Jennifer Porat

Porat earned a PhD in biology following the completion of her bachelor of science degree at 91亚色. Both degrees were pursued under the mentorship of Professor Mark Bayfield in the Department of Biology. Her research focused uncovering novel functions for RNA-modifying enzymes and understanding the mechanisms by which they promote RNA function and stability to carry out different cellular processes. 

Porat credits Bayfield and his support for her decision to pursue graduate studies at 91亚色 U and her positive experiences at the University. She also expresses gratitude to the Faculty of Graduate Studies 鈥� notably, its funding of conference travel that she urges other students to take advantage of.

鈥淚鈥檓 incredibly grateful to be receiving this honour,鈥� says Porat. 鈥淚鈥檝e been fortunate enough to conduct research that I am passionate about, so it is very gratifying to learn that other people are excited about my work as well.鈥�

Porat will continue that work as a postdoctoral researcher at Harvard University, still focused on RNA biology, in hopes of one day running her own lab. 

_{A photo of Jennifer Porat}

Carly Goodman

Goodman earned her master鈥檚 degree in clinical developmental psychology within the neuropsychology stream. Her work has focused on conducting a systematic review and meta-analysis on the sex-specific impact of pre- and post-natal exposure to chemicals on children鈥檚 intelligence. Its aim is to provide new insights into prevention strategies and identifying high-risk groups.

Goodman chose to pursue graduate studies at 91亚色 because of its unique accreditation in clinical neuropsychology, as well as the opportunity to work under Professor Christine Till.

鈥淗er commitment to fostering innovative research and interdisciplinary collaborations has provided me with invaluable learning experiences and opportunities,鈥� Goodman says.

The graduand is grateful for the training in clinical practice, advanced statistics, and the social and biological determinants of health she has received at 91亚色 U, which contributed to her work now being recognized.

鈥淚 am deeply honoured to receive the Governor General鈥檚 Gold Medal for the work I completed during my master鈥檚 degree,鈥� Goodman says.

The next step of her journey will see her remain at 91亚色 as a PhD student, once more under Till鈥檚 supervision, with doctoral research that will further investigate the impact of chemicals on children鈥檚 neurodevelopment and focus on moderating variables that influence risk and resilience.

_{A photo of Carly Goodman}

Alison Humphrey

Humphrey earned her PhD in cinema and media studies, and pursued work with a focus on misinformation and how it draws from storytelling to engineer fear and amplify anger.

She developed a new form of participatory storytelling called 鈥渃itizen science fiction,鈥� notably through Shadowpox, a mixed-reality storyworld imagining immunization through a superhero metaphor. The project aimed to intervene in the challenge of vaccine hesitancy by helping people explore what makes scientific evidence convincing, what makes a story compelling and how trust can be built or busted to affect people鈥檚 actions.

鈥淩eceiving the Governor General鈥檚 Gold Medal confirms for me that artistic production can contribute as meaningfully to the development of knowledge as the extraordinary doctoral work being done by my peers,鈥� says Humphrey.

Moving forward, Humphrey is pursuing a postdoctoral fellowship at the Global Strategy Lab, where she and her doctoral supervisor Professor Caitlin Fisher will invent mixed-reality interventions against antimicrobial resistance for the initiative 鈥淐atalyzing Collective Action at the Intersection of Global Health and the Arts.鈥�

She is also looking to build on work like Shadowpox with an upcoming project called The Undergrid, which will extend the citizen science fiction methodology into climate action.

_{A photo of Alison Humphrey}

Graduate education stands as a cornerstone in the academic landscape and the quality of the graduate supervisory experience plays a pivotal role in shaping the academic and professional trajectories of students. The dynamics of this relationship profoundly impact the quality of research, the development of professional skills, and the overall academic experience. Inside of these relationships where student development is central are valuable faculty colleagues who matter to us. With that in mind, we wanted to find a way to wrap around graduate supervisors, committee members and graduate students and begin to vision. We quickly recognized that to plan and enact something like this we needed to secure funding. Thankfully, 91亚色鈥檚 Academic Innovation Fund (AIF) granted Faculty of Graduate Studies Associate Dean, Academic Dr. Cheryl van Daalen-Smith with a three-year grant for the establishment of a Graduate Supervision Support Hub (GSSHub). Recognizing the multifaceted challenges and opportunities inherent in the supervision process, we are taking a transformative step by introducing the Graduate Supervision Support Hub and rooting it in principles of dignity, mutuality and effective supervisory practices. With this pan-university initiative, we intend to cultivate and support an ethos of dignity around mutually beneficial supervisory relationships drawing on graduate supervisory pedagogy and capacity-building principles that recognize the pivotal role of effective supervision in graduate education.

