Dean's Scholarly, Research and Creative Activity Award Recipients

2024 recipients

Costin Antonescu

Faculty of Science

Dr. Antonescu's research made important contributions to understanding the fundamental mechanisms that allow cancer cells to grow, proliferate and spread throughout the body (metastasis), how these mechanisms can be exploited to treat cancer, and how cancer drugs can be better targeted to tumors to improve cancer treatment. The outstanding impact of this research is demonstrated (in the prior year) by 12 journal articles, being awarded a CIHR Project Grant and other funding from NSERC, CRS, and OCI, many invited talks and presentations at Canadian universities and conferences, and excellent contributions to training of undergraduate students, graduate students, and postdoctoral fellows.

Ehsan Behzadfar

The Creative School

Dr. Behzadfar's research in biodegradable polymers is critically important as we continue to fight the negative impacts of climate change. We celebrate him today for being a dedicated mentor and advocate of a research culture at TMU. He has made incredible progress with over a dozen research outputs, ranging from journal papers to conference presentations. He is a mentor to 13 students to date, which he helps support with his many successful grant applications. Lastly, Dr. Behzadfar is also active in commercializing his research through TMUs ACE Program offered together with IBZ and OVPRI.

Nicole Blanchett

The Creative School

Dr. Blanchett is a research superstar who deserves recognition for her support of other scholars and students, her commitment to collaboration and knowledge dissemination, and her high-quality, high-impact research. In addition to a stellar publishing record, she created research/experiential learning opportunities for nearly a dozen students, played a leading role in a major international research initiative, and organized a scholarly conference that focused on how journalists see themselves and how that shapes their work. The conference drew more than 100 Canadian/international participants to TMU's campus last spring. Dr. Blanchett is putting our university on the international communications research map.

Burcu Bulgurcu

Ted Rogers School of Management

Dr. Burcu Bulgurcu's research addresses critical issues of cybersecurity and information privacy. Her work in MIS Quarterly received over 2,750 citations, establishing her as a foundational expert in behavioral and organizational cybersecurity. She's contributed several articles to the prestigious Top-50 journals of Financial Times, including a recent article selected as one of the press articles of the year by MIT Sloan Management Review. She secured funding for several projects, notably an SSHRC-funded Insight Project recognized for its societal impact (Real Impact). This recognition provided her an opportunity to present her work and interact with policymakers at Parliament Hill.

Michele Clarke

The Creative School

Michele Clark is a highly regarded artist, whose SRC activities, comprising exhibitions, publications, screenings and performance, represent significant achievements in the disciplines of photography and video-based contemporary visual art. One of five Canadian artists nominated for the prestigious 2023 Sobey Art Award--the world's most generous privately funded prize for contemporary visual artists--her work springs from the vulnerability and self-awareness of black queer grief. Using performance, repetition and aspects of the everyday, her artworks engage notions of kinship and belonging, as well as vulnerability, misrecognition and disavowal as a means to address the state of being human.

Colleen Derkatch

Faculty of Arts

Dr. Derkatch's body of interdisciplinary research is impressive for its theoretical sophistication, critical depth, and superb publication venues. Over 2022-23, she published a monograph, brought two co-authored articles from conception to completion, launched a co-edited book series, and organized a major scholarly conference. Dr. Derkatch's SSHRC-supported monograph, Why Wellness Sells: Natural Health in a Pharmaceutical Culture (Johns Hopkins UP), has been praised by scholars and media for its originality, compelling subject matter, robust evidence, and clear, engaging prose. It solidifies her international reputation as a leading scholar in rhetoric of health and medicine, health humanities, and science and technology studies.

Saman Hassanzadeh Amin

Faculty of Engineering and Architectural Science

Dr. Saman Hassanzadeh Amin is an outstanding scholar who has made significant contributions to the operations research and supply chain management fields. He has published 51 articles in well-known peer-reviewed journals. His publications have received over 4,100 citations to date in Google Scholar. Dr. Amin's research is externally supported by both NSERC and SSHRC. He has supervised/co-supervised 2 postdoctoral fellows, 8 PhDs, 27 masters, and 9 undergraduate research students. He is the Associate Editor of "Expert Systems with Applications" journal. Recently, he and his students completed the PPE supply chain project with the City of Toronto and York University.

