Lambton College wins national prize for research and innovation

Lambton College recently earned another gold prize for research and innovation from Colleges and Institutes Canada – it’s fourth since 2016.

Lambton has also received two silver awards and a bronze since 2016 from the national organization representing colleges and polytechnics.

“Lambton is a major driver of economic diversification and development within southwestern Ontario, leading the development of several industrial clusters, supporting the commercialization of new products, services, and process developments. . . and propelling social and environmental innovation,” the organization said while announcing this year’s awards.

“We are so honored to have received this prestigious award two years in a row, especially considering the strength of applied research across Canadian colleges,” Lambton College president Rob Kardas said in a news release.

“It just shows the consistency of the college, with the support of course of our community partners in continuously providing high quality service,” said Mehdi Sheikhzadeh, Lambton’s vice-president of research and innovation.

He added Lambton’s consistent showing at the awards is unique among colleges in the country.

The latest award also follows Lambton’s ranking by Research Infosource as Canada’s number three research college in 2022.

“We’ve been top five for seven years,” Sheikhzadeh said about that ranking.

Both recent recognitions “are testament to the quality work that has been happening at Lambton with respect to research and innovation,” he said.

Lambton College began moving into applied research several years ago and by 2005-2006 had received its first government research funding and established its first research lab.

That has grown with the college undertaking 297 research projects with 257 partners, hiring 222 research students and 88 recent graduates in 2022-2023.

Sheikhzadeh said the awards by the national organization are respected and the consistency of Lambton’s record over the years has given it a reputation in the sector as “a college that does research and innovation at its best.”

“That provides a lot of opportunities for our community” and “brands Sarnia-Lambton at the national level,” he said.

Lambton has built and maintained that reputation while a small college by enrolment.

Sheikhzadeh noted this year’s silver and bronze winners in research and innovation were Conestoga and Seneca.

“These are colleges with extremely high enrollments,” he said. “They’re in bigger towns and they have a lot of access to a lot of things.”

“We are doing a very good job of competing with the very big names.”

Sheikhzadeh credited Lambton’s administration and board for the college’s commitment to applied research, which has benefited both its students and the community.

“Research is a core part of the operation of the college,” he said.

Lambton also previously earned bronze awards for Indigenous Education Excellence and for the college’s Aamjiwnaang personal support worker program.

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