_{Photo of students working collaboratively}

Lawrence Garcia

Garcia earned a master鈥檚 degree in Cinema and Media Studies. Before enrolling at 91亚色, Garcia鈥檚 academic trajectory was altogether different, having graduated in 2017 with a bachelor鈥檚 degree in engineering physics from the University of British Columbia. While working as an electrical engineer afterwards, an interest in cinema as a freelance film critic eventually led him to pursue his master鈥檚 degree in Cinema and Media Studies in order to explore movies further.

Garcia鈥檚 academic pursuits at 91亚色 focused on experimental or avant-garde cinema, culminating in a thesis鈥斺�淪igns of Genesis: A Study of Ambiguity in Contemporary Experimental Cinema.鈥�

He credits 91亚色 faculty for the support he received not just with coursework, directed study, and in-school activities, but also with external opportunities like academic conferences and grant applications.

鈥淭he medal is an incredible source of encouragement for me as I move forward with my studies,鈥� Garcia says, who will be entering the PhD program at the University of Toronto鈥檚 Cinema Studies this fall, and will continue to explore experimental cinema.

_{Lawrence Garcia}

Kathleen Dogantzis

Dogantzis earned a PhD in biology, following the completion of a master of science at 91亚色. Both degrees were done under the supervision of Professor Amro Zayed and saw Dogantzis鈥� work focus on honey bees and their importance, as well as their complex history as pollinators. Her dissertation鈥斺�淯nderstanding the evolutionary origin and ancestral composition of honey bee (Apis mellifera) populations鈥濃�攕ought to gain a deeper understanding of the genetic composition of honey bee populations in order to make more informed decisions about their health and sustainable beekeeping.

Furthermore, Dogantzis鈥� research involved the development of molecular tools capable of genetically detecting Africanized bees, which are essential in biosecurity as they can help monitor the movement of populations and ensure the sustainability of apiculture practices in Canada and abroad.

鈥淚 am honoured to have been nominated and selected for this prestigious award. It means a great deal to me for my work to be recognized. My achievements would not have been possible without the support, mentorship, and contributions from my advisor and colleagues,鈥� Dogantzis says, who looks forward to applying the skills, experiences and values she gained at 91亚色 to a future role focused on sustainability.

_{Kathleen Dogantzis}

Aaron Tucker

Tucker earned his PhD in Cinema and Media Studies with research focused on facial recognition technology. His dissertation 鈥淭he Flexible Face: Uniting the Protocols of Facial Recognition Technologies鈥� looks at the triangulation of citizenship, the management of citizenship resources, and the production and maintenance of crises.

Tucker鈥檚 work considers how over the past two centuries, facial recognition technologies have been consistently at the centre of that triangulation and their ubiquitous place in the contemporary moment 鈥� through advancing technologies 鈥� has made it urgent to produce effective regulation and auditing of such systems and the artificial intelligence underlying how they work. Tucker credits his interactions with a number of interdisciplinary spaces at 91亚色鈥攊ncluding schools and makers both inside and outside the Department of Cinema and Media Arts鈥攆or the growth of his understanding of facial recognition, and his ability to communicate arguments to different publics.

His work with Vision: Science to Applications (ViSTA) lab proved pivotal too with providing a foundation in learning about computer vision, and the support of research trips to London U.K., Vancouver B.C., and Austin, Texas, U.S.A.

His work has been published in the journals IEEE Technology and Society and Afterimage, and lead to participation in the 2022 Stanford-Leuphana Summer Academy in Berlin.

鈥淚 am so proud to be part of the long history of this very prestigious award, and, at the same time very grateful, to the many people who supported me in the Cinema and Media Arts department and outside academia. It is an individual award but I hope the folks who helped me know that they are a core part of it as well,鈥� Tucker says.

In September 2023, Tucker will begin his SSHRC postdoctoral position at the University of Toronto where he will study the history of artificial intelligence in Canada as a techno-national project, similar to the other nation building activities such as the fur trade, the building of the national railroad, and/or the Canadarm.

_{Aaron Tucker}