Faculty of Science undergraduates recognized for student excellence

Educating, celebrating and empowering medical physics students was Kian Karimi’s main goal as the president of the program’s course union in 2024-2025. His efforts, along with four other Faculty of Science students, were recognized at the TMU Student Experience Awards in April, where they were each awarded a Dennis Mock Student Leadership Award. The annual award recognizes graduating students who have made outstanding voluntary extracurricular contributions to their school, academic program, faculty or the university as a whole. The Faculty of Science also celebrated three additional award recipients for their leadership and community impact, receiving the Career Boost Excellence & Boldness Award, the OVPS Marion Creery Award and the OVPS Michelle Monkhouse Memorial Award.

“It felt amazing to have this recognition because of all the work I put into this role,” says Karimi, who will be graduating from the medical physics bachelor of science (honours) program in June. One of just five such undergraduate programs in Canada, it focuses on applying the principles and practices of physics to prevent, diagnose and treat diseases. 

As president, Karimi led a group of 10 other students in organizing various activities to support students’ learning and growth. Key among them were two industry panel events—one featuring distinguished experts from the world of quantum physics, and another in which medical physics professionals working in areas such as cancer care, astrophysics and radiation therapy shared their career journeys.

The union also organized networking events involving program faculty members as well as science and business professionals, and a town hall with professor Pedro Goldman, acting chair of the Department of Physics at TMU, for students to ask questions about employment opportunities in the field.

Karimi led the organization of two field trips for students to understand the practical applications of medical physics—one to the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research, and the other to the McMaster Nuclear Reactor.

All of these activities manifested through the cooperative effort of the entire union leadership, Karimi says, and he enjoyed the chance to steer their progress and keep everyone engaged.

“One thing that was very important to me was motivating the team and providing opportunities for everyone to contribute,” he says.

The union initiative Karimi is most proud of is one he developed from scratch: Student Success Story, in which the union invited current medical physics undergraduate, graduate and PhD and postdoctoral students to share the highlights and wins of their academic journey for the chance to win $100. The union chose as the inaugural winner Farnaz Mohebi, who balances her studies with being a mother, wife and midwife.

“The way Farnaz manages all of her priorities is inspiring,” Karimi says. “Awards usually go to students with high GPAs, but it’s important to acknowledge students excelling in other ways.”

Outside of leading the union, Karimi has made the most of his experience in the Department of Physics by joining the research team of physics professor Ana Pejović Milic. Working under her guidance over the last academic year, he collaborated with the Canadian Armed Forces to develop a testing framework for assessing the accuracy of radiation measurements by dosimeters.

The previous year, Karimi put some of his classroom skills to use by completing an internship as a health physicist at Ontario Power Generation. In that role, he worked as part of a team to enhance radiation safety through tasks such as delivering training sessions to workers and implementing cutting-edge instrumentation programs. In 2024, he was awarded a scholarship to attend the North American Young Generation in Nuclear Continental Conference in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Karimi is currently exploring medical physics career opportunities, and in April, attended the annual conference of the Canadian Nuclear Association in Ottawa. A recent job interview at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre confirmed his interest in applying his training to make a difference in health care.

Says Karimi: “Being able to directly make an impact on people’s lives—that would be very meaningful for me.”