This year’s DARE recipients produced meaningful work across all disciplines offered in LA&PS. Over the summer, each student played an integral role in coordinating projects that added valuable scholarly inquiry to the social sciences, humanities, and professional studies.

Each recipient was awarded $5,000 and paired with faculty members to explore urgent research subjects, including health care, work policies during the COVID-19 pandemic, digital data collection practices, issues impacting diaspora communities and more.

To commemorate the experiences from this year’s competition, LA&PS developed a virtual gallery showcasing each student and the DARE Project descriptions of the instructor-led research objectives.

“DARE is a wonderful opportunity to nurture mentorship and collaboration between instructors and students,” says Ravi de Costa, associate dean of Research & Graduate Studies. “This year’s research projects demonstrate the range and quality of the work taking place in LA&PS. Our faculty is dedicated to supporting creative and impactful work across all of our disciplines, and the DARE competition continues to expand on these efforts.”

For the award recipients, the projects serve as key stepping stones to future endeavours – whether in their respective fields beyond the university setting or continued academic research. Through their reflections, many of this year’s winners cited the unique hands-on experience as their favourite aspect of the process.

Fourth-year political science student, Kiana Therrien-Tomas, was pleased with the practical skills she acquired.

Looking back on the time spent working with Department of Politics Professor Simone Bohn on a project titled, “Collaborating with the state: a double-edged sword? The Brazilian Women’s Movement under the Workers’ Party administrations,” Therrien-Tomas explains, “this experience has been a great addition to my learning and professional development. It is an honour to receive this award. I can now proudly state that I have taken part in all stages of the research process, and apply the knowledge gained from this experience towards the completion of my undergraduate degree and my endeavours in law school.”

Fourth-year Disaster and Emergency Management student, Tiana Putric, echoed these positive sentiments when detailing the experience working with Department of Communication & Media Studies Professor Jonathan Obar on the DARE project, “The Future of Big Data: Understanding Digital Service Data Retention Policies and Implications for Online Privacy.”

“DARE was a transformative experience that left me with several new skills and insights,” said Putric. “I gained experience collecting, analyzing, and summarizing data retention policies and contracts from global digital service providers, learned how to evaluate policies against privacy laws and normative regulatory philosophies, and contributed to the data retention body of knowledge.”

In congratulating this year’s recipients, LA&PS Dean J.J. McMurtry was delighted to see how far the award has come.

“This competition offers an excellent opportunity for students to examine, discover, critique and create with leading researchers in their fields,” he said. “Over the past four years, DARE has exemplified the truly diverse and global scope of the research being done in LA&PS. Once again, our students have exceeded expectations.”

The 2021 DARE gallery can be viewed on the LA&PS website.

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SNACK was developed to provide a broad spectrum of numeracy support to students at all points of their academic journey.

“We are excited to introduce SNACK to our LA&PS community,” said Anita Lam, associate dean of teaching and learning. “It has long been a Faculty priority to provide students with meaningful academic support, including different levels of numeracy support.

“SNACK is an important addition to the numeracy support we already offer, such as Peer Assisted �첥��Ƶ Sessions (PASS). Unlike PASS, which takes the form of course-specific, facilitated study group sessions, SNACK offers one-on-one peer tutoring. Through this tutoring, SNACK can enable students to more effectively engage with numbers in their courses and daily lives.”  

Students enrolled in LA&PS courses that involve math, statistics and Excel can access the centre for expert assistance through a scheduled online peer tutoring drop-in support program. As well, throughout the academic year, the centre will organize numeracy-related workshops for all students to attend.

The centre also offers supplementary numeracy resources for students who like to tackle learning in their own time. Students will be able to browse YouTube playlists and online tools that will enhance their knowledge at a customized pace.

York community members can learn more about this program at yorku.ca/laps/snack.

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Students interested in taking part in the competition are asked to submit solutions to their ��������Oct. 15. The authors of the most complete solutions will be invited to present their work to the SRC organizers: professors  in the Faculty of Science at �첥��Ƶ, Niushan Gao of Ryerson University, Silvana Pesenti of the University of Toronto, and Ricardas Zitikis of Western University. Additionally, they will receive RISC SRC 2021 diplomas and, when appropriate, endorsements to apply to graduate programs affiliated with RISC.

To learn more, see the  online.

RISC, led by Furman, is a national and international research hub and Organized Research Unit that pursues a holistic approach to the field of insurance and related topics.

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Receiving the prestigious award are Student Senators Issa Abdi Jamaa, Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies (LA&PS); Muhammad Shahmir Masood, (LA&PS); and Dael Vasquez, Glendon College.

