Convocation Awards
2023
Governor General's Gold Medal and Gordon A. Maclachlan Prize
Dr. Selin Jessa is a computational biologist and completed her PhD in the Department of Quantitative Life Sciences at McGill University under the supervision of Dr. Claudia Kleinman, based at the Lady Davis Institute.
Selin’s doctoral research focused on the origins of deadly pediatric brain tumors. As part of a large-scale national collaboration, Selin led the analysis of an “atlas” of gene expression in hundreds of thousands of cells from the normal developing brain. Using this atlas as a reference, she used integrative analyses with patient tumor datasets to identify specific cell types in the developing brain that likely give rise to tumors, providing candidate origins for several tumor subtypes. This work has helped establish a model where pediatric brain cancers arise due to stalled development. This research was recognized by Québec Science Magazine as one of the top 10 discoveries of 2020. Selin is also an advocate for scientific reproducibility and data sharing in genomics, and has developed tutorials, resources, and code repositories to promote bioinformatics reproducibility.
Throughout her time at McGill as both an undergraduate student in Computer Science & Biology and a graduate student in Quantitative Life Sciences, Selin has been active in the McGill community and beyond. As an undergrad, she helped establish ECOLE, a sustainability hub for the McGill community, and led a participatory research project on access to healthcare in Montreal for migrants with precarious immigration status. More recently, she served as the inaugural VP Academic of her graduate student association. Selin’s studies at McGill have been funded by a TD Scholarship for Community Leadership and doctoral awards from CIHR and FRQS.
Captivated by the question of how cells know what to become during development and how these mechanisms are hijacked in disease, Selin will begin a post-doctoral fellowship at Stanford University in September.
Governor General's Gold Medal & McGill Alumni Association Graduate Award
Dr. Jessica Mettler completed her PhD in Educational Psychology – Human Development from the Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology in McGill’s Faculty of Education, under the supervision of Dr. Nancy Heath, Distinguished James McGill Professor. Her PhD was supported through the McGill Tomlinson Scholarship as well as the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) Canada Graduate Scholarship and the Fonds de recherche du Québec – Société et culture.
Throughout her graduate degrees, Dr. Mettler has been committed to bridging the research-to-practice gap in making mental health support more accessible for students of all ages through international, national, and local knowledge mobilisation in collaboration with community partners and those with lived experience of mental health difficulties. She is also an active co-investigator on several federal, provincial, and foundation-funded grants and has a strong academic publication record.
As education institutions struggle with increasing student mental health difficulties, they have turned to low-intensity universal approaches such as mindfulness-based programs; however, it has become increasingly clear that the use of these programs has outpaced the evidence base. Thus, Dr. Mettler’s innovative dissertation research critically investigated the previously untapped strengths, limitations, and possible obstacles to effectively teaching mindfulness to students across educational levels. In a series of 3 rigorously designed and methodologically distinct studies, her dissertation highlights that “one size does not fit all” when it comes to mindfulness instruction for students. Overall, findings suggest mindfulness instruction can be effective for students if it is accessible and implemented with a nuanced understanding of student individual differences (e.g., developmental or gender differences) as well as contextual factors (e.g., differences in instruction, types of strategies taught). Her work provides clear future directions in both research and practice regarding a more complex conceptualization of mindfulness instruction to support students’ coping capacity.
Dr. Mettler is currently a post-doctoral fellow at Concordia University, where her research focuses on further investigating how to support students’ coping capacity by better understanding longitudinal well-being and educational trajectories.
D.W Ambridge Prize
Dr. Adam McElligott (BEng ’19) earned his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering at McGill University in August 2022 under the supervision of Professors Phillip Servio and Jean-Luc Meunier and in collaboration with Dr. Alejandro Rey.
While at McGill, Dr. McElligott led many investigations in diverse fields. His thesis (“The Effects of Functionalized Graphene on Phase Change Systems”) advanced the potential for nanofluid-based phase change technologies by elucidating the fundamental interactions between nanoparticle parameters, solidification kinetics, and multi-phase thermodynamics. In addition, he developed the “Hypothesis of Non-Einsteinian Viscosity,” which challenged several assumptions in the field of nanofluidics that had been accepted for over 100 years. As a side project, he led the team that designed and implemented the first experimental setup to freeze multiple levitated liquid droplets simultaneously. This system is now used to accurately study the formation of atmospheric ice particles in the laboratory setting. His Ph.D. training was supported by the Vadasz Scholars Program in the Faculty of Engineering at McGill University and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.
Building on his expertise, Dr. McElligott recently joined the Department of Mechanical and Marine Engineering at the Western Norway University of Applied Sciences in Bergen, Norway, as a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellow. His project, entitled ONESTEP (Optimized Nanofluids for Efficient Solar Thermal Energy Production), is supported by the European Union’s Horizon Europe program and aims to understand the fundamental physics behind photothermal boiling in nanofluids.
D.W Ambridge Prize
Michael Pagano completed his doctorate under Prof. Adrian Liu in McGill's Cosmic Dawn Intensity Mapping Group. His research focused on the Epoch of Reionization (EoR), an observationally unconstrained period in the Universe's history that has important implications for cosmology and astrophysics. He is a collaborator of the Hydrogen Epoch for Reionization Array (HERA) and the Radio Experiment for the Analysis of Cosmic Hydrogen (REACH), two collaborations aiming to measure the EoR. He completed work investigating direct and indirect probes of the EoR; notably, he looked at using Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs) as a method of exploring the EoR. He also contributed to the development of new techniques to mitigate some of the systematics preventing cosmologists from making direct measurements of this time period.
