Faculty Honours & Awards

TMU congratulates faculty members who are recognized for their accomplishments, academic service and sustained influence in their fields through various honours and awards. The following is a small selection of the numerous accolades bestowed upon TMU faculty.

TMU received a Stage 2 Dimensions Recognition from the federal government program Dimensions: Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Canada in recognition of TMU’s coordinated effort to embed EDI-informed practices in and remove systemic barriers to research, enhancing research excellence, innovation and creativity across disciplines. TMU’s Dimensions program, founded in 2019, aims to cultivate transformational change in the postsecondary research community by identifying and eliminating systemic barriers to inclusion and inequities.

External Awards

Faculty of Arts

Caitlin Andrews-Lee (Politics and Public Administration) received the Leon Epstein Outstanding Book Award from the American Political Science Association and the Best Book in the Social Sciences Award from the Latin American Studies Association for her book The Emergence and Revival of Charismatic Movements. 

Pam Palmater (Chair in Indigenous Governance) received an IRPP Knowledge Mobilizer Award from the Institute for Research on Public Policy. She is a sought-after speaker, presenter and educator on Indigenous issues across Canada and internationally.

Faculty of Community Services

Lori Schindel Martin (Nursing) was inducted as a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Nursing for her exceptional and sustained contributions and commitments to advancing the nursing profession.

Faculty of Engineering & Architectural Science

Sri Krishnan (Electrical, Computer, and Biomedical Engineering) received the best paper award for Single-lead ECG Compression for Connected Healthcare Applications, at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 5th International Symposium on Robotics and Manufacturing Automation.

Faculty of Science

Imogen Coe (Chemistry and Biology) was this year’s recipient of the Policy for Science Trailblazer Award from the Canadian Science Policy Centre and also named NSERC’s inaugural Scholar in Residence for her work in basic cell biology and integrating principles of inclusion, diversity, equity and accessibility into science and medicine. 

Lincoln Alexander School of Law

Ed Béchard-Torres (Law) was appointed a member of the Court Challenges Program’s human rights expert panel.

Ted Rogers School of Management

Rupa Banerjee (Business Management) received the Dorothy Harlow Best Conference Paper Award from the Gender and Diversity in Organizations Division of the Academy of Management for a paper that she co-authored with Aliya Amarshi (Toronto Metropolitan University) and Tingting Zhang (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign).

The Creative School

Ramona Pringle (Media) was awarded the Digital Trailblazer Award at the annual Crystal Awards presented by Women in Film & TV Toronto for her contributions to Canada's digital and interactive media industry.

TMU’s university-wide SRC Activity Awards are presented annually in recognition of researchers across different disciplines and at various stages in their careers for their noteworthy contributions and outstanding achievements.

Internal Awards

Scholarly, Research & Creative (SRC) Activity Awards

The annual Sarwan Sahota Distinguished Scholar Award is given to one or more university faculty members in recognition of outstanding contributions to knowledge or artistic creativity in their area of expertise. The award is made available through the joint contributions of Professor Emeritus Sarwan Sahota.

Ebrahim Bagheri (Electrical, Computer, and Biomedical Engineering) was recognized for his interdisciplinary work on social information retrieval, helping develop tools that responsibly search for relevant and accurate information. He also created the Responsible AI initiative, a six-year, multi-institutional, and multi-disciplinary program that aims to train the next generation of responsible AI experts in Canada. 

Ojelanki Ngwenyama (Business Management) studies the risks associated with the adoption of digital technologies by organizations, individuals and global communities, exploring the undesirable side-effects of digitalization and machine learning, such as social alienation, with implications for regulation and data collection. His work also looks at how digital technologies impact underserved African communities in Canada.  

The Early SRC Career Excellence Award went to two researchers:

Stefania Impellizzeri (Chemistry), an expert in contemporary physical organic and materials chemistry, designs new micro- and nano-structures for catalysis, clean energy, optical storage and bioimaging applications. 

Dafna Sussman (Electrical, Computer, and Biomedical Engineering) uniquely combines clinical imaging, biomaterial synthesis, image analysis, machine learning, and magnetic resonance sequence development to improve maternal and fetal medical diagnostics.

The Collaborative SRC Award went to Michael Kolios (Physics), who co-led a multidisciplinary and multi-institutional team from Case Western Reserve University on a six-year project to determine how nanobubbles can be used as ultrasound contrast agents. This work has led to new applications in ultrasound imaging and therapy being tested in hospitals in Canada and the USA. 

The Knowledge Mobilization and Engagement Award was given to Mandana Vahabi (Nursing), whose work focuses on population health promotion and health equity, including social determinants of healthcare access, chronic diseases and health outcomes among marginalized populations.