All of this year’s nominees exhibited incredible dedication to supporting governance at the University. This year’s recipients stood out for their passion, leadership, collegiality and inclusiveness, and their significant and lasting contributions to governance, which perfectly embody the spirt of this award. The University Secretariat and Senate extend congratulations to these exceptional students. Their names will be added to the Student Award plaques in the Vari Hall rotunda.

Issa Abdi Jamaa’s contributions to governance at York have been significant and lasting, including the establishment of the International Students at �첥��Ƶ group. Particularly noteworthy to the panel considering the nominations for the award was that Jamaa actively strove to bring all voices and views to the table to foster full deliberations to reach a better decision. Faculty were impressed by Jamaa’s dedication to governance, evidenced by his service for four successive years on the Student Council of the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, Vanier College Council and Senate, and most recently in the roles of co-Chair of Senate Student Caucus and on the Chancellor Search committee. A student wrote with equal praise of Jamaa’s advocacy for student concerns and the cumulative effect of the many “small things” he has done over the years to improve the governance experience for students at both the Faculty and Senate levels.

The Everett Award is bestowed on students who have demonstrated high distinction in governance during their studies at York. Those who wrote in support of the nomination for Muhammad Shahmir Masood provide clear evidence that he fulfilled this criterion in every respect. Through their words, a clear picture emerges of Masood’s deep commitment to student engagement in governance. His contributions to governance at York have been significant and lasting, including increasing the number of opportunities for student participation in Faculty Council committees within the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Students. Particularly noteworthy to the panel considering nominations was the description of Masood as a “steward” who “functions as the anchor that holds faculty, students, staff together by enabling them to not only meet the challenges they face, but by allowing them collectively to realize their full potential as an engaged team.” Masood’s many roles since 2016 illustrate his sustained dedication to fostering active governance. A student wrote with praise of the valuable mentoring Masood provided to ensure robust and inclusive student governance.

Passion, leadership, collegiality and inclusiveness are the hallmarks of Dael Vasquez’s approach to student governance, which perfectly embody the spirt of this award. Vasquez’s contributions to governance at Glendon, Senate and the University have been significant and lasting. His accomplishments include his work to integrate a stronger focus within the Glendon Faculty Plan on digital literacy skills in the curriculum Glendon Academic Plan, his role in providing the student perspective on the Glendon Research Plan, and his contributions to Glendon’s initiative to establish a Common Core Curriculum. Particularly noteworthy to the panel was Vasquez’s dedication to fostering equity, diversity and inclusion. Faculty members were struck by his dedication to governance, not only by actively serving in Faculty and Senate roles, but also his work to foster active student participation. A student wrote to commend the importance of Vasquez's work in being an “effective bridge and channel of communication” at Glendon and to Senate.

More about Robert Everett

The award was established in honour of the late , a distinguished senior assistant secretary of the University who made extraordinary contributions supporting University governance for nearly three decades. President and Vice-Chancellor Rhonda L. Lenton established the Robert Everett Exceptional Leadership in Student Governance Award in 2018 to recognize and celebrate students and their impact on governance at �첥��Ƶ.

To learn more about the Robert Everett Exceptional Leadership Award in Student Governance, visit the Senate of �첥��Ƶ award webpage.

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Karen O'Meara, department head of dramatic arts at Richmond Green Secondary School in Richmond Hill, Ont., was one such teacher. Determined to forge ahead with her combined Grade 11 and 12 musical theatre production, she reached out to , professor and Chair of the Department of Theatre in �첥��Ƶ’s School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design, whom she had been collaborating with on workshops for drama teachers. They both decided that this was the perfect opportunity to combine forces in a new way.

“At the time,” explains O’Meara, “I was putting on a production, which I then had to translate into an online production. What ended up resulting from that conversation was a number of York theatre students saying, ‘Hey, we don’t have anything to do. It’s the pandemic and everything is locked down; we would love to help with your show.’ So those were the initial seeds of this project.”

With the help of those enthusiastic student volunteers, Richmond Green presented its first online production in spring 2020 – and it was a huge success. Heading into the next pandemic-impacted school year, Schweitzer decided to take the project one step further by officially incorporating it into York’s theatre curriculum as a for-credit experiential education offering called the Independent Production Practicum.

The course kicked off in January of this year and the seven enrolled students – Isabella Liscio, Megan Keatings, Hannah Smith, Rachel D’Arpino, Dave Harack, Laura Nigro and Joshua Kilimnik – jumped right into planning mode, joining O’Meara for a two-hour meeting on Zoom every Monday night. When the high-school semester began the following month, the York students took the high schoolers through a series of theatre workshops, which O’Meara says “set the bar high for the students and gave them a fantastic foundation to continue with creative exploration.”

Through breakout rooms on their weekly Zoom calls, the York students went on to provide mentorship in areas where they had passion and interest. There were rooms for choreography, vocals, directing, producing and script-writing, to name a few. They attended the high-school classes whenever they could, and provided leadership within the classroom setting – running scenes and coaching students on various aspects of the show. Their contributions did not go unnoticed.

