IEEE Canadian Foundation

Donate by IEEE Membership Renewal

The IEEE Canadian Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the IEEE in Canada, is happy to accept your contributions when you renew your IEEE membership in the fall each year.

Just select the IEEE Canadian Foundation as your choice when you complete your annual IEEE membership renewal form (paper or web version).

Please note that this method enables you to make a contribution to the IEEE Canadian Foundation General Fund only. To make a contribution to one or more of our other funds, please consider donating online or donating by mail.

If you are a Canadian IEEE Life Member and wish to participate in our Canadian Life Member Fund "Thank You" program, please view this web page.

IEEE Canadian Foundation Needs Your Support

Is somebody close to your heart graduating this year from a Canadian University or College engineering or science? In recognition of their success, consider a donation to the IEEE Canadian Foundation (ICF) to support the vital role IEEE has in the professional development of so many students. Get an early start on your 2015 donations - your donation to ICF, a Canadian registered charity, is tax deductible.

IEEE Canadian Foundation - 2014 in Review

For the IEEE Canadian Foundation (ICF), 2014 has been a very busy and successful year. The Foundation would like to thank all contributors, participants, and donors for their support. The following is a summary of the activities undertaken and the grants and awards awarded in 2014.

In 2014, ICF celebrated 20th anniversary as a foundation in its present form. ICF is presently wrapping up the “20 for 20” campaign, which, with contributions of $20 (or more), helped grow the ability of the ICF to support Scholarships & Awards, McNaughton Learning Resource Centres and Special Grants to stimulate and enhance IEEE communities throughout Canada. The number of applications for the ICF McNaughton Learning Resource Centre (MLRC) Grants and Special Grants was unprecedentedly high in 2014, and the ICF Board of Directors (BoD) made additional efforts to respond adequately to the increased needs.

In Dec. 2014, the ICF BoD approved $15k for thirteen McNaughton Learning Resource Centre Grants. The grants will awarded to the University of Toronto, Concordia University, University of Victoria, McGill University, University of Manitoba, Conestoga College, Carleton University, University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT), University of Moncton, Simon Fraser University, Memorial University, and University of Ottawa.

The BoD approved $15k for five Special Grants. They go to the IHTC 2015 Student Competition, Carleton University Stay Late and Make student learning lab, UOIT 2015 DIY Showcase project, UOIT DECA & High School Thrive Conference, Concordia University UAV Design & Build Competition, University of Toronto Reverse Engineering competition, University of Western Ontario FIRST Robotics Competition, McGill University Mars Rover Challenge project, Simon Fraser University & University of British Columbia South Korean Field Trip, CWIT (Canadian Workshop for Information Theory) 2015 Student Travel Awards project, UBC Thunderbolts Robotics Competition, UOIT Celestica Tour & Conference, Laval University Vehicle Racing project, and UOIT Power & Energy Seminar.

IEEE PES Scholarship Plus Initiative recipients have been announced. These undergraduate students are majoring in electrical engineering, are high achievers with strong GPAs with distinctive extracurricular commitments and are committed to exploring the power and energy field. The scolarship is US $2k for each of the first two years and US $3k for third year, accompanied with work term opportunities. Three of the IEEE PES Scholarship Plus Initiative recipients are from Region 7 (Canada):

Andrew Bonnell, Memorial University, expected to graduate in 2016,
Stephanie Gerbeau, McGill University, expected to gradgraduate uation in 2015,
William Skinner, The University of Calgary, expected to graduate in 2017.

Nov 2014

On Nov. 21, 2014, the IEEE Student Branch at University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT) opened their McNaughton Centre that was supported by an ICF MLRC Grant. Together with the students and their representatives, Zayd Azmathallah, MLRC Chair, Rudy Lang, MLRC Co-Chair, Prof. Dr. Vijay Sood, UOIT IEEE Student Branch Counsellor, and other UOIT officials, ICF President, David Whyte, and ICF Treasurer, Luc Matteau, attended the opening event and celebration.

The Concordia University IEEE Student Branch (SB) reported that 54 engineering students of IEEE Concordia and École de technologie supérieure (ÉTS) in Monteal, with a help of an ICF Special Grant, participated in a student field trip to Boston, in May 2014. The trip entailed MIT campus tour, MIT Museum, Boston Museum of Science, visits to some Boston start-up companies, such as Artisan´s Asylum, and a general Boston city tour.

With a support of an ICF Special Grant, the Longfields-Davidson Heights Secondary School in Ottawa formed a robotics team which participated in the FIRST Robotics Competition - Arial Assist, in May 2014. The Longfields-Davidson Heights team ranked 25th out of 48 teams and the students have already started planning for the next year.

Oct 2014

The University of British Columbia (UBC) students reported their successful International Field Trip 2014, supported by an ICF Special Grant. Twenty UBC students and four Simon Fraser University (SFU) students participated in this field trip to France and Germany in early May 2014. It incorporated visits to universities, research institutes, and some of the leading companies. this enhanced educational opportunity. The students discussed possible co-op terms and two of them already accepted one year internships at Lantiq Semiconductors in Munich, Germany.

