HomeCharity Thomas Chiang Memorial Award

Thomas Chiang Memorial Award

The award is named after Thomas Chiang—a long-time member of SFPE International and our Chapter—who passed away in May of 2006. Tom always had a bright smile for everyone he encountered. He served on the Chapter executive, became President in 1999, directed the Chapter and presided over its 35th Anniversary celebration.

Tom was active in the field of Fire Protection Engineering. He was also a strong supporter of Fire Protection education and supported the establishment of a bursary.

In 2001, the Chapter created the Seneca Polytechnic SFPE bursary to support promising Seneca Polytechnic Fire Protection Engineering students. The bursary was set-up to be self-sustaining so that the fund’s annual income was awarded as a scholarship each year.

In 2006, the Chapter re-named the bursary "The Thomas Chiang SFPE Memorial Bursary" to honour Tom's memory (Click here to view a 'Thank you' note from Mrs. Cecilia Chiang) and announced their intention to raise the value of the bursary to $20,000 through voluntary member donations. To accomplish this, the Chapter matched all donations raised on a dollar-for-dollar basis to an aggregate maximum of $2,500, which was then matched by the provincial government.

In 2010, the Chapter opted to pass on all donations collected directly to the recipient(s) as an award until such time that the bursary’s annual income was more substantial.

Today, the Chapter continues to collect and match donations towards the Thomas Chiang Memorial Award, and we now award a total of 3 awards annually.

We are proud to continue to support Fire Protection education in Ontario and to maintain the intent of the original Seneca Polytechnic SFPE bursary. We are committed to fostering the growth of education in our field to advance the science and practice of fire protection engineering in Southern Ontario.

Please consider making voluntary donation, which will be matched by the Chapter.

Your Donation

Click on the headings for the Bursary and Chapter Award to see what your generosity has done over the years and why it is so important to continue supporting the future of our industry in memory of our friend, Tom.

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TCMA Seneca Polytechnic Bursary

Since 2001, the Thomas Chiang Memorial Award Bursary that was established at Seneca Polytechnic has provided dozens of students recognition and support for their efforts in fire protection education.

2001 - Jeff Murray

2002 - Mark Evans

2003 - Case Statema

2004 - Lei Tang

2005 - James Szlatoszlavek

2006 - Jeremy Lewis

2007 - Aaron Shaubel

2008 - Ryan Dunn and Yong Wang

2009 - Gurjot Manku

2010 - N/A

2011 - Bradley Cook

2012 - Stephan Gallman

2013 - Leo Chung

2014 - Anna Mielnik

2015 - Matthiew Bonnin

2016 - Damiano Ottaviani

2017 - Matthew McDonald

2018 - Haojun Huang

2019 - Wayne Teh

2020 - Jianbin Hou

2021 - Zhenyu Chen

2022 - Christopher Laird

2023 - Eunchan Shin

2024 - Ahmed Mustafa

2025 - Bernadette O'Brien

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TCMA Chapter Donations Award

Since 2007, the Thomas Chiang Memorial Award has been funded by our membership donations and provides multiple students with recognition and support for their efforts in fire protection education annually.

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007 - Aaron Shaubel

2008 - N/A

2009 - N/A

2010 - Aleem Rahman and Frazad Heibaran

2011 - Eun Joo Lee and Nicole Higgins

2012 - Eun Joo Lee and Danny Martins

2013 - Mark Johnson and Scott Gilbert

2014 - Alex MacDonald

2015 - Kailee Houter and Richard Webster

2016 - Zhendong He and Rachel Kaing

2017 - Kathyrn Schramm and Yan Zhou

2018 - Matthew McDonald and Junewon Hur

2019 - Mary Knoke and Michael Foster

2020 - Macenzie Boettger and Tania Thomas

2021 - Joshua Plum and Christopher Woodliffe

2022 - Gokul Chandran and Simone Munro

2023 - Vanessa King and Jessica Marano

2024 - Vidya Hari and Bernadette O'Brien

2025 - Michael Prashad and Jacob Beukeveld

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Donations to Date

Your donations have assisted us in supporting the education of our next generation for decades now.

Our self-sustaining Seneca Polytechnic bursary has raised over $14,000 while your donations and our Chapter matching have provided nearly $28,000 in Chapter awards.

In memory of Thomas Chiang, our Chapter has raised nearly $42,000 in support of student success.

Consider donating today using the button at the top of this page.