12 Ryerson University Magazine • W I N T E R 2011 W I N T E R 2011 • Ryerson University Magazine 13

COVER STORY

By Mary Teresa BiTTi, JournalisM ’89, and alExandRa lOpEz-paChECO

phOtO By Ryan Enn hUghEs, ImagE aRts '07

Whizkids

HOw THe cOOleST lOcaTiOn in

TOROnTO and a can-dO SpiRiT aRe

pOweRing THe enTRepReneuRS

Of TOmORROw

▲ ▲ ▲

In thE zOnE: Jonathan Ingham is one of the first students to develop his

business at the digital media zone, the Ryerson space where innovators

create high-tech enterprises.

Global powerTakinG wind enerGy around The world

By Sharon aSchaiek

When it comes to making choices about sustainable energy, Jon Bahen, BEng (Aerospace) ’04,

MASc (Mechanical Engineering) ’06, says the answer is blowing in the wind.

Bahen, 30, is project manager for what will be the biggest wind farm in Africa: a $1-billion operation to be built over the next couple of years in Kenya that will feature 365 wind turbines generating 300 megawatts of electricity − enough to power about 230,000 homes.

“It feels great to be part of something that can make such a profound difference in people’s lives,” says Bahen, who works for Vestas, a Denmark-based wind-power firm.

Bahen has already overseen his company’s development of the largest wind farm in

Chile, a 38-megawatt capacity installation completed in October 2009.

His Ryerson education contributed to his current career momentum in multiple ways, he says. “What I learned was incredibly use-ful − not only technical knowledge, but how to work with people and manage my time, all of which I’m using now. And the professors always supported our learning,” Bahen says.

Bahen, who will move to Nairobi this winter with his wife − also a Vestas employee − is excited about where his career is headed. “Renewable energy is a growth industry, and being able to do something meaningful in this area is really rewarding.” n

Sharon aSchaiek iS a ToronTo- BaSed wriTer.

alumnI profiles

20 ryerson University Magazine • w i n T e r 2011

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alumnI profiles

Seize the day” may be the best way to describe how Diana Cooper, Magazine

Publishing ’04 and Politics and Governance ’09, approaches life. A Ryerson Gold Medal recipient and a longtime volunteer, she do-nated her time to local HIV/AIDS organizations before spending a summer between third and fourth year doing volunteer service in Uganda. There, she worked as an intern for the Masanafu Women in Development Agency and also volunteered at an orphanage, eventually meeting and becoming the legal guardian of an aban-doned toddler named Angela.

Forced to leave the little girl with a family Cooper previously lived with in Uganda until immigration arrangements can be finalized, Cooper has since returned twice. The most recent visit was a six-month stint spent investigating the social and economic impacts of Chinese trade, investment and aid in sub-Saharan Africa. The research was part of her degree requirements for a master of arts in globalization studies from McMaster University. And just two weeks after finishing that year-long program, Cooper began studying law at the University of Ottawa last fall. Today, between regular calls and Skype conversations with Angela, Cooper dreams of ultimately assisting with the economic integration of developing countries.

“I’m interested in international development and exploring how the law can be used to pursue social justice on a global scale,” she says. n

dana yaTeS iS a ToronTo- BaSed freelance wriTer.

a call to justice

inSpired By volunTeer Service,

GraduaTe dreaMS of workinG in

inTernaTional Trade and

developMenT

By dana yaTeS

Coli

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‘91

w i n T e r 2011 • ryerson University Magazine 21

24 Ryerson University Magazine • W I N T E R 2011 W I N T E R 2011 • Ryerson University Magazine 25

ReseaRch

By DaNa yaTEs

s leepless nights. Missed work days. As anyone with insomnia will attest, it can lead to intense personal suffering. But com-

bine insomnia with anxiety, depression and chronic pain, and sleeplessness can become even more troubling. Cognitive behav-ioural therapy (CBT), however, may be a remedy for this multi-faceted problem, says a Ryerson University professor.

“When you have another disorder, you face unique barriers that other people do not,” says Colleen Carney, psychology professor and director of Ryerson’s Sleep and Mood Disorder Program. “For example, a conventional insomnia strategy involves getting out of bed at the same time every day. But someone with depression may wonder, ‘What if I have nothing to get out of bed for?’”

Carney’s latest book is Quiet Your Mind and Get to Sleep: Solutions to Insomnia for Those With Depression, Anxiety or Chronic Pain, the only self-help book that focuses on people who have insomnia com-bined with other health conditions. It was co-authored by Rachel Manber of Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif.

According to Statistics Canada, an estimated 3.3 million Canadi-ans – one in every 10 of us – experience problems going to sleep and/or staying asleep. Furthermore, insomnia is a characteristic of almost all psychological diagnoses. Sleep clinics also report that insomnia patients with psychological disorders outnumber those without other conditions at a rate of nearly two to one.

Quiet Your Mind and Get to Sleep suggests many cognitive behav-ioural solutions to insomnia. Some of the book’s tips include:• Never get into bed before your usual bedtime. • When you catch yourself “trying” to sleep, remind yourself that

this is counterproductive.• Leave your bed and bedroom if you can’t sleep.

Previous research studies have also demonstrated that CBT offers many advantages over sleep-aid medications. CBT doesn’t carry the risks of dependency or tolerance (requiring increasing the dosage for the drug to remain effective) that are associated with medication.

CBT has also become a popular choice for the treatment of sleep-lessness, says Carney. The British Association for Psychopharmacol-ogy has stated that CBT should be considered the frontline treat-ment for insomnia. It has also been recommended to help people get off medication. Through worksheets and a structured program, Quiet Your Mind and Get to Sleep helps readers discover and address the cause of their insomnia.

“For this reason, CBT makes intuitive sense to people,” says Carney. “It’s a brief treatment and, as our book proves, it can be done on a self-help basis.” n

Dana Yates is a toronto-baseD freelance writer.

•slumberSweet

colleen caRney ReseaRches links between

insomnia and depRession to help the sleep-depRived

get some Rest

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cognitive behavioural therapy now recommended treatment for insomnia, says psychology professor colleen carney.

W I N T E R 2011 • Ryerson University Magazine 2726 Ryerson University Magazine • W I N T E R 2011

photo contest winners

one

three

two

the Ryerson University magazine summer photo contest drew many remarkable images depicting travel, nature and architecture. there were also striking portraits, three of which topped our judges’ choices. thank you to our judges: michael cooper, an award-winning commercial photographer; blake Fitzpatrick, graduate program director, documentary media (mFa); and tyler Forkes, executive director, alumni Relations. and thanks to all the entrants. see more entries at www.ryerson.ca/alumni/magazine.

