Three York graduate students are among 54 from across Canada to receive $7,500 each for their robotics and intelligent systems projects from Precarn Incorporated.
Patrick Denis, Nathan Mekuz and Stephanie Wilson are graduate students in computer science who were nominated for the Precarn scholarships by their professors.
Ottawa-based Precarn Inc. is an independent not-for-profit company that supports the pre-commercial development of leading-edge technologies. It works with Canadian companies seeking to commercialize their new ideas. Unlike other research funding programs, Precarn uses a collaborative model that includes a developer, a customer and an academic research partner in every project.
Precarn created a scholarship pool of $405,000 to help keep top students in Canada and foster the development of future entrepreneurs. On Nov. 7, Precarn announced the names of 54 graduate students who would each receive $7,500 this year for their research and development work in robotics and intelligent systems.
York Precarn scholars
Patrick Denis is a master’s student who is developing an automatic method to transform 2D images from surveillance systems into 3D images. He was nominated by Prof. James Elder.
Nathan Mekuz is a PhD who is working on improving pattern recognition and vision techniques in robotic systems. He was nominated by Prof. John Tsotsos.
Stephanie Wilson is a master’s student who is working on improving 3D imaging methods used in remote sensing. She was nominated by Prof. Michael Jenkin.
"We are committed to creating job opportunities for highly-skilled Canadians right here at home, and these funds will go a long way in helping to address Canada's brain drain and skills shortage challenges," says Paul Johnston, Precarn president and CEO. "Today’s graduate students are tomorrow's scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs. These awards are an acknowledgement of the important role that graduate students play in contributing to the development of the Canadian economy."
For a complete list of recipients, see the Precarn Web site.