UPEI Co-op students honoured during National Co-operative Education Week

UPEI's Co-operative Education program celebrated National Co-op Week and its ‘Co-op Students of the Year Awards Ceremony' at a combined event, March 24.

Employers, students and faculty gathered at Don and Marion McDougall Hall to recognize the award recipients and enjoy a presentation from Laura Murphy, regional vice president of Arbonne Canada. Based in Charlottetown, Murphy focused on the importance of having a good team to create successes as well as the importance of following your passion and taking risks.

The recipient of the ‘2010 Co-operative Education Student of the Year Award for Physics' was Tyler Palmer from Charlottetown. Tyler is a fourth-year honours Physics co-op student and was nominated by his employer, Dr. Bill Whelan from the UPEI Department of Physics, where he worked as a Research Assistant in the Biomedical Optics Lab.

Dr. Whelan said, 'Tyler already thinks like a physicist, questioning his data and mulling over possible explanations and was able to generate tangible results that moved the project forward. He discovered that the optoacoustic signals generated by heated tissues increased substantially with temperature and was able to generate 2D images of thermal damage using the optoacoustic system. I am only aware of four published papers that have shown similar results. So we are considering publishing this data.'

So impressed by these research results, Whelan had Tyler submit an abstract that was accepted and presented at an international conference, ‘Optics Within Life Sciences,' in September 2010 in Quebec City. 'This is a remarkable achievement for an undergraduate student,' added Whelan.

In Computer Science, the recipient of the ‘2010 Co-operative Education Student of the Year Award' was Michael Berger of Charlottetown. Berger was employed with Timeless Technologies in 2010 for eight months completing his fourth, and optional fifth, work terms. During his employment with Timeless, Mike played an important role in helping the team complete a major project that was large in scope and complexity.

Berger's supervisor, Rodney MacLeod, noted, 'Mike is full of great ideas on functionality and processes and has been a great fit into the team here at Timeless-he works well on the project team and fits well with all the others in our office. He has brought with him a great deal experience and knowledge from his academic studies and his previous work terms.'

The ‘2010 Business Co-op Student of the Year Award' recipient was Allison MacLeod, a third-year student from Kinkora. Allison was employed with Imageworks Communication Group from May-August 2010 as a Marketing Event Manager where she completed her first co-op work term. MacLeod's main project was the 2010 Cavendish Beach Music Festival, where she was responsible for marketing, as well as organizing vendors, volunteers and media.

Jeff Squires, president of Imageworks, expressed his sincere appreciation for Allison's work. He said, 'During Allison's work term she impressed me with her skills and attitude. She had the ability to provide excellent customer service, demonstrated leadership, and worked very effectively and efficiently in dealing with our suppliers. Allison is intrinsically motivated, well planned, and is taking responsibility for the successful planning of her career path. She is the type of young professional who will continue to develop and become a valued member of society.'

Several co-op students in Business, Computer Science and Physics were nominated by their employers for outstanding contributions during their co-op work terms in 2010. Award recipients were selected based upon a variety of achievements-job performance, academic performance, academic/school involvement, accountability, responsibility, and in particular, their contributions to their employers during their Co-operative Education work terms.

For further information, please contact the UPEI Co-operative Education office at 902-628-4395.