1

2

3

FiRst pRize

Lone Dog in VeniceJackco Ching, Chemical

Engineering ’03Richmond Hill, Ont. Wins a Dell netbook

second pRize

Rural scene in CubaDouglas Arthur Wilson,

Interior Design ’79Toronto

Wins an 8-GB iPod Touch

thiRd pRize

WalkerVince Lupo, Image Arts ’94

Linthicum, MD Wins a Sony Cyber-shot

digital camera

orwardFashion

It seems everything is going green. And if three enterprising fashion alumnae had their way, they would “green” the shirt right off your back. That’s because Heidi Ackerman, Fashion ’08, Monica Mei Chiu, Fashion ’07, and Nicole Bridger, Fashion ’03, are pushing Earth-conscious fashion far beyond burlap.

Disposable or “fast” fashion is characteristic of our consumer society, but it has an enormous impact on the environment. According to the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, the process of making synthetic fabric requires huge amounts of crude oil and releases volatile organic compounds, particulate matter and acid gases.

Natural fibres aren’t necessarily the way to go, ei-ther. Nearly one-quarter of all the pesticides used in the United States are applied to cotton crops. That cotton is then exported to countries that compete to manufacture products for the fashion industry. To remain competitive, companies often sacrifice employees’ wages and working conditions.

Clearly, change is needed. But does eco-friendly fashion mean wearing a scratchy, rough-hewn sack? Not so, say Heidi, Monica and Nicole.

When it comes to sustainable fashion, Heidi lit-erally sees the forest for the trees. During a summer tree-planting job after her first year at Ryerson, Heidi witnessed environmental damage caused by humans. The experience was life-changing.

Back at school, she turned to socially respon-sible designs, researching different materials and experimenting with natural dyes. Her first eco-en-

semble was an evening dress with a shoulder piece woven out of dogwood as an accent.

By the time the annual Mass Exodus show rolled around (a rite of passage for graduating fashion students), Heidi was ready to debut five enviro-friendly pieces. Later, during Toronto’s 2008 Al-ternative Fashion Week, she took home the inau-gural Beefeater Innovative Spirit Award.

Today, having completed additional studies at a fashion school in Brussels, Heidi is producing pieces for editorial photo shoots. For instance, Fashion magazine featured three of her designs in September 2009.

Boutiques in Toronto and New York City sell her avant-garde and all-organic knit wear. Locally made from cotton, fair-trade wool, re-cycled polyester and soft bamboo, the fabrics feature her signature, free-spirited style: bold and colourful graphic designs.

The process presents numerous challenges. While textile com-panies are increas-ingly producing plan-et-conscious fabrics, it’s more expensive to work with local manufacturers. The result: eco-fashions are still pricier than their con-ventional cousins. But prog-ress is happening, Heidi says.

“H&M, for example, has

According to these

AlumnAe, style doesn’t hAve

to leAve A footprint

By Dana Yates

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cover story

It’s no secret that our varsIty teams have struggled to wIn, great IndIvIdual

performances asIde. BrIghter days are ahead wIth a new facIlIty at maple leaf

gardens and the determInatIon of athletIcs dIrector Ivan Joseph, who BrIngs

hIs wInnIng attItude to ryerson sports and recreatIon

Ivan Joseph was only three months old when his father left Guyana. His mother left a year later, handing him over to his grandparents so she could move to New York. Carmen Joseph had no boots, no winter coat and no desire to splinter her family, but the factory job she found was crucial in helping to fund her husband’s university education in Canada, and their shared dream of a better life for their children.

Carmen lived in a little rented room while her husband studied hundreds of kilometres away, first at Nova Scotia Agricultural College, and then at McGill University. She and Ivan Sr. only saw each other over the summer months and had to follow their son’s growth through the accounts of those they left behind in Guyana.

“My grandmother, being a wise woman, who could never read or write, saw something special in him,” said Carmen. “She would tell me, ‘You know, this little boy’s going to go very far.’ With all the little pension she got, she sent him to private school back in Guyana, and would often give him errands to go to the bank, to let him count her money and make him in charge of her business.”

Four decades later, a needy BlackBerry fussing on a desk deep inside Ryerson University hints at the result of those sacri-fices. Joseph oversees a somewhat larger business now, in his second year as the school’s Director of Athletics, and plans for the downtown campus seem to echo his parents’ determination.

Joseph wants to make the university into an active, athletic hub, featuring winning teams and an engaged student body. At the centre is a new athletic facility, approved by students in a referendum last year, which he says will become the “cor-nerstone, a foundation for what we’re trying to do.” The iconic Maple Leaf Gardens will be the site of the new Student Recreation and Athletic Centre.

SPORTSA new day for

By Sean Fitz-Gerald, Journalism ’00

Ryan Enn HuGHES, ImaGE aRtS ’07 www.ryanhughes.ca

▲

In his second year as director of athletics, Ivan Joseph aims to forge a reputation for athletics equal to that of Ryerson’s academic programs.

cover story 13

“It will be great for them,” said Bakovic, who will likely have graduated by the time the facility opens. “I’ll probably be able to appreciate it more than them because I didn’t have the chance to play there. Just to see what is built will be nice, to come back and watch future generations play.”

The basketball and volleyball teams stand to benefit the most, with increased gym access and improved equipment. But Joseph has broader goals, and has shown interest in sports that have sometimes struggled to get noticed in the hustle and bustle of campus life.

“He was determined to find out ‘What is this rowing thing?’” said rowing coach Dominic Kahn. “He came to a regatta of ours, the Brock Invitational. He was talking with people from Western, Brock and Trent, asking, ‘What’s this? How does that work?’”

And he addressed his own team.“He basically said to our parents and our kids, ‘You know

what? I want to support rowing … you produce the results, and you get good grades, then it’s easy for us to support,’” Kahn said. “All the parents were beaming, and the kids just loved that.”

Joseph has maintained a very busy schedule. Ryerson hired a new men’s basketball coach last summer, Roy Rana, who led Eastern Commerce Collegiate Institute to five Ontario high school championships in nine years.

The university has also been developing a new logo and website for the Rams.

There will be, undoubtedly, more to follow.“Growing up on a farm taught me a couple of things that were

important: If you want something, you’ve got to work for it, and there is no rest,” Joseph said. “Jobs always need to be done. There is no nine-to-five. You work until the job is done.” RU

Sean Fitz-Gerald is a sports writer for the National Post.

done before,” says Pelley, a former president of Tsn who has worked on three previous Olympics. “Our philosophy is that you’ll be able to watch what you want, when you want and how you want.”

Best known as the Toronto Blue Jays announcer for rogers sportsnet, Jamie Campbell, Rta ’89, will be play-by-play man for the freestyle skiing, snowboarding and ski cross events.

