{"id":19360,"date":"2026-05-27T01:26:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T01:26:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/2026\/05\/27\/meet-tmus-2026-alumni-rising-stars-young-innovators-changing-the-world-toronto-metropolitan-university-tmu\/"},"modified":"2026-05-27T01:26:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T01:26:12","slug":"meet-tmus-2026-alumni-rising-stars-young-innovators-changing-the-world-toronto-metropolitan-university-tmu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/2026\/05\/27\/meet-tmus-2026-alumni-rising-stars-young-innovators-changing-the-world-toronto-metropolitan-university-tmu\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet TMU\u2019s 2026 Alumni Rising Stars: young innovators changing the world – Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU)"},"content":{"rendered":"

TMU is back to honour its boldest recent graduates. The Alumni Rising Stars program recognize exceptional early-career alumni who are leading innovation, shaping industries and building stronger  communities.
This year\u2019s celebration takes place on May 27. The second annual TMU Alumni Rising Star Celebration honours 19 alumni across all faculties who graduated within the last decade. The recognition program launched in 2025 and span four categories: Innovator, Changemaker, Emerging Leader and Community Builder. This year’s event will celebrate the 2025<\/a> and 2026 cohorts.
Meet three of this year\u2019s honourees and find out what drives them below. Read about all 19 honourees<\/a>.
Ben Canning (Business Management \u201918), CEO of Arctic Acres Inc. a provider of high quality greenhouse domes used as alternative horticultural solutions and innovative living and workspaces.
Ben Canning (Business Management \u201918) is the CEO of Arctic Acres Inc (external link) <\/span><\/a>. His company builds prefabricated housing and geodesic greenhouse domes designed for cold, remote climates, where fresh food and affordable housing are hardest to find. 
An entrepreneur from an early age, Canning launched his first business at 13, selling custom streetwear with a friend and making $30,000 in a single summer.
\u201cThat was a light bulb moment when I realized that businesses are about people, and teams are what drive them,\u201d he says. 
The first in his family to attend university, Canning grew up in a rural community where food access and affordability were everyday concerns. He’s being recognized in the Changemaker category for turning those concerns into scalable solutions.
\u201cIn my university years, we were already noticing the cost of fresh vegetables climbing, about 30 per cent in five years. This was back in 2014,\u201d he says. \u201cThose pressures have only intensified.\u201d
While he studied business at TMU, he was also able to run multiple startups at the same time, using his coursework to solve real problems in financial planning and product development. Professors Steve Gedeon and Philip Walsh gave him the mentorship and confidence to take risks.
CBC features Ben Canning as a TMU student and his Arctic Circle greenhouse built to allow people in the far North to grow fresh produce.
His biggest professional challenge as an entrepreneur has been learning to let go and delegate.
\u201cAs the company grew, trying to do everything myself led to burnout and wasn\u2019t scalable,\u201d says Canning. \u201cTrusting my team has been critical to both my growth and the company\u2019s success.\u201d
His advice to aspiring entrepreneurs is simple: \u201cGet started and accept that failure leads to learning and one of the fastest ways to grow,\u201d he says. \u201cThe key to start building is to start failing and letting those lessons shape what comes next.\u201d
Kritika Vashishtha\u2019s (Aerospace Engineering PhD \u201924) research focus while at TMU was on the development of a personalized circadian rhythm light management system for aircraft cabin applications using AI and reinforcement learning to reduce jet lag in real time.
Kritika Vashishtha (Aerospace Engineering PhD \u201924) started out solving jet lag. Today, she’s working on early detection of diseases like diabetes and cancer. Her path was one of possibility and potential, all in service of human needs.
During her PhD studies at TMU, Vashishtha developed a new type of light and used AI to help airline passengers adjust to new time zones faster. The project, developed in partnership with Bombardier, accounted for factors like age, gender, travel origin and time zone differences.
Listen to Kritika speak about her AERIAS research on CBC\u2019s Ideas podcast (external link) <\/span><\/a>
\u201cMy PhD work was centred around creating a personalized circadian rhythm light management system to alleviate jet lag, a huge problem for frequent travelers,\u201d says Vashishtha. \u201cIt gives me such satisfaction to know that what I worked on is not just limited to a research paper, but actually implemented in industry,\u201d she says.
