Awards
The Douglas R. Colton Award for Research Excellence
Colton Award
CMC Microsystems recognizes excellence in Canadian micro-nano research through its annual Douglas R. Colton award. Established in honour of the founding president of CMC Microsystems, this award includes a monetary prize of $4,500.
Faculty, students or alumni who have successfully completed a Master’s or PhD degree in a Canadian university within the previous three calendar years are eligible for this award.
2026 Deadline: TBA
View the Nomination Guidelines
2025 Winner
Dr. Mohammad Simchi
Dr. Mohammad Simchi has been awarded the 2025 Douglas R. Colton Award for Research Excellence.
Dr. Mohammad Simchi completed his PhD studies at the University of Toronto and now holds the Pfizer EPIC Convergence Postdoctoral Fellowship in the University of Toronto’s Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy.
He is developing a compact, automated system that produces essential medicines quickly, reliably, and close to the point of need. This platform, named SHOTS (Scalable High-yield On-demand Therapeutics Synthesis), brings manufacturing capacity directly to frontline clinics. With an automated, field-ready prototype already deployed in South America, Dr. Simchi is moving closer to achieving his goal of making lifesaving biologics anywhere they are urgently needed.
TEXPO Student Competition and Exposition
Established by CMC Microsystems, TEXPO offers graduate students a unique opportunity to demonstrate their novel applications of micro-nano technologies to industry representatives and academic peers.
Students are invited to apply for TEXPO 2025 and compete for a total of $9,500 in awards in three categories. TEXPO 2025 is part of Accelerated. Canada’s Semiconductor Symposium 2025.
- Award for Excellence in Microsystems CAD Tools and Design Methodology
- Award for Excellence in Microsystems Fabrication
- Brian L. Barge Award for Excellence in Microsystems Integration
TEXPO 2025 Winners
Brian L. Barge Award for Excellence in Microsystems Integration
Winner: Jonas Welsch
Supervisor: Edmond Cretu
Organization: University of British Columbia
Title: From MEMS Design to Inline Integration:
Polymer CMUTs for Real-Time Monitoring of
Ultrasonic Welding in Composites
Sponsor: CMC Microsystems
Award for Excellence in Microsystems CAD Tools and Design Methodology
Winner: Hao Yang
Supervisor: Roman Genov
Organization: University of Toronto
Title: Software-Defined Image Sensor with Motion-Adaptive Spatially Varying Exposure Rate
Sponsor: COMSOL
Award for Excellence in Microsystems Fabrication
Winner: Zahra Sarpanah Sourkouhi
Supervisor: Mohammad Zarifi
Organization: University of British Columbia
Title: Paper-Based RFID Antennas Towards Sustainable IoT