“what a drastic change,” campbell says with a chuckle. “going from a summer sport like base-ball where there’s a lot of inactivity to very young sports like snowboard and freestyle skiing where there’s constant activity is going to be a consider-able challenge.”

Of course there’d be no games without the athletes and Cally ashby, Interior Design ’05, has been busy readying the athletes’ villages in Vancouver and whistler. The native of Port hope, Ont. headed for Vancouver to find a job related to the games, and as co-ordinator of Villages Devel-opment, she works in a team of four preparing the facilities to meet the needs of competitors and their support staff.

“I wanted to be involved in the Olympics in some way, so I took a leap of faith in moving here,” ashby says. “I think it’s a pretty spectacular thing to be involved in if you get the opportunity.”

Shi Davidi will be covering long-track speed skating at the Olympics for the Canadian Press.

Three ryerson alumni will play a crucial role in the 2010 winter games, and are embracing the chal-

lenges posed by the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.“It’s a privilege to be involved in these games,

but also a responsibility,” says Keith Pelley, Radio and television arts ’86.

as president of canada’s Olympic Broadcast Media consortium, Pelley is co-ordinating the plans for 10 different networks to broadcast in 22 languages, a video-on-demand service, online streaming, mobile updates, plus radio and print coverage.

“The combination of these games being cana-da’s games in our own country, with the fact that our athletes are going to do really well, and with the multiple platforms we have to tell the stories, we’re set up for something that has never been

a lu m n I at t H E O ly m P I C S

Keith Pelley

Jamie Campbell

Once in a lifetime

cover story

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cover story 17

Lucky number13RamS SOCCER PlayER anDREa RaSO

Her take on soccer

“Playing soccer is a challenge,” she says. “there’s a lot more to it than just kicking the ball. I like the knowledge behind the game.” and she enjoys the intensity of playing. “It’s something that takes you away as you focus completely on the game.”

PrOgrAm Ted Rogers School of Management, marketing major

Age 20

Got her start in sports Following in the footsteps of her two older brothers, Andrea plays

soccer, baseball and hockey.

most memorable game The 2007 final of the Canadian Soccer Association’s Under 18 national championship. Her Richmond Hill Raiders won in overtime, and she was MVP.

Favourite pre-game preparation Listening to music. Using suggestions from all

the players, Andrea compiles a special rams playlist on her iPod. Current team favourite

is “Pretty Boy Fella” by Prophet Benjamin, a song they first heard on a team trip

to Barbados.

Why ryerson?a high school soccer star, andrea fielded offers from Canadian and u.S. universities. When she considered her education and program, Ryerson edged out the contenders because it best met her scholastic goals. andrea’s father, Pat Raso, Electrical and Computer Engineering ’75, also weighed in. after meeting the team and coach Peyvand mossavat, Ryerson topped her list.

andrea made history in 2009 when she was named a second-team all-Canadian, a first for the university. She was

Ryerson’s Female Athlete of the Year in 2009 and Rookie of the year in 2008. andrea was also an Ontario university athletics East Division First-team all-Star and East Division Rookie of the year in 2007. last summer, Raso and teammates tessa Dimitrakopoulos and meagan Blodgett were invited to try out for the Canadian team competing at the 2009 Summer universiade in Belgrade, Serbia.

Claim to fame

cover story

Science revolution

With cutting-edge research and strong graduate studies, science is on a

roll at ryerson. students, researchers and alumni are making a difference

as they tackle some of the World’s biggest challenges

By Dan Falk, Journalism ’92 m ichael Kolios peers at a black-and-white image on a monitor. An adjacent microscope generates the picture on the screen, and the object, which at

first glance looks like a translucent soccer ball, is actually a cluster of human cancer cells less than a millimetre wide. On closer inspection, the spheroid dis-plays a rich structure: it’s denser in the middle and more transparent toward the outer edges. With this one-of-a-kind machine – a scanning acoustic microscope – Kolios is leading a groundbreaking research program that could change the way we fight one of the nation’s deadliest diseases.

The microscope uses a high-frequency transducer to blast its target with sound waves at a rate of up to a billion cycles per second, using ultrasound, rather than light, to create an image. Cells that are dead or dying, Kolios explains, have differ-ent acoustic properties from living cells, and can be distinguished on the resulting image. The implications are profound: adapted for clinical use, it could allow doc-tors to monitor the effectiveness of cancer treatments – typically chemotherapy or radiation therapy – in individual patients. If the ultrasound scan shows cancer cells are dying, treatment can continue; if not, an alternative approach can be sought out, minimizing harsh side effects and cost of ineffective treatments.

“With this technology, you could have almost immediate feedback,” says Kolios, who holds a Tier II Canada Research Chair at Ryerson and teaches in the Department of Physics. “Normally, it can take weeks or even months before doc-tors can tell if a particular cancer treatment has been effective.” With this method, “24 hours after the treatment, you could see how much they’re responding.”

The innovative research in Kolios’s lab is just one of many signs that Ryerson is making a name for itself as a science-oriented university and contributing much-needed science graduates to Canadian industry and research. In fact, Ryerson is now home to four flourishing science departments – Chemistry and Biology, Computer Science, Mathematics and Physics. The university offers unique pro-grams to both undergraduate and graduate students in those fields, and engages in cutting-edge research, like the work being done in Kolios’s lab.

▲

13

One of many Ryerson science

students immersed in research,

Helia Mohammadi is pursuing a

master’s degree. Her project

involves developing an artifi-

cial intelligence system

that will improve response

time to 911 calls.

“Science is on a roll at Ryerson,” says Chris Evans, associate dean for undergraduate science programs in the Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Science (FEAS). With a young complement of en-thusiastic faculty and an ever-increasing number of undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in science programs, “there’s a great deal of energy and activity” on campus, Evans says. This evolution in science at Ryerson has taken place in just the last 10 years. “It’s been a remarkable change.”

Evans has been at Ryerson since 1998 – just five years after the school attained university status. Back then, there were two science programs on campus (applied chemistry and biology, and computer sci-ence), with just a few hundred students enrolled. Around 2003, Evans and a handful of colleagues began to work on expanding the science programs as part of the university’s strategic initiative to de-velop more arts and science programming. Now, less than a decade later, Ryerson boasts more than 1,300 undergraduate science students, earning bachelor’s degrees in chemistry, biology, medical physics, math, computer science and contemporary science.

Even more remarkable is the rapid growth of Ryerson’s graduate programs in sciences. The first of these debuted in 2000, “and in the past 10 years, it’s just gone crazy,” Evans says. Today science students can earn master’s degrees in molecular science, bio-medical physics, mathematics and computer science. Moreover, Evans and his colleagues are hoping to es-tablish PhD programs in the near future: Ryerson’s Senate recently approved proposals for doctoral pro-grams in molecular science, biomedical physics and computer science, and the first PhD science students could be admitted as early as this fall.

