On Wednesday, April 15th, our Biomedical Informatics (BMIF) students held their yearly awards ceremony. Each year, the top performing students in the program are rewarded with the BMIF Excellence Award.
We are proud to award the 2026 BMIF Excellence Award to: Erica Lee, Kai Chen, Matthew Pirie, Olivia Rose Brunetti, Ryan Tso, Claire Olivia Jackson, and Syed-Ali Akbar Zaidi
Congratulations to all the deserving winners!
The School of Computing is delighted to welcome Dr. Rongxing Lu, who joined our faculty team as a full professor.
Dr. Lu brings a remarkable background in Cybersecurity and teaching excellence. Dr. Lu is a current IEEE Fellow and IEEE Distinguished Lecturer, Mastercard IoT Research Chair, and Acting Director of the Canadian Institute for Cybersecurity.
Before joining School of Computing, Dr. Lu was a professor at the Faculty of Computer Science, University of New Brunswick, where he received the Excellence in Teaching Award for the 23-24, as well as the 2016-17 academic years. His groundbreaking research centers on privacy-enhancing techniques, IoT–Big Data security, and applied cryptography, reflecting a commitment to safeguarding information in our interconnected world.
We look forward to Dr. Lu’s leadership and innovative spirit as he joins our vibrant academic community.
Queen’s School of Computing is pleased to announce that high school students Sama Moustafa and Jannah Sultan, who are doing their internship under the mentorship of Dr. Sara Nabil and the iStudio Lab team, presented their Fabric-Lego project at the prestigious Tier A Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction (SIGCHI) at IT-Universitetet, Denmark.
This project introduces a unique fabrication method that integrates 3D printing with traditional garment-making techniques to address the challenges of medical braces and assistive wearables.
The Fabric-Lego method empowers users to personalize their medical wearables, such as arm slings and finger splints, by incorporating customizable, Lego-like blocks into fabric designs. This approach not only enhances the aesthetic appeal of wearables but also supports personal expression, helping to reduce the psychological and social impacts often associated with assistive devices. The team presented three functional prototypes during the conference: a customizable arm sling cover, a finger splint cover, and a T-shirt with integrated blocks.
This project underscores the potential for technology to improve user experiences in the healthcare field. We encourage everyone to explore the full paper, which is available here.
Congratulations to Dr. Nabil, the iStudio Lab team, and our talented interns Sama and Jannah for this remarkable achievement!
The School congratulates Pd.D. student Ramtin Mojtahedi on his recent string of successes in major Queen’s University awards!
Earlier this spring, Ramtin was listed among the 2024 Champions for Mental Health.
The Champions for Mental Health project is a respected university-wide initiative that recognizes instructors and staff members who play strong roles in supporting and advancing student mental health. The nomination letters for this award mentioned Ramtin’s efforts to help students through offering monthly peer support sessions, setting up a virtual help desk during exams and high-stress periods, and developing a set of interactive workshops that taught students effective stress management techniques.
These sentiments were echoed during the 2024 School Award Ceremony on June 20, where Ramtin was presented with the School of Computing Ian A. Macleod Award. This award is granted to the graduate student who made the greatest contribution to the intellectual and social spirit of the School of Computing during the preceding academic year. Ramtin was awarded this honour for his role in the GCS Buddy Program, which helps new students adjust to University life by pairing them with senior grad student mentors. The award committee also highlighted Ramtin’s other impactful projects, such as establishing private and anonymous feedback channels for students and fostering interdisciplinary research collaborations.
The following week, Ramtin was selected as a recipient of the 2024 School of Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs (SGSPA) Award in Leadership, Innovation, and Community Engagement. This award recognizes exceptional graduate students who are making a meaningful difference in the world while also demonstrating the highest standards of academic excellence. The award winners are selected to show demonstrable impact across a variety of areas to both Queen’s and the broader community.
Ramtin is currently a Ph.D. candidate at Simpson Lab, focusing on developing supervised and semi-supervised deep learning methods, particularly for vision transformers on segmentation tasks. He is a member of the NSERC Medi-CREATE Program and a pillar of the graduate student community through his work as Ph.D. Officer for the GSC.
QSC is thrilled to share the highlights from the recent Aspirations in Computing event in Toronto, where we celebrated the achievements of remarkable women in technology. Hosted by the National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT), the event showcased the transformative power of encouragement, mentorship, and community in shaping the future of women in technology.
