Congratulations to our 2026 winners!
Each year, the Institute for Management & Innovation honours its most innovative and collaborative IMI teams and team members. The IMI Awards provide us with a chance to honour our hardworking, innovative, and committed faculty & staff.
Award nominations are reviewed by a panel that includes staff, faculty, students, and alumni from across UTM.
Winners are celebrated at our annual IMI Awards Reception in June. We congratulated our 2026 winners on June 25th.
Jump to an award:
Faculty | Research | Staff | Team Collaboration | Alumni | IMIvator | Social Leadership | Emerging Technology & AI Award | Partner
Past Recipients
IMI Faculty Award
This IMI faculty member will have significantly enhanced the overall support, learning and/or engagement of students and/or faculty within the Institute for Management & Innovation. This may be at an undergraduate or graduate level.
IMI Research Award
This IMI faculty member will have been recognized for a significant research/scholarly contribution to their discipline. This contribution could be but is not limited to an original published work or key research contributions deemed innovative in nature.
IMI Staff Award
This IMI staff member will have significantly enhanced the overall support, learning and/or engagement of students, staff and/or faculty within the Institute for Management & Innovation.
2026 Recipient: Maria Dutra-Cabral
IMI Team Collaboration Award
This team of two or more members can include any balance of IMI faculty and staff (up to four (4) members). They will have collaboratively introduced and implemented a new program, product, or initiative that has significantly enhanced the overall support, learning and/or engagement of students, staff and/or faculty within the Institute for Management & Innovation.
2026 Recipient: MScSM Team (Laurel Besco, Brett Caraway, Linnet Kocheril, Shena Neermul)
IMI Alumni Award
This award recognizes and celebrates the professional achievements made by IMI alumni. The panel will be looking for an alumna/alumnus who may have made a significant contribution to their field, acted as a prominent voice within their discipline, and/or demonstrated their commitment to making the world a better place through innovative ideas and solutions. They may also be a recent graduate with outstanding achievements in a short time who have shown themselves to be a trailblazer in their chosen field.
Eligibility:
- The nominated alumna/alumnus must have graduated at least two (2) years prior to the nomination.
- The nomination should be for achievements related to their field of study at IMI.
- Alumni are not eligible to nominate themselves for the award.
2026 Recipient: Priyanka Sambhi (MFAcc Class of 2023)
IMIvator Award
This award is given to a current IMI graduate student (individual or group) who has used a multi-disciplinary approach in the conceptualization and/or creation of a new product, service, project, event, group or program that demonstrates innovative idea(s), enhances the student experience, and may have a long-lasting impact on students and/or community.
* Student(s) can be nominated for both the IMIvator and Social Leadership Awards.
IMI Social Leadership Award
This award is given to a current IMI graduate student (individual or group) who has led an initiative or conceptualized a product or service that focused directly on social responsibility, community well-being, and/or sustainable future. The contribution may focus on the well-being of IMI, UTM, the local community, or the broader community at large.
* Student(s) can be nominated for both the IMIvator and Social Leadership Awards.
IMI Emerging Technology & AI Award
This award is given to a current IMI graduate student (individual or group) who demonstrates exceptional creativity and innovation in leveraging an emerging technology or Artificial Intelligence (i.e., AI) algorithm in solving challenging real-world or simulated problems in their research or class projects. The award recognizes their potential and ability to leverage technology in novel, practical, and impactful ways.
IMI Partnership Award
This award recognizes a partner of IMI, either a campus partner or external partner, for going above and beyond in partnership with IMI in order to significantly enhance, expand, or otherwise support IMI’s goals, mission, and purpose.
