For Polytechnique and its Fondation, this annual event represents an occasion to reward our students, but also to salute our partners' generosity and commitment to supporting the next generation. Christophe Guy, CEO of Polytechnique, took the opportunity to note that some donors have been taking part in the bursary program for over 25 years. He also highlighted “the essential role that parents play in their children's academic success.” 

The event also highlighted the best dissertation award, the Prix Roger-A. Blais, and the best thesis award for 2014. Céline Stoquart won the 2014 Prix Roger-A. Blais for her dissertation titled Performance of Aged PAC Suspensions in a Hybrid Membrane Process for Drinking-Water Production. Her research work was supervised by Professor Benoit Barbeau of the Department of Civil, Geological and Mining Engineering, and co-supervised by Pierre Servais, Professor in the Faculty of Science, Université libre de Bruxelles.

A special mention was given to Julia Wuensche for her dissertation titled Eumelanin Films for Organic Bioelectronic: Growth, Charge Transport, and Interaction with Metal Electrodes. Her research work was supervised by Professor Clara Santato of the Department of Engineering Physics, and co-supervised by Federico Rosei of the Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique (INRS).

A special mention was also given to Lê Nguyên Hoang for his dissertation titled Conception bayésienne de mécanismes et quantification de l'équité appliquées à la construction d'horaires personnalisés (Bayesian mechanism design and quantification of equity applied to personalized schedule construction). His research work was supervised by Professor François Soumis of the Department of Mathematics and Industrial Engineering, and Georges Zaccour, Professor, HEC Montréal.

The 2014 best thesis prize was awarded to Benjamin De Leener. His thesis titled Segmentation automatique de la moelle épinière sur des images de résonance magnétique par propagation de modèles déformables (automatic segmentation of the spinal cord on MRI imaging through propagation of deformable models) was written under the supervision of Professor Samuel Kadoury of the Department of Computer Engineering, and co-supervised by Professor Julien Cohen-Adad of the Department of Electrical Engineering. 

A special mention was given to Philippe Ouzilleau for his thesis titled Développement d'un modèle thermodynamique pour les cristallites de coke : application aux systèmes carbone-hydrogène et carbone-soufre (development of a thermodynamic model for coke crystallites: application to carbon-hydrogen and carbon-sulphur systems). His research work was supervised by Professor Patrice Chartrand of the Department of Chemical Engineering.

Our heartiest congratulations to the many winners, and thanks to the companies, associations, Polytechnique alumni, selection committee and foundations who, with their tangible support, are helping students along their path toward excellence.