The rise of graduate science programs is bringing more than just new students – it’s also bringing op-portunities for everyone involved. “The fact that we now have this pool of graduate students in all of our science departments really stimulates our research activity,” Evans says. “It allows everyone to be a lot more productive.”

All the new programs remain true to the univer-sity’s Academic Plan. Alan Shepard, provost and vice-president, academic, cites the master’s program in applied math. “It is an example of Ryerson at its best,” he says. “For example, the work of the financial mathematics group is relevant to the economic crisis – the group’s research on risk management and in-vestment strategies shows how Ryerson is answering the call.”

There is even the possibility of establishing a distinct Faculty of Science, separate from engineering and architecture, after a strong recommendation during a review of the university’s academic structure, led by

Kim Rattan, Chemistry and Biology ’01,

pictured above in the York River Estuary of the

Chesapeake Bay system in Virginia, is making a

difference − her research on marine ecosystems

will help protect our lakes and oceans.

cover story

PHoto: tom cogill

14

Maurice Yeates, dean of graduate studies. “Science is an essential piece of our efforts to make a difference in the world,” says Shepard. “Nationwide, there’s a strong drive to increase sci-ence, technology, engineering and math, and Ryerson is playing an important role by build-ing science programs for the 21st century.”

Many students who have graduated from science programs are making a difference. Kim Rattan, Applied Chemistry and Biology ’01, is a good example: using her skills to help pro-tect our lakes and oceans, Rattan is now a post-doctoral fellow at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, where her research focuses on the health of marine ecosystems.

One of her research projects involves growth of phytoplankton and algae in Chesapeake Bay. When excess amounts of nutrients or fertilizers enter the bay, fish and other marine life are harmed; as toxins move up the food chain, human health can be affected. What she learned at Ryerson proved vital, she says, especially the environmental biology and analytical chemistry courses. “We used current research tools, equipment and techniques,” she says. When she went on to graduate studies at Guelph and at Waterloo, she put those skills to use right away.

Other science graduates speak appreciatively of smaller classes at Ryerson and opportun-ities for one-on-one interaction with professors. “I admit I did some shopping around,” says Bedy Lau, Applied Chemistry and Biology ’02, now in the fourth year of a surgical resi-dency at the University of British Columbia. While the University of Toronto and York have great reputations, he says, they are also very big, often with a thousand students in first-year life sciences classes. With Ryerson’s smaller classes, “I thought I could have better interactions with the lecturers – and I was right,” Lau says.

For others, the opportunity to be involved in research from almost day one was a key selling point for Ryerson. That was the case for Eric Da Silva, Applied Chemistry and Biology ’07, who continued at Ryerson to earn a master’s in molecular science in 2009. Within a few months of enrolling in graduate studies at Ryerson, Da Silva was doing his own research, with funding

An optical image of a breast cancer cell treated with Paclitaxel to induce apoptosis (programmed cell death), part of research done in Michael Kolios’s lab. The nucleus and nucleolus are clearly visible in the centre of the cell. The dark spots around the cell are bulges in the membrane and are an early indicator of apoptosis.

molecules and monkey wrenches aren’t

that different, according to russell viirre.

A chemistry professor, viirre’s research

may lead to a new drug to treat cystic fibrosis

(cF). But when it comes to his work, he

compares himself to a mechanic.

“most drugs turn off functions of proteins

in the body. it’s like throwing a monkey

wrench at an engine - it will stop running,”

viirre explains. researchers have discovered

possible drugs for cF that do the opposite;

they act like a wrench that lands in just the

right spot, jumpstarting a broken engine.

viirre is studying where that wrench lands

and how it prompts an engine to roar to life.

mucous membranes such as the lungs

require a moist environment. A specific

protein regulates the moisture content in

mucus. People with cF have a defective

protein, which results in thick mucus and

difficult breathing. Also, because they

cannot clear out bacteria-harbouring

mucus, patients are prone to infections.

As a result, many people with this incurable

disease don’t live beyond their 30s.

recently, viirre joined a groundbreaking

collaborative research project at toronto’s

Hospital for sick children, with funding from

the canadian institutes of Health research.

in his ryerson lab, viirre synthesizes new

prospective drugs. At her lab, sickKids

researcher christine Bear tests the drugs for

their ability to be the “wrench” that rescues

the protein’s ability to regulate moisture.

“With every new test result, we learn a little

bit more about what is wrong with this

protein, and how to fix it,” he says.

viirre is hopeful that this research will lead

to powerful drugs for the treatment of cF.

And along the way, he gives credit where it’s

due. “my collaboration with sickKids is vital.

Few labs in the world have the expertise the

Bear lab has in handling this protein.”

15

Molecule mechanicBy Dana yates

Russell Viirre synthesizes prospective

drugs for cystic fibrosis in his

Ryerson lab.

18

feature

J ohn Lennie, Ted Rogers School of Management ’87, always wanted to give back to Ryerson, but didn’t find the right fit – until he heard about the Ryerson Angel Network (RAN).

The first university-led angel investor group in Canada, RAN provides young entrepreneurs, including Ryerson students and recent alumni, an opportunity to connect with angel investors, who provide seed capital for new businesses and help get them off the ground.

Ryerson angels have invested almost $600,000 in start-up companies since the network began in 2008.

A member of RAN’s selection committee, Lennie is the founder of social-media consultancy Agile Dudes and website service company Site Dudes. He’s also a mentor for young entrepreneurs involved in the network.

“I have always mentored younger people and to do it for my school is really important for me,” says Lennie, who also founded Internet company 121 Ltd. “They’re brilliant kids. They’re very bright and ambitious – the kind of young people I like to involve myself with.”

They’re so bright that Lennie has invested in two companies and made an offer on a third. “I started for altruistic reasons, but with the quality we are see-ing, I am going to get something out of it financially. If I can help them succeed and benefit financially, that’s just icing on the cake for me.”

One of his investments was SpeechBobble. Co-founded by Ryan Chong, Ted Rogers School of Information Technology Management ’08, Speech-Bobble is a web-based social conversation platform where users can publish ideas and multimedia.

Chong secured $500,000 in investment capital, including funding from RAN, and said he found it invaluable to articulate his idea to an investor audi-ence and get advice from experienced business people.

“Ryerson is such an entrepreneurial environment so RAN is exactly the kind of program Ryerson needs. It helps foster a community and culture of entrepre-neurs and allows students to take their ideas to the next level,” Chong says.

