Growing up in India, Krishna Patel (BSc ’26) thought she had a clear picture of her future career. Until a science fiction movie shifted her focus from fine arts to biotechnology.

Patel and Geoffrey Jensen (BSc ’26) received the Governor General’s Silver Medal during Brock University’s 120th Convocation on Friday, Oct. 16. One of Canada’s most prestigious undergraduate academic honours, the medal is presented annually to the two graduating students with the highest standing of all graduates in a first honours degree.

Patel, who was awarded the Distinguished Graduating Student Award – Biotechnology at Spring Convocation, decided to pursue a career in science after seeing Gattaca, which explores a future shaped by genetic engineering, in 2020. That same year, Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry or developing CRISPR/Cas9 genetic scissors, a powerful gene-editing tool that allows scientists to edit DNA with remarkable precision.

The connection between the film’s imagined future and real scientific advances made Patel reconsider what science might achieve.

“What once seemed confined to science fiction appeared increasingly attainable,” she said. “I realized the immense potential of biotechnology and how the intersection of chemistry, biology and technology could translate ambitious ideas into innovations that could improve life and benefit society as a whole.”

After completing an undergraduate thesis in Professor of Chemistry Hongbin Yan’s lab, she co-authored a publication on photoacids, molecules that change their acidity when exposed to light. Now pursuing a master’s in Biotechnology at Brock, Patel is extending that research to more stable photoacids to examine changes in DNA conformation inside cells.

As well as pursuing her own academic goals, Patel has supported the success of other students as a chemistry and biology tutor at Brock’s Learning Services throughout her time at the University and participated as a panelist in Brock’s Smart Start Orientation.

Community has also been pivotal to Jensen’s post-secondary journey. He credits friendships formed in residence with enriching his university experience.

“Having a good group of friends in my classes was important,” said Jensen. “We kept each other accountable, compared notes and perspectives and explained concepts to one another. That helped all of us understand the course material better.”

In class, he was motivated to answer questions by his own curiosity and the understanding that a question from one person can help others understand a concept more clearly.

“I never missed a class — lecture, lab or tutorial. Even when classes started at 8 a.m., I always showed up because that allowed me to absorb as much information as possible. I learned early on that I learned best by sitting in class and asking questions,” he said.

Jensen, who received the Dean’s Medal for Mathematics and Science (Honours) at Spring Convocation, also competed in programming competitions with the Brock Computer Science Club — including the International Collegiate Programming Contest and CS Games — to expand his learning. As well as helping him build essentials skills by tackling new challenges, these opportunities allowed him to expand his network and eventually helped him land a full-time job at a technology company.

Three co-op placements helped him experience professional applications of technology in the workplace setting. Through Brock’s Co-op, Career and Experiential Education job board, he secured two placements at the Ontario Ministry of Transportation. Tapping into his network, he secured a third co-op at Waterloo-based technology company eleven-x, and then leveraged that co-op into a full-time role at the company after graduating.

Patel aims to eventually become a professor and lead a research lab, while Jensen continues to build professional experience and explore an interest in developing video games.