While Daniel Skruch was always interested in environmental studies and science, choosing to study chemical engineering at the University of Toronto, he didn’t plan to dedicate his life to it.
Daniel Skruch, Senior Environmental Scientist
“At that age, you don’t really have the context for what a path or field is going to have,” he says. “Some people do, but I didn’t. However, I did know I was interested in it.”
He recalls being drawn to anything that involved energy, environmental science and the climate, water resources, and engineering, as opposed to hard chemistry. As a result, he made a conscious decision to do an environmental control post-graduate certificate.
“That was a much more explicit choice to get into that field,” he says. “It was good exposure to what it is, regulations in the province, and so on.” Out of that certificate came a co-op program, which is when Daniel was introduced to Ecometrix, joining the company as a Junior Environmental Scientist on a year-long contract.
“I wasn’t incorporated in the geochemistry or mining team. It was more following conversations of ‘hey, what do you want to do more?’ I discovered I was interested in modelling and forecasting, and how non-prescriptive some of the work is. There’s interpretative work in there and it was also appealing to tease out some of those stories.”
Today, Daniel works as our Senior Environmental Scientist with 14 years of experience in mine waste geochemistry, as well as mine waste and water quality assessment, management, and modelling. In that time, his curiosity hasn’t changed, and he shares how he's driven as much by the “nuances of uncertainty” as clear-cut answers.
“It all depends on the context of the question, the risk someone's willing to tolerate, and trying to communicate that as clearly as possible. Some questions don’t have yes or no answers. We try and help someone make a rational decision. Sometimes, the answer is obvious and that’s fantastic, but often there are levels of certainty.”
Daniel presents a paper he co-authored at ICARD 2024.
Being at Ecometrix for over a decade, mentorship forms an important part of Daniel’s role. “It’s hard to think about yourself as an expert in anything because you’re still learning, but when you think about what you know now versus 15 years ago, for someone stepping in as a first job, there’s so much you can help with,” Daniel says. “That’s what made me succeed. The strong mentorship opportunities and feeling like you’re learning, getting better, and there’s still so much to be exposed to.”
He explains how mentorship is mutually beneficial. “People take alternate approaches to try and come to the same solution or strategy you would. That’s interesting because it’s not how I would have gone about doing it, but you follow the logic, process, and thinking and say, yes, this works too.”
That’s not to say Daniel is just focused on office work. He could be preparing to collect rock tailings samples in the field or delivering a technical session.
When Daniel isn’t busy helping clients, he believes the simple stuff is important and loves settling down to a good TV show with his wife, travelling, or looking forward to celebrating winter’s first snowfall with his Siberian Husky.
Read more about how passion drives our work
As Ecometrix celebrates its 20th year, we sat down with two of its founding members to talk about the company's culture, growing team of experts, and future.
