Montréal, June 7, 2025 – Polytechnique Montréal celebrated its Class of 2025 during two ceremonies held yesterday at the Palais des congrès de Montréal. Once again this year, the event underscored the graduates’ discipline and perseverance. In this, the engineering university’s 149th grad class (2024–25), they numbered 1,735, bringing the total of Poly graduates since the university’s founding to 64,404. All of them have gone on to directly influence the development of society, both here and abroad.

During this year’s convocation ceremony, Polytechnique Montréal also conferred its 3,000^th doctorate degree since 1956, the first year doctoral degrees were awarded by the university. The recipient of this 3,000^th degree is Laurie Fontaine, a graduate of the chemical engineering doctoral program. In addition, Université de Montréal, upon the recommendation of Polytechnique, proudly awarded an honorary doctorate to Suzanne Lacasse, a Polytechnique alumna and a true pioneer of geotechnical engineering.

3,000^th doctoral degree in the history of Polytechnique Montréal

In the eyes of Polytechnique Montréal’s President, Maud Cohen, the awarding of the institution’s 3,000^th doctoral degree is another milestone in the institution’s history: “Our doctrate graduates play a crucial role in producing new knowledge that will expand the frontiers of our collective wisdom and expertise,” she said. “These researchers, through their perseverance and curiosity, contribute to the expansion of our knowledge through novel perspectives enabling all of humanity to push back the boundaries of what is already understood. More than ever, our society needs these brilliant minds, to enable our society to fully play its part in the global community and to ensure that Québec as a whole can develop to its full scientific, technological and economic potential. Whether they come from here or abroad, we simply cannot do without these talents, who will help safeguard our collective future on so many levels, and we need even more of them,” she said.

Chemical engineering student Laurie Fontaine, the recipient of Polytechnique Montréal’s 3,000^th doctoral degree, said: “It is a privilege to be receiving my degree after so many years of research and perseverance. The same is true of all the other doctoral students at Polytechnique Montréal who have seen their academic projects through to the end and, like me, are proud members of this year’s graduating class.”

Laurie Fontaine’s doctoral thesis research focused on development of agent-based models to study the influence of citizens’ behaviours and environmental attitudes on sustainable waste management.

Suzanne Lacasse

Suzanne Lacasse has substantially shaped the field of geotechnical engineering through her research in soil mechanics, risk management and design of foundations for land-based and marine structures. She has developed innovative practices for analyzing offshore platforms’ resistance to storms and is known for having incorporated reliability and risk concepts to geotechnical design. A world-renowned authority on the subject, she applied probability theory to assessment of geotechnical hazards for dams and facilities at sea as well as slope stability

After completing a bachelor of arts degree from Université de Montréal (1967), Suzanne Lacasse earned an undergraduate degree in civil engineering from Polytechnique Montréal, where she was one of the first female graduates in that discipline and the only woman in her class of 46. She then did graduate studies at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, earning her doctorate degree there in 1976, in a joint program with Polytechnique Montréal. During her years at MIT, she was one of only two women among 50 civil engineering graduate students.

After earning her degree, Suzanne Lacasse was hired as a lecturer at MIT in 1976 and was later named the head of its Geotechnical Laboratory. She then joined the prestigious Norwegian Geotechnical Institute (NGI) in 1978 as a post-doctoral fellow. In 1991, she was appointed Managing Director of the NGI, the first woman to hold the position. In 2011, she took on the role of NGI Technical Director, and in 2016, that of consultant—a position she still holds today.

Suzanne Lacasse has authored some 370 articles, two books, five book chapters and more than 300 engineering reports, and her work has been cited more than 10,000 times by researchers. In 2001, she gave the Terzaghi Lecture to the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), one of the most important international distinctions in geotechnical engineering, becoming the first woman to do so in the 38 years since the lecture’s establishment. She served as the first female Chair of the Canadian Geotechnical Society in 2003 and 2004. In 2014, the International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE) instituted the Suzanne Lacasse Lecture, celebrating her contributions to risk assessment and management in engineering practice. In 2015, before the British Geotechnical Association, part of the UK Institution of Civil Engineers, she was the first woman to give the Rankine Lecture in its 55-year history.

Suzanne Lacasse was made a Knight of the Order of the Falcon in Iceland in 1997 and an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2018. Commenting on the awarding of the honorary degree, Polytechnique President Maud Cohen said: “In recognition of her invaluable contributions to the theory and practice of geotechnical engineering, her distinguished track record as an engineer and researcher, her international renown as well as her pioneering status as an engineer and a woman, Polytechnique Montréal is extremely proud to award this honorary doctoral degree to Suzanne Lacasse.”

Polytechnique awards 1,735 degrees

In 2024–25, its 149th graduating class, Polytechnique is awarding 1,735 degrees: 940 bachelor of engineering degrees, 131 bachelor of science degrees, 16 specialized graduate (DESS) diplomas, 230 master of engineering degrees, 296 master of applied science degrees and 122 doctoral degrees, including the 3,000^th such degree in its history, as previously mentioned.

About Polytechnique Montréal

Founded in 1873, Polytechnique Montréal is one of Canada’s largest engineering education and research institutions. It is located on the Université de Montréal campus, the largest French-language university campus in the Americas. With over 64,000 graduates to date, Polytechnique has educated over 22% of the Ordre des ingénieurs du Québec’s current membership. Polytechnique offers more than 120 programs taught by over 300 professors, and welcomes in excess of 10,000 students yearly. It has an annual operating budget of $300 million, including a research budget of $100 million.

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Photos and media kit available here.

Media inquiries

Christian Merciari
Communications
Polytechnique Montréal
C. 514 742-8586
christian.merciari@polymtl.ca