Celebrating standout co-op students in work-integrated learning month

It's time to celebrate! Co-operative and Experiential Education (CEE) recognizes outstanding co-op students during work-integrated learning month.

By: Cameron Stirrup (he/him)

As March is work-integrated learning (WIL) month, it's a great time to celebrate and promote co-op and WIL programs. On March 20, we’ll announce the 2023 Co-op Students of the Year and Problem Lab award recipients.

The annual Co-op Student of the Year awards pays tribute to the impact students had in the workplace in 2023. Ahead of the awards ceremony, we're celebrating the notable achievements of the nominees who received honourable mentions for their co-op work term achievements.

Meet the Honourable mentions

Yucheng (Tony) Cao (he/him)

Accounting and Financial Management, Faculty of Arts

Cao pushed boundaries as a venture capital analyst at Amplify Capital. During his work term, he engaged in market research and deal sourcing. Cao also supported the vice president of finance in leading a review of the annual audit at the company. By taking the initiative to screen more than 200 companies, Cao helped Amplify fundraise $35 million.

Christopher Macartney (he/him)

Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering

Macartney demonstrated his expertise and professionalism in his role as a mechatronics intern at Psyonic, a biomedical bionic prosthetics startup. Specializing in the assembly of prosthetic hand components, Macartney contributed to the donation of a bionic hand to Psyonic’s earliest test user, providing an amputee with state-of-the-art bionic technology.

Ivy Wang (she/her)

Honours Planning, Faculty of Environment

During her work term as a research assistant at CanmetENERGY, Wang developed her research skills while making a positive impact. Her work contributed to helping Indigenous communities utilize alternative forms of power. By using research to encourage a switch to hydrokinetic energy, her research helped to reduce fossil fuel emissions.

Janvi Tamakuwala (she/her)

Health Studies, Faculty of Health

Tamakuwala conducted innovative research as a pancreatic medical research laboratory assistant at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre (PMCC). Noticing how a cancer subtype impacted male and female mice differently, Tamakuwala showed how these differences can be identified. Her data contributed to a new Canadian Institutes of Health Research grant and PMCC has opened a new research space specifically for the control of sex differences in experiments.

Ethan O’Farrell (he/him)

Data Science, Faculty of Mathematics

O’Farrell, a genomic data analyst at the Michigan Neuroscience Institute, analyzed DNA sequence data during his co-op work term. In his role, he helped develop tools to visualize DNA sequence data and designed two web apps for lab collaborators to reference in experiments.

Grace Laevens (she/her)

Biology, Faculty of Science

Laevens demonstrated exceptional efficiency in strengthening international food supplies during her co-op work term as a laboratory research assistant at Ceragen. By isolating 400 strains of bacteria, Laevens’ project directly increased lettuce yields by 20 per cent. She was also involved in developing a new facility for plant trials which doubled company capacity.