Congratulations to this year’s Pearson Medal and Dean’s Award winners
Each year, the Faculty of Science recognizes outstanding graduate research with two awards, the W.B. Pearson Medal and the Dean’s Award.
Pearson Medal
The W.B. Pearson Medal was created to honour Professor William B. Pearson for his contribution to the University of Waterloo and to Canada as a research scientist and teacher. One medal is awarded annually to a doctoral student from each department in the Faculty of Science in recognition of creative research as presented in the student’s thesis.
This year’s Pearson Medal winners are:
- Rachel Beaver (Biology) - Microbiology of bentonite clay relevant to a deep geological repository for used nuclear fuel
- Avery Joseph To (Chemistry) - A curiosity driven exploration of hypervalent iodine(III) reagents
- Qihang Wu (Earth and Environmental Sciences) - Numerical modelling of structural patterns in tectonic flow with applications to the neoarchean crustal dynamics
- Samuel Dubinsky (Pharmacy) - Use of physiologically-based pharmacokinetic modelling to support dose optimization in the critically ill
- Shayan Majidy (Physics and Astronomy) - Effects of noncommuting charges in quantum information and thermodynamics
Dean’s Award
The Dean of Science Award recognizes outstanding performance in the Master of Science program. There is one recipient in each department in the Faculty of Science.
The recipients of this year’s Dean’s Award are:
- Arisha Imran (Biology) - Measurements of water isotope composition and depth variation reveal strong influence of hydroclimate on water balance and water levels of shallow lakes in the Peace-Athabasca Delta (northern Alberta, Canada)
- Alexander Waldie (Chemistry) - Enzymatic oxidation of polyethylene & peptide-based detection of microplastics
- Mohammad Navid Shahsavari (Optometry and Vision Science) - Advancements in ThermOcular image processing algorithms for precise ocular surface temperature analysis
- Emelien Jentz (Pharmacy) - Isoform-specific roles of prolyl-hydroxylases in the regulation of B-cell insulin secretion during diet-induced obesity in males
- Alan Nguyen (Physics and Astronomy) - Novel techniques for the calibration of systematics in next generation galaxy surveys
The Faculty of Science is also celebrating the outstanding achievements of undergraduate students Lyvia Yanover and Meera Thavarajah, this year’s Faculty of Science valedictorians, Manuela Morgan, this year’s recipient of the President's Award of Excellence, and Stanley Miao the winner of the Alumni Gold Medal.
Congratulations to all award recipients!