Western University is establishing two new scholarships in honour of Madiha Salman and Salman Afzaal, two of the four people killed in an alleged anti-Islamic attack in London last month.
The Madiha Salman Memorial Scholarship in Civil and Environmental Engineering and the Salman Afzaal Memorial Scholarship in Physical Therapy will be awarded annually and are intended to commemorate the couple's passion for education, inclusion, and community.
The scholarship in Madiha Salman's name will go to a full-time female graduate student enrolled in a doctoral or master’s program within the department of civil and environmental engineering, whose research is focused on environmental engineering. The award in Salman Afzaal's name will be bestowed upon a full-time graduate student enrolled in a doctoral or master’s program in health and rehabilitation sciences. Preference will be given to a student involved in leadership, research and/or innovation in physical therapy, the university noted. Both scholarships have been endorsed by the couple's families.
Madiha Salman held a master's degree in civil engineering and was working toward a PhD in environmental engineering at Western at the time of her death.
Jason Gerharda, one of Salman's supervisors described her as a "sparkling and generous, loving person who treasured education, female advancement, equality and research.”
Afzaal, who earned his master's degree at Western in 2010, was remembered by his former supervisor Dianne Bryant as a happy person, who was full of hope and so happy to be in Canada.
The family moved to Canada from Pakistan in 2007.
Salman, 44, and Afzaal, 46, were out for an evening walk with their two children and Afzaal's mother on June 6 when they were run down by a pickup truck at Hyde Park and South Carriage roads. The truck sped off after hitting the family.
The couple, their 15-year-old daughter Yumna Afzaal, and Salman Afzaal’s 74-year-old mother Talat Afzaal were killed. Nine-year-old Fayez Salman suffered serious injuries, but survived the collision.
Police have said the hit-and-run was a premeditated act, motivated by hate.
Nathaniel Veltman, 20, has been charged with four counts of first degree murder and one count of attempted murder in relation to the attack. He will make his next court appearance by video from the Elgin Middlesex Detention Center on July 29.