At the heart of this event were two dedicated organizers, Wendy Powley and Drorit Weiss, whose passion and commitment have propelled the mission of NCWIT forward. Prof. Wendy Powley is an Associate Professor at Queen’s School of Computing, Queen’s University with over three decades of experience. Wendy has mentored and inspired countless women in computing, both nationally and internationally. Her tireless efforts to celebrate and connect Canadian women in computing have left an indelible mark on the community.
The event was further enriched by the presence of five exceptional women—Nailah Ogeer, Julia McPolin, Julia Di Monte, Sinthu Sivanesan, and Shannon Klett. All former students of Prof. Wendy Powley, these inspiring individuals volunteered their time to engage with promising young women in computer science, sharing their insights and experience.
QSC is delighted to announce that Dr. Mohammad Zulkernine was presented with the 2022 Award for Excellence in Graduate Student Supervision at the Spring Convocation ceremony this June. The award reflects Dr. Zulkernine’s proven ability to inspire students academically and in their careers and guide the overall culture of excellence at QSC and at Queen’s. Dr. Zulkernine is the current Graduate Chair at QSC and has a long-standing reputation for being a supportive and encouraging mentor to his graduate students, which the School previously recognized in 2016 with the internal QSC Distinguished Graduate Supervision award.
The Award for Excellence in Graduate Student Supervision is awarded to supervisors who demonstrate outstanding excellence in advising, monitoring, and mentoring graduate students. The School of Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs annually recognizes two leading graduate supervisors at the University. The 2023 recipients are Dr. Zulkernine and Jeffrey Brison, Co-Director of the Cultural Studies Program and Professor of History.
Dr. Zulkernine joined the School in 2013 and has mentored 13 postdoctoral fellows, 22 doctoral and 44 master’s students since then. Dr. Zulkernine was the Canada Research Chair in Software Dependability from 2011 to 2021. He leads the Queen’s Reliable Software Technology (QRST) research group and is currently focused on building secure software for cyber-physical systems such as connected and autonomous vehicles and other IoT applications. His supervised students have won conference best paper awards, the Governor General Gold Medal, PhD Research Achievement, and Distinguished Master’s Thesis awards.
Click here to read the original award announcement in the Queen’s Gazette.
In a special ceremony on May 7th, the Ontario National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT) Aspirations in Computing Awards were presented at the Smith School of Business satellite campus in downtown Toronto. 36 female identifying secondary school students were celebrated for their inspiring accomplishments and contributions to the tech field. The organization partnered with Queen’s School of Computing Professor Wendy Powley in administering the awards. Congratulations to all the winners!
The NCWIT Award for Aspirations in Computing (AiC) honours and recognizes grade 9 through 12 students who self-identify as women, genderqueer, or non-binary for their computing-related achievements and interests, and encourages them to pursue their passions. Award recipients are selected based on their aptitude and aspirations in technology and computing, as demonstrated by their computing experience, computing-related activities, leadership experience, tenacity in the face of barriers to access, and plans for post-secondary education.
– National Center for Women & Information Technology
Dr. Mousavi was named as a Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR) Chair of Artificial Intelligence at the Vector Institute. This title recognizes Parvin Mousavi’s expertise in biomedical and healthcare applications of Artificial Intelligence, which is one of the main priorities of growth within the Pan-Canadian Artificial Intelligence Strategy at CIFAR. The full press release can be found on the CIFAR website.
Professor Mousavi is among eight newly appointed CIFAR AI Chairs announced this October. These exceptional researchers will advance Canadian leadership in artificial intelligence for priority areas, including health, energy and the environment, fundamental science and the responsible use of AI.
“Artificial intelligence is one of the greatest technological transformations and economic opportunities of our age,” says the Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry. “That is why our government has placed fostering AI research at the heart of the Pan-Canadian Artificial Intelligence Strategy. We continue to support and grow the Chairs program so Canada can continue to retain, attract and develop academic research talent in AI. Congratulations to our eight new chairholders – you join other world-leading researchers who are driving efforts to build a stronger economy, develop cleaner energy, improve public health, and increase innovation in Canada.”
Parvin Mousavi is the Director of Med-i lab at Queen’s School of Computing, which focuses on innovative computational approaches and intelligent systems that can predict and explain complex biological processes. Research is aimed at developing feature extraction, inference, modeling, and classification techniques for Systems Biology, Bioinformatics, Image-guided Diagnosis and Surgery, and Personalized Medicine.