“The York students were outstanding,” says O’Meara. “They had so much genuine enthusiasm for what our students were doing. They were always willing to offer their expertise, make suggestions and provide great feedback.”

One of the York theatre students, Liscio, who just finished her third year specializing in performance creation and research, started working with O’Meara in May 2020 as a volunteer to get classroom hours for her teachers college application. She has now helped Richmond Green put on three productions. “This experience has meant so much,” she says. “I want to be a drama teacher and I didn’t have much experience working with high-school students before. I got to learn and explore with them what this genre of online theatre is and work with them in the areas of acting, directing, marketing and production.”

Another third-year student, D’Arpino, who is majoring in performing arts and concurrent education, originally applied for the course thinking it was a volunteer opportunity that would serve her well as she pursues a future as a high-school drama teacher. She was thrilled to discover that it had become a for-credit course and she hopes to continue her involvement with the school. “Karen wants our opinion, asks us to help and gets everyone involved,” she says. “The kids are so immersed in everything, learning it all and putting it together from scratch. It has been such an amazing opportunity to give input and watch the whole experience come to life.”

Like the others, Harack, who will be heading into his third year of York’s theatre production program in the fall, plans to attend teachers college post-graduation. He knows this experience with Richmond Green will help him thrive in that setting and in the industry at large. “Seeing the students take the lead has been really awesome,” he says. “To see them progress from an idea to filming scenes and then editing, it was a really rewarding experience.”

Putting on a large-scale production during pandemic times certainly had its challenges, though, requiring the students to adapt on the fly to the ever-changing restrictions. “We knew we were only going to get a very short time together in person and we had to take advantage of every minute,” says O’Meara. “Our biggest learning was that if you want to produce work virtually, you have to be very organized, have a solid plan and be flexible to change.”

And change they did. The 28-person high-school class was expecting to have two in-person blocks for filming, but when everything was shut down after the first block, they had to go back to the drawing board and rewrite the script accordingly. “But because we had such a good plan at the start and a very good scene-by-scene vision, that really helped guide us when we had to make a change,” says O’Meara.

The end result was "Out of Sync," a completely student-written musical that went live on the evening of June 23 via Zoom, of course. The show was about four high schools – one private, one public, one arts-focused and one sports-focused – competing against each other in a lip-sync battle. As the rival schools went from cut-throat saboteurs to considerate allies, the show left its audience with the feel-good takeaway that music has the power to unite people from all walks of life.

Understandably, signs of the pandemic were everywhere in the production – students in masks, physical distancing, scenes filmed in students’ homes, in parks, on Zoom and some spliced together to make it appear that the cast was in the same place when in reality they were not. And perhaps that was part of the show’s charm, serving as a sort of time capsule for the strange and surreal year that was.

No one yet knows what the next school year has in store, but one thing is certain: the educational experience gained from putting on this production in such turbulent times will have a lasting impact for all involved.

“I’m delighted that our students have had such an exciting opportunity to work closely with Ms. O’Meara and the students at Richmond Green on the development of a new musical,” says Schweitzer. “Through this collaboration, they’ve developed leadership and teaching skills that will enhance their careers, whether they decide to go on to become high-school drama teachers themselves or pursue other creative avenues. I look forward to seeing this kind of partnership grow in the future.”

By Lindsay MacAdam, communications officer,���۹󾱱���

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“It was the first opportunity I had for  in university and it was exciting,” said Legerman. “I thought it would be tricky building rapport online with someone across the globe, because it’s always difficult meeting someone new, but we clicked almost instantly, perhaps because we had a common goal (the project).”

Pairing York students with students from Universidad San Francisco de Quito in her course Children’s Health and Quality of Life: A Rights-based Perspective was the work of Cheryl van Daalen-Smith, associate professor in the CCY program, supported by the GNL team within York International.

“This course offers a good opportunity for intercultural dialogue through globally networked learning, because children’s health is affected by decisions made globally and thus wholly affiliated with the ," van Daalen-Smith said. "In this popular elective in CCY, we look at the  and what creates quality of life in relation to the , something that most countries have officially signed.” By enabling discussion about the same issues for children in another country, such as Ecuador, students gain the ability to understand how health is a human right for children.

Supported by the GNL team, van Daalen-Smith was partnered with the Universidad San Francisco de Quito, connecting with a professor who was teaching a service-learning course that was focused on giving back to the community.

“They weren’t focused specifically on children’s health, although they were concerned about child poverty, but they were sold by the opportunity to discuss the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals as a key strategy in service learning in Ecuador. They were excited about the possibility of facilitating intercultural dialogue and meeting students and professors from another country.