He is now a joint postdoctoral fellow at the Gran Sasso Science Institute (L'Aquila) and Scuola Normale Superiore (Pisa), both in Italy.
K.B. Jenckes Prize
Mathieu Paillé is a linguist who specializes in meaning in language. He completed his PhD under the supervision of Bernhard Schwarz and Luis Alonso-Ovalle. His thesis, ‘Strengthening Predicates,’ discusses the relationship between language and thought, and more specifically between nouns/adjectives and the concepts underlying them. The thesis challenges the common assumption that there is a one-to-one correspondence between the meanings of nouns/adjectives and their underlying concepts. On the widely held view, a noun like ‘tree’ simply makes references to things that are exemplars of the concept of a tree. The thesis shows that this is not the case: language systematically interferes with how nouns and adjectives are intuited, with the result that they do not correspond exactly to the concepts underlying them.
Mathieu is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Calgary.
Travel Awards
Delta Upsilon Memorial Scholarship
Erin Nicole Yanota, English
Alexa Servant, Psychology
Noah Reese Bailis, Music - Performance
John Williamson Frederick Peacock Memorial Scholarship
Abbi Baran, Geography
Philip F. Vineberg Travelling Fellowship
Michelle Amanda Marcus, Political Science
2022
Governor General's Gold Medal and Gordon A. Maclachlan Prize
Dr. Anne-Julie Tessier is a registered dietitian (BSc‘16) and completed her Ph.D. in Human Nutrition at McGill University under the supervision of Dr. Stéphanie Chevalier in December 2021.
During her training she led studies of various designs in nutritional epidemiology and a clinical trial at the Montreal General Hospital and Institut universitaire de gériatrie de Montréal. Her dissertation entitled “The interplay between sarcopenia, physical and cognitive functions and the role of nutrition as a modifiable risk factor in aging” establishes the first Canadian cut-points for the diagnosis of sarcopenia (low muscle mass), it provides novel understanding of risk factors for sarcopenia and cognition, and lays out groundwork for future dietary interventions aimed to delay the loss of independence in older adults, including the most vulnerable. Her Ph.D training was supported by the McGill University PhD Graduate Excellence Fellowship and the Fonds de Recherche du Québec en Santé (FRQ-S).
Dr. Tessier’s interest is also toward novel mobile applications for dietary tracking. She is the cofounder and CEO of Keenoa, an intelligent food diary tailored for dietitians and researchers, that serves over 70,000 users worldwide.
Building on the findings of her thesis and entrepreneurial work, Dr. Tessier recently joined Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health’s Department of Nutrition as a Postdoctoral Fellow to study nutritional epidemiology, metabolomics, and aging. She is also developing and studying the use of cutting-edge technology for dietary assessment. Her research training is supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).
Governor General's Gold Medal & McGill Alumni Association Graduate Award
Anne Iavarone-Turcotte est avocate et docteure en droit. Après trois ans de pratique en litige, lors desquelles elle a représenté des victimes de fautes médicales et hospitalières dans des poursuites en responsabilité civile, elle a entrepris une maîtrise en droit à l’Université McGill (2013), puis un doctorat (2015), qu’elle a complété à l’été 2021. Dans sa thèse, réalisé sous la supervision de l’éminent professeur Daniel Weinstock, elle propose un modèle théorique permettant de reconceptualiser et d’encadrer le choix de pratiques comportant un potentiel d’oppression sexiste. Elle teste ensuite ce modèle dans une étude de cas : le règlement religieux des divorces et son équivalent « séculier », dans le cadre de médiations ou d’arbitrages privés. Il s’agit là d’avenues parfois choisies par les femmes, mais qui menacent de leur faire perdre des droits durement acquis, notamment en matière de pension alimentaire, de partage du patrimoine familial et de garde des enfants. En amont de cette réflexion, Anne élabore une méthodologie réflexive – unique en son genre – pour tenter d’atténuer les risques découlant de son positionnement par rapport à une partie de son objet d’étude : les oppressions multiples et croisées subies par les femmes membres de minorités religieuses.
Anne entreprendra à l’automne 2022 un stage postdoctoral au Centre de recherche en éthique (CRÉ) et à la Chaire de recherche du Canada en éthique féministe (CREF). Dans ce cadre, elle entend explorer le potentiel de son modèle dans d’autres contextes mettant en cause les droits des femmes, tels le travail du sexe, le consentement en matière sexuelle ou la chirurgie esthétique.
En parallèle de ses activités de chercheuse, Anne coordonne l’OBNL « Thèsez-vous? », dont la mission est de soutenir les étudiant.e.s aux cycles supérieurs dans leurs projets de rédaction scientifique et de repenser, pour les transformer, les pratiques du milieu universitaire.
D.W Ambridge Prize
Dr. Georgia Pierrou obtained her PhD from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering under the supervision of Prof. Xiaozhe Wang.