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Highfliersa n g e l i n v e s t o r s c o n t r i b u t e

f u n d s a n d e x p e r t i s e t o h e l p

y o u n g e n t r e p r e n e u r s S o a R

Ryerson Angel Network is a first for a

university: angel investor John Lennie,

left, and entrepreneur Justin Hein.

By abigail Cukier, Journalism ’99

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feature

R e s e a R c h e R R i c h a R d L a c h m a n

s h o w s g a m e R s L e a R n i n g c a n b e a s

f u n a s s h o o t i n g a L i e n s

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t he ways we consume information about our world are undergoing a profound shift – and

Richard Lachman is at the forefront of this change.Lachman, an MIT graduate and a professor in

the Radio and Television Arts (RTA) program, is the brains behind Race to Mars Interactive, a rich online companion to Discovery Channel Canada’s Race to Mars, a documentary project on future Mars travel.

“A documentary can only show so many things, but online, you can go more in depth and interactive with the content, show different levels of detail, let users work through problems – it’s endless,” says Lachman, who won a Gemini award in 2008 for the initiative, in the Best Cross Platform Project category.

Collaborating with producers, researchers, writers, digital media experts and academics, Lachman devel-oped a complementary online component to a six-hour documentary series and a four-hour miniseries on an expedition to Mars 20 years into the future.

What emerged was www.racetomars.ca, a sub-stantial, dynamic and interactive website consisting of 3-D educational games, Flash games, feature ar-ticles, student experiments, mobile content, video mini-documentaries, an 85-page guidebook for sci-ence teachers, a vividly illustrated companion book and a vibrant online community.

Particularly noteworthy are the educational games: part of a trend called “serious gaming,” they use the engaging format of video games to create lifelike experiences that teach about a science-driven Mars expedition.

“They provide the excitement and immersion of

being on Mars, but instead of shooting aliens, people are solving problems they’d actually have to deal with in this environment,” he says.

The entire Race to Mars initiative is a prime exam-ple of trans-media storytelling, which uses multiple media to create “360˚ productions” that tell stories in more immersive and meaningful ways. While the entertainment industry has been using trans-media storytelling for some time, Lachman takes a differ-ent approach by applying it to factual content.

Currently, Lachman is working on two projects that are building on the Race to Mars games: an edu-cational alternate reality game for use in elementary schools he’s developing with partners Wero Creative and Teach magazine using a $160,000 grant from the Inukshuk Fund, and a scientific testing and train-ing program for the Canadian Space Agency.

As new media forms gain prominence, tradi-tional media operators fight to stay competitive and citizens seek new ways to engage with different media, Lachman predicts trans-media storytelling to present factual content will grow in popularity.

“How can we enhance awareness of the news and of civics with game play and still be respectful of content? Which media properties can we use to bring modern politics to a wider audience?” Lach-man says. “This is a high period of experimenta-tion – traditional TV production structures, our attention spans and the ways in which we consume content are all changing. This is an incredibly im-portant time to try new things.” RU

Sharon Aschaiek is a Toronto-based freelance writer.

SeriouSgameSBy Sharon aschaiek

27

Cover storyBy Sharon Aschaiek, Christine Julien-Sullivan, Journalism ’97, Shlomit Kriger, Journalism ’05, Andy Lee, Gary Rusak, Journalism ’05, Craig Sebastiano, Journalism ’98, Deborah Smyth and Dana Yates

PhotogrAPhY BY DArio ruBerto

From researCh sCientists, award-winning Film

direCtors and Corporate go-getters to

Community aCtivists, ambitious entrepreneurs,

giFted designers and urban planners,

meet our piCk oF notable young alumni*

Nneka Elliott, Radio and Television Arts ’06 When she was 16, Nneka witnessed the power of a hurricane. Now 25, she follows them – and other weather stories – as a weather and traffic broadcaster for CP24. The Montreal na-tive spent her formative years on the island of St. Vincent and the Grenadines in the Caribbean, which was pounded by Hurricane Lenny in 1999. “The wrath of the hurricane astounds me to this day,” she says. Nneka honed her broadcast skills at Ryerson, reporting and anchoring for radio station CFRB and even dabbling in reality TV, placing in the top 100 in Canadian Idol. “It was a great learning experi-ence and taught me the valuable lesson of taking risks and stepping out of my comfort zone, habits I try to keep in mind in every aspect of my life.”

Lukas Bichler, Aerospace Engineering (BEng) ’03, Mechanical Engineering (MASc) ’05 and (PhD) ’09 Ten years after enrolling as an under-graduate, Lukas, now 29, became the first person to graduate from Ryerson with a PhD in Mechanical Engineering. Along the way, he earned the Governor General’s Gold Medal, the NSERC-Canada Graduate Scholarship and NSERC-Post Doctoral Fellowship for academic and research excellence. Focusing on magnesium alloy castings, his research – supervised by Mechanical Engineering Professor C. Ravi Ravindran – has been published in peer-reviewed journals and conference pro-ceedings. What’s more, his work may help transform the automotive and aero-space industries, leading to lighter and more fuel-efficient vehicles and aircraft.

*we Chose the top 30 under 30 based on their age when

we started the seleCtion proCess.

▲

13

TOP

Ezra Silverton, Business Management ’03 Ezra knows websites – his company, 9th sphere, cre-ates them. “We take care of the whole lifecycle from design, application, development, hosting, domain regis-tration to Internet marketing,” he says, adding that some competitors only provide one service. What started small in 1997 is now one of Toronto’s largest award-winning website companies with 18 employees. Sales have jumped about 50 per cent annually over the past five years. Ezra gives credit to Ryerson for giving him “much more of a strategic outlook on business and the relationship of marketing.”

Agata Jaworska, Interior Design ’02 Agata’s career success has mushroomed since gradua-tion. Her innovative idea for food packaging and delivery put her on Time magazine’s Top 50 Best Inventions of 2008 list. Called Made in Transit, the system allows produce (oyster mushrooms in the prototype) to stay fresh by growing during shipping. Born in Poland and raised in Canada, Agata, 29, now calls Amsterdam home. She is the content and project manager for the Droog Lab and coordinator for the IM master’s pro-gram of the Design Academy Eindhoven, where she earned her master’s degree in Conceptual Design in Con-text in 2007. Next up: The Droog al Arab project. “We are exploring the impact of Dubai’s global ambitions on its local identity,” she says.

Amber Kelly, Retail Management ’07 A troubled economy isn’t deterring this young entrepre-neur from success with her thriving store Denim Diva. Building on her retail education and experience, Am-ber opened the store at Upper Canada Mall in Newmarket last July, providing tailor-fitted jeans for women aged 35 to 55. Itching to one day run her own business, the 25-year-old turned her idea for the store into reality after winning the Ivanhoe Cambridge Retail Evolution Program award in her final year at Ryerson, garnering $150,000 along with marketing and financial guidance.