Sept 2014

ICF supported with a Special Grant the McGill University Robotics student engineering design team to participate in the 17th Annual International RoboSub Competition in San Diego, CA held on July 28 - August 3, 2014. The competition goal is to advance the development of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) by challenging a new generation of engineers to perform realistic missions in an underwater environment. The McGill team ranked 3rd in static judging and won the Judges Award for Best Branding. Another Canadian team, from Ecole de technologie supérieure (ÉTS), won the overall 3rd Place. Congratulations to the 2014 RoboSub participants and winners!

Aug 2014

Earlier this year, an ICF Special Grant was awarded to the IEEE Canada Humanitarian Technology Conference (IHTC 2014). The IHTC reported that the conference was successfully held in Montreal, Quebec, on June 1-4, 2014, and that the ICF Special Grant was used to support registration fees provided of students. The student participants had presentations in the poster and oral sessions. The 2015 International Humanitarian Technology Conference is being organized in Ottawa.

July 2014

The UBC Okanagan IEEE Student Branch submitted a report on the McNaughton Learning Centre Upgrade Grant, which was awarded by ICF in 2013.

In April 2014, ICF provided a one-time Special Grant to the University of Waterloo Nano-Robotics Group (UW-NRG, non-IEEE entity) for competing in the international competition Mobile Microrobotics Challenge. In June 2014, the UW-NRG team attended the International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) hosted by the IEEE in Hong Kong, and competed in the Mobile Microrobotics Challenge. In spite of strong competition, the UW-NRG team finished third out of seven teams! In addition, the conference offered valuable opportunities for networking with students and professionals from other parts of the world.

June 2014

2014 IEEE Canada Women in Engineering Prize was awarded to Lydia Chioukh of the IEEE Montreal Section. This Prize in the amount of $1,000 is awarded to a female IEEE Canada member who received her first professional degree within the last fifteen years and who contributed significantly to IEEE activities. Lydia Chioukh is a Ph.D. student in Electrical Engineering at the Poly-GRAMES Research Center of École Polytechnique de Montréal, expected to graduate in 2015. Her research work has been in the fields of radars, sensors, microwave circuits and RF technologies for biomedical applications. Lydia received many awards for her academic achievements and has also been very active in IEEE. She served IEEE Student Branch Chair & Vice-Chair 2009-2011 and since 2012, she has been WIE Affinity Group Chair in Montreal. For her contributions to IEEE, she received Larry K. Wilson Regional Student Activities Award 2011, and IEEE Montreal Section WIE Service Award in 2012.

May 2014

At the ICF Board of Directors Meeting on April 16, 2013, the Board approved one-time Special Grants to:
- McGill Robotics Engineering design team,
- IEEE Canada Humanitarian Initiatives Committee 2014 for the support of student registrations
  and/or prizes,
- University of Waterloo NanoRobotics Group, and
- Concordia University Student Branch field trip initiative.

Five 2014 IEEE Canadian Foundation Scholarships in the amount of $5,000 each (total $25,000) were approved for
- Sri Selva of University of Ontario Institute of Technology, nominated by Dr. Vijay Sood, Student
  Branch Counselor (SBC);
- Francis Nguyen of University of Alberta, nominated by Dr. Jeremy Sit, SBC;
- Emily Miao of University of Toronto, nominated by Dr. Olivier Trescases, SBC;
- Karen Innes of University of Saskatchewan, nominated by Dr. Francis Bui, SBC; and
- Amente Bekele of Carleton University, nominated by Dr. Calvin Plett, SBC.

The 2014 Dr. Robert T. H. Alden Scholarship was awarded to Sri Selva of University of Ontario Institute of Technology.

The 2014 IEEE Power Quality Award in the amount of $1,500 was awarded to Shafi Khan of the University of Alberta.

Mar 2014

ICF awarded a Special Grant to the IEEE University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT) Student Branch in support of Durham D.I.Y. Showcase, formerly known as Durham Region Maker Fair. The fair was held on Feb. 17, 2014 and focused on: arts and culture, hobbies, innovation, and food and garden. The event was organized by the Foundation for Building Sustainable Communities with the assistance of the IEEE and other sponsors. For IEEE, the goal was to raise the public awareness of the IEEE UOIT Student Branch, and to increase interest of school children in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math.

ICF links of interest:

IEEE McNaughton Learning Resource Centres by Date of Formation
http://ieeecanadianfoundation.org/EN/cnt_yr.php

IEEE Canadian Foundation Special Grants Awarded by Year
http://ieeecanadianfoundation.org/EN/sp_yr.php

IEEE McNaughton Learning Resource Centre Grants Awarded by Year
http://ieeecanadianfoundation.org/EN/lrc_yr.php

IEEE Student Branches at Canadian Universities and Colleges
http://ieeecanadianfoundation.org/EN/branches.php