Following the death of Dr. Brian Kennedy, a memorial graduate research fund in his name was created. Each year a graduate student is selected from among the applicants to receive the scholarship. The winners have been:
| 1996 | Flavio Schenkel |
| 1997 | Hassan Mehrabani-Yeganeh |
| 1998 | Gordon Vander Voort |
| 1999 | Alessandra Stella |
| 2000 | Xianghi Ye |
From 1983 when Brian Kennedy came to CGIL, there has been an annual Guelph-Cornell Colloquium hosted either at Guelph or Cornell. The colloquium is a two day event in which current research topics are presented and discussed in a free exchange of ideas. This connection existed because of Brian's graduate studies at Cornell with Dr. C. R. Henderson, because of Brian's colleague at the University of California, Dr. John Pollak, and because of Dr. Henderson's connection to Guelph. In 1996 the colloquium was renamed the Brian Kennedy Memorial Colloquium, and members from Michigan State University were added to the participants due to their past affiliations with Guelph and Cornell.