Students working in Instructional Building

Undergraduate work recognized by Dean's Excellence Awards

Carla DeMarco

If your main frame of reference for an ant colony is the group of tiny social insects that contribute to the family farm, you might want to chat with undergrad Renato Zimmerman: his paper, “Modeling Social Learning Using Dyna-Q and Ant Colony Optimization [ACO]” explores this specific ACO algorithm for a better pathway to learn.

And this particular output just garnered him the UTM Dean’s Excellence Award for Excellence in Research.

Professor Heather Miller, Vice-Dean, Teaching and Learning
“The adjudication committee was impressed with the independent and creative work by Renato in this paper, which demonstrated outstanding mastery of econometric and mathematical modelling at the level of an advanced graduate student,” says Professor Heather Miller, UTM’s vice-dean, teaching and learning.

“In this study, Renato is bringing new methods to the field of economics, also drawing on his excellence in computer science. Additionally, this paper was the first from U of T to be awarded the very prestigious international Carroll award.”

Zimmerman was nominated by Professor Nick Zammit, UTM’s Department of Economics, for this paper that was submitted for ECO420: a Reading Course in Applied Research in Economics.

The other Dean’s Excellence Award recipients include the following: 

  • Dellannia Segreti, nominated by Professor Teresa Lobalsamo in UTM’s Department of Language Studies, was awarded Excellence in Experiential Learning for her community-engaged research projects related to the Italian Diaspora and Food Studies, as well as her internship placement with the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Piedmont, Italy, for ITA38: Italian Studies Education Internship. The adjudication committee was impressed by this “very strong nomination package, which highlighted the student’s rich portfolio of a range of projects in different contexts that led to each other, and contributed to the student’s overall success in her final internship project” and “glowing reference from the Italian partner, noting the lasting impact of the student’s work for their website project on Italian-North American food heritage history.”
  • Tina Lalko, nominated by Professor Pascal Michelucci in UTM’s Department of Language Studies, received the Award for Excellence in Creative Activity for her assignment “Les trois figurants,“ in FRE482: Creative Writing. This assignment stood out with the committee for “the student’s brilliant and very funny portrayal of writing in three different registers in French to portray three different characters from the fairy tale ‘Snow White.’ The creativity, sense of fun and rich vocabulary all contributed to the outstanding quality of the work.”
  • Veronika Sizova, nominated by Professor Raji Soni in UTM’s Department of English & Drama, received the Writing Excellence Award for the essay “The Spider of Light Defeating the Totalitarian Darkness in Danticat’s The Dew Breaker,” in ENG273: Literatures of Immigration and Exile. The committee was impressed by “the complex, nuanced and subtle ideas expressed in this essay, enhanced by the artful sentence construction. The student conveyed an urgency of commentary, resonating with and engaging the audience.”

“We are always so impressed by the caliber of excellence for these awards and this year’s nominations and award winners continues this trend for superior submissions,” says Miller.

“It is a great honour to see this level of engagement by UTM students and their instructors, and we are delighted to be able to recognize – and be inspired by – the exceptional work of the undergraduate community on this campus.”

The Dean’s Excellence Awards are given annually. To see more information about the awards and application guidelines see the Dean’s website.