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Mario-Fafard Scholarship 2024-2025 – Results

Since 2022, REGAL has been committed to taking concrete actions to increase the number of women among its student members. One of these actions is to encourage new candidates to enroll in graduate studies (doctorate and master’s degree with thesis) with a project on aluminum. These students are eligible for this $2,000 scholarship.

For the 2024-2025 call for applications, we received 10 applications where each student had to demonstrate her past commitments to the community and/or to women; describe her career plan and her vision of the place of women in the aluminum field as well as detail her solutions to address the issues and pitfalls concerning the low presence of women in this field. The academic record also counted for 30% of the evaluation.

Congratulations to the two winners!

The recipient of the Mario Fafard Scholarship (Master’s) is Gargee Dash, a student at McGill University, under the supervision of Florence Paray and co-supervision of Mathieu Brochu. The jury highlighted the care taken in describing her detailed background, punctuated by specific examples, and a thoughtful vision of women in the aluminum sector. The application also clearly explained the importance of mentoring to inspire other women to study in this field.

The recipient of the Mario Fafard Scholarship (PhD) is Sarah Boukhames, a student at the Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, under the supervision of Ahmed Rahem (UQAC) and co-supervision of Reza Jafari and Reda Shaiki (ÉTS). Her application presented original proposals, a complete game plan where all the elements were clearly explained, supported by an exemplary academic record.

The jury would like to congratulate all the candidates, as several excellent applications were evaluated this year. The jury consisted of Julie Lévesque, Head of R&D – Metal Forming and Assembly at the Centre de métallurgie du Québec; Elmira Moosavi-Khoonsari, Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the École de technologie supérieure and Marie-Hélène Martin, Health and Safety Director at Alcoa – Aluminerie de Deschambault S.E.C.

Bravo!

The Mario-Fafard Scholarship

Within the REGAL strategic group, in 2024, women members accounted for 25% of the REGAL student community, 14% of collaborators and 14% of co-researchers. The Mario-Fafard Scholarship aims to encourage the presence of women in jobs related to metallurgy.

The scholarship is named in honour of Dr. Mario Fafard, who was a professor at Université Laval for 31 years. His expertise, interpersonal skills, rigor and leadership were greatly appreciated by the hundred or so graduate students he supervised, by the thousands of students who took his courses and by the research professionals under his responsibility. He also held an NSERC Industrial Research Chair, whose partner was Alcoa. He is the founder of the Aluminum Research Center – REGAL, one of the highlights of his career. He was director of the Aluminum Research Center – REGAL until 2018. Thanks to his sustained efforts and remarkable vision, he enabled the continued growth of REGAL, which is now recognized worldwide.