Over the years, the white rose has come to symbolize Polytechnique’s commemorative activities marking the December 6, 1989, tragedy. Since December 6, 2014, the 25th anniversary of the event, this emblem of peace has become the image for annual commemorative events. With this in mind, and in tribute to the victims, the wounded, the faculty members and the employees and students who were at the heart of the tragedy, Polytechnique last year created a scholarship known as the Polytechnique Montréal Order of the White Rose.

This scholarship is now awarded annually by the Polytechnique administration to a woman engineering student who wishes to pursue her passion for engineering by enrolling in a graduate program (master’s or doctoral level) at the institution of her choice, in Canada or elsewhere in the world.

For a second year, a call for applications has been launched at Canadian universities that offer engineering programs. The name of the winner will be announced in December 2016.

Inspiring ambassadors

“I am truly touched that the Order of the White Rose is a scholarship created in honour of my sisters, whose right to practise the wonderful profession of engineering was taken away from them,” said Nathalie Provost, ‘Godmother’ of the Order of the White Rose. “In addition to honouring their memory, the scholarship is a helping hand extended to the next generation, and will enable a young woman to go a step further in fulfilling her dream of becoming an engineer.”

“If I were a young student receiving the Order of the White Rose, I would feel privileged to be able to perpetuate the legacy of women engineers and to add my contribution to our society’s scientific heritage,” added Michèle Thibodeau-DeGuire, the first woman to graduate in civil engineering from Polytechnique in 1963 and the first woman to hold the position of Chair of the Board of Directors of the Corporation de l’École Polytechnique de Montréal. “I know that the scholarship winner will feel this pride.” 

A prestigious jury 

The selection jury for the Order of the White Rose, to be chaired once again this year by Ms. Thibodeau-DeGuire, comprises outstanding people in Canadian higher education:

• Elizabeth Cannon, President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Calgary;
• Suzanne Fortier, Principal and Vice-Chancellor of McGill University;
• Cristina Amon, Dean of the Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering of the University of Toronto;
• Patrik Doucet, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering of Université de Sherbrooke;
• Joshua Leon, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering of Dalhousie University.
• Pearl Sullivan, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Waterloo; and
• Kimberly A. Woodhouse, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science of Queen’s University

Tara Gholami, first recipient of the Order of the White Rose 

Last November, Polytechnique Montréal awarded the very first Order of the White Rose scholarship to Tara Gholami, a mechanical engineering graduate from the University of Calgary who is currently furthering her mechanical engineering studies at Stanford University in California.

For more information

Application submission criteria and conditions on the Order of the White Rose website

Profile of Tara Gholami, 2015 recipient of the Order of the White Rose scholarship