2024 Co-op Student of the Year Award recipients

Kennedy Taylor _^(she/her)

Legal Studies, Faculty of Arts

Employer: Coeus Health

As a business analyst at Coeus Health, Kennedy Taylor launched clinical pilots, arranged an Artificial Intelligence (AI) chatbot and oversaw marketing. Highlights from her work term include:

• Launching the company’s first clinical pilot sites in California and taking on responsibilities including technical support, data analysis and developing user guides and marketing materials.
• Leading initiatives to integrate the AI chatbot into patient care, streamline external communications and strengthen the company’s outreach efforts.
• Helping the company prepare for a $5 million seed fundraising round.

Jarett Dewbury _^(he/him)

Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering

Employer: Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Tadesse Lab

As a visiting researcher at the Tadesse Lab at MIT, Jarett Dewbury focused on using Artificial Intelligence (AI) models to address antimicrobial resistance. His accomplishments include:

• Aiding with an AI project in collaboration with the MIT-Google program for Computing Innovation to more accurately classify pathogens.
• Co-authoring a paper that was published at the International Conference on Learning Representations, the premiere conference for professionals in the AI deep learning space.
• Supporting multiple research projects, including image segmentation for cell therapy, deep learning models for microbiome research and cleaning a large patient dataset for publication.

Hoang Do _^(he/him)

Environment and Business, Faculty of Environment

Employer: Purolator

As a corporate sustainability co-ordinator at Purolater, Hoang Do bridged sustainability principles with real-world logistics. He made an impact by:

• Creating a first-of-its-kind customer analysis tool to help meet emission reduction targets. His investigations into greenhouse gas emissions led to new business opportunities for Purolator with its top 10 per cent of customers.
• Providing insights for an electrification strategy and identifying issues in the company’s customer emissions calculator.
• Independently completing Purolator’s Net Zero Challenge application.

Sarah Larochelle _^(she/her)

Kinesiology, Faculty of Health

Employer: PhysioMira Physiotherapy

Sarah Larochelle worked as an administrative assistant at PhysioMira Physiotherapy. In her role, she played a major role in optimizing clinical operations including:

• Enhancing administrative efficiency and assisting Physiotherapists with treatment sessions.
• Co-creating more than 1,000 patient exercise programs, which helped reduce clinician workload and thereby increased patient visits by 15 per cent.
• Developing an inventory tracking system to streamline supply management and improve clinic operations.

Linda Wang  _^(she/her)

Computer Science, Faculty of Mathematics

Employer: Royal Bank of Canada (RBC)

As a solutions architect at RBC, Linda Wang integrated artificial intelligence (AI) into Human Resource (HR) processes. She went above and beyond by:

• Developing an AI-driven call management solution to streamline responses to employee inquiries to the company’s Global HR Advice Centre.
• Creating solutions that have the potential to improve the experience for more than 90,000 employees, reducing the number of calls and saving RBC $1.15 million per year.
• Taking on complex tasks and work that was outside of her comfort zone including pitching potential solutions to executives.

Michelle Kao _^(she/her)

Physics and Astronomy, Faculty of Science

Employer: National Research Council Canada, Herzberg Astronomy and Astrophysics Research Centre

As a research assistant at NRC Canada, Michelle Kao worked in the Herzberg Astronomy and Astrophysics Research Centre. In her role, Kao worked on advancing space missions by developing a suite of tools to support the flagship Canadian space telescope CASTOR. Her accomplishments include:

• Developing advanced Python tools that double the observing efficiency of CASTOR and will lead to $6 million in savings.
• Conducting critical trade analyses to prove more cost-effective options.
• Presenting findings to international experts and receiving high praise for her methodology, presentation skills and contributions to the mission.

Additionally, Kao is the recipient of the Experiential & Work-Integrated Learning Ontario (EWO) Co-op Student of the Year award.