MONA NEMER

CHIEF SCIENCE ADVISOR OF CANADA

Montreal is known worldwide for its style, its flair and its passion for living. That passion extends not only to literature, music and the performing arts, but to science and technology as well. The city is a centre of scientific learning and research, and for 150 years, Polytechnique Montréal, the oldest francophone engineering university in North America, has been a foundation of the city’s global reputation in the applied sciences. It has long been a magnet for talent, bringing to Montreal, Quebec and Canada top students, engineers and researchers from around the world.

For 150 years, Polytechnique Montréal has made major contributions to Canada’s strength in science and technology and helped to keep French voices at the forefront of scientific discovery, innovation and application. English may have become the predominant language of international scientific exchange and publication, but people of all languages need to be able to communicate about science and use it in their vernacular. This is especially true of engineering and the applied disciplines, which use science to bend and shape the neighbourhoods and communities we live in, from infrastructure, buildings and machines to manufacturing and communication systems, not to mention every electronic device used in our homes and workplaces.

Polytechnique Montréal’s leadership in diversifying the science and engineering workforce is exemplary. In a field dominated by men, the university has made unparalleled efforts to recruit women to its programs. By 2020, Polytechnique had already met the Engineers Canada goal of increasing female engineering graduation to 30 per cent, 10 years ahead of schedule.

The university’s motto, taken from Hooke’s law of physics, is Ut tensio sic vis – a phrase whose symbolic meaning is that results are proportional to effort. Throughout its history, Polytechnique has lived up to this maxim. No wonder it’s the pride of its city, its province and the entire country. I applaud Polytechnique Montréal’s 150 years of achievement and look forward to many successful decades ahead.