“We agreed that we’d each do a lecture in each other’s class and have the students work together in groups to explore an SDG of choice in order to understand its relevance to children’s health and children’s rights. It fit perfectly with York’s University Academic Plan, which in part invites faculty, programs and students to find ways to pursue meaningful engagement and impact on the SDGs as a university.”

While van Daalen-Smith taught the social determinants of health, the SDGs and children’s rights to the Ecuadorean students remotely, Universidad San Francisco de Quito Professor Karla Diaz discussed child health inequities in Ecuador with the York students, even bringing them to a simulated village to illustrate how some children in Ecuador live. Meanwhile, the students worked online in groups of two or three to examine an SDG in depth, examining the link between them, children’s health and the social determinants of health in each country.

Over the course of a few weeks, the students spent time conversing and sharing information, discussing the issue and relevant statistics, determining how their chosen SDG affected children. They each were asked to prepare an infographic reflecting the impact of the SDG, whether in their own country or comparing both countries, and they each presented them to their own class.

“The students all wished we could have more synchronous time and, moving forward, I would ensure these synchronous group meetings are scheduled ahead of time in one another’s syllabus,” van Daalen-Smith said. “Our respective courses only overlapped for a few weeks because of different semester start dates, so we only scratched the surface in terms of intercultural discussion, but we saw that the major health threats to children in each country were very different. In Canada, they included injuries, poor mental health, child abuse, poverty, food insecurity, physical inactivity, bullying, vaccine-preventable illness and discrimination. In Ecuador, the concerns were sexual abuse, food insecurity and poverty. What jarred both myself and Dr. Diaz was that in both countries, Indigenous children were faring the worst in terms of health outcomes, quality of life and poverty.”

Legerman’s group focused on reducing inequality (SDG No. 10) and “there was lots to talk about," she said. "It was great to have an in-depth conversation with a partner across the globe. We realized how many differences there were in our countries’ health policies for kids.”

As she continues on to teachers college in 2022, Legerman plans to look for opportunities to build globally networked learning into the courses that she, herself, teaches.

Her classmate, Iffat Shah, a third-year CCY major, had never heard of GNL before taking this course, but said she hopes there are more opportunities in her future. “It’s a great way to get insight into the rest of the world and learn about the health and rights of children in a part of the world where you’ve never been.”

Shah and her group focused on SDG No. 16, peace and social justice for children, and she enjoyed the research, the discussions with students in Ecuador and learning from her classmates’ presentations on their own SDGs.

“Everyone is used to being online, and it’s great that in my own house, I can see remotely what is happening in other countries,” she said.

“I’m sold, totally sold, on GNL," said van Daalen-Smith. "When you have two committed professors, students get excited about talking to others around the world. And the SDGs are a perfect fit for globalizing our classrooms at �첥��Ƶ.”

She is working on integrating GNL into her upcoming PhD courses in nursing and in gender, feminist and women’s studies this coming year. Van Daalen-Smith and Diaz, her Ecuadorean colleague who is now a friend, are already planning to work together again next summer.

“We’re looking at what we’d do the same and what we’d do differently, while continuing to unpack the SDGs and their relevance for children,” she said. “She’s awesome, and I’m excited about it. What made this all possible was that the level of support we received from the GNL team at York International was second to none. I highly recommend GNL to my colleagues at York and look forward to faculty colleagues reaching out if they are as intrigued with the prospect of GNL as I was. Pedagogically, it is a real game-changer.”

By Elaine Smith, special contributor

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�첥��Ƶ students, faculty, staff and alumni nominated students based on their engagement and leadership roles at York. An in-person ceremony was not possible this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic; however, winners were notified in a congratulatory letter from Lucy Fromowitz, vice-provost, students.

“All candidates for this award are role models who exhibit leadership, dedication, integrity, enthusiasm and the demonstrated pursuit of excellence. On behalf of the entire �첥��Ƶ community, thank you for your hard work and commitment to excellence,” Fromowitz wrote.

Tiffin also recognized the students’ achievements and their dedication to leadership amid the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. “Each year, students are encouraged to become proactively engaged with their educational experiences through their academic studies, co-curricular and extracurricular activities. You definitely embraced that challenge and, despite the disruption caused by the pandemic in the past two academic years, have not only enhanced the student experience of your fellow students, but also shaped the foundations for future students to become engaged within the York community,” he said. “I’m always impressed by the diversity of ways in which leadership occurs at York, and this was truly evident in the ways you contributed.”

Robert J. Tiffin Student Leadership Award recipients this year:

Amin Hatamnejad
Hatamnejad is pursing a bachelor of science in the Kinesiology and Health Science program in the Faculty of Health. He has held a variety of roles within the Kinesiology and Health Science Student Organization, including president. He helped to transition the program fully online amid the pandemic and created two new chapters: Discover You and the Alumni Network (YUKSAN). Hatamnejad has also worked as a leadership coach, course representative co-ordinator and orientation co-ordinator at both Calumet and Stong Colleges, and has served as a student senator and a president’s ambassador.

