The Associate Dean Research, Hassan Safouhi, with Phillipe Gaudreau. From an ordinary engineering student at Campus Saint Jean, Phillipe has rapidly climbed the research ladder to win the prestigious 2014 Alexander Graham Bell Canada Graduate Scholarship valued at $105,000 over three years. Once more, he won this year's Alberta Innovates-Technology Futures (AITF) Top-Up Award of $12,000.
"After spending only six months in the engineering program, I quickly realised that it was not a good fit for me. I was always attracted to and passionate about mathematics. I took mathematics 100 with Professor Hassan Safouhi and after several discussions with him, I made up my mind and chose this field of university studies", said Phillippe, who completed his bachelor of science degree in 2013 (major in mathematics and minor in physics.) «In my opinion, to love maths, one must be a dreamer, and this is precisely one of my strengths,"he exclaimed.
It didn't take Philippe long to distinguish himself within the new program of studies, as he was awarded the apprentice-researcher scholarship. In 2011, under the supervision of Professor Safouhi, he won the award for best poster presentation, an internationally reconized competition held during the national meeting of the Canadian Mathematical Society. Even before obtaining his bachelor's degree, he was the only undergraduate student who was able to challenge post graduate and PhD students as well as researchers.
After his bachelor's degree at CSJ, he went on to complete a Master's degree, and then a doctorate degree under the supervision of Professor Safouhi. He intends to obtain a diploma in computational and applied Mathematics by 2017 from the University of Alberta. Besides his personal research, Philippe teaches some courses at the University of Alberta's North Campus and also assists Professor Safouhi in supervising Tylor Cassidy, an undergraduate student. He has also co-authored six scientific publications in international reviews and is the recipient of the "Graduate teaching Award" for excellence in education for laboratory instructors.
"All this helps me attain a certain level of balance. As a researcher, you are going to find huddles along the way; this is unavoidable. These challenges are as stimulating as they can be frustrating as well. Working with students here at the Campus, during their own research work, gives me a break from my projects for a few days and return to them with a new approach," Philippe Gaudreau explained.
Philippe's passion for mathematics has taken him places. In 2003, he went to Tokyo in Japan, to work in the field of pharmacology at the National Institute of Informatics. Last summer, he had the opportunity to train in the field of ecology at Bamfield Marine Sciences Center in British Columbia thanks to funding from his supervisor. "Mathematics is not all about Pythagoras. It affects a variety of domains, and I count myself lucky to be experiencing all of these," he said.
With his Alexander Graham Bell Canada Graduate Scholarship for a year now, this doctorate student has been focusing his research on nanotechnology: "simply put, the objective of this research is to calculate the energy of vibrating and oscillating particles. This is quite important in the field of nanotechnology," he said, stating that his work is aimed at using modern physics to empower technology. Philippe Gaudreau is very grateful for the new dimension that AITF's Top-Up Award is bringing to his project.
"In the letter informing me of the $12,000 grant to continue my current research, AIFT proposes that grant recipients connect and communicate, voluntarily, via a LinkedIn account, among themselves as well as with other students on this network. Having social media blend into the world of science in relatively new, and this I find quite interesting" he said.