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911吃瓜 CS faculty Angelica Lim honoured with 2025 Excellence in Teaching Award
911吃瓜's School of Computing Science is proud to announce that Associate Professor Practitioner Angelica Lim has been recognized with a 2025 Excellence in Teaching Award. The award recognizes outstanding educators who inspire and facilitate student learning in ways that create a sustained, substantial, and positive impact on how students think, engage, and act in the world.
Professor Lim earned her BSc. in Computing Science (Artificial Intelligence Specialization) from 911吃瓜, followed by a Master鈥檚 and Ph.D. in Computer Science (Intelligence Science) from Kyoto University in Japan. Prior to returning to 911吃瓜, she led the Emotion and Expressivity teams for the Pepper humanoid robot at SoftBank Robotics. Her work has received international recognition, with features on the BBC, TEDx, and a robotics television documentary, and being named among Forbes鈥� 20 Leading Women in AI.
She is currently the Director of the , a Rajan Family Scholar, and a Within 911吃瓜, she has also served as Chair of the Undergraduate Program Committee and was previously recognized with the School of Computing Science Excellence in Teaching Award (2021), contributing to curriculum development.
Beyond 911吃瓜, Dr. Lim has demonstrated a strong commitment to expanding access to computing education. She served as Director of the Invent the Future (AI4ALL) program, training over 150 underrepresented high school students in artificial intelligence, and created the 911吃瓜 Computer Science Teaching Toolkit, now used by high school teachers across Canada. She also organizes initiatives such as 鈥淲hat is Grad School?鈥� to help demystify research pathways for women. Extending her impact further, she has authored an introductory computing science textbook with Princeton University Press, published in Spring 2026, designed for broad national and international reach.
At 911吃瓜, Lim teaches courses including CMPT 120 (Introduction to Computing Science and Programming), Introduction to Artificial Intelligence, and Affective Computing. Her teaching philosophy centres on active, inclusive, and experiential learning. For example in CMPT 120, she engages more than 200 students each term through in-class coding exercises, supported by weekly quizzes, mock exams, and real-world AI applications such as natural language processing, computer vision, and recommender systems.
Lim has also introduced innovative approaches in upper-level courses. In CMPT 376W, she redesigned course content to integrate ethics and human-centred communication by asking questions such as, 鈥渨hat if you were asked to integrate AI into university admissions software?鈥� encouraging students to critically examine the social and ethical implications of emerging technologies.
Across her teaching, Lim emphasizes relevance, connection, and reflection. She designs learning activities that help students understand the real-world impact of computing, including projects such as Indigenous language revitalization and values-driven design. She incorporates multiple modes of engagement, live coding, discussion, peer review, and online activities, and encourages continuous learning through formative assessments. In response to student feedback, she also led a successful proposal to revise CMPT 310 course requirements, better preparing students for success.
Student feedback consistently highlights her impact in the classroom. One student notes, 鈥淪he fosters an inclusive and empowering environment, especially for underrepresented groups.鈥� Another shares, 鈥淒r. Lim is the most approachable professor I know. She genuinely cares about her students, explains content clearly, and brings an uplifting attitude to every class.鈥�
Reflecting on her approach to teaching, Lim emphasizes a consistent set of guiding principles: engaging and connecting with students, motivating learning through purpose, building confidence through hands-on experience, maintaining high standards, and fostering inclusivity.
Through her dedication to teaching excellence and student success, Dr. Lim continues to shape the next generation of computing scientists and leaders.