Kritika Vashishtha replaced traditional manual windows with electronically controlled ones that adjust how much sunlight enters the cabin. A sensor-equipped mannequin measures the amount of sunlight and cabin lighting that reaches the eyes. 
After TMU, Vashishtha trained at Harvard Medical School\u2019s Division of Sleep Medicine, studying how the timing of lipids \u2013 fatty substances like cholesterol \u2013 can affect how well  medications work.
Now at Tufts University\u2019s Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging, her research looks at how diet, genetics and gut health shape a person\u2019s risk of disease. Her goal is to catch illness before symptoms appear.
\u201cThere\u2019s a growing interest in catching disease before symptoms appear, and lipid profiles may help us do that,\u201d she explains. \u201cThis isn\u2019t one-size-fits-all. It\u2019s highly specific and our approach needs to be personalized.\u201d
The pivot from aerospace engineering to biomedical research wasn’t easy. But Vashishtha says the skills she built in engineering, especially in math and data analysis, carried over in ways she didn\u2019t expect.
\u201cThose skills don\u2019t go away, they evolve,\u201d she says. 
For students considering a pivot, her advice is simple: don\u2019t think of it as starting over.
\u201cA lot of people think changing fields means beginning from scratch,\u201d she says. \u201cBut you\u2019re carrying so much with you. It might feel like starting over, but it\u2019s not.\u201d
Adham El-Khadem (MEIE \u201921) is the founder & CEO of Venu, MENA’s top event tech platform.
Adham El-Khadem (Master of Engineering Innovation and Entrepreneurship \u201921) left a career at Vodafone in Egypt to study in Toronto. He found a grad program at TMU that would push him to build something real.
Today, El-Khadem is the founder and CEO of Venu (external link) <\/span><\/a>, an event platform operating across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Since launching, revenue has grown tenfold in three years. In 2024, he was named Events CEO of the Year by CEO Monthly (external link) <\/span><\/a>. In 2025,  (PDF file) <\/span>Deloitte<\/span> (external link) <\/span><\/a> selected Venu as one of the fastest-rising 50 tech companies in the Middle East.
The Master of Engineering Innovation and Entrepreneurship at TMU turned theory into practice.
TMU’s graduate program in Engineering Innovation and Entrepreneurship focused on outcomes that mattered to him: revenue, growth rate, real problem-solving through technology.
\u201cThe program came down delivering a strong pitch and building something real,\u201d says El-Khadem. \u201cSuccess was measured by solving a real problem through technology,  which mattered most to me. So I came to Canada knowing nothing, but gaining an experience that changed my life.\u201d
From the heart of Cairo to the Canadian Business Awards 2025 Hall of Fame, entrepreneur El-Khadem is just getting started.
Venu connects people with available venues and event spaces to gather, celebrate and connect. The platform has become a tool for social impact too. Women in the MENA region have used it to host events and create space for important conversations. During Ramadan, the platform has helped connect those who want to donate with venues and organizers who can host community meals.
“By bringing together those who want to give back with those who have the space to make it happen, we help turn pure, good intentions into meaningful, shared impact,” he says.
A post shared by Egypt’s Entrepreneur Awards (@eeawards_)<\/a>
His advice to aspiring entrepreneurs? \u201cDon\u2019t get sidetracked by opportunities that don\u2019t align, stay true to the vision and stick to the roadmap.\u201d
He also reminds TMU students they have access to a strong entrepreneurial community. 
\u201cBuilding a company can feel like a very lonely journey if you do it on your own, so it\u2019s important to stay connected,\u201d says El-Khadem. \u201cSurround yourself with like-minded people, seek out mentors and tap into resources like Entrepreneurs-in-Residence. Leverage those supports to help you grow and scale. But most importantly, just start. You\u2019ll learn as you go, even when you fail.\u201d
Nominate a Toronto Metropolitan University graduate who is excelling in their field and emerging as a leader in their profession for consideration for the 2027 edition of TMU Alumni Rising Stars. All nominations must be submitted through the online form<\/a>.
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TMU is back to honour its boldest recent graduates. The Alumni Rising Stars program recognize exceptional early-career alumni who are leading innovation, shaping industries and building stronger  communities.This year\u2019s celebration takes place on May 27. The second annual TMU Alumni Rising Star Celebration honours 19 alumni across all faculties who graduated within the last decade. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19361,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19360","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19360","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19360"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19360\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19361"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}