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4 years experience

Isabella Ferrara

M.A.Sc.
Junior Investigator - Materials Engineering

Email iferrara@ocig.com

Contact PH: 1 (888) 624-3473, ext: 494 / M: (365) 341-7367

Industries

Insurance : Equipment Failures, Product Liability, Water Claims
Manufacturing : Equipment Failures, Failure Analysis, Product Contamination

Solutions

Forensic Engineering: Materials Engineering, Product & Equipment Failures

Overview

Isabella is a junior investigator specializing in Materials Engineering. She has a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Materials Science Engineering from the University of Toronto, with a certificate in Forensic Engineering.

Professional Experience

Junior Investigator – Materials Engineering
OCI Group
October 2025 – Present

Conduct on-site and laboratory failure investigations
Review and interpret applicable codes and standards to support failure mechanism determination
Produce concise reports with a professional opinion on the cause of the failure
Collaborate with experts to assist with fire and electrical investigations

Materials Lead
Pratt & Whitney Canada
September 2022 – April 2023

Re-designed a metal alloy engine part with a polymer composite using SolidWorks for mass reduction
Mitigated structural limitations via ANSYS topology optimization and metal reinforcements to support localized stress
Validated the new product’s ability to meet pre-defined constraints using FEA

Quality and Safety Researcher
Natural Resources Canada
September 2022 – April 2023

Analyzed data on natural gas pipelines for conversion to hydrogen transport utilizing ASTM standards to identify gaps
Synthesized 30+ papers on stress-corrosion-cracking and fatigue using comparison tables to evaluate integrity levels
Presented critical limitations for the feasibility of repurposing steel pipelines by creating 2 written reports and giving 6 PowerPoint presentations for the purpose of clearly communicating future durability risks

Loss Prevention Consultant
Intact Insurance
May 2023 – August 2023

Physically inspected the risks for building coverages with $1,000,000+ policies to analyze for risk prevention
Referenced NFPA, building and electrical codes to develop improvements to mitigate loss and increase safety
Prepared 35+ concise reports to detail assessment recommendations for underwriter’s and insurer’s review

Materials Engineer Intern
Celestica
May 2021 – August 2022

Constructed 5 PCB cross-sections daily and optically inspected the consumer electronics against IPC standards
Oversaw quality control validations for 3 global aerospace/defense PCB suppliers prior to mass manufacturing
Improved lab processes by developing 2 Kaizens monthly to improve quality control steps and increase safety

Publications

Ferrara, Isabella. “Carbon Dioxide Capture using a Multi-Composition Nanoparticulate Bed,” 2025. University of Toronto. Master’s Thesis. TSpace Repository.
X. Pang, S. Xu, I. Ferrara, et al., “Toughness Testing for Investigating Hydrogen Embrittlement of Pipe Steels: Tests, Significance, and Limitations,” Proceedings of the 62nd Conference of Metallurgists, COM 2023, Springer Nature, (2023), pp. 493-503, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-38141-6_68.