2026 Recipient: Matthew Sweet, City of Mississauga
IMI Faculty Award Recipients
2026 - Tara Vinodrai
2025 - Ann Armstrong
2024 - Michael Marin
2023 - Soo Min Toh
2022 - Gabriel Eidelman
2021 - Gerhard Trippen
2020 - Kevin Yousie
2019 - Otto Yung
2018 - Laurel Besco
2017 - Louis Florence
2016 - Irene Wiecek
IMI Research Award Recipients
2026 - Ruben Gaetani
2025 - Shauna Brail
2024 - Shashi Kant
2023 - Yue Li
2022 - Tara Vinodrai
2021 - Ningyuan Chen
2019 - Nico Lacetera
2018 - Minlei Ye
2017 - Sonia Kang
IMI Staff Award Recipients
2026 - Maria Dutra-Cabral
2025 - Shena Neermul
2024 - Clerissa Albores
2023 - Natasha Walli
2022 - Nazeem Shamsuddin
2021 - Maria Andrade, Claire Westgate
2020 - Diana Aldaz
2019 - David Linden
2018 - Linnet Kocheril
2017 - Carol Solonenko, Debby Keown
2016 - Natasha Walli
IMI Team Collaboration Award Recipients
2025 - MScSM: Laurel Besco, Brett Caraway, Linnet Kocheril, Shena Neermul
2025 - Workflow Team: Sonia Borg, David Linden, and Mohammad Tahvili
2024 - ICUBE: Ignacio Mongrell, Kayla Sousa, Mohammad Tahvili
2023 - BIGDataAIHUB Communications Team: Ryan Cerrudo, Sarah Ogbiti, Abdullah Qaisar, Claire Westgate
2022 - IMI Connect Team: Alyssa Madrasto, Nazeem Shamsuddin, Martina Simmonds
2021 - MMPA Recruitment Team: Bianca Gaspini & Wesley Mack
2020 - Big Data & AI Case Competition: Rima Abu-Shakra, Ryan Cerrudo, & Carol Solonenko
2019 - Urban Leadership eXchange: Natasha Walli, Shauna Brail, Alyssa Madrasto, & Ryan Cerrudo
2018 - ICUBE: Ignacio Mongrell & Sam Dumcum
2017 - MMI: Beate Ensminger, Afrodite Cruz, & Alberto Galasso
2016 - MScSM: Rose Mary Craig, Shashi Kant, & Claire Westgate
IMI Alumni Award Recipients
2026 - Priyanka Sambhi (MFAcc)
2025 - Linxi Mytkolli (MScSM)
2024 - Mayur Mukati (MScSM)
2023 - Anureet Kaur (MScSM)
2022 - Daniel Tourangeau (MFAcc)
2021 - David Harary, Shane Saltzman (MScSM, MFAcc)
IMIvator Award Recipients
2025 - IMIRS (IMI Review by Students)
2023 - The Energy Network (TEN)
2022 - Kaitlyn D’Lima (MScSM)
2022 - Lara Brooks, Angelica Chow, Alannah Hoops, Allan Huang, Elyse Muir, & Xi Shao (MScSM)
2021 - Gloria Ko (MScSM)
IMI Social Leadership Award Recipients
2026 - H.E.A.L. (Sophia Martineau, Tanvi Patel, Rachel Spouge, and Thaisa Tylinkski Sant'Ana, MScSM)
2025 - David Pajtondziev (MScSM)
2024 - Matt Reesor (MScSM)
2023 - Hannah MacRae (MScSM)
2022 - Jananee Savuntharanathan (MUI)
2021 - Raguram Bhaskar (MScSM)
IMI Emerging Technology & AI Award
2026 - IMI AI Club Executive Team (Lamees Anjum, Aya Finkelstein, Ava Gregoris, Saanika Parkhi, Sneha Raja, and Binari Senaviratna)
2025 - IMI AI Club Executive Team (Kimberly Corneil, Khadijah Hashmi, Areeba Khalid, Neha Kodali, Deep Parekh, and Anson Wong)
2024 - Tolu Alebiosu (MScSM)
2023 - Imran Rhemtulla, Crystal Valdez & Naina Jain (MBiotech)
IMI Partner Award
2026 - Matthew Sweet, City of Mississauga
2025 - Scotiabank & Dr. Duncan Smith-Halverson
2024 - UTM Sustainability Office
2023 - City of Mississauga, Economic Development Office; City of Mississauga, Strategic Communications & Initiatives