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Polytechnique Montréal’s Sixth edition of the Order of the White Rose
Polytechnique Montréal will award a $30,000 scholarship to a Canadian woman engineering student who wishes to pursue graduate-level engineering studies.
Over the years, the white rose has become the symbol of Polytechnique Montréal’s commemorative activities. In 2015, to mark the 25th anniversary of the events of December 6th, 1989, Polytechnique created the Order of the White Rose Scholarship as a tribute to the victims as well as the wounded, the families, the faculty members, the employees and the students who were forever affected by the tragedy.
Order of the White Rose scholarship annually awards $30,000 to a woman engineering student who wishes to enroll in graduate engineering studies (master’s or PhD) at the institution of her choice, in Canada or elsewhere in the world.
For a sixth consecutive year, a call for applications has been launched at Canadian university engineering faculties. The Order of the White Rose Scholarship winner will be announced in December 2020.
Inspiring ambassadors
“I am touched that the Order of the White Rose Scholarship was created in honour of my sisters – those from whom the right to practice the wonderful profession of engineering was taken. In addition to remembering those women we lost, the scholarship represents a helping hand extended to the next generation, enabling a young woman to fulfill her dream of becoming an engineer,” notes Nathalie Provost, Order of the White Rose’s “Godmother”.
“Much like myself, were I to have received this honour as a young woman, I am certain that I would feel privileged to continue the legacy of women engineers, and also feel pride, knowing that I was contributing to society’s scientific heritage,”adds Michèle Thibodeau-DeGuire, Polytechnique Montréal’s first female Civil Engineering graduate (1963), and its first-ever female Chair of the Board of Directors.
A prestigious jury
The Order of the White Rose jury will once again be chaired by Ms. Thibodeau-DeGuire, in addition to outstanding individuals from Canadian higher education:
- Christopher Yip, Dean, Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering, University of Toronto
- Kevin J. Deluzio, Dean, Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, Queen's University
- Patrik Doucet, Dean, Faculty of Engineering, Université de Sherbrooke
- John Newhook, Dean of Engineering, Dalhousie University
- Peter Wild, Dean of Engineering, University of Victoria
Order of the White Rose recipients
Last December, Polytechnique Montréal awarded the fifth annual Order of the White Rose Scholarship to Édith Ducharme, a Université Laval Engineering Physics graduate, who is currently working on a Master’s of Engineering Physics at Polytechnique Montréal.
Édith Ducharme and Nathalie Provost.
In 2018, the fourth Order of the White Rose Scholarship went to Viviane Aubin, a Polytechnique Montréal Electrical Engineering graduate, presently completing a Master’s of Energy Engineering at Polytechnique Montréal.
In 2017, University of Manitoba Electrical Engineering graduate Ella Thomson earned the third Order of the White Rose Scholarship, which she used to pursue doctoral studies in Biomedical Engineering at Stanford University in California.
In 2016, Polytechnique Montréal awarded the second Order of the White Rose scholarship to Liane Bernstein, a Polytechnique Montréal Physics Engineering graduate who went on to pursue doctoral studies at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
The first-ever Order of the White Rose scholarship was awarded in 2015 to University of Calgary Mechanical Engineering graduate Tara Gholami, who went on to pursue graduate studies at Stanford University in California.
Application procedure
The Order of the White Rose Scholarship is open to women who are Canadian citizens or permanent residents, and who have who finished their BEng as of December 2019, or will graduate in May or August 2020.
Further, applicants must be registered in or actively researching graduate programs for the upcoming academic year; as of September 1st, 2020 candidates must have proof of acceptance and registration in a graduate program.
Polytechnique Montréal students who wish to apply for the scholarship must do so before May 14th, 2020 at 4 pm; applications must be submitted to the Service aux étudiants.
As of March 2020, application information and materials will have been sent to Canadian engineering faculties. Students interested in this scholarship must determine which department within their institution is responsible for assessing application portfolios, and the application deadline.
Every applicant’s institution is responsible for organizing the internal competition, and will send only the finalist’s portfolio to the Polytechnique scholarship jury. Canadian engineering faculties have until September 1st, 2020, to submit their finalist’s application portfolio for the Order of the White Rose Scholarship.
To learn more
Application procedures - on the Order of the White Rose website
Profile - Édith Ducharme, 2019 recipient, Order of the White Rose Scholarship
Profile - Viviane Aubin, 2018 recipient, Order of the White Rose Scholarship
Profile - Ella Thomson, 2017 recipient, Order of the White Rose Scholarship
Profile - Liane Bernstein, 2016 recipient, Order of the White Rose Scholarship
Profile - Tara Gholami, 2015 recipient, Order of the White Rose Scholarship