Georgia’s Ph.D. thesis entitled ‘Long-term Voltage Stability of Power Systems under Uncertainty: Analytical Methods and Data-driven Control’ systematically investigated the impact of uncertainty of renewable generation and electric loads on the secure operation of sustainable electric energy systems and proposed novel solutions against the occurrence of unwanted power outages in modern power grids. Georgia has made original and significant research contributions in analyzing and enhancing the voltage stability of electric power systems with high penetration of renewable energy sources. The research results were disseminated through 8 peer-reviewed high-quality papers and leading conference proceedings in the field.
Because of her research contributions and potential, Georgia received the competitive Green Talents award hosted by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (2021) and was selected as a finalist of the Student Contest: ‘3 minutes to change the world’ organized by l'Association Québécoise de la Production d'Énergie Renouvelable (2020). In addition, she was a recipient of the McGill Stavros Niarchos Foundation Fellowship (one awardee per year at McGill), McGill Engineering Doctoral Award (2017-2021), Hellenic Scholarships Foundation Award (2019), and McGill Graduate Research Enhancement and Travel Award (2019). Throughout her PhD studies, Georgia was also active in campus and community engagement activities including teaching assistantships and invigilation positions and committed to work towards the integration of the principles of equity, diversity and inclusion by attending relevant workshops.
Georgia continues her academic research career as a Postdoctoral Researcher at ETH Zurich, Switzerland working with Prof. Gabriela Hug in ETH Power Systems Laboratory.
D.W Ambridge Prize
Jianbin Li completed his doctoral studies in Prof. Chao-Jun Li's group at McGill University in 2021 [Department of Chemistry]. His research focused on Green Chemistry and applied its principle to confront important synthetic challenges and improve future sustainability. He was passionate about exploring innovative chemical means that could harvest renewable feedstock and sustainable energy from nature. His thesis presented the design of several highly enabling catalysts and reagents that could activate strong chemical bonds, especially the naturally abundant C-H and C-O bonds. The C-H and C-O functionalization strategies developed by him have been applied in multiple synthetic contexts, and his contribution to the scientific community was recognized by more than 20 papers in international peer-reviewed journals.
He is now the postdoctoral fellow in Prof. Jared Lewis's group at Indiana University Bloomington, where he strived to leverage biocatalysis and directed evolution to access non-native reactivities and solve challenging interdisciplinary problems.
McGill Alumni Association Graduate Award
Keena Trowell earned her Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering at McGill University under the supervision of Jeffrey Bergthorson and David Frost. Her research focused on high-temperature and supercritical metal-water reactions for hydrogen and heat production. Long duration energy storage, to offset the seasonal variability of renewable energy, is a major bottleneck in the transition to a carbon–free energy system. Using excess renewable power, when it is available, to produce metals is a mechanism for storing energy. In the form of metals, renewable energy is safe and easy to store and transport. When the stored energy is needed, the metal can be reacted with water to produce heat and hydrogen. The resulting hydroxides are easily collected and recycled using existing technology, thereby creating a closed fuel cycle.
In her research, Dr. Trowell developed a method, which uses high-temperature liquid water and supercritical water, to produce hydrogen by efficiently oxidizing coarse particles of aluminum, magnesium, and zinc. Through this research, Dr. Trowell demonstrated that the catalysts commonly used in low-temperature reactions are unnecessary. By removing the need for catalysts, the fuel cycle is safer, less costly, and the reaction products are easier to recycle. Her research lays the groundwork decarbonizing sectors of the economy that have proven difficult to shift away from hydrocarbon fuels.
In addition to metal-water reactions, Dr. Trowell’s research interests include energy storage, energy for remote regions, the water-energy nexus, and the techno-economic aspects of zero-carbon energy carriers. In July, Dr. Trowell will join the Department of Mechanical Engineering at McMaster University as an Assistant Professor.
K.B. Jenckes Prize
David Collins obtained his PhD in McGill’s Department of Philosophy under the supervision of Profs. David Davies and Alia Al-Saji, after having come to philosophy from a background studying, teaching, and creating in film and theatre. His dissertation proposed a process-based account of the nature and value of art that was developed by drawing on ideas from philosophers working in different philosophical traditions, most notably R.G. Collingwood, John Dewey, Henri Bergson, and Simone de Beauvoir. On this account, works of art are taken to be expressions of ways of experiencing (feeling, perceiving, understanding, etc.) the world, with these ways of experiencing being both created and discovered by artists in the process of making art, and where both artistic value (i.e., what makes a work of art good qua art) and the value of art (i.e., why art is valuable or important to create and engage with) are understood in terms of what could be called ‘perspectival sharing’, where artworks make available to their audiences new ways of experiencing the world, thereby expanding their audience members’ cognitive and affective horizons. This account not only presents a unified theory of what art is, what makes for good art, and why good art is valuable, but offers an explanation for how talk of artists creating artworks is compatible with ideas of artists discovering the perspectives which they express in their work. Moreover, by bringing together compatible ideas from a number of philosophers working in diverse traditions in order to develop an account of art that goes beyond, but is compatible with, the theories of each of the philosophers in question, David’s dissertation exemplifies a distinctively ‘synthetic’ approach to doing philosophy.
