). Energy literacy: towards a conceptual framework for energy transition. Environmental Education Research, 29(10), 1515-1529.
Tembrevilla, G., Nesbit, S., Ellis, N., & Ostafichuk, P. (2023). Developing transdisciplinarity in firstâyear engineering. Journal of Engineering Education, 112(1), 43-63.