TMU undergrads snag top spots in global competition and celebrate in Dublin

TMU’s Allison Kinahan was one of 25 students to receive a coveted global undergraduate award, which recognized her submission as the best in the music, film and theatre category. Kinahan was one of 17 TMU students who received a 2022 award from the  Global Undergraduate Awards’ (GUA) annual summit (external link) . A number of the university’s students attended the gala awards ceremony held in Dublin in early November. 

“I’m thrilled that TMU students are being recognized as some of the brightest changemakers in the world,” said Jen McMillen, vice-provost, students, who was a keynote speaker at the event. “Our students show that the university is a player on the world stage because they produce high quality, meaningful work that is relevant in today’s global climate.”

This year, more than 600 academics judged 2,812 submissions from students in 73 countries. There were a record 199 submissions from TMU students, which is the second highest number of submissions from a single institution this year.

We caught up with three of the TMU award recipients to hear about their submissions and experiences in Dublin.

Name: Allison Kinahan 
Program: Performance ’22
Commendation: Global Winner 

When Allison Kinahan first found out she was receiving the global winner award, she thought it was a mistake. 

“I called my boyfriend and was like - Is this real? Did this really happen?” Kinahan says. “Once it sank in, I started getting really excited because it’s such a huge honour.”

For her 5,000-word paper, titled “Performance in Confinement: Icebound Theatricals as a Means of Survival”, Kinahan examined how theatrical productions became a common feature onboard Arctic and Antarctic expeditions in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. 

Through the examination of shipboard newspapers and naval diaries, she found these performances not only helped keep crews occupied but also improved relations between ranks and assisted in the development of team building and creative problem solving.

Kinahan originally planned to examine primary resources at the Scott Polar Research Institute at the University of Cambridge but wasn’t able to go in 2020 due to COVID-19 restrictions. Last summer, she finally got the chance to travel around the U.K., Scotland and Ireland as restrictions eased. 

She was excited to go back to Dublin and was happy to take some extra days after the GUA summit to spend time exploring the countryside with her boyfriend. 

Kinahan is pursuing her master’s in history at the University of Toronto and is also a part-time teaching assistant at TMU. 

Name: Adriana Hill
Program: Fashion Communication ’22
Commendation: Regional Winner

Adriana Hill was inspired to write her winning paper, “The Architecture of Villainy: Hollywood’s Depiction of Organic Design in Villain Lairs,” after watching all 25 James Bond movies in one month. She started to notice a pattern in the set design and architectural styles of all the famous Bond villains and decided to write about it to fulfil her class paper requirement but also satisfy her urge to watch more movies.

In her essay, Hill explored how Hollywood’s repetitive depictions of organic design as the style of choice for villain lairs have contributed to a hesitancy to embrace the movement on a widespread basis, demonstrating the power of film to influence public opinions over time.

“I feel extremely honoured to get this award – it is so validating and reassuring to be recognized for my work, especially since this paper was more of a passion project,” said Hill. “I am glad the judges found it as entertaining as I did!”

After years of COVID-19 isolation, Hill was thrilled to go to Dublin as it was on her travel bucket list. Hill looked forward to connecting with the other undergraduate students and celebrating their achievements in person.

Hill is a projects and events assistant for Athletics and Recreation at TMU to help plan the upcoming TMU Upcycled Gear Fashion show (external link) , a fundraising event taking place November 28 that combines sustainability, fashion and sports to honour the 10th anniversary of the Mattamy Athletic Centre. Hill is hoping to pursue graduate studies next year and eventually work in fashion event planning or fashion curation. 

Name: Jay Tailor
Program: Biomedical Engineering ’21
Commendation: Regional Winner

Jay Tailor worked on his final capstone report, guided by Professor Ali Tavallaei, with three other biomedical engineering students who all met in their first year at TMU - Claudia Alonzo, Ginette Hartell and Aziz Uddin. 

The team won the regional award for the design of a robotic arm that moves while a surgeon is working and projects the surgical field on external TV monitors. The camera on the robotic arm replaces the need for surgeons to constantly readjust the camera, which in turn increases patient safety, improves surgical accuracy and allows for better visualization of the surgical field.

Due to COVID-19, the group wasn’t able to build a physical replica of the arm so they created a 3D drawing using architectural drafting software. Tailor said one roadblock during the eight month design process was that the group couldn’t collaborate in person so all of their meetings were through Zoom and they liaised through messaging platform Discord. 

When the group first found out they were one of the regional winners, they got on a call to celebrate. None of them were expecting to win and hadn’t allocated any vacation time to travel to Dublin. After some last minute planning, they decided to go on a 10-day trip around Ireland together. 

“None of us have been to Dublin before, so we are super excited for this trip!” said Tailor, before setting off. “We can’t wait to see our fellow TMU students at the summit and experience the awards gala together.”

There were a record 17 award recipients from TMU at the Global Undergraduate Awards this year:

• Global Winner: Allison Kinahan, The Creative School
• Regional Winners:
  • Adriana Hill, The Creative School
  • Jay Tailor, Faculty of Engineering and Architectural Science
• Highly Commended:
  • Maggie Zhu, The Creative School
  • Taimaa Jaloul, Ted Rogers School of Management 
  • Anupreet Singh, Faculty of Engineering and Architectural Science
  • Simon Raposo, Faculty of Arts
  • Ethan Pereira, Ted Rogers School of Management
  • Adam Varghese, Faculty of Science
  • Zoe Statiris, The Creative School
  • Sahara Mehdi, The Creative School
  • Christina Oyawale, The Creative School
  • Lora Charbonneau, Faculty of Arts
  • Marley Baker-Wright, Faculty of Community Services
  • Ericka De Oliveira, Faculty of Science
  • Tarah Akiwenzie, Faculty of Arts
  • Sucy Kong, Faculty of Community Services

For more information, visit the Global Undergraduate Awards website (external link) . 

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