Sandra Juutilainen

Faculty of Community Services

Dr. Sandra Juutilainen is an Assistant Professor in the School of Nutrition dedicated to community-driven research informed by Indigenous epistemologies. Sandra is the principal investigator on the SSHRC-funded study, "Truth Telling: gardens, farming and food experiences at the Mohawk Institute Indian Residential School", in partnership with Six Nations of the Grand River and the University of Waterloo. While leading to academic papers, Sandra's research is most importantly responding to advancing understanding of reconciliation (call to action #65 of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission), and contributing towards decolonizing Canadian dietetic practice (as co-PI on Canadian Foundation for Dietetic Research grant).

Rasha Kashef

Faculty of Engineering and Architectural Science

Dr. Rasha Kashef's exemplary research career is marked by an extraordinary dedication to advancing the realms of cybersecurity, data-driven decision systems, and emerging IoT. Her pioneering work focuses on the development of intelligent systems, with particular prowess in modeling user behavior, detecting malicious attacks, and combatting digital disinformation. Dr. Kashef's research record has created an environment for realizing novel smart systems and applications to provide secure and trustworthy systems, drive economic growth, improve health care, and address societal problems. Her research extends beyond the theoretical, with a proven track record of over 100 publications in esteemed journals and conferences.

Mehrab Mehrvar

Faculty of Engineering and Architectural Science

Dr. Mehrab Mehrvar has been a constant proponent of research in areas of combined photochemical/biological processes for the treatment of genuine wastewaters, photochemical reaction engineering, and climate change effects on water quality and quantity. His SRC activities have had significant contributions to the environmental health (social) and engineering (economics) through his publications and international presentations. He has filed a patent, published more than 127 journal papers and 250 conference proceedings and presentations. He has supervised 15 Ph.D., 34 MASc, and 70 visiting scholars/research associates. Recently, he was awarded the second QES fund to work on drinking water in dispersed areas.

Paul Moore

Faculty of Arts

Last year was a once-in-a-career confluence of outcomes for Dr. Paul Moore, Professor in the Department of Sociology. He had three long-term projects reach distinct milestones from his series of major grant-funded projects, in addition to ongoing collaborative endeavours. Foremost, The Sunday Paper: A Media History was published in August 2022 by University of Illinois Press. Further, three essays reached publication stage, and a new SSHRC Insight Grant began, even as Moore continued roles on multiple national and international partnerships.

Uchechukwu Ngwaba

Lincoln Alexander School of Law

In the past year, Dr Uchechukwu Ngwaba was highly productive in his scholarly research and creative activities. He published one book chapter, two refereed journal papers, submitted an additional article for review and authored a bibliography for Oxford University Press. He also published two research reports and one online article. Additionally, he gave four conference presentations, including at the American Society of International Law, the Canadian Society of International Law, and was invited as an expert to review draft principles for public health emergency preparedness. He was the recipient of two research grants: SSHRC Explore Grant and Transparency International Grant.

Laleh Samarbakhsh

Ted Rogers School of Management

Dr. Laleh Samarbakhsh has demonstrated continuous excellence in SRC. Her research output together with impactful findings that highlights Equity, Diversity & Inclusion in the field of Finance, as well as research that explores timely topics of FinTech and Sustainable Finance proves deserving of this nomination. Her past work demonstrates the extent of her research potential, while the richness of her future research agenda shows she truly is a researcher at heart. Her research leadership of graduate students in the competitive field of Finance (Financial Markets, Corporate Governance, and Decentralized Finance), is of great importance and relevance to the finance literature.

Hongbing Yu

Faculty of Arts

Dr. Hongbing Yu has consistently made significant academic contributions, establishing himself as an exceptional pre-tenure faculty member at Toronto Metropolitan University. In his fifth pre-tenure year alone, Dr. Yu authored six high-quality journal papers (four solo and two co-authored) in esteemed peer-reviewed journals, all of which have now been published. Additionally, a peer-reviewed book chapter authored by him is set for release with Wiley in 2023. Dr. Yu's intellectual prowess and accomplishments reached a pinnacle of his probationary period in March 2023 when he was elected Vice President and President-Elect of Semiotic Society of America, marking a remarkable career milestone.

Past recipients