Dejan Markovic, MBA ’08, P.Eng., M.Eng., and Arvin Peter, MBA ’08 Within just a year of graduation, these 29-year-old entrepreneurs have made a technological breakthrough with smart water meters for multi-residential units created under their company ZelenTech. The meters can be inte-grated into existing gas and energy systems, saving money and boosting water efficiency. Their plan won them $25,000 in the Standard Broadcasting Business Plan Competition; since then, ZelenTech has expanded internationally, with strategic partnerships in Italy, Sweden and Singapore.

Hossein Rahnama, Computer Science (BSc) ’03 and Electrical and Computer Engin-eering (MASc) ’06 Presently pursuing a PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering, the 29-year-old has developed a patent-pending software that enables like-minded people, including potential business associ-ates, lab partners and love interests, to find each other using automated social network searches via mobile phone. Hossein’s research on context-aware computing is focused on giving the right information to the right users at the right time on mobile devices. The invention has garnered Hossein media attention and research opportunities, including a scholarly stint in Sweden at Appear Networks and collaborations with students from Harvard and MIT. (See Winter 2008 issue).

ezra Silverton Agata Jaworska Amber Kelly

next stop hollywood

Chelsea Manders, theatre ’05 and Ingrid Haas, theatre ’06, are a hit on Toronto’s comedy scene in their act called Charity & Chastity. Recently, the duo’s half-hour TV comedy, The Substitutes, was optioned by Tricon Films and Television. Chelsea is recording a CD and touring the Fringe with her comedy show ‘Naughty Little Children’ and Ingrid, who also acts in Degrassi: The Next Generation, will next be seen in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, a film starring Michael Cera.

Kazik Radwanski, Image Arts ’08, has a hit with his fourth-year project Princess Margaret Blvd., named best film at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival Group’s Student Film Showcase and chosen as one of the top 10 short films by TIFFG. Earlier this year, the film won the Grand Jury Award for Best Narrative Short at the Slamdance Film Festival in Utah and recently screened at the Berlin Film Festival.

Josh Raskin, Image Arts ’06, was nominated for an Academy Award for his short film I Met the Walrus.

Lyndon Casey, Image Arts ’08, wrote, directed and edited Captain Coulier (Space Explorer), which screened at the Sundance Film Festival in January in the International Short Film category. Fellow Image Arts ’08 alumni David Fradkin and James Gallagher produced the film.

sophia Walker, performance Acting ’05, is playing lead roles this year in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Macbeth in her fourth season at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival.

James Vandewater, Image Arts ’07, won best film for Upside-Down Girl at the inaugural En Route Student Film Festival.

Kevin Krikst, Image Arts ’07, produced the award-winning film directed by James Vandewater. James and Kevin also produced a documentary on the making of the movie Passchendaele that aired on CBC Television.

Ryan Ward, theatre ’04, was nominated for a Dora Mavor Moore Award for his role as Ash in Evil Dead: the Musical. This year, his feature-length film, Son of the Sunshine, premiered at the Slamdance Film Festival.

Cover storyChelsea Manders, left,

and ingrid haas

▲

15

CyberspaCe starsAli De Bold, Radio and television Arts ’08, created the popular website chickadvisor.com, where women can review and get advice on local services and products.

James Mirtle, Journalism ’05, is a Globe and Mail sportswriter whose blog From the Rink was named one of the top three sports blogs in 2006, 2007 and 2008 at the Canadian Blog Awards. His site has been featured on Hockey Night in Canada and the Wall Street Journal and New York Times websites, and is read by 40,000 readers a week.

Cover story

a gre at

partnershipborn at ryersonIsadore Sharp Outstanding Recent Graduate Award

winners and Ted Rogers School of Information

Technology Management alumni Chris nguyen,

’05, sundeep Mokha, ’05, Andy Lai, ’05 and Lee

Liu, ’06 started JobLoft.com, an innovative jobsite

specializing in the retail, food services and hospital-

ity industries. In 2006, the four won the CBC ven-

ture capitalist reality television show Dragon’s Den.

In 2007, their company was acquired by onTarget-

jobs, a niche job board company. “Since then we’ve

all been working with onTargetjobs,” says Chris,

who is VP of Product. Lee is now VP of Research

and Development, Sundeep is a division general

manager and Andy works in R&D.

Jennifer Stites

Patty Chabbert

Lisa Patel

Afzal Huda

17

Lisa Patel, Public Relations Certificate ’07 Lisa has mastered the art of diversification, juggling studies in Ryerson’s Public Administration and Governance program while working as director of a mortgage corporation and ad-visor for a real estate firm, hosting “A Greener Durham,” and serving on the Judicial Board for the Durham Land Division Committee. “I have a lot of visions and want to do something for the greater good,” says Lisa, 28. “I tell others to figure out what they want from life and the footprints they want to leave on Earth.”

Jeremy Laing, Fashion ’02 With his innovative architectural style and emphasis on elegant and modern yet accessible women’s wear, Jeremy, 29, is making his mark. The Toronto-based designer says Ryerson’s focus on technical skill and internships, followed by an apprenticeship with Alexander McQueen, kick-started his career. Inspired by couture and tailoring traditions, Jeremy’s internationally acclaimed cre-ations feature light-reflecting textures, bold graphic prints, contemporary shapes and clean lines. The winner of the Isadore Sharp Outstanding Recent Graduate Award from Ryerson, Jeremy says the key to making it in fashion is having “a strong point of view … since the market is flooded with sameness.”

Jennifer Stites, Architectural Science ’05 Jen-nifer knows what it takes to rise to the pinnacle of her profes-sion. Recently graduated from the prestigious Harvard Gradu-ate School of Design, she is currently a green development manager for a Hawaii-based real estate development com-pany. But success is not exclusively a function of professional accolades for the 26-year-old. As chair of the Big Brothers

Big Sisters of Maui, Jennifer, has made giving back a priority. “I define success through happiness,” she says. “As long as I feel good about what I am doing, am having fun and am constantly learning, I consider myself successful.”

Afzal Huda, Media Arts Production (MA) ’08 Afzal is an award-winning filmmaker who wrote, produced and directed a renowned short film, Call Me a Paki that daz- zled international audiences. His thesis project Amulets, a dramatic television/multimedia series that involved audiences in a creative fashion, scored him the sought-after Innovative Storytellers Award from Toronto-based media companies marblemedia (headed by Ryerson grads) and Corus Entertain-ment. The honour recognizes Afzal, 30, as an auteur with a rare gift. “Success is not just about accomplishing certain goals in life,” he says. “It’s also about finding one’s purpose in life.”

