The Maison was funded by the Un monde de projets campaign of the Succession J.A. DeSève. Its mission is to uphold a research infrastructure that puts the accent on teaching and learning in the natural sciences, mathematics, engineering and management sciences, as well as on the information and communications technologies used in these fields. The research will be carried out by professors from École Polytechnique, Université de Montréal and HEC Montréal. The Maison is located in the J.-Armand-Bombardier building. As director of the unit, Professor Robert is responsible for coordinating the acquisition of resources; developing and supporting joint undertakings with training and training research centres (both on campus and with outside universities, colleges, and high schools); and working with fellow researchers to make the unit a renowned centre for research, training, expertise and reference.

Professor Robert has a PhD in cognitive ergonomics from the Sorbonne (Université Paris V) and did his postdoctoral studies at Xerox-PARC and the NASA Ames Research Center in California. He is a full professor at École Polytechnique and Founder/Director of the Human-Machine Interaction Laboratory (LIHM) at the school's Department of Mathematical and Industrial Engineering. His teaching focuses on the fields of ergonomics, cognitive engineering and the cognitive sciences applied to the study of human-machine systems. His research investigates different aspects of mental and collaborative work, as well as the ergonomic design and evaluation of human-machine systems, user-interface usability and pedagogical engineering. Professor Robert has authored over 100 scientific papers that have been published in books, journals and international conferences.

We wish Professor Robert the greatest success in his new responsibilities.