On November 18, Mitacs hosted its fourth annual awards ceremony in Ottawa. The awards honoured Canada’s next generation of innovators and their research achievements.
Pragya Chawla, a physics student at Miranda House, University of Delhi, accepts via video the Mitacs Undergraduate Award for Outstanding Innovation from the Honourable Kerry-Lynne Findlay, Minister of National Revenue. As a Globalink Research Intern at the University of Lethbridge, Pragya analyzed data to verify the information provided by the European Space Agency’s Planck telescope.
The Honourable Kerry-Lynne Findlay, Minister of National Revenue, awards the Mitacs Master’s Award for Outstanding Innovation to Daniela Tuchel of Royal Roads University’s School of Communication and Culture. Daniela’s research project with the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada provided recommendations to improve immigration processes between China and Canada.
The Honourable Chris Alexander, Minister for Citizenship and Immigration, hands Stephen Dugdale of l’Institut national de la recherche scientifique’s Centre Eau Terre Environnement his award for Mitacs PhD Award for Outstanding Innovation. In collaboration with Confluence Aquatic Ecosystems, Stephen developed software that tracks Atlantic salmon populations affected by climate change.
The Honourable Bal Gosal, Minister of State (Sport) presents the Mitacs Postdoctoral Award for Outstanding Innovation to Ricardo Jota of the University of Toronto. Ricardo discovered a solution for time lags using touchscreen interfaces during his research project with Tactual Labs.
Pam Bjornson, Executive Vice President of the National Research Council, grants the Mitacs & NRC-IRAP Award for Commercialization to Rafael Falcon, a PhD graduate from the University of Ottawa’s School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. Rafael’s research project with Larus Technologies will enable more accurate and efficient aerial surveillance through his Risk Management Framework product.
The ceremony also introduced two new awards, the Mitacs Industry Award for Outstanding Leadership and the Mitacs Professor Award for Outstanding Leadership.
The Honourable Ed Holder, Minister of State (Science and Technology), presents the inaugural Mitacs Industry Award for Outstanding Leadership to Linda Gowman and Ted Mao of Trojan Technologies. The company’s collaborations with university researchers have resulted in new water treatment methodologies.
Minister Holder awards the Mitacs Professor Award for Outstanding Leadership to Professor Alan Fung of Ryerson University’s Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering. Dr. Fung’s mentorship of his students and his outreach to government and industry partners demonstrate his leadership in Canada’s research community.
Congratulations to all of this year’s Mitacs Award winners.
Mitacs
Mitacs empowers Canadian innovation through effective partnerships that deliver solutions to our most pressing problems. By driving economic growth and productivity, we create meaningful change to improve quality of life for all Canadians.
