Luella Glaiza Baccay Marcos awarded the TMU Gold Medal
Congratulations to PhD graduate, Luella Glaiza Baccay Marcos, for receiving the Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) Gold Medal for the Faculty of Engineering and Architectural Science – in recognition of being the faculty’s top performing student. For Marcos, the award is a testament to her perseverance and the support of mentors, peers and loved ones who helped her keep going when things got hard.
At TMU, Marcos started in the electrical engineering undergraduate program, leading her to earn a MASc in Electrical and Computer Engineering, and now her PhD. Throughout her journey, she has demonstrated academic brilliance while embracing a community-first mindset. We look back at some of her most memorable moments and mentors.
“The Gold Medal represents far more than an academic achievement, because it carries the weight of overcoming late-night coding sessions, continuous literature reviews, manuscript rejections, the delicate act of balancing work and life, and my battle with imposter syndrome.”
Shining a light on the FEAS graduate community
A major highlight of Marcos’ TMU journey was working as a digital assistant and graduate ambassador at the FEAS Graduate and Post-Doctoral Studies Office. Working alongside Roel Reyes and Miljana Horvat, she helped showcase everything graduate studies by building new faculty webpages and making lasting connections with students across campus.
Teaching the next generation of engineering students
As the lead graduate teaching assistant (TA) for core undergraduate courses (Signals and Systems I & II, and Object-Oriented Programming with Java) for five years, Marcos instructed and supported over 300 engineering students. She shared, “Connecting with undergraduate students from diverse backgrounds gave me fresh perspectives, and I learned just as much from them as they did from me.” Working alongside TAs and course supervisors, including TMU professors Soosan Beheshti and Olivia Das, as well as faculty lecturer Boujemaa Guermazi, she found further inspiration to pursue future pathways in academia.
Marcos at convocation alongside mentors and professors Javad Alirezaie and Soosan Beheshti.
Building a community at the CVIP Lab
One of Marco’s favourite memories is sitting in the quiet corner of the TMU Computer Vision and Image Process (CVIP) lab. It was there that she spent countless hours exchanging research ideas and sharing life experiences with lab mates. Marcos also embraced the role of mentor, supervising a master's student through an electroencephalogram (EEG) artifact-removal project, which resulted in a co-authored publication at the 34th European Signal Processing Conference. “To Iqbal, Farzan, Wiley, Shams, Victorien, Kevin, Mahan, and everyone who passed through the lab, I am grateful for the company and wish them all the continued success in their careers,” Marcos said.
"Supervising Luella during her PhD was a true privilege. Watching her develop into an accomplished, independent researcher in medical AI has been deeply rewarding. Always collaborative and generous in mentoring others, she embodies research excellence and truly deserves the TMU Gold Medal."
Advancing imaging research alongside mentors
Completing a PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering is no easy feat. Throughout the journey, Marcos tapped into a network of support that included PhD supervisor Javad Alirezaie. “He continually pushed me out of my comfort zone, encouraging me to explore new avenues and build meaningful professional connections,” Marcos said. While working at the CVIP Lab, Dr. Paul Babyn from the University of Saskatchewan was both an expert radiologist for Marcos’ research group and mentor. “Even in his retirement, he continues to offer generous mentorship as I advance my career in medical imaging,” said Marcos. She also thanks the insightful feedback from her doctorate internal and external examination committee, which strengthened her dissertation.
What’s next
Marcos has joined the UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, Texas as a postdoctoral researcher, where she'll focus on advanced medical image processing through deep learning techniques. Her ultimate goal is to contribute to the development of improved diagnostic imaging tools by bridging her electrical and computer engineering capabilities with biomedical innovations. She’s excited to build on the foundational tools and knowledge gained at TMU and contribute to better healthcare outcomes for all.