Michelle’s research focuses on assessing brittle fracture risk in Canadian steel bridges. Currently Canada’s brittle fracture provisions are highly simplified compared to the corresponding European design provisions. For her thesis project, Michelle is assessing the reliability level associated with the Canadian CSA S6 brittle fracture design provisions using a probabilistic fracture mechanics framework, to identify areas of possible refinement. This work aims to improve the Canadian provisions from a safety and economic perspective, and to propose new provisions for situations not currently addressed, such as pedestrian bridges, structures made from very thick plate, and cold worked or impact-damaged structures.