Inaugural Applied Research Leadership Awards Announced

Sheridan proudly presented the inaugural Applied Research Leadership Awards to cap off its Showcase event

For Immediate Release: May 10, 2012
Oakville, ON

Sheridan proudly presented the inaugural Applied Research Leadership Awards to cap off its Showcase event at the Oakville Campus yesterday, which attracted over 175 thought leaders, educators and emergent experts, and featured a keynote presentation by Dr. Howard Alper, Chair of the Science and Technology Innovation Council.

“This was an outstanding opportunity to celebrate the success of our student and faculty Applied Research Leaders, and represents a significant milestone in the evolution of applied research and innovation at Sheridan,” said President and CEO, Dr. Jeff Zabudsky.

Among the recipients:

John Helliker, Director of Sheridan’s Screen Industries Research and Training Centre (SIRT)

Pat Spadafora, Director of the Sheridan Elder Research Centre (SERC)

Dr. Farzad Reyegani, Engineers Canada Fellow and Professor, Faculty of Applied Science and Technology

Dr. Edward Sykes, first college SHARCNET research chair and NSERC Industrial Research College Co-Chair in Mobile Computing

Also recognized were the following Student Applied Research Leaders:

Brent Wakefield, Bachelor of Applied Health Sciences – Exercise Science and Health Promotion. Brent developed applications to improve the assessment of human movement in clinical and field performance settings.

Matthew Bechberger, Patrick Keenan, Alex Zouev, Faculty of Applied Science and Technology. This project team developed a prototype automated system for handling and sorting a variety of parts for industry partner AVP Solutions.

Varghese Abraham, Business Process Management. Conducted applied research with industry partner Grand & Toy to achieve efficiencies in on-boarding new corporate customers.

Chris Ramnarine, Business Process Management. Worked with industry partner SBC Clothing to develop a vendor compliance process and on-line procedures manual.

"These award winners reflect the broad range of talent and expertise to be found among our faculty and students," said Dr. Darren Lawless, Dean of Applied Research.  "From the arts, to business, to technology, we have tremendous capacity to offer industry in working together to develop innovative solutions that drive productivity and profitability."


Sheridan’s Office of Applied Research and Innovation works with academic, government and industry partners to address current and future economic and social challenges and to identify areas where technological and business innovation can be rapidly translated into new jobs and increased capacity.