Med-i Lab is home to the CREATE Training Program in Medical Informatics, one of two NSERC CREATE programs offered here at the Queen’s School of Computing (the only department at Queen’s University that offers more than one.) The $1.65M program offers funding for MSc and PhD students in the biomedical and related research fields in partnership with Western University. Dr. Mousavi and her team of investigators were one of thirteen research groups across Canada who were granted 6-year CREATE project funding in 2021. The research group is comprised of multiple labs with research spanning areas of genomics, bioinformatics, machine learning, artificial intelligence, computer aided surgery, and advanced imaging techniques.
Dr. Mousavi says she is honored to be named as a CIFAR AI Chair. “Thank you to my team at the Medical Informatics Lab at Queen’s, collaborators, colleagues, and the Vector Institute,” Parvin wrote. “The program will bring about transformative and actionable advances with meaningful impact on patient health and survival.”
On June, 22nd, 2022 Goodwin Hall was filled with life once again as the Queen’s School of Computing hosted its convocation reception for the classes of 2020, 2021, and 2022.
As per tradition, the event is held in the foyer of Goodwin Hall. Since this event was celebrating three years of graduates it was important to ensure there was sufficient space, decorations, and of course, cake! The newly renovated Commons was the perfect venue.
It wouldn’t be a convocation reception at the Queen’s School of Computing without an awards ceremony. Congratulations to all the 2022 School of Computing Award winners:
The School of Computing Research Award: Tamas Ungi
Distinguished Service Award: Laurie Truman
PhD Research Achievement Award: Lama Moukahal
Ian A. Macleod Award: Maram Assi
Excellence in Teaching Assistance Award: Hebatalla Ouda
MSc distinguished thesis award: Alice Santilli
Distinguished Student Award: Sanindie Silva
Howard Stavely Teaching Award: Robin Dawes
Although this event was in person, guests and their family and friends were also invited to attend virtually while the awards ceremony livestreamed on Microsoft Teams and Facebook Live. The virtual stream provided loved ones who were unable to join in person with the opportunity to celebrate their accomplishments together. The ceremony is available to watch on our YouTube channel for those who were unable to attend.
Two long years of social distancing made this gathering all the sweeter! The faculty and staff have watched graduands preserve through challenging times and it was an absolute joy to share this celebration with the graduands and their families. The convocation reception is a tradition that will continue to evolve at the Queen’s School of Computing for many years to come. Here are a few statements from the members of the department who were present at this event.
“It was an amazing event probably one of the best ones ever – especially having been in the new Commons room.” – Karen Knight, Undergraduate Program Assistant
“This was our first time hosting a hybrid event of any kind. The tech team worked together to brainstorm and execute a plan to connect the in-person event with a meeting on Microsoft Teams in a short amount of time, debugging it on the fly. Feedback was positive with friends and family from across the world able to watch and connect with the graduates at the event. We look forward to iterating and improving on the set up for future events.” – Doug Martin, Systems Specialist
“Celebrating all our graduating classes together was inspirational for the entire staff team. It helps bring meaning to our day-to-day work when we can take the opportunity to cheer for all our hard-working graduands. You did it! We are so proud of you all!” – Robin Tippett, School Manager
Congratulations to the classes of 2020, 2021, and 2022! We’re so proud of your accomplishments and wish you all the very best in your bright futures ahead!
Congratulations to Dr. Amber Simpson for receiving an Early Researcher Award from the Ontario Ministry of Research, Innovation and Science! The Award was for her project “Machine learning analysis of 400,000 CT scans to map cancer progression“.
Dr. Simpson is the Canada Research Chair in Biomedical Computing and Informatics and Associate Professor in the School of Computing (Faculty of Arts and Science) and Department of Biomedical and Molecular Sciences (Faculty of Health Sciences).
Dr. Simpson specializes in biomedical data science and computer-aided surgery. Her research group is focused on developing novel computational strategies for improving human health.
The Early Researcher Awards is a highly competitive grant program that helps exceptional early career researchers build their research team. Applicants must demonstrate strategic value to Ontario (i.e., economic, social, cultural benefits, knowledge transfer, and/or ability to enhance Ontario’s profile in the global academic community).