ralph rosenbaum

Research officers
(École Polytechnique de Montréal - Chemical Engineering Department)
ralph.rosenbaum@polymtl.ca

Expertise :

• Multimedia modelization of toxic emissions
• Life cycle impact assessment methods
• Uncertainty management in life cycle assessment

Career path:

Current activities

His research in Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) focuses on uncertainty management in LCA, development of impact characterisation methods related mainly to toxic impacts on human population and ecosystems, water use, acidification, and land use, as well as LCA of bioproducts.
His current main activities are:

• Development of the USEtox (UNEP/SETAC toxicity) model and definition of recommended practice in life cycle toxicity characterisation within the UNEP/SETAC Life Cycle Initiative.
• Further development of the Canadian LCIA method LUCAS.
• Further development of the IMPACT 2002 multimedia fate and exposure model with a focus on uncertainty assessment and food chain modelling.
• Teaching LCIA courses for undergraduate and graduate students.
• Supervision of Ph.D. and Master students.
  

Curriculum Vitae

In 2003 he finished his Diploma degree (Diplomingenieur) in Environmental Engineering at the Technical University Berlin, Germany. From 2003 to 2006 he pursued his Ph.D. thesis (“Multimedia and Food Chain Modelling of Toxics for Comparative Risk and Life Cycle Impact Assessment”) at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland under the supervision of Olivier Jolliet in collaboration with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory/University of California Berkeley. During this time his research focused on biotransfer modelling for meat and milk, structuring, comparing and evaluating environmental multimedia models, and the development of uncertainty estimation methods for such models, all in the context of comparative risk and life cycle impact assessment. He was also the EPFL project leader for the EU projects OMNIITOX and NEEDS. After finishing his thesis he worked several months on a freelance basis mainly for UNEP before he joined the CIRAIG as research officer in April 2007.

Publications in peer reviewed journals/books:

Rosenbaum RK, Bachmann TM, Guinée J, Hauschild M, Jolliet O, de Koning A, Larsen HF, Margni M: The OMNIITOX Base Model. In Molander S, Hauschild M (eds), Life-Cycle Impact Assessment and Environmental Risk Assessment of Chemicals. Blackwell Publishing, Oxford. In Press.

Rosenbaum RK, Guinée J, Jolliet O, de Koning A, Margni M, Pennington DW: A comparison of models used for LCIA of toxicants – complex models for characterization. In Molander S, Hauschild M (eds), Life-Cycle Impact Assessment and Environmental Risk Assessment of Chemicals. Blackwell Publishing, Oxford. In Press.

Rosenbaum RK, Jolliet O: An introduction into handling uncertainty. In Molander S, Hauschild M (eds), Life-Cycle Impact Assessment and Environmental Risk Assessment of Chemicals. Blackwell Publishing, Oxford. In Press.

Rosenbaum RK, Margni M, Jolliet O (2007): A flexible matrix algebra framework for the multimedia multipathway modeling of emission to impacts. Environment International 33: 624-634.

Rosenbaum RK (2006): Multimedia and Food Chain Modelling of Toxics for Comparative Risk and Life Cycle Impact Assessment. Ph.D. Thesis, Section Science et Ingénierie de l'Environnement, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland, 192 pp.

Jolliet O, Rosenbaum R, Chapman PM, McKone TE, Margni M, Scheringer M, van Straalen N, Wania F (2006): Establishing a Framework for Life Cycle Toxicity Assessment – Findings of the Lausanne Review Workshop. International Journal of LCA 11 (3) 209–212.

Guinée JB, Koning de A, Pennington DW, Rosenbaum R, Hauschild M, Olsen SI, Molander S, Bachmann TM, Pant R (2004): Bringing Science and Pragmatism together in a Tiered Approach for Modelling Toxicological Impacts in LCA. International Journal of LCA 9 (5) 320–326.

Pant R, Hoof G van, Schowanek D, Feijtel TCJ, Koning A de, Hauschild M, Pennington DW, Olsen SI, Rosenbaum R (2004): Comparison between 3 different LCIA methods for aquatic ecotoxicity and a product Environmental Risk Assessment – Insights from a Detergent Case Study within OMNIITOX. International Journal of LCA 9 (5) 295–306.

Rosenbaum R, Pennington DW, Jolliet O (2004): An implemented approach for estimating uncertainties for toxicological impact characterisation. In Pahl-Wostl, C, Schmidt, S, Rizzoli, AE and Jakeman, AJ (eds), Complexity and Integrated Resources Management, Transactions of the 2nd Biennial Meeting of the International Environmental Modelling and Software Society, iEMSs: Manno, Switzerland, 2004. ISBN 88-900787-1-5.

Jolliet O, Margni M, Charles R, Humbert S, Payet J, Rebitzer G, Rosenbaum R (2003): IMPACT 2002+: A New Life Cycle Impact Assessment Methodology. International Journal of LCA 8 (6) 324-330.

Languages

• German – native language
• English – fluent speaking and writing
• Spanish – fluent speaking and writing
• French – fluent speaking and good writing