INNOVATION-July-August-2020

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financial barriers these students face. A dedicated volunteer board of directors and 25 volunteers—all of whom are professional engineers or geoscientists—donate their time to provide strategic direction and adjudicate scholarship and bursary applications. Between July 2019 and April 2020, the Foundation awarded $71,550 to 48 students with awards ranging from $750 to $2,500. It administered 28 scholarships itself; 14 additional awards were supported through BC’s post-secondary institutions, and Engineers and Geoscientists BC’s branches facilitated the remaining six. THANK YOU TO DONORS The Foundation sincerely thanks its more than 1,900 donors who helped us assist students this past year. Between July 2019 and May 2020, the Foundation received over $130,000 in donations. This will help the Foundation set up new scholarships and increase current amounts to reflect rising education costs for students. Additionally, the Foundation thanks BC Hydro for its $15,000 contribution in support of the joint scholarship for second-year engineering and geoscience students in BC. The Foundation also thanks the family of the late Tricia Cook, P.Eng., for choosing the Foundation as the charity to honour her legacy. donation to the Engineers and Geoscientists BC Foundation. Thanks to Engineers and Geoscientists BC volunteers, the Foundation has an exceptionally low overhead—every donated dollar goes towards a scholarship or bursary. Tax receipts are issued for donations greater than $20. To make a donation, visit to egbc.ca/foundation , email foundation@egbc.ca , or call 604.430.8035. Dr. John Clague is Chair of Engineers and Geoscientists BC Foundation Board of Directors . SUPPORTING THE FOUNDATION To help students like Sophie, make a

UBC engineering student Sophie Lin.

ENGINEERS AND GEOSCIENTISTS BC FOUNDATION SUPPORTS STUDENTS DR. JOHN CLAGUE, P.GEO., FGC, FEC (HON.) M eet Sophie Lin, engineering student and Engineers and Geoscientists BC Foundation Scholarship Recipient. STEM and robotics. This summer, SRIL is hosting a series of workshops, including UAV Mechatronics, 3-D Printing, CAD, and Leadership in Equity, Diversity, and

Sophie, a second-year mechanical engineering student at UBC, is passionate about paving the way for the next generation of young innovators and STEM leaders in BC. Her curiosity in robotics and innovation inspired her to pursue a career in engineering. Exposure to robotics, she said, made her appreciate “how innovation can deliver lasting and widespread impacts on society.” Sophie’s goal is to apply artificial intelligence to robotics and drones to improve life for others. Sophie is involved in UBC’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems design team. As a payload designer and admin member, she is developing an unmanned vehicle to deliver medical supplies to remote areas via drone. She is also involved with Women in Engineering UBC and works as an undergraduate researcher at UBC’s Collaborative Advanced Robotics and Intelligent Systems Lab. In 2019, Sophie founded the Surrey Robotics Innovation Lab (SRIL) (surreyroboticsinnovationlab.ca) an organization that empowers youth in

Inclusion that are targeted at youth. Sophie received the Engineers and

Geoscientists BC Foundation’s 2019 Post- Secondary Entrance Scholarship and was acknowledged for her achievements at the Foundation Award Scholarship Reception in Vancouver, BC. The entry scholarships are awarded based on a combination of academic standing, extracurricular activities, financial need, and a statement from the student. A year of university for Sophie costs $8,600 in tuition and another $16,000 in housing and books. Receiving the entrance scholarship allows Sophie to focus on school and volunteering rather than finances. The Foundation is proud to support students like Sophie and to recognize the contributions she is making to engineering and to society. ABOUT THE FOUNDATION The Engineers and Geoscientists BC Foundation provides scholarships and bursaries to exceptional engineering and geoscience students in BC, to reduce the

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