Travel Awards
Delta Upsilon Memorial Scholarship
Jillian Schneidman, Medicine and Health Sciences
Juanyu Yang, International Development Studies & Psychology
John Williamson Frederick Peacock Memorial Scholarship
Emily Yan-Wai Tam, Computer Science
Philip F. Vineberg Travelling Fellowship
Holly Anne Wethey, English
2021
Governor General's Gold Medal
Chinchin Wang completed a Master’s degree in Epidemiology at the Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Occupational Health at McGill University and the Centre of Clinical Epidemiology at the Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research, under the supervision of Dr. Ian Shrier. Her research was in sports injury epidemiology, focusing on the relationship between changes in physical activity levels and injury risk in children. Her thesis reviewed current methods for evaluating the relationship between changes in activity and injury and their limitations, improved upon these methods, and applied them to the context of children’s physical activity. Her research has been influential in changing practice, and was cited by the Australian Institute of Sport in their decision to discourage the use of the current methods for monitoring training. Chinchin is now a PhD student in Epidemiology under the co-supervision of Dr. Ian Shrier and Dr. Jay Kaufman, focusing on developing and applying causal inference methods to sports injury epidemiology. She also works at the Public Health Agency of Canada in physical activity, sedentary behaviour, and sleep surveillance. Her ultimate goal is to continue informing evidence-based recommendations for promoting healthy lifestyles.
Governor General's Gold Medal & McGill Alumni Association Graduate Award
Annabelle Berthaiume completed her Ph.D. in Social Work at McGill University under the supervision of Jill Hanley (McGill) and Louis Gaudreau (UQAM) in December 2020.
In her dissertation, titled "Le déploiement de la perspective de l'investissement social dans les politiques « enfance famille » au Québec: Co-construction, engagement parental et mixité sociale ?", Dr. Berthiaume examines the enactment of the social investment perspective in child and family policies in Quebec. Using critical ethnography, her work analyzes how women are targeted by and involved in these policies, both at the community level and in frontline services (such as community organizers, social workers, volunteers, and mothers). Based on empirical examples, she interrogates three all-embracing concepts: co-construction, parental involvement, and social mix. Looking through them with a feminist framework, her contribution highlights how social location shapes the involvement of women, particularly mothers, in the reconfiguration of social governance, notably in terms of care work and gendered division of labor.
Building on the findings of her thesis, Dr. Berthiaume joined Carleton University as a Postdoctoral Fellow in January 2021 with support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). Starting in June, she will be Professor in Social Work at Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, where she will be teaching courses related to community organization and social policy. You can follow her research .
D.W Ambridge Prize
Samantha Gateman completed her PhD in chemistry under the supervision of Professor Janine Mauzeroll. Her research focused on understanding corrosion mechanisms of complex metallic materials using macro and micro electrochemical methods. In collaboration with Hydro Quebec, she investigated innovative materials proposed to prolong the lifetime of hydraulic turbine systems. Samantha’s thesis not only presented her collaborators with sufficient information for making an informed decision on material choice, but also highlighted the importance of bridging the gap between analytical chemists and corrosion scientists by using scanning electrochemical probe methods to study corrosion on the microcsale. Her research efforts contributed to the scientific community through 13 peer-reviewed papers in international journals.
Throughout her graduate studies, Samantha was active in many community and service positions including teaching assistantships, being a chemistry outreach member, and presidential roles for the Electrochemical Society Montreal Student Chapter and the Chemistry Graduate Student Society. In all of her endeavours, Samantha strived to promote an inclusive and fun environment for her peers.
Samantha is currently a postdoctoral fellow at Sorbonne University in Paris, France, investigating the aging mechanisms of ion exchange materials for water purification systems using localized electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. Her research stay is supported by an NSERC PDF scholarship.
D.W Ambridge Prize
David S. Abraham completed his doctoral studies at McGill University in electrical engineering in 2020 under the supervision of Prof. Dennis D. Giannacopoulos. His research interests include the numerical simulation of electromagnetic fields, with emphasis on their interactions with complex materials, and the acceleration of electromagnetics algorithms via parallelization and Graphics Processing Units (GPUs).
In his dissertation, David proposed and validated a series of novel algorithms for the simulation of materials exhibiting dispersion and nonlinearity when interacting with electromagnetic fields. He also proposed additional techniques to increase the applicability and versatility of these new algorithms, such as the development of a compatible Perfectly Matched Layer (PML). His thesis equally explored the computational burden associated with these types of numerical simulations and demonstrated optimization and acceleration strategies capable of producing over 200 times faster performance.
In 2020, David’s contributions to his field were highlighted by the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society with the conferral of the Sergei A. Schelkunoff Transactions Prize Paper Award, recognizing his work as being the best published across all issues of IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation in 2019. He is also the recipient of the Les Vadasz Fellowship in Engineering from McGill University, Masters and Doctoral research scholarships from the Fonds de Recherche du Québec – Nature et Technologies (FRQNT), and the Alexander Graham Bell Canada Graduate Scholarship from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC).
David is also an avid teacher and educator, having received Outstanding Teaching awards from both the Faculty of Engineering and the Electrical, Computer, & Software Engineering Student Society (ECSESS) of McGill University.
Gordon A. Maclachlan Prize
Christina Mastromonaco, first started her undergrad at McGill University in 2012, and has completed all her studies since then at McGill. She realized that she wanted to be fully involved in the translation sciences research and visualize how research can impact the lives of patients. This drive allowed her to finish her master’s degree in Pathology, and continue on to pursue her PhD in the MUHC-McGill Ocular Pathology Laboratory, under the supervision of Dr. Miguel Burnier. With her PhD entitled “The optimal intraocular lens (IOL) for patients: understanding the factors contributing to post-cataract surgery complications”, her goal was to expand her scientific knowledge in the field of ocular pathology and to determine IOL biocompatibility
in selected patients. Throughout her time at McGill she has collaborated with many committees, participated in international conferences, and become a TA and mentor, which allowed her to meet such wonderful people throughout her journey.
