Carmen Ho, Aaron Wilson, and Betty Xie have been selected as winners of the Dr. David Chu Leadership Award for 2012–13. The award recognizes undergraduate and graduate student leadership and academic achievement in pursuing and promoting extra-curricular research related to the Asia-Pacific region in the Faculty of Arts and Science at the University of Toronto.

Carmen Ho, a PhD student in the Department of Political Science, served as manager of the 2012–13 Global Ideas Institute, overseeing the entire operation of the research and mentorship program run by the Asian Institute and University of Toronto Schools. This year’s GII brought together high school students from across the GTA with U of T student mentors and leading experts (both scholars and practitioners) to examine and propose solutions to the challenge of scaling up micronutrient programs for malnourished children in the developing world. Carmen managed the organizing committee, in addition to 25 undergraduate and graduate student mentors. She also curated the reading packages for the mentors and students and ran the high-profile seminar series and workshops throughout the year.

Aaron Wilson, a fourth-year undergraduate student in Asia-Pacific Studies and Political Science, rallied his classmates to put together a compelling research proposal and secure funding from the A&S International Course Module (ICM) program so that students from CAS400Y: Critical Perspectives on Asian Modernity and JPA411H: Global Taiwan could travel to Taiwan and China over reading week to study migration and identity formation on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. Aaron took the lead in organizing the ICM from early conceptualization to logistical planning and finally presenting the research findings at U of T.

Betty Xie, a third-year Asia-Pacific Studies and Cinema Studies student, has made a wide array of contributions to the extra-curricular study of the Asia-Pacific region. She shot and edited a thought-provoking film documenting the 2012 Taiwan elections, which the Asian Institute and Cinema Studies Institute screened publicly in fall 2012. She also co-chaired this year’s INDePth conference, a major student-led conference on development issues in Asia that she co-founded in 2011–12. This year’s conference focused on the sustainability of China’s developmental model and attracted 180 students from across North America and Asia.