Ammon Cherry
Cherry, an environmental studies student in the Faculty of Environmental & Urban Change (EUC), is the president of the EUC’s Student Association (EUCSA). He was part of the Black Excellence YU Student Consultations, whose input contributed to the actions outlined in York’s Anti-Black Racism Framework. Cherry also served as a president’s ambassador, alumni ambassador and a as student representative on several Faculty committees while pursuing his studies.

Bri Darboh
Darboh is a doctoral student in clinical neuropsychology in the Faculty of Health and an MBA student at the Schulich School of Business. She has held many advocacy roles, including doctoral student representative, Black Students in Psychology (BSIP) graduate student representative, member of the Diversity Committee and peer mentor in the Autism Mentorship Program. She is also a student affiliate at the Canadian Psychological Association, the Ontario Psychological Association and the American Psychological Association. Throughout her time at �첥��Ƶ, Darboh has also created several new workshops, planned events and participated in student groups.

Humayra Rashid Safa
Safa, an international development studies student in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies (LA&PS), fundraised with LA&PS’s Advancement team to help visible minority students experiencing financial difficulties. This effort allowed more than 200 students to take classes last summer. Safa has also held several roles on the International Development Students’ Association, including co-president, vice-president and treasurer. She also helped to co-ordinate the creation of the Sustainable Development Goals Hub and served as both a president’s ambassador and LA&PS dean’s ambassador.

Jean-Marc Moke
Moke, a psychology student in the Faculty of Health, is dedicated to improving the lives of Black students at �첥��Ƶ through his many leadership roles on campus. He is a co-founder and president of the BSIP and a member of the Department of Psychology Undergraduate Studies Committee. He sat on both Calumet and Stong colleges' Student Success Councils and is a volunteer with �첥��Ƶ’s Black Student Alliance. Moke also contributed to the development of York’s Anti-Black Racism Framework and is currently working on establishing a proprietary mentorship program for Black psychology students at York.

Magdalena Kajo
Kajo, an economics and French studies student at �첥��Ƶ's Glendon Campus, has been an active leader throughout her time at York. She has contributed by serving Glendon Campus as a school director for Peace by PEACE Glendon. She also held the positions of Chair of Glendon’s Student Caucus and co-founder and vice-president of the Glendon Economics and Business Club. In addition, Kajo was an RBC student ambassador for �첥��Ƶ with RBC Wealth Management.

Mahafarid (Fara) Seddigh
Seddigh, a psychology and law and society student in the Faculty of Health, has held various roles with the Undergraduate Psychology Student Association, including being promoted to co-president after serving as vice-president of student success and as a peer tutoring co-ordinator. She founded LetsStopAIDS at York, the local chapter of a youth HIV charity. She is currently a Daughters of the Vote Delegate for Equal Voice and a member of the Richmond Hill Constituency Youth Council.

Mingyu (Matthew) Lim
Lim, a biology (biomedical science) student in the Faculty of Science, has held several leadership roles throughout his time at �첥��Ƶ. He has served in many capacities, including as a president’s ambassador, science student ambassador, vice-president of communications and first-year representative on the Bethune College Council. He also contributed his time as a Residence Life don. Lim is currently working as a research assistant in the infant clinical psychology field.

Monica Shafik
Shafik, an international development studies and law and society student in LA&PS, has been an active volunteer and social justice advocate, completing more than 4,200 hours of community service. She is the director of ancestral services for Future Ancestors Services, an Indigenous- and Black-owned, youth-led organization that advances climate justice and equity with an anti-racism and ancestral accountability focus. Shafik has also been a Go Global student ambassador for York International, a student advocacy co-ordinator for the Student Academic Support Centre in the York Federation of Students, and a student ambassador and dean’s ambassador for LA&PS.

Simi Sahota
Sahota, a psychology and business student in the Faculty of Health, has been dedicated to helping others reach their full potential. Her success as a Peer-Assisted �첥��Ƶ Sessions (PASS) leader led to faculty inviting her to co-present about PASS at York’s 2019 Teaching in Focus Conference. She has also been a leadership coach, and as project lead of the Financial Wellness Project, she leads a team of research assistants, script writers and video editors.

Vishwaveda Joshi
Joshi, a social anthropology student in the Faculty of Graduate Studies, was York International’s first graduate international student engagement liaison and was invited to represent �첥��Ƶ during the High Commission of Canada’s Women’s Day Celebration. As co-chair of the Social Anthropology Graduate Students’ Association, she was involved in creating a COVID-19 emergency fund for graduate students in her program early in the pandemic.

