On October 1, U of T Engineering held an evening reception at Hart House to honour five alumni with the 2026 Engineering Alumni Network Impact Awards. The awards recognize graduates whose work improves society, and the winners span industries, disciplines and generations.
Serena Mandla (EngSci 1T7, BME MASc 1T9) took the Rising Star Award. She is chief scientific officer of Quthero Inc., a company spun out of her graduate research on regenerative biomaterials for wound healing, and in 2022 she co-founded Noa Therapeutics, which raised an oversubscribed pre-seed round in 2023.
Magdalena M. Krol (CivE PhD 1T1) received the Research & Innovation Award. An associate professor of civil engineering at York University, she founded the Innovative Water Technology and Energy Research Laboratory and studies groundwater contamination, land remediation and the safe storage of used nuclear fuel.
Founders and a mentor
Tony Pialis (ElecE 0T0, MEng 0T2) won the Industry Award. He co-founded Snowbush Microelectronics, founded V Semiconductor and built Alphawave Semi, which Qualcomm acquired in 2025. He is now executive vice president and general manager of Qualcomm’s Data Center business.
Isi Caulder (EngSci 8T9, ECE MASc 9T1, JD 9T5) received the Citizenship Award. An intellectual property lawyer and patent agent, she has mentored student founders at the Entrepreneurship Hatchery since 2014 and helped establish the Engineering Science alumni pub nights.
Praveen Jain (ECE MASc 8T4, PhD 8T7) received the Distinguished Alumni Award, the top honour of the network. A professor at Queen’s University, he founded CHiL Semiconductor and SPARQ Systems. He has published over 660 technical papers, holds 122 patents and has mentored more than 100 graduate students and researchers.
Reported from U of T Engineering alumni recognized for excellence in biotech, environmental engineering, IP strategy and more (U of T Engineering News, October 2, 2026).
More from the original reporting: news.engineering.utoronto.ca/u-of-t-engineering-alumni-recognized-for-excellence-in-biotech-environmental-engineering-ip-strategy-and-more/