Patty Chabbert, Public Policy and Adminis-tration (MA) ’08 Patty’s initiatives to address youth mental health and suicide prevention in northern Ontario’s aborig-inal communities earned her Ryerson’s Hydro One Aboriginal Award for Graduate Studies in Public Policy and Adminis-tration. Determined to curb alarming suicide rates and raise awareness about the many successful mental health programs already in action, she works with youth, community members and others. “There are many success stories in these com-munities,” says the 27-year-old. “They know what’s working and what’s not. We need to ensure young people in northern Ontario have opportunities to share their voices with those de-veloping suicide prevention programs and services for north-ern Ontario – they have the answers, we just have to listen.”

Jeremy Laing

ones to watch

these promising

students Caught our

eye — we prediCt

they’ll go Far.

Paulina Bleah, Nursing,

volunteered at an orphanage and

hospital in Liberia, Africa. She

raised money for hospital

supplies and to raise awareness

about HIV/AIDS and malaria.

Cyrus Cooper, Hospitality and

Tourism Management, was rec-

ognized for his early success in the

restaurant field by the professional

association, Ontario Hostelry

Institute.

Robert Halpern, Bachelor of Com-

merce, is a community volunteer

and peer mentor at Ryerson,

recognized with the Ted Rogers

School of Management Business

Leadership Award.

Kwesi Johnson, Child and Youth

Care, won a Lincoln Alexander

Award for leadership in eliminating

racial discrimination for his work

in improving relations between

Malvern youth and police.

Ashlea Patchett, Nursing,

started a successful first-aid

education training company

that won her a provincial Youth

Entrepreneur Award.

With writing credits for a children’s

magazine and editorial intern

experience, scholarship winner

Cassandra Padmore, Journalism,

has ambitions to create change

through journalism.

Angela Wallace, Arts and Contemporary Studies ’08 Look-ing for a job that would put her values and passion to work, Angela ap-proached the Me to We organization founded by youth activists Craig and Marc Kielburger. For the past several months, she has travelled North Amer-ica with the Darfur Now school tour in partnership with Participant Media, inspiring youth to be active global citizens. Angela, 25, is pursuing her mas-ter’s in environmental management through the University of London, and hopes to continue working in the NGO sector.

Adam Garnet Jones, Image Arts ’07 When an opportunity presents itself, Adam, 27, believes in “always saying yes.” The Alberta-born filmmaker credits this positive approach for his impressive string of recent successes, which include screening two short films at the Toronto Inter-national Film Festival and winning the Best Canadian Short Drama prize at the ImagineNATIVE festival. Adam recently said yes to several new projects: writing an animated feature, writing and directing a National Film Board short for the 2010 Olympics and writing his first feature film, “a romantic rock ‘n’ roll queer Toronto musical.” He’s also writing for Cashing In, a new “wacky soap, sexy comedy” series set in a casino on an aboriginal reserve in southern Manitoba.

Graeme Smith, Journalism ’01 As a Globe and Mail correspond-ent, Graeme, 29, has travelled extensively. But after the war in Afghanistan became his full-time project in 2006, he has devoted more time to southern Afghanistan than any other western journalist since the arrival of NATO forces in the region. His many honours include the National Newspaper Award and the Michener Award. Next up: a book about his experiences in Afghanistan. Despite his achievements, Graeme’s to-do list is lengthy: “I’m proud of my few small successes, but this is a long road and I will never reach the destination.”

Darren Morofke, Electrical Engineering ’04 and Electrical and Computer Engineering (MASc) ’06 Darren, 29, is now completing a doctorate in engineering science at the University of Oxford. His research on medical imaging focuses on applications for cancer. The goal is to allevi-ate pain and suffering by providing better tools to oncologists. That will “help them to select proper treatment regimes, and to allow surgeons to know if surgery is needed or will prove no benefit,” says Darren, whose re-search has appeared in international medical publications. Darren is also an accomplished athlete who was selected to represent Oxford in the modern pentathlon.

Leila Hoda, Business Management ’06 Leila is primed to help people in need worldwide. The well-travelled Torontonian just completed a master’s degree in development management with a humanitarian affairs specialization at the London School of Economics. Veering from a business career was motivated by a desire to “have a positive impact on people’s lives,” says the native Iranian. Only 28, her international achievements include per-forming dissertation field research on humanitarian response in Uganda and presenting her findings at Europe’s largest anthropology conference.

Cover story

Angela Wallace

graeme Smith Adam garnet Jones

19

Ryan Chong, Information Technology Management ’08 and Humphrey Ho, Management of Technology and Innovation (MBA) ’08 These two young entrepreneurs in their early twenties know the value and potential of online social networking. Founded in September 2008, their business SpeechBobble has already secured $500,000 in investment cap-ital, including funding from the Ryerson Angel Network, and is well on its way to becoming a major online player. The company, which employs a staff of 12, is working towards becoming revenue-positive in its first year. “The biggest challenge we have is housing all the staff as we double every three months,” says CEO Ryan.

Dale Lynch, P.Eng., Civil Engineering ’02 Leading free basket-ball programs on Saturday mornings at Toronto high schools is Dale’s way of connecting with Toronto’s youth and giving back to his community. “We fos-ter a positive environment, introduce some new expectations and allow healthy competition,” says Dale, an associate with Mark Engineering and co-founder and CEO of Ellipse Wireless Solutions. The 29-year-old has also organized games at Ryerson after which players talk to educators and mentors about career aspira-tions. “My dream is to get them to dream.”

Devon Ostrom, Human Resources Management and Non-profit and Voluntary Sector Management Certificates ’04 Devon has been an art organizer since he was 14. The son of an artist and an engineer, Devon, now 29, brings organizations together to produce extraordinary results. He has curated countless shows and installations, including a mural project at the Kings-ton Penitentiary, Streetscape programming for Luminato 2008, and exhibitions at the Art Gallery of Ontario and the Royal Ontario Museum. Ryerson’s Arts and Contemporary Studies program developed his critical capacity and ability to articulate his ideas – launching him into an MA in curating in the U.K. “I’ve always had a lot of ideas,” he says. “My Ryerson education gave me the technical and managerial expertise to pull them off.”

Stephanie Asare, Social Work ’01 Stephanie signs her emails with an African proverb: “In times of darkness, one must stop searching for the light, and become the flame for others to follow.” It’s a saying that she lives by: after earning a master of social work degree from the University of Toronto, Stephanie worked for the Stephen Lewis Foundation and the Joint United Na-tions Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) in New York. She also founded Social Workers Beyond Borders, an organization that enables social work students and professionals to volunteer in developing countries. This spring, SWBB will send students, including students from Ryerson, to Ghana for a three-month place-ment. Visit www.socialworkersbeyondborders.com.

