Polytechnique honoured the recipients of these awards at the convocation ceremony held on Saturday, June 4, at St. Joseph's Oratory basilica.

Undergraduate-level winners

Alexandra Duron
Mechanical engineering student

Alexandra has a passion for innovation in all its forms. A leader by nature, she has demonstrated excellent analytical and summarizing abilities throughout her studies. She recently obtained an analyst position at McKinsey & Company. Starting with her first session at Polytechnique, she became involved in the Esteban project to build a solar-powered vehicle that took part in the Panasonic World Solar Challenge en Australia. In addition to her technical knowledge, she applied her communication skills to promote the project and helped collect $40,000 by soliciting various sponsorships. A member of the Poly-World mission that took place in Denmark and the Netherlands, she was in charge of logistics. At Polytechnique, she promotes engineering by supporting the school's Communications and Recruitment Service in various ways when information stands are set up or speeches given. She was in charge of a contingent of 40 students at three annual Polytechnique Open Houses. As part of an exchange with École Polytechnique de Lausanne for one term in 2007, she became involved in the committee for Poly-Échange, a student organization for integrating foreign students into the Québec community.

Alexandra trains actively in several athletic disciplines. In 2010, she completed her first semi-marathon in Montréal in under two hours. She took part in the 24-hour Roller Montréal event, an in-line skating challenge for the benefit of multiple sclerosis. In 2008-2009, she won the Sainte-Agathe Triathlon Sprint. She has also been involved as a volunteer in the Fédération québécoise des sports cyclistes.

Élizabeth Nguyen
Chemical engineering student

Élizabeth has found a place as a citizen of the world. Aware that her career choice could direct her to take important decisions in environmental stewardship, the production of new medications and much more, she wanted to go beyond her scientific training and to undergo enriching personal experiences, which is why this young student became involved both in her community and in a number of school-related activities.

From 2008 to 2011, she co-ordinated more than eight blood drives for Héma-Québec, helping collect more than 1,600 blood donations from the Polytechnique community. She took part for two years as Vice-President and then as administrator in diversifying services at the student co-op. She also revived the P-Shirt silkscreen printing committee with a group of friends. She has organized activities in connection with co-operative succession weeks to make her colleagues more aware of international co-operation values. She has also promoted scientific careers among teenaged girls by taking part in three editions of the "Les filles et les sciences, un duo électrisant" event. And she became involved as a coach in the Marianne-Mareschal Chair aimed at promoting engineering among women. In addition, she was team leader in the Polytechnique section of the Chem-E-Car organization, which held a competition in 2009 as part of the World Congress of Chemical Engineering.

As a member of the 2011 Poly-World mission, she worked with the financing team to hold fundraising activities and helped collect $120,000 through corporate sponsorships. This mission required a solid understanding of industrial systems, technological innovation and international markets are well as rigorous and continuous involvement by students in understanding today's challenges.

Dominic Morneau
Computer engineering student

With his passion for computer engineering and physics, Dominic is especially interested in nanotechnology, robotics and artificial intelligence. He also has an interest in trans-humanist philosophy, which involves applying technology to move beyond humans' physical and intellectual limits. Since his first year at Polytechnique, he has worked in an engineering physics laboratory that is developing devices such as microscopes and endoscopes for the biomedical field. In his first year, he even developed imaging software that is still used in research and teaching. 
 
This brilliant student stands out for his self-taught learning of the Japanese language. He began by consulting books and using various software. He later used the Internet to visit sites or watch shows. He followed this with a course for two hours a week and became involved with the Montréal Japanese community, taking part in language exchange activities. In 2009, he passed the Japanese language test of Keio University in Tokyo, where he was accepted for a one-year exchange.

Dominic did not stop there. He attempted to overcome cultural and language barriers by practising Nô theatre. This is a highly traditional art form with plays written in Old Japanese, quite different from the modern language. He nonetheless managed to learn several plays and performed before audiences at the university and at the Kanze Nô theatre in Tokyo. He was the first foreign actor in 50 years in the university's Nô club.

Éric Gendron
Electrical engineering graduate, electrical energy concentration


Throughout his studies, Éric was actively - even intensely - involved in the Polytechnique community. His very first contact with student life at Polytechnique was during his initiation. From that point, he was smitten and became deeply involved.

As Vice-President of the Electrical Engineering Students' Committee in 2007-2008, he looked after organizing social or industrial activities such as cocktail gatherings or wine and cheese parties that draw corporate representatives. As a participant in the Québec Engineering Competition from 2008 and 2010, he discovered mutual assistance and a sense of fellowship among competitors. Greatly appreciating this experience, he chaired the competition's organizing committee in 2011. As President of the Electrical Engineering Students' Committee in 2008-2009, he represented all his colleagues among departmental authorities. He became Director of Transportation on the organizing committee for the 2009 Engineering Games, co-ordinating logistics for the movement of 400 participants to the various competition sites. As Auxiliary Vice-President of the 2009 Gale Méritas, he helped organize the event, which pays tribute to the excellence of certain professors. He was also treasurer of the Association des étudiants de Polytechnique, preparing the overall budget and monitoring it. The following year, he chaired the student association's meetings.  
 
Graduate-level winners

Gabrielle Ebacher
Doctoral student in civil engineering

Gabrielle embarked on doctoral studies in civil engineering under the direction of Professor Michèle Prévost starting with the 2009 summer term at Polytechnique. She is a top-notch student, as shown by her outstanding academic performance at the bachelor's, master's and doctoral levels.

She has also been a recipient of a Vanier Scholarship, one of Canada's most prestigious study awards. Her intellectual abilities have earned her many science scholarships and major academic awards throughout her studies. Her area of research is crucial in evaluating the risk of contaminated-water intrusions in drinking-water networks, a subject given high priority by regulatory agencies worldwide. She has also produced four items in the minutes of international conferences and is lead author of an article recently submitted to the prestigious Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management.

Highly dynamic by nature, Gabrielle has demonstrated great leadership qualities by conducting varied enriching activities both inside and outside the university community. She has been seriously involved in teaching as a tutorial leader in 2008 and as a lecturer in first-year civil engineering courses in the fall of 2009. She has also played a role in activities of the Canadian Water Network.

Michèle Desjardins
Doctoral student in biomedical engineering

Under the supervision of Professor Frédéric Lesage, Michèle has embarked on doctoral studies in biomedical engineering. Her thesis, to be conducted on a co-tutelle basis with Université Paris VI, deals with the modelling and fusion of cerebral imaging techniques and their application to the study of aging. This project will have major socio-economic spinoffs: it aims for an understanding of aging mechanisms and the delineation of more precise measurements among older populations.
 
Michèle has an outstanding background for pursuing a top-level research career. Her excellent education in physics at Université de Montréal and her extraordinary performance in her master's program in biomedical engineering at Polytechnique give her a solid basis for conducting her research project with brilliance. This doctoral student has already published four articles in prestigious scientific journals as well as five items in the minutes of international conferences. She has received more than 15 scholarships during her time as a student. As well, she has demonstrated her leadership qualities on various occasions, including her involvement in the supervision of research interns, the promotion of engineering among women in connection with Polytechnique's Marianne-Mareschal Chair, in the SEUR project aimed at stimulating interest in research among high school students, and in setting up the first Jeunes/Youth leadership conference in 2003, also aimed at high school students. In addition, Michèle has become actively involved in Polytechnique's Environment Committee. Last year, she was elected to the executive committee of the Association des étudiants des cycles supérieurs de Polytechnique (graduate students' association), which has more than 1,300 members. 

Congratulations to these six students, who make Polytechnique proud!


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