To learn more about the Robert J. Tiffin Student Leadership Award, visit the .

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At the 2021 IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing, Saghar Bagheri, was selected out of over 3600 submissions as a Best Student Paper finalist for her publication “Learning Sparse Graph Laplacian with K Eigenvector Prior Via Iterative GLASSO and Projection” which she presented virtually on June 10, 2021.

While there is currently no shortage of big datasets, finding correlations within them and being able to model them remains a distinct challenge. Work currently being conducted in the research group of , associate professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the Lassonde School of Engineering, is looking to examine graphs that represent networks of data points.

When most people hear the word “graph” they think of a bar graph or a line graph. However, to Saghar, who is a master’s student in Professor Cheung’s research group, a graph is a complex network with numerous nodes which represent datapoints. Pairs of data points are connected by edges, and together, the nodes and edges create the network known as a graph. “A great example of a graph is someone’s social media network. For example, people can be represented by ‘nodes’ and the connection between them can be represented by ‘edges’. We can then study these graphs, as sets of nodes and edges and find patterns,” Saghar said.

These graphs are so massive and complex that it is impossible to extrapolate and model their behaviour without making some assumptions. Saghar and her co-authors were able to make assumptions about the behaviour of the graphs by using some creative mathematics and approaching the problem in a way that no other research team has before. 

“In order to model these massive networks, most researchers have primarily made assumptions within the nodal domain,” explained Saghar. “What we did was different – we made assumptions within the spectral domain.”

Simply speaking, using nodal space represents a direct approach whereas using spectral space is an indirect approach to solving the problem of modelling datasets. The spectral space contains eigenvectors and eigenvalues. These eigenvectors can aggregate all the information from the edges of a graph and can specify the most common patterns, which can then be used as fuel to construct a model that is significantly better at demonstrating correlations than existing algorithms. While Saghar and her co-authors demonstrated the effectiveness of their approach for image processing applications, they believe that this approach can be applied to any type of graph. In the future, they are interested in working with data mining applications and with brain data, via collaborations with , of which Professor Cheung is a core member.

In theory, the use of this new method can improve the efficiency and accuracy of graph-based modelling. This means finding more accurate correlations within real-world datasets and better predicting future trends. For example, improved modelling of data obtained from wireless sensors in forests could be used to anticipate forest fires. Datasets derived from social network activity, political voting patterns, and brain activity could also be modelled.

Originally from Iran, Saghar completed her undergraduate degree at Sharif University studying math and computer science. It was her love of math that led her to pursue a graduate degree and with Professor Cheung’s research group. Saghar defended her master’s thesis in June and is planning on staying on as a doctoral student in Professor Cheung’s group.  

“I always enjoyed studying math problems,” said Saghar. “When I was looking for graduate supervisors, I learned that Dr. Cheung’s work was highly mathematical which made joining his group an easy choice.” 

Saghar asserts that her work is far from done and that she wants to perform more experiments, try different spectral assumptions and work with the different datasets in the near future.  

The IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing is one of the most famous conferences in the signal processing society. In 2021 it was hosted virtually in Toronto at the Metro Toronto Conventional Centre.  

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Competing are Jason Ho-Shue (Badminton), Brandie Wilkerson and Melissa Humana-Paredes (Beach Volleyball), Shady El Nahas (Judo), Brittany Crew (Shot Put), Pierce Lepage (Decathlon), Bismark Boateng and Khamica Bingham (Track & Field), and Arthur Szwarc (Indoor Volleyball). Alumna Andrea Prieur, a certified athletic therapist, will be part of the Health Services team.

 - Badminton
A Canadian badminton player from Markham, Ont., Ho-Shue is a student in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies. In 2015, he settled triple crowns at the Pan Am Junior Badminton Championships in the boys' singles, doubles and mixed doubles events. He won the bronze medal in the mixed team event. In 2016, he became the youngest Canadian badminton player to win the national title in men's singles event. He also won double titles at the XX Pan Am Individual Championships in men's singles and doubles. Ho-Shue competed at the 2018 Commonwealth Games. He was a gold medalist in the men's doubles event partnered with Nyl Yakura at the 2019 Lima Pan American Games, earning a bronze medal in the men's singles.

 - Beach Volleyball 
Arguably one of Canada's greatest metal threats, Wilkerson attended York until 2014 and starred for the women's volleyball team during her time with the Lions. She earned Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) second-team all-Canadian and Ontario University Athletics (OUA) first-team all-star honours for two straight seasons, 2011-12 and 2012-13. The native of Toronto also ranked fourth in the OUA and first on the team in scoring in 2013-14 (3.91 points per set) and sixth in kills per set (3.10), despite starting just 11 matches. Wilkerson's career began on a high note at the beginning of the last decade – now 29-years-old, she was named York's female rookie of the year in 2010-11 and earned the OUA rookie of the year award. She was a CIS and OUA all-rookie team member and an OUA East second-team all-star that season.

