Strong research records as undergraduate science students only head the list of accomplishments by Youshaa El-Abed and Tommaso Iacobelli, honoured with the President’s Medal and Governor General’s Silver Medal, respectively, during the University of Windsor’s 109th Convocation ceremonies in the St. Denis Centre.

Both held appointments as Outstanding Scholars:

• El-Abed in the Cancer Research Lab of biology professor Lisa Porter, where he was primary author of an article examining the role of the protein Spy1 in metastasis, and primary or secondary author of an additional six articles offering new approaches to science education;
• Iacobelli in the School of Computer Science, winning three Undergraduate Student Research Awards from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.

The President’s Medal recognizes involvement in campus life, and El-Abed has made many contributions, serving on the Board of Directors of the University of Windsor Students’ Alliance, partnering to create a lab to teach biology students about cancer starting in their first year, and helping to re-establish a campus chapter of Friends of Doctors Without Borders, which brought a Syrian refugee child living in Windsor to the United Kingdom for specialized care for a rare eye condition.

A graduate of the honours biological sciences with thesis program, he received his medal and BSc degree during Monday afternoon’s session.

Iacobelli, a graduand of the honours business administration and computer science program, has taken on leadership roles with the Commerce Society, the Georgie-Odette Leadership Symposium, and the Head Start orientation program. He will receive his BComm degree and his medal during the fifth session, Wednesday morning.

Convocation will continue with two sessions daily through Friday, June 1. Watch live webcasts produced by Media and Educational Technologies.