Media
Building robots to counter drop out rates: BMO Financial Group, Bell, Bombardier Inc., CAE, Hydro-Québec and Vigilant Futures join forces to send 45 students to an international robotics competition
February 17, 2010
MONTREAL, Feb. 17 /CNW Telbec/ - Youth Fusion is thrilled to announce that BMO Financial Group-Quebec, Bell, Bombardier Inc., CAE, Hydro-Québec and Vigilant Futures have joined forces to send 45 Montreal students to FIRST, an international robotics competition.
FIRST is a competition designed to offer young people an exciting and hands-on experience in science and technology. The objective is precise: students have six weeks to build a highly functional robot, capable of playing soccer, and worth $25,000. During this period, the students work with university experts and engineers, enabling them to expand their scientific knowledge. The robots will be under construction in Montreal until February 23rd, and the competition will take place in Toronto in April.
In its long history, FIRST has never hosted Montreal public high school students. Thanks to the support of the official partners: Mr. L. Jacques Ménard, President of BMO Financial Group-Quebec, Mr. Laurent Beaudoin, Chair of the Board of Bombardier Inc., Mr. Thierry Vandal, President and CEO of Hydro-Québec, Mr. Stéphane Boisvert, President of Bell Business Markets, Mr. Marc Parent, President and CEO of CAE, and Mr. Arvind Ramanathan, Director of Vigilant Futures, four robots are currently under construction by 45 youth from four different high schools: Honoré-Mercier (CSDM), Pierre-Dupuy (CSDM), Saint-Henri (CSDM), and Henri-Bourassa (CSPI). Moreover, Mr. François Michaud, Canada Research Chairholder in Mobile Robotics and Intelligent Autonomous Systems, and Mr. John Charlton, Special Projects Manager at Loyola High School, are part of an extensive group of mentors who support the teams.
Mr. Ménard, Chair of Youth Fusion's board since November 2009, is pleased to realize that the business community "responded positively to this opportunity, as this competition is an ideal platform to promote technological innovation, scientific fields and the educational success of youth."
Youth Fusion is a non-profit organization that mobilizes universities to counter drop out rates. Last September, Youth Fusion announced that all of Montreal's universities had agreed to join forces to encourage kids to stay in school. Their formula is simple: Youth Fusion sends university students, working as project coordinators, into high schools to implement projects that motivate teenagers to stay in school, and strengthen their school spirit and sense of belonging.
For this robotics project, Youth Fusion hired four university students - two from l'École Polytechnique and two from l'École de technologie supérieure (ÉTS) - each student is assigned to one high school.
For further information, please visit:
www.youthfusionquebec.org/en/robotics.php
For further information: Gabriel Bran Lopez, Founder and Executive Director, Youth Fusion, (514) 657-7630,
gbl@youthfusionquebec.org
Vigilant Futures donates $20,000 toward graduate scholarships in Computer Science and Software Engineering
September 22, 2009
Financial technology firm Vigilant Futures has contributed $20,000 to Concordia’s department of Computer Science and Software Engineering. The gift will fund annual graduate scholarships—worth $1,000—for international students in Computer Science.
The Montreal-based company’s donation comes at the time when the Engineering and Computer Science Faculty’s enrollment of international students at the graduate level stands at about 33 percent. “We’re delighted to be the benefactor of this generous gift by a local high-tech company that is on the rise,” said Dr. Sudhir Mudur, chair of Concordia’s department of Computer Science and Software Engineering. “Not only will this funding help boost the credibility of Concordia’s Computer Science program on a global level but it will also help us attract more, high-calibre international students.”
Vigilant Futures was founded in 2005 to capitalize on trends in financial markets towards computer-driven trading. Having recently revamped its headquarters on René-Lévesque Blvd. with state-of-the-art research-and-development facilities, the firm continues to invest heavily in R&D.
It was founded by a group of young entrepreneurs, scientists and technologists, including director and Concordia alumnus Arvind Ramanathan, BComm. “A lot of the top minds in our research and development team have come from Concordia so this is very much an investment in one of our most important talent pools,” Ramanathan said.
For more information about our scholarships or Concordia University please visit the link below.
http://www.encs.concordia.ca/News/2009/vigilant.html
For details on the announcement reception attended by Josh Felker, Arvind Ramanathan along with Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering Chair, Sudhir Mudur, and Dean Robin Drew, please visit the link below.
http://alumni.concordia.ca/calendar/news/2009/12/01/015314.php
Habitat for Humanity’s 2009 Build Project has begun!
September 11, 2009
Habitat for Humanity is a non-profit organization that builds simple, decent and affordable housing in partnership with people in need. Volunteers and partner families provide most of the labor, and individual and corporate donors provide money and materials to build the houses. Habitat for Humanity houses are sold to partner families at no profit and with no interest charged; mortgage payments are used to build more houses.
Vigilant is contributing 5000$ to the build and sending 15 volunteers to give a full day of hard work on the construction site. Our build day is scheduled for Friday September 11th , from 8am to 4pm. The site is located at 5096 Sainte-Clotilde street in St-Henri. Please come and support our employees and the community at this event.
For more information about Habitat or this event please see their website below.
http://www.habitatmontreal.qc.ca/
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