Christina is not the typical science PhD. With her roots in the ophthalmology research, she explored business and entrepreneurship. Mixing both of these worlds, she is driven to share her knowledge and communicate it with the people around her.
Post-defense, Christina worked with the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Center, and is recently with the Camargo Pharmaceutical Serving Company in Montreal. However, her ocular pathology background is still in full swing, working with the BroadEye Podcast team, spreading eye care wisdom worldwide.
She is proud to be graduating in 2021, with her PhD in Pathology, and very grateful to receive the Gordon A. Maclachlan Prize.
Gordon A. Maclachlan Prize
Jeffrey Downey first joined McGill as an undergraduate in Physiology. In the final year of his degree, he joined Dr. Maziar Divangahi’s laboratory and focused on understanding the role macrophage cell death pathways in response to infection. Following completion of his B.Sc, Jeffrey started his graduate studies under the supervision of Dr. Divangahi, completing his Ph.D in 2020.
His dissertation, entitled “Mechanisms of Host Defense to Influenza Virus Infection,” investigates the molecular and cellular processes of antiviral immune responses, as well as the maintenance of tissue barrier integrity and function following influenza infection. Additionally, his research delved into the production and programming of leukocytes, termed hematopoiesis, in the bone marrow and its potential role in future vaccine design to a variety of pathogens.
Following the completion of his doctorate, Jeffrey is currently researching as a post-doctoral researcher at the Cardiovascular Research Institute of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai Hospital.
K.B. Jenckes Prize
Patrick Outhwaite completed his PhD in the Department of English at McGill University under the supervision of Professor Michael Van Dussen. His dissertation, titled “Christus Medicus and Religious Controversy in Late-Medieval Europe: Dissidence, Authority and Regulation,” involved extensive archival research in London, Oxford, Kraków and Prague. Drawing on previously unexplored manuscript material, this dissertation argues that reformist groups in England and Central Europe used concepts that were developed in hospital settings to press for increased lay access to religion against the strictures of the Church hierarchy. What started as intellectual reform movements that emerged from the universities of Oxford and Prague soon spilled into more diffuse controversies involving the laity and the vernacular. These religious disputes ran parallel to debates over authority and training in strictly medical contexts and mirrored much of the rhetoric and language that medical authorities used. Consequently, religious and medical debates influenced each other as medicine, allegory and physical intervention became increasingly entangled.
More broadly, his research engages interdisciplinary approaches to medieval medicine, religion and book history. During his time at McGill he has published articles in the Journal of the Early Book Society, Journal of English and Germanic Philology, Chaucer Review and Studia Mediaevalia Bohemica. Patrick would like to thank the professors in the Department of English and his colleagues for making his time at McGill so memorable.
Travel Awards
Delta Upsilon Memorial Scholarship
Olena Zotova, Medicineand Health Sciences
Joshua Schwartz, Medicineand Health Sciences
John Williamson Frederick Peacock Memorial Scholarship
Gillian Xu, English
Philip F. Vineberg Travelling Fellowship
Brianna Cheng, Political Science/History
2020
Governor General's Gold Medal & Gordon A. MacLachlan Prize
Vasiliki (Vaso) Rahimzadeh is an applied bioethics scholar with research interests at the intersection of precision medicine, data governance and public policy. She was named a Vanier Canada Graduate Scholar (2016-2019) for her work in this area, and completed her PhD jointly at the Centre of Genomics and Policy and Department of Family Medicine under the supervision of Professors Bartha Maria Knoppers and Gillian Bartlett.
Her dissertation first developed, then validated an ethical framework for the responsible sharing of genomic and associated clinical data involving children in Canada. Dr. Rahimzadeh has served as a national representative of bioethics trainees on the Canadian Institutes of Health Research Standing Committee on Ethics, and is an active member of the Regulatory and Ethics Work Stream of the.
She joined the Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics as a Postdoctoral Fellow in September 2019 with support from a National Human Genome Research Institute Ethical, Legal and Social Implications (ELSI) training grant. Her postdoctoral research builds on the ethical-legal foundation of data sharing to explore how emerging information technologies can enable secure access, use and exchange of electronic health record data to advance research in rare pediatric disease. You can read more about Dr. Rahimzadeh’s past, and future research in pediatric bioethics.
Governor General's Gold Medal & McGill Alumni Association Graduate Award
Neerusha Gokool Baurhoo received the Governor General's Gold Medal, awarded to outstanding graduate in the field of Social Sciences and Humanities at McGill University. She was also awarded the McGill Alumni Association Graduate Award for all disciplines. During her doctoral studies, she also received the FRQSC and SSHRC doctoral scholarship. She was ranked first on the application for the FRQSC doctoral scholarship. Throughout her doctoral journey, she published several articles in various peer-reviewed journals which can be accessed.