 - Beach Volleyball
A six-time FIVB Gold Medalist, 12-time FIVB Medalist, five-time Canadian champion, two-time AVP champion, Commonwealth Games champion, and most recently, a world champion, earning the first-ever Gold for Canada, Humana-Paredes is an extremely accomplished volleyball player with roots at �첥��Ƶ. Humana-Paredes and her family have been synonymous with the York volleyball programs for decades. A York alumna, she previously played for four years for the Lions, her brother Felipe was a five-year member of the men's team and their father Hernan Humana was a long-time coach of both teams. Humana-Paredes' Lions career included three OUA all-star honours, a CIS second-team all-Canadian selection and York's female Athlete of the Year award in 2012. She won back-to-back bronze medals at the U23 world championships, competed at the 2015 Pan Am Games, the FISU Games in 2013, and toured around the world to compete at the FIVB and NORCECA events, winning numerous medals in the process. The team of Humana-Paredes and Sarah Pavan won the gold medal at the 2019 Beach Volleyball World Championships, defeating the American team of April Ross and Alix Klineman 2-0 for Canada's first-ever medal in the event.

 - Judo
A 23-year-old Canadian from Alexandria, Egypt, El Nahas competed as a wrestler at York in 2017, where he went a near-perfect 23-1 in OUA competition with 19 pins. He was a gold medallist at Concordia, McMaster and York regular-season events. He was a 2017 York rookie-of-the-year nominee, and earned the men's wrestling MVP during his only season with the Lions. Since then, El Nahas has achieved considerable success on the international stage. He is a two-time gold medal winner at the Pan American Judo Championships in 2019 and 2020 and also took gold at the 2021 IHF Judo Grand Slam in Tbilisi, Georgia. He has four other medals at Grand Slams, three bronze medals and a silver at 2018 Osaka. At the 2021 World Championships, El Nahas got into a bronze medal match where he lost to Ilia Sulamanidze of Georgia to finish in a tie for fifth.

- Shot Put
Crew is a decorated former Lion with multiple medal-winning performances at international competition and recently earned a slew of impressive awards for York at the national stage. A 27-year-old shot putter from Toronto, Ontario, Crew graduated from �첥��Ƶ in 2019 with a degree in kinesiology and health science. She is a three-time gold medallist at the U SPORTS Championships (2015, 2016 and 2019) and earned bronze at the 2015 FISU Summer Universiade in South Korea. Crew was rewarded in each of those gold-level seasons with the York female Athlete of the Year award in 2015, 2016, and 2019. She set a U SPORTS record for shot put with a 16.96m toss at 2016 nationals, then broke her own record in 2019, launching a 17.56m throw. She out threw her nearest competition by more than two metres en route to winning the event. Crew returns to the Olympics for a second time after donning the red and white in 2016 at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

 - Decathlon
The 25-year-old runner from Whitby, Ont., graduated from �첥��Ƶ in 2019 with a degree in interdisciplinary social science. It was also a landmark year for Lepage because he struck gold at three different events at the York-hosted OUA championships, winning in 60m hurdles, long jump, and high jump. At the 2019 U SPORTS championships, he earned gold in 60m hurdles and long jump. He was also part of the silver medal-winning 4x200m relay team, and won bronze in high jump. Lepage was named 2019 York male Athlete of the Year. At international events, Lepage is known for competing as a decathlete, routinely reaching the podium on the world stage. In his first decathlon of 2019, LePage scored a personal best 8453 points to win the Decastar meet in June, which gave him the decathlon qualifying standard for Tokyo 2020. He shared the podium with Canadian teammate Damian Warner at the 2019 Pan American Games in Lima, Peru, winning bronze, after a silver at the 2018 Commonwealth Games. LePage did not compete in the decathlon in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In May 2021, LePage attended the famed Hypo-meeting in Götzis, Austria and won silver with a personal-best of 8534 points.

 - Track & Field
The 29-year-old Canadian from Accra, Ghana wasn't always a track & field athlete. He began his post-secondary athletic career with the Rams as a soccer player, but eventually discovered track and transferred to York to join the team. His sprinting career took off from there, proving he made a wise decision. He struck gold in 60m at the CIS Championships in 2015 and took home silver in 2016. Internationally, Boateng was part of the gold medal 4x100m relay winning team at the 2018 NACAC Championships in Toronto.

