Social impact and health innovation among priorities for winners of the RBC Award for Diversity and Innovation in Technology
Five students at the University of Toronto have won the 2024 RBC Award for Diversity and Innovation in Technology. This year, all five recipients are women, and their interests range from researching black holes to helping seniors manage their prescription medication and even developing energy-harvesting devices to help patients with heart failure.
Supporting members of equity-deserving groups studying at U of T, this award recognizes Black, Indigenous, and/or woman-identifying students entering their third year who are interested in a career at the intersection of technology and financial services.
Each student receives a $15,000 award, renewable for a second year. Recipients are selected based on academic achievement, their demonstrated interest in exploring a future career in technology and their work on creating innovative solutions, which demonstrate an entrepreneurial mindset.
“Investing in the future of technology and building key technical skills is core to RBC’s strong engineering culture,” said Kendra Dubyk, Director, Technology Partnerships. “The RBC Award for Diversity & Innovation demonstrates our commitment to the equity and inclusion of deserving students and recognizes their creativity, curiosity and technical aptitude.”
Let’s meet the 2024 RBC Award winners.
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Harmandeep Kaur Gill is pursuing a specialist in statistical machine learning, a major in computer science, and a minor in astronomy and astrophysics. With a keen interest in computational astrophysics, she is doing her research on binary black hole mergers.
Gill is a member of several community clubs and initiatives at U of T, including United for Literacy, Women in Computer Science, Statistics and Mathematics, holding senior leadership positions in the Google Developer Student Club, the U of T Machine Intelligence Student Team and the Data Science and Statistics Society.
Beyond her passion for astronomy and astrophysics, she envisions using AI and machine learning to develop adaptive educational platforms and career guidance tools available in various languages and learning models to serve underrepresented communities.
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Isabella Tang is an industrial engineering student, pursuing minors in artificial intelligence, engineering business, and advanced manufacturing.
Growing up, she witnessed her grandmother face challenges managing her health and adhering to medication routines. That’s why Tang co-founded RapidCore, a startup that developed CoreCare, a prescription drug storage device aimed at simplifying medication management for seniors and alleviating the stress on their caregivers.
Tang is a member of two research labs within the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering at U of T and serves as Vice President of Outreach for the Women in Science and Engineering U of T chapter, where she fosters interest in STEM among young women through events and mentorship.
As External Relations Director for the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers, she builds partnerships to support professional growth. She also serves as director for the U of T Robotics Association, where she leads initiatives to advance robotics education and engagement.
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Jessica Tang is an engineering science student seeking to uncover the parallels between artificial neural networks and human cognition.
In high school, she founded Illuminaite Academy to simplify artificial intelligence and computer science learning for students around the world. Now, she leads a team of 20, and the academy attracts hundreds of participants from over 40 cities worldwide.
Tang is a machine learning research assistant at U of T’s Cognitive Neuroscience Lab, where she models biological control systems as artificial neural networks.
Tang also holds a research assistant position at The KITE Research Institute, where she is developing a novel pipeline to automate feedback for virtual physical rehabilitation using large language models.
Her passion for improving lives through research is driven by her experience caring for her grandmother who was frequently admitted to hospitals due to injuries.
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Riya Mathur is an engineering science student specializing in robotics.
She was part of the team that developed an implantable piezoelectric energy harvester for pacemakers and conducted advanced DFT analysis to enhance lithium-ion battery performance.
This development is life-changing for people living with heart disease, reducing the need for battery replacements in patients. For her work, she earned the Transform HF Undergraduate Summer Research Award.
This year, Mathur’s team designed EcoSorter, a pneumatic waste management system for Bangladesh, aimed at improving waste segregation, reducing landfill waste, and improving working conditions for local waste pickers.
Beyond her technical achievements, she is dedicated to mentoring younger engineering students, actively contributing to a design team to foster technical skills and leadership development and is currently pursuing a front-end developer certification from Meta.
Her vision is to harness her expertise in robotics and engineering to create sustainable technologies that change the world, with a particular focus on advancing healthcare solutions.
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Sarvnaz Ale Mohammad
Sarvnaz is an engineering science student specializing in machine intelligence with a passion for healthcare, data science, entrepreneurship, and software development.
She works at the Mount Sinai Cath Lab, where she successfully developed signal processing algorithms for a non-invasive heart failure monitoring device. This work earned her $17,750 in funding from the Transform Heart Failure Ideathon and Health Innovation Hub pitch competition.
On campus, she serves as the Co-Chair of Women in Science and Engineering National Conference. She is also the software co-lead for iGEM, a synthetic biology research design team that generates and validates novel synthetic plasmids using machine learning models.
Mohammad aims to innovate for social good and contribute to building supportive, inclusive environments in STEM.
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The RBC Award for Diversity and Innovation in Technology not only provides financial support to students but also recognizes their potential to become future leaders in the innovation and technology sectors.
“I’m incredibly honoured to be selected as a recipient of this award. It recognizes my dedication to advancing diversity and driving innovation in the tech industry. It’s a privilege to be acknowledged for my commitment to using technology to create meaningful change. This award inspires me to continue leveraging technology to tackle real-world challenges and contribute to a more inclusive future,” says Riya Mathur.
As these remarkable young women continue their academic journeys and pursue their career goals, they are inspiring the next generation of innovators and change-makers.
The RBC Award for Diversity and Innovation in Technology is a testament to their dedication, talent, and commitment to make a lasting impact.