Her doctoral manuscript-based dissertation focused on the teaching and learning practices for science students with learning disabilities (LD) at the CEGEP level. Her research was the first in Quebec to delve into the struggles the students with learning disabilities face in pursuing their studies in science. She also explored the issues that college science professors experienced in teaching and academically supporting their science students with learning disabilities. In her doctoral dissertation, Neerusha gave students with learning disabilities not only a unified voice, but a platform to have their unique issues heard through photovoice. Neerusha’s dissertation topic stems from her own experience and professional work conducting remedial interventions with students with special needs in science and math at a college in Montreal. Neerusha firmly believes in equity in education and that all students, irrespective of their social, biological, and economic circumstances, should be given equal opportunities to academically succeed and thrive in their areas of interests.
Neerusha’s experience at McGill University was both enriching and life changing. Her blog articles can be accessed. The 2019-2020 Governor General’s Gold Medal not only commemorates her academic excellence at McGill University but also depicts her continuous resilience, efforts, and hard work. Balancing family life with her studies while striving for academic excellence was an immense challenge and she is very grateful and thankful to her thesis supervisor, Dr. Anila Asghar, for her continuous support and dedication. She is very thankful to professors in the Faculty of Education (DISE and ECP) who inspired her during her doctoral journey: Dr. Claudia Mitchell, Dr. Marta Kobiela, Dr. Mela Sarkar, Dr. Lise Winer, Dr. Carolyn Turner, Dr. Robert Savage, Dr. Jessica Toste, and Dr. Ingrid Sladeczek. She would also like to thank Mr. Michael Lariviere for all his support.
K. B. Jenckes Prize
Landon Morrison completed a PhD in music theory at McGill University under the co-supervision of Robert Hasegawa and Jonathan Sterne, and is now a College Fellow at Harvard University, where he teaches courses on a range of topics, including tonal and post-tonal analysis, timbre, and new musical media.
His dissertation, titled “Sounds, Signals, Signs: Transductive Currents in Post-Spectral Music at IRCAM,” examines the articulation of contemporary compositional practices to psychoacoustics and technological development at the Institut de recherche et coordination acoustique/musique (IRCAM) in Paris, France. Borrowing from sound and media studies, he proposes an analytics of transduction for illuminating the complex interconnections that bind music’s sounding effects, its manifold representations, and its material bases of production. More broadly, his research engages with an array of interdisciplinary approaches to contemporary music, as demonstrated by recent articles inCircuit: musiques contemporaine,Mitteilungen der Paul Sacher Stiftung, andMusic Theory Online, a forthcoming chapter on the history of rhythm quantization in theOxford Handbook of Time in Music, and regular conference presentations at the annual meetings for the Society of Music Theory, American Musicological Society, Electroacoustic Music Studies Network, and the Society for Cinema and Media Studies.
D.W. Ambridge Prize
Noah Phillips completed his doctoral degree in Earth and Planetary Sciences in 2019 under the supervision of Dr. Christie Rowe. His research centered on how earthquakes nucleate and propagate through common rocks from subduction zones (where the world’s largest earthquakes occur). Using a combination of field mapping in Japan, friction experiments, and numerical modelling Noah showed how altered basalt, a common subduction zone lithology, has the required physical properties to nucleate earthquakes.
Noah is now a Postdoctoral Research Associate at Texas A&M University.
D.W. Ambridge Prize
Igor Huskic completed his doctoral degree in Chemistry in 2019 under the supervision of Prof. Tomislav Friščić. His research focused on developing solid-state 'accelerated ageing' reactions as green, solvent-free methods for chemical synthesis. In his thesis Igor showed that a wide range of materials - from organic species to metal-organic functional materials - can be prepared using 'accelerated ageing', avoiding solvents and improving the ecological impact of synthetic chemistry. During his time at McGill Igor (co)authored 18 peer-reviewed papers in international journals.
Igor has always been passionate about education and science outreach. In 2014 he helped start McGill Chemistry Outreach group which is still activetoday. Igor currently lives in Australia and works for the Therapeutic Goods Administration.
Travel Awards
Delta Upsilon Memorial Scholarship
Mathis Loic Messager, Geography
Andrea Carboni Jimenez, Psychiatry
John Williamson Frederick Peacock Memorial Scholarship
Miranda Jane Green, Neuroscience
Philip F. Vineberg Travelling Fellowship
Michael Andre Leger, Political Science/History
2019
Governor General's Gold Medal & McGill Alumni Association Graduate Award
Nichole Austin, PhD, Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Occupational Health
Governor General's Gold Medal & K. B. Jenckes Prize
Daniel Ruiz-Serna, PhD, Anthropology
D. W. Ambridge Prize
Mikhail Karpukhin, PhD, Mathematics and Statistics
Gordon A. MacLachlan Prize
Sreenath Arekunnath, PhD, Dental Medicine and Oral Health Sciences
Travel Awards
Delta Upsilon Memorial Scholarship
Jonathan Boretsky, Mathematics and Statistics, Physics
Delta Upsilon Memorial Scholarship
Sofia Anstis, Law
J.W.F. Peacock Memorial Scholarship
Adam Cutts, Geography
2018
Convocation Awards
Governor General’s Gold Medal & McGill Alumni Association Graduate Award
Jenna Wong, PhD, Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Occupational Health
Governor General’s Gold Medal & Gordon A. Maclachlan Prize
William Cole Lepry, PhD, Mining and Materials Engineering
K.B. Jenckes Prize
Hui Wang, PhD, Educational and Counselling Psychology
Travel Awards
Delta Upsilon Memorial Scholarship
Marco Mascarella, Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Occupational Health
Philip F. Vineberg Travelling Fellowship
Aurelie Skrobik, Institute for the Study of International Development
J.W.F. Peacock Memorial Scholarship
Miles Cranmer, Physics
2017
Governor General’s Gold Medal & McGill Alumni Association Graduate Award
Laura Risk earned the 2017 Governor General’s Gold Medal, awarded to the top graduate in Human Sciences (Social Sciences and Humanities). She also received the McGill Alumni Association Graduate Award.