 - Track & Field
A 2020 humanities graduate, the 27-year-old sprinter from Brampton, Ont., has played a key role in Canada's Olympic efforts since she joined Canada nationally. She is a two-time medallist in the Pan American Games, earning a silver with Canada at Lima 2019 and a bronze at Toronto 2015. Bingham made her Olympic debut at Rio 2016 where she anchored the 4x100m relay team to a sixth-place finish, in what was Canada's first Olympic final in the event since Los Angeles 1984. She missed advancing to the 100m semifinals by just one place. In 2013, she represented Canada at the Universiade, finishing fourth in the 100m semis.

 - Indoor Volleyball
Szwarc was a Lion for two seasons, earning accolades in both years for men's volleyball. His team won an OUA bronze medal in 2015 and he was named a CIS second team all-star in 2016. While at �첥��Ƶ, he also represented Canada at the 2015 Universiade and FIVB Junior World Championship and won bronze at the 2015 U21 Pan Am Cup. Szwarc turned pro in 2017, joining French club Arago de Sète for two seasons and being named the Best Middle Blocker of Ligue A in 2018. He then moved to Italian side, Top Volley Cisterna. In January 2020, Szwarc was named best middle blocker at the NORCECA Continental Qualifier as Canada went undefeated to secure their spot at Tokyo 2020.

Athletic therapist

Joining the Canadian Olympic team is alumna Andrea Prieur, a certified athletic therapist who will be part of the Health Services team. Prier will be working hard to keep Team Canada healthy during this very unusual Olympic Games. A York alumna, she earned a certificate in sport therapy in 1997. She is well-versed in major multisport events, having served as a therapist at the 2012 London and 2016 Rio Summer Olympic Games; at several Pan American Games, including most recently in 2015; and at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland, in 2014. She has also worked as part of the integrated support team for the Canadian diving team since 2010 for events around the world. She was also Team Canada's chief therapist for the 2019 FISU (International University Sports Federation) Summer Games.

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 has worked as the facilities co-ordinator in �첥��Ƶ’s School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design since completing his undergraduate degree at McMaster University four years ago. But his workday is far from over when he clocks out of his nine-to-five.

When he’s not spending his evening hours taking courses in York’s Bachelor of Disaster and Emergency Management program, this tireless 29-year-old who describes himself as a "lifelong student" is slipping on his gardening gloves and taking care of business on his family farm in Kettleby, Ont., just north of Toronto.

Growing up in the nearby Holland Marsh, a wetland known for its agricultural riches, farming has been a part of Vander Kooi’s life for as long as he can remember. “But never with animals,” he explains. “It was more like vegetables and gardens and whatnot. I have always helped my parents with that and I used to have a summer job doing groundskeeping, so gardening has always been a hobby of mine.”

And there is plenty of gardening to be done at his farm. While lettuce, tomatoes and squash are the family’s primary crops of choice, they’re also trying a bit of corn this year despite past disappointments. “Raccoons tend to eat those right before they’re ready, so they never turn out too well,” says Vander Kooi. They also grow flowers for the family business, , run by his mother and sister.

The family dialled its hobby farming up a notch seven years ago when they moved to their current property, an old farm house with a barn perfect for raising animals. “After we moved here,” says Vander Kooi, “some friends of ours who moved out west had sheep they were trying to get rid of, so we adopted them and that’s how we started our little hobby farm. We also now have chickens and rabbits.”

Animals ended up being a very welcome addition to Vander Kooi’s life on the farm. He loves getting to see their individual personalities come out – especially the sheep, who he says all have different temperaments, from cuddly to skittish. “The guy who sheers them said he’s always amazed at how comfortable our sheep are around people, so I guess they’re spoiled and get lots of attention,” Vander Kooi says with a laugh.

But as fun as farming can be, it’s also a lot of responsibility. Vander Kooi estimates that around 20 hours a week are dedicated to keeping the farm going, but not from him alone. “It’s a big family effort,” he says, explaining that his parents, his sister and brother-in-law, and even his niece and nephew all contribute to the daily duties. And perhaps the key to it all? He doesn’t consider it work.

“It doesn’t really feel like a chore,” he insists. “It’s more of just something to do to get my mind off of things by focusing on the specific task of either gardening or taking care of the animals…. It’s nice to be in the country and to be outside spending time with the animals on the farm. It’s really good for your mental and physical health.”

And isn’t that exactly the kind of healthy outlet we have all been needing over the past year and a half, since the COVID-19 pandemic turned life as we know it upside down?

Vander Kooi certainly thinks so. But pandemic or not, farming is something he envisions as part of his life forever. And although property size limits how many more animals his family can bring into their little farm community, he does hope to add some smaller animals – maybe a dog, or some ducks – down the road.

By Lindsay MacAdam, communications officer, Communications & Public Affairs, �첥��Ƶ

Do you have a "secret life" or know someone else at York who does? Drop us a line at yfile@yorku.ca with a brief summary of what makes you shine, or nominate someone you know at York. Use the subject line “My Secret Life.”

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