Assistant Professor Liat Margolis was named one of the 54 people who made Toronto better this year as part of The Grid's 2nd Annual Mensch Awards. Margolis received the award for her green roof research as the Principle Investigator at the Daniels Faculty's GRIT Lab (or Green Roof Innovation Testing Laboratory.)

Writes The Grid:

At U of T’s new Green Roof Innovation Testing Laboratory (or the snappier GRIT Lab), perched on top of the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design, assistant professor Liat Margolis patiently tends to 33 different eight-by-four-foot wooden boxes. Each contains a unique combination of plants, soil, and water, and hidden among them, she hopes, is the precise formula for the type of green roof that best suits Toronto’s climate. How’s this for a start: When the temperature on the surface of the roof soared to 58.1°C this August, Margolis discovered that one little box remained 22 degrees cooler. Sounds nice, right?

Readers can vote for the the top Mench — The Mensch of the year — in an online poll. The winner will be announced in their January 10 issue.

Cast your vote for Liat Margolis here.