Laura received her PhD in Musicology in the Department of Music Research. Her dissertation research, under the supervision of Dr. David Brackett, explores the intersection of musical genre, nationalism, recording technologies, and performance practice in fiddling cultures from Quebec to the British Isles.
You can read more about her research here.
McGill University News and Events interviewed Laura shortly after her graduation. You can read the interview here.
Governor General’s Gold Medal
Annie Kwan is the 2016-2017 recipient of the Governor General’s Gold Medal, an award presented to the most outstanding McGill graduate receiving a Master’s degree.
Pursing the entirety of her post-secondary education at McGill, Ms. Kwan graduated with her Master’s degree from the department of Biomedical engineering this past spring. Under the supervision of Dr. Kathleen E. Cullen, her research focused on how galvantic vestibular stimulation (GVS) activates the brain. Her Master’s thesis, entitled Galvanic Vestibular Stimulation in Primates: Recording Vestibular Afferents during Transmastoid Stimulation, has been praised as innovative and original in the field. Her work will soon result in five publications, including three first authorships. Ms. Kwan has also presented her research on GVS at conferences both nationally and internationally. There is no doubt that Ms. Kwan will continue to make great contributions to biomedical research in the years to come.
Gordon A. Maclachlan Prize
Dr. Yazan Abbas is the 2017-18 recipient of the prestigious Gordon A. Maclachlan Prize for his outstanding scholarship in Biological and Health Sciences.
Dr. Abbas pursued his Graduate studies at McGill from 2009-2017 in the department of Biochemistry, under the supervision of Dr. Bhushan Nagar. His research, which specializes in structural biology and protein-RNA interactions, has made major contributions to the field including providing insight into the development of anti-viral vaccines. Dr. Abbas’s thesis, entitled The structure of IFIT proteins and their recognition of viral RNA, was defended early this year to a panel of impressed examiners. Under the supervision of Dr. Bhushan Nagar, he has succeeded both academically and in his research, publishing first authorship articles in leading journals including Nature and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Dr. Abbas has also met success while presenting at conferences and poster presentations around the world. Beyond this, peers and superiors praise Dr. Abbas as a highly dependable colleague and collaborator, and a strong mentor to his juniors.
Dr. Abbas is currently at The Hospital for Sick Children Research Institute in Toronto to pursing post-doctoral work in electron cryomicroscopy under the mentorship of Dr. John Rubinstein.
D.W. Ambridge Prize
Leila Bridgeman received the D.W. Ambridge Award in 2017, an award honouring one exceptional graduate student in the area of Physical Sciences and Engineering.
Leila Bridgeman completed her doctorate in mechanical engineering in 2016. Her research centered on exploiting and extending one of the foundational results in robust control of George Zames, a former professor at McGill. She is currently a postdoctoral associate within the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science at Duke University, where she will be an assistant professor starting in 2018. Her research interests include robust control, stability theory, and model predictive control with applications to robotic systems.
Travel Awards
Delta Upsilon Memorial Scholarship
Amélie Bernard received the Delta Upsilon Memorial Scholarship in 2017, an award created to commemorate the fraternity’s brothers who were killed during the Boer War and the First and Second World Wars.
Currently a PhD candidate in the department of Psychology, Ms. Bernard is a researcher at the McGill Infant Development Centre. Her research interest is in statistical learning and the mechanisms by which statistical patterns are generalized. In the domain of language, she studies how infants, toddlers and adults learn about the allowable sequencing of their language, and how they generalize newly-learned sequences. In the domain of physical reasoning, she is interested in how children track statistical patterns and generate mechanisms that can explain these patterns and allows them to generalize the patterns across events.
Philip F. Vineberg Travelling Fellowship & Delta Upsilon Memorial Scholarship
Niyousha Bastani received the Delta Upsilon Memorial Scholarship in 2017, an award created to commemorate the fraternity’s brothers who were killed during the Boer War and the First and Second World Wars. In the same year, she was also awarded the Philip F. Vineberg Travelling Fellowship in the Humanities.
J.W.F. Peacock Memorial Scholarship
Kays Haddad is the 2017 recipient of the John Williamson Frederick Peacock Memorial Scholarship. This award was established in the memory of Flight Lieutenant J.W.F. Peacock, a member of the Delta Upsilon Fraternity who was killed in action over Normandy in 1944.
"I am a second year Masters student working in particle physics on beyond-the-standard-model phenomenology. My research focuses on a popular theorized particle that is similar to the famous Higgs boson, but carries an electric charge whereas the Higgs boson does not. I am trying to quantify the likelihood of observing this charged Higgs boson in current particle collider experiments."
2016
Governor General’s Gold Medal & Gordon A. MacLachlan Prize
Dr. Hailey Banack receivedthe Governor General's Gold Medal for themost outstanding PhD graduate in any discipline at McGill in 2015-16.For more than 140 years, the Governor General’s Academic Medals have recognized the outstanding scholastic achievements of students in Canada. She was also award the Gordon A. Maclachlan Prize for the mostoutstandinggraduate receiving a Doctoraldegree in Health Sciences in 2015-2016.
