Faculty of Science 2026 Award Recipients

Lesley Campbell

A professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biology, Lesley Campbell leads national, industry-focused collaborations that integrate sensor-based crop monitoring, airflow engineering and pollination automation to enable year-round berry production in controlled environments. Professor Campbell’s groundbreaking research delivers scientific innovation, commercialization pathways and new food-security capacity for Canada.

Aidan Brown

Dr. Aidan Brown heads an interdisciplinary theoretical and computational research program that probes the physical basis of cell biology. Dr. Brown has recently published on mitochondrial networks in multiple high-profile scientific journals. Dr. Brown’s multifaceted research approach includes both close collaboration with experimental researchers to explain their measurements and theory-focused work to use biological examples to expand physical understanding. Dr. Brown has recently obtained funding from two NSERC and two CIHR grants that each support a collaboration with a different experimental researcher. Dr. Brown organizes research for a for TMU students, local research groups, and for a national audience.

Mojca Mattiazzi Usaj

Dr. Mattiazzi Usaj’s research made important contributions to the fields of cell biology and biomedical science by revealing new mechanisms that drive cellular ageing. The important impact and significance of this is clearly evident by Dr. Mattiazzi Usaj’s publication in the leading journal in the field, as well the publication of a dedicated perspective article highlighting the impact and significance of Dr. Mattiazzi Usaj’s work. Dr. Mattiazzi Usaj has also established herself as a leader in the use of machine learning in biomedical research, provided highly successful supervision to HQP, and secured an impressive collection of external research grant support.

Guanghui (Richard) Wang

Dr. Wang is a leading researcher in computer vision with over 210 publications in premier venues with an h-index 44, and i10-index 130. He has secured over $1.7M external funding as a PI and $8.3M as a Co-I. During the past year, he has been leading five NSERC grants as PI and published 26 papers, primarily in highly selective, top-tier conferences, such as CVPR-2025, ICLR-2025, ICML-2025, and IJCAI-2025, and in prestigious journals, including IEEE TMM, IEEE TCI, IEEE TCE, and IEEE JBHI. The team he led won first place among 125 international teams in the CVPR NTIRE 2024 Challenge.

Tarushika Vasanthan

Dr. Tarushika Vasanthan provides an avant-garde approach to traditional classroom teaching by delivering immersive and interactive learning experiences to promote collaborative and interdisciplinary thinking. She. advocates for underrepresented communities by incorporating evidence-based strategies of equity, diversity and inclusion. Her curricular design includes culturally responsive pedagogies, equitable assessments, team-based learning and use of real-world examples that has strengthened student outcomes and improved student performances. Dr. Vasanthan’s mentorship, which extends beyond the classroom, continues to have a transformative and impactful influence on her students’ professional and personal growth. Dr. Vasanthan personifies educational leadership and is very deserving of the Dean’s Teaching Award.

Omar Falou

Dr. Falou’s lectures are remarkable, establishing a deep connection with the students, engaging them, and immersing them in the wonders of physics. His lectures connect physics concepts with real-life events through dynamic presentations, hands-on labs, thought experiments and an innate, gentle, and spontaneous sense of humour that channels the students’ attention even more into the concepts at hand. Dr. Falou’s guiding principles are empathy, enthusiasm, dedication, clarity, flexibility, community-building, and emphasizing the relevance of physics in everyday life. Through these principles, Dr. Falou inspires and empowers students, igniting their curiosity and endowing them with the joy of studying physics.

Roxana Sühring

Dr. Roxana Sühring’s research into the impacts and fates of plastic pollutants has made outstanding contributions to environmental science. A professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biology and principal investigator in TMU’s Emerging Contaminants Lab, her contributions include pioneering methods in forensic chemistry for tracing contaminants to the source of pollution. Professor Sühring actively informs environmental policy and regulation, and her research philosophy ensures ethical and equitable real-world impact alongside scientific rigour.

Nagina Parmar

Dr. Nagina Parmar exemplifies the Joe Zboralski Teaching and Community Engagement Award through her innovative teaching, compassionate mentorship, and transformative community leadership. As a dedicated faculty member in the Department of Chemistry and Biology for over two decades, she has championed experiential learning, CUPE advocacy, workplace equity and safety, and ethical research practices. 

Krystal Nunes

Dr. Krystal Nunes demonstrates exceptional teaching excellence through innovative and inclusive evidence-based approaches that enhance undergraduate science student learning. She has positively transformed first-year science education by redesigning laboratory experiences and implementing classroom interventions that build resilience and belonging among students. Her pedagogical research has earned national and international recognition, with invited presentations at leading universities across the globe. Equally notable is her mentorship of over 45 pedagogy-focused graduate and undergraduate projects at TMU. Empowering emerging scholars to engage in the scholarship of teaching and learning, Dr. Nunes is truly an inspiration for the next generation of educators and researchers.

Anthony Bonato

Dr. Anthony Bonato is an exceptional graduate mentor and educator, having supervised over 40 graduate students at Toronto Metropolitan University. His unwavering commitment to academic excellence is demonstrated through his effective guidance, insightful feedback, and advocacy for graduate students in achieving their academic and professional goals. His inclusive approach to graduate education teaching fosters a welcoming environment that encourages student engagement and success. His mentorship has empowered students to thrive in both academia and industry, making him a highly deserving candidate for the YSGPS Outstanding Contribution to Graduate Education Award.

Ali Miri

Dr. Miri is a transformative leader in graduate education whose mentorship, teaching, and program development have significantly advanced student success. As the inaugural Graduate Program Director of the Master of Cybersecurity, he led its design, approval, and launch, shaping a rigorous, inclusive, and professionally relevant curriculum. He has supervised nearly 80 graduate students, co-authored over 250 manuscripts with them, and built collaborative research environments through the iCaSL lab. His commitment to personalized advising, ethical scholarship, and career development exemplifies the values of the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies and continues to empower future academic and industry leaders.