Matthew Rodrigues, Biomedical Physics (MSc) ’08, only 26, helps train medical first responders to properly handle radiological or nuclear emergencies. Working at International Safety Research in Ottawa, he develops emergency response plans and procedures for such clients as the Department of National Defence. “We’re preparing our clients and health-care providers to take the right steps so that society is protected in the event of an accident,” he says. ISR provides services worldwide in nuclear safety, biomedical physics radiation protection, counter-terrorism and emergency preparedness and response.

Dale Lynch

Devon Ostrom

James Temple

Cover story

Ph

oto

BY

CLA

uD

IA H

uN

G,

IMA

GE

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06

21

James Temple, Geographic Analysis ’07 Now manager of corporate responsibility at Dir-ect Energy, James rose quickly in his field, making a name for himself in the corporate giving commun-ity. Only 26, he is an expert on strategic philanthropy and volunteerism and helps the non-profit, corporate and government sectors build partnerships that have lasting social impacts. At the Royal Bank of Canada’s Charitable Foundation, he helped create commun-ity partnerships, sitting on the bank’s LGBT resource council where he ensured the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered community had a strong voice within the corporate culture. James routinely presents at philanthropy conferences across North America and volunteers hundreds of hours each year.

Warren Rupnarain, Social Work ’06 Warren wants to make a difference. It’s what led him as an intern with the Ontario March of Dimes to launch warrensworld.ca, a website that raises awareness of ac-cessibility issues. Through the website, he campaigned for better accessibility of Greater Toronto Area cam-paign offices during the 2006 federal election. Today, at 26, Warren continues to advance his cause as the Town of Markham’s accessibility coordinator.

Ryan Chong, left, and Humphrey Ho

Stephanie Asare

Warren Rupnarain

more top alum!

with so many outstanding

ryerson alum, we Couldn’t

limit our Coverage to

just 30. here are some more

top aChievers.

Sarah Glen, MA, Communication and Culture ’08, develops video

projects with street youth in Hamilton

to help them gain transferable life and

work skills — a recent project was a

music video by gang-affiliated youth.

Monica Mei Chiu, Fashion ’07, was

awarded $25,000 by the Standard

Broadcasting Corporation Business

Plan Competition and $7,000 by the

Ontario Partnership for Innovation and

Commercialization (OPIC) for inter-

national expansion of her au courant

Aime fashion collection. Created

locally and ethically using natural and

sustainable materials, Aime is turning

heads in Canada and the U.S.

Dominic Nahr, Image Arts ’08,

has crisscrossed the globe covering

such hotspots as the Congo, Gaza

Strip and East Timor. His award- winning photographs have appeared

in Time, Newsweek, Vanity Fair, GQ Magazine and the Globe and Mail.

Jonathan Selman, Hospitality and Tourism Management ’02, is manager of technology in the design

and construction department at Four

Seasons Hotels and Resorts corporate

office and chaired the Terry Fox Run

organizing committee at the Wilket Creek Park run site in Toronto, the

largest Terry Fox run site in Ontario.

Lacey Smith, Dance ’06, was one of

four young choreographers selected

by Les Grands Ballet Canadiens de Montreal to create a new work for the

National Choreographic Competition.

Cover story23

Camellia Koo, Theatre ’99 Possessing both creative flair and technical know-how, set and costume designer Camellia, 32, is a theatrical producer’s dream. “My Ryerson training makes me a better designer, because I appreciate the work involved in executing designs,” says Camellia, who also has an MA in scenography. That practical edge, along with “passion and an ability to collaborate,” has made Camellia a regular with independent theatre companies as well as Soulpepper, The Second City, The Shaw Festival and more, and netted her four Dora Mavor Moore Awards. “I love the visual story-telling,” says Camellia, who’s always seeking new challenges. “I’d like to design more for opera and dance.”

Alexis Crespo, urban and Regional Planning ’05 For Alexis, hard work and boundless energy has been the ticket to success at a young age. Only 26, she is a senior planner at Land Planning Solutions, Inc. in Bonita Springs, Florida. Certified by the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP) and a LEED Accredited Professional, Alexis works on creating sustainable developments across southwest Florida. She has also organized more than 40 professional and social events for the local committees of the American Planning Association and Florida Planning and Zoning Association. “If you put in the work and give it all you’ve got, you will reap the rewards.”

Mridula Sury, Nursing ’07 “Sometimes I think I’m married to this profession.” Mridula’s view on nursing is reinforced by her considerable track record and enthusiasm for helping others. Currently working in Toronto General Hospital’s transplant unit and St. Joseph’s Health Centre ER department, Mridula, 28, is always exploring the outer limits of her job. The Torontonian has helped children with birth defects in India, and learned about expanded nursing in a northern First Nations community. Volunteering with Doctors Without Borders is a dream for Mridula, as is working for the United Nations or World Health Organization.

Ryan Coelho, Aerospace ’07 “Dream. Explore. Discover. Inspire.” These are the words that Ryan lives by and they have taken him all the way to Ghana. There, as a vol-unteer with the non-governmental organization Engineers Without Borders, the 23-year-old is helping Ghana’s Ministry of Food and Agriculture implement the Agriculture as a Business initiative. The program helps poor farmers increase their incomes by taking a sustainable and business-minded approach to their livelihood and accessing new market opportunities in the agricultural sector. Read about Ryan’s experiences in the fight against poverty at ryanaroundtheworld.blogspot.com.

J.J. Johnson, 28, Matt Bishop, 28, and Blair Powers, 29, all Radio and Television Arts ’02 Sinking Ship Entertainment is anything but. The award-winning TV production team has developed eight children’s series – including Are We There Yet? – that currently air in more than 100 places around the world. A new live-action series, Dino Dan, debuts this fall and their first feature film is in the works. So with all this success, why the miserable moniker? As students, the three co-founders struggled to find a volunteer for their fourth-year project. When they finally did, recalls J.J., “Her friend told her not to work with us because ‘it would be like joining a sinking ship.’ Done.”

Marta Reus, Hospitality and Tourism Management ’02 Just turned 30, Marta is the director of Human Resources at the new Fairmont Abu Dhabi Creek in the United Arab Emirates. She joined Fairmont Hotels & Resorts as a human resources management trainee at the Fairmont Empress (Victoria) following graduation and has since worked at the Fairmont Royal York (Toronto), the Fairmont Copley Plaza (Boston) and the famous Plaza Hotel (New York City), where she earned the Leader of the Quarter distinction for her role in the re-opening of the five-star luxury hotel. RU

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Fresh startCheck out our new name and look

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How the coolest location in Toronto and a can-do spirit are powering the entrepreneurs of tomorrow

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