To choose Polytechnique's representative, an internal competition was held on April 17, emceed by Thomas Gervais, Adjunct Professor in the Department of Engineering Physics. Thirteen master's-level participants tried their hand, presenting their research topic in simple terms to a diverse lay audience. Lê Nguyên Hoang, with his project Favoriser l'honnêteté (encouraging honesty), impressed the jury, which chose him to represent Polytechnique in the finals. Also taking part in the competition were Bahe Hachem, Fabien Lagier, Faustin Saleh Mbemba, Franck Le Navéaux, Gabriel Sauvageau, Guillaume Bourgault, Jérôme Lapointe, Louis-Philippe Simoneau, Marie-Laure de Boutray, Mouhamed Mourchid A. Adegbindin, Shadi Sharif Azadeh and Vincent Dubanchet.

This year's jury was made up of Dominique Chassé, co-ordinator of Polytechnique's written and oral communication course; Marc Laforest, Associate Professor, Department of Mathematics and Industrial Engineering; Raymond Lemieux, Editor-in-Chief of Québec Science magazine; Philippe Mercure, journalist with La Presse and a Polytechnique graduate in engineering physics; and Alain Rochefort, Associate Professor, Department of Engineering Physics.

Winners
1st prize: Lê Nguyên Hoang, Favoriser l'honnêteté.
2nd prize and people's choice award: Franck Le Navéaux, Impact de la disposition d'implants sur le traitement de la scoliose (impact of implant arrangements on scoliosis treatment).
3rd prize: Vincent Dubanchet, Nettoyer l'espace avec un bras robotique (cleaning space with a robot arm).

 
Left to right: Thomas Gervais, Adjunct Professor in the Department of Engineering Physics; Lê Nguyên Hoang; and Jean Dansereau, Assistant Director, Academic and International Affairs, and Director of Graduate Studies.

 
Left to right: Thomas Gervais, Adjunct Professor in the Department of Engineering Physics; Franck Le Navéaux; and Jean Dansereau, Assistant Director, Academic and International Affairs, and Director of Graduate Studies.

 
Left to right: Gilles Savard, Dean of Research and Innovation; Vincent Dubanchet; and Thomas Gervais, Adjunct Professor in the Department of Engineering Physics.

Lê Nguyên Hoang's project: Favoriser l'honnêteté – Construction de quarts personnalisés avec préférences des employés (encouraging honesty: constructing personalized shifts with employee preferences) under the supervision of François Soumis and George Zaccour:

“Last summer, eight badminton players were disqualified from the Olympic Games in London because they didn't give their best in the preliminary competition phase. What's important to know is that they were already working on the next phase, and were trying to save their energy. This problem can be studied by the theory of mechanism design. According to this theory, it must be noted that the motivations given to these players by the tournament rules were incompatible with Olympic values. This project consists of anticipating such cases in complex interaction systems between various agents, such as is the case in economic markets or in the design of personalized schedules.” 

To thank them for taking part in the competition and to encourage them to develop their communication skills, Presses internationales Polytechnique gave each participant a copy of the book Préparer et donner un exposé, written by Richard Prégent and Dominique Chassé, a member of the jury.

Our heartiest congratulations to the participants and the winner. Good luck in the finals!

See also:
The ACFAS program
Website for the Votre soutenance en 180 secondes competition at Polytechnique (in French only)
Website for graduate studies at Polytechnique