Dr. Hailey Banack received her PhD in Epidemiology in the Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics, and Occupational Health at McGill Universityin Montreal, Quebec working with Dr. Jay Kaufman. Hailey’s dissertation research was focused on conceptual and methodological issues related to the study of obesity,cardiovasculardisease and mortality. She was specifically interested in examining the “obesity paradox” and methods for addressing selection bias in epidemiologic research.
She is currently working as a postdoctoral fellow with the Women's Health Initiative. Her current research isfocusedon understanding the predictors of healthy aging in postmenopausal women andcontinuing toexaminehow obesity and cardiovascular risk factors affect morbidity and mortality.
Governor General’s Gold Medal & McGill Alumni Association Graduate Award
Oleksandr Bushuyev completed his doctorate in Chemistry of Materials at McGill in May 2016. His outstanding achievements earned him the Governor General’s Gold Medal and the McGill Alumni Association Graduate Award. His doctoral work was focused on studies of azobenzene, a photo-active molecule, which is capable of transforming the energy of light into mechanical motion upon incorporation into polymers or single crystals. After graduation Oleksandr joined Sargent and Kelley Research Group at the University of Toronto as an NSERC Post-Doctoral Fellow. There he will work on photo-catalytic reduction of carbon dioxide into solar fuels with the goal of storing excess energy generated by solar panels.
Lord Dufferin, Canada’s third Governor General after Confederation, created the Academic Medals in 1873 to encourage academic excellence across the nation. Over the years, they have become the most prestigious award that students in Canadian schools can receive. The Gold Medal is awarded to the student who achieves the highest academicstanding at the graduate level.
The McGill Alumni Association Graduate Award is conferred upon an outstanding McGill graduate receiving a degree in 2015-2016 in any discipline in recognition of exemplary academic record, the excellence of the thesis and the significance of research.
K.B. Jenckes Prize
Edward Ou Jin Lee received the K.B. Jenckes Prize. This price is awarded annually by GPS to the most outstanding graduate receiving a Ph.D. degree during the academic year in any discipline in the social sciences and humanities. The winners are assessed by the quality of their academic records, the scholarly significance of their research and the stylistic and substantive excellence of their thesis and other publications.
Edward Ou Jin Lee is an assistant professor at the School of Social Work at the Université de Montréal and a regular member of a health and social service focused research team titled METISS. Ed’s research and practice interests are within the realms of a) critical & anti-oppressive social work, b) institutional, participatory and digital media research methodologies and c) social policy advocacy & community organizing, with a focus on the intersections between racialized, migrant and LGBTQ communities.
As a SSRHC Vanier fellowship recipient and winner of the Director’s prize for outstanding doctoral research in social work at McGill University, Ed’s completed doctoral study examined the relationship between migration and sexuality, and in particular, the experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and queer (LGBTQ) migrants with precarious status. Ed also previously served as the research co-coordinator for a CIHR funded community-based project about LGBTQ refugees and community researcher for an exploratory project focused on the experiences of racialized LGBTQ immigrants and refugees living in Montreal. Edward is also involved in a number of community-based initiatives in Montreal, including AGIR (an LGBTQ immigrant and refugee community organization).
Travel Awards
Delta Upsilon Memorial Scholarship
Jamie Lundine Received the Delta Upsilon Memorial Scholarship in 2016. The Delta Upsilon scholarship was first awarded in 1921 to commemorate the fraternity's brothers who were killed in the Boer War and the first and second World Wars. The funds for the DU scholarship were raised from DU's, as well as their families and friends. The award continues to help students to this day.
Jamie is a geographer and entrepreneur. Over the past 7 years, she has worked on world-renowned digital mapping projects in sub-Saharan Africa and established a GIS & research consulting business. She is an experienced manager and facilitator of participatory data collection and collective analysis approaches – from participatory mapping to storytelling. Jamie is passionate about using methods that allow people to express their own lived experiences. Her work focuses experiences of urban informality – from access to health services, to water and sanitation, to crime and insecurity and jobs and livelihoods.
Philip F. Vineberg Travelling Fellowship& Delta Upsilon Memorial Scholarship
Éloïse Ouellet-Décoste, LLM candidate at the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights, was awarded the Delta Upsilon Memorial Scholarship and the Philip F. Vineberg Traveling Fellowship in the Humanities. The Geneva Academy offers a unique opportunity to study advanced courses in all branches of international law applicable to situations of armed conflict and human rights violations. This international programme is taught by renowned professors recognized for their expertise in their respective fields, ranging from Humanitarian Law, to International Human Rights Law, Refugee Law, Enforced disappearances and International Criminal Law. Furthermore, Geneva Academy provides its students with professionalizing activities by offering externship opportunities at Geneva-based international organizations and NGOs, such as ICRC, UNICEF and OHCHR.
Interested in Aboriginal rights since her studies at the McGill Faculty of Law and freshly returned from an internship at the Office of the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Speech of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Éloïse’s main research interests focus on the intersection between the expression of dissent through the rights of freedom of expression and peaceful assembly and the violation of human rights of marginalized groups, with a special focus on the repression of Aboriginal protests in Canada.
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