Speakers
Félix Camirand Lemyre
Associate Professor at the Sciences Faculty at University of Sherbrooke
Félix Camirand Lemyre is a statistician methodologist, biostatistician, and assistant professor in the department of mathematics at the Université de Sherbrooke (UdS). He is also the director of the statistical consulting center of UdS, a member of the Centre de recherche du Centre hospitalier universitaire de Sherbrooke and a regular researcher of the GRIIS. His research focuses on statistical inference procedures for complex exposures measured with errors, on dependance modelling and on time series analysis.
Sébastien Garbarino, Ph.D.
Director, Infrastructures and Innovation at Prima Québec
With over 15 years of experience in materials research and development, Mr. Garbarino is an expert in the field of chemistry and nanomaterials for energy storage and conversion systems. After obtaining his Master’s Degree in Organic, Analytical and Marine Environmental Chemistry from the Institut Universitaire Européen de la Mer (France) in 2002, he completed his PhD in Electrochemistry in 2007 at University College Cork (Ireland) as part of the Surface Active Sites and Exhaust Fumes European network. With a passion for materials structuring (meso to nano) in the field of electrocatalysis, functionalized nanoparticles and the development of sensors and microsupercapacitors, Mr. Garbarino will pursue his post-doctoral training at the Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique – Energie Matériaux et Télécommunication (INRS-EMT). As a INRS Research Associate in Prof. Guay’s research group, he co-invented three patents and co-authored 65 publications. Mr. Garbarino has also been recognized by a number of innovation contests (including the FRQNT and NSERC), granting him considerable knowledge of Quebec’s innovation ecosystem and funding opportunities.
Sébastien Garbarino joined PRIMA Québec in 2018 as an Infrastructure and Innovation Consultant. He is in charge of the Infrastructure en Recherche et Développement du Québec (IRDQ); a unique tool intended to support Quebec companies and academic researchers in their innovation projects in the field of advanced materials.
Mélanie Houle
Lawyer at Montréal International
Mélanie Houle holds a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Montreal. She began her practice in immigration law more than 20 years ago and has worked in private firms and for governmental and non-governmental organizations. She is now leading, since October 2021, the International mobility team at Montréal International (MI). For the past 25 years, Montréal International has contributed to building Greater Montréal’s international reputation and prosperity by acting as a driving force for economic development. Its mandate is to attract direct foreign investment, international organizations, entrepreneurs, talented workers and international students to the region.
Falisha Karpati, Ph.D.
Inclusion and Diversity Consultant
Falisha Karpati, Ph.D. is an Inclusion Consultant who uses neuroscience to build lasting engagement in equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) initiatives. Her unique brain-based approach centers on the interconnectedness of cognitive, demographic, and experiential diversity - how we think, who we are, and what we’ve lived. Falisha holds a PhD in Neuroscience from McGill University where she researched how the brain is impacted by training. She also holds a Certificate in Diversity and Inclusion from Cornell University. Prior to launching her consulting practice, she was a Training and Equity Advisor at McGill University. In her consulting practice, she conducts EDI assessments including surveys and policy audits, guides organizations through action plan development and implementation, and facilitates brain-based training. In the past year, she has provided training and consultations for over 15 organizations across academic, nonprofit, and corporate sectors.
Ali Katal
Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer at PlaneteGreenLeaves
Ali Katal is a researcher and entrepreneur in the domains of building energy and urban climate, developing and employing tools for climate change mitigation studies in cities. Since 2016, he has been appointed as a research associate at the Building and Environmental Engineering Department of Concordia University. In 2020, he successfully defended his Ph.D. dissertation in developing multi-scale urban building energy and climate simulation tools for Canadian cities. In the fall of 2021, he was appointed as a postdoctoral fellow at the Scientific Venture Program of V1 Studio. In March 2020, he co-founded PlaneteGreenLeaves, a company offering urban digital twin platforms to help cities achieve net-zero emissions objectives.
Andrea Mendoza
Operations Lead and QcSE Coordinator at V1 Studio
About V1 Studio:
We offer researcher-specific programs with different commitment levels to provide every researcher in Canada a touchpoint with entrepreneurship. We believe researchers in Canada are entrepreneurial at heart; however, they might not know it yet. They need guidance to imprint this mindset and capitalize on its potential. V1 Studio clearly sees the potential researchers have in entrepreneurship. We are on a mission to equip researchers with tools to expand their vision, support to ignite their desire, and resources to spark their curiosity. Our programs include the Québec Scientific Entrepreneurship Program and the Scientific Venture Program.
Mohammad Mortezazadeh
Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer at PlaneteGreenLeaves
Mohammad Mortezazadeh is a computational scientist, software developer and advisor for urban microclimate simulation and high-performance calculating. His focus is on the development of fast computational tools for urban environment, pedestrian comfort, and the impact of climate change on the cities and human health at city scale. Mohammad holds a Doctoral degree of Building and Environmental engineering from Concordia University. Mohammad is leading different research groups at different institutions, including Concordia University and Lawrence National Berkeley Lab at USA. He has authored and coauthored several journal papers, and peer reviewed scientific articles.
Dr. Karthik Panchabikesan
Research Assistant at University of Central Florida (UCF)
Dr. Karthik Panchabikesan is currently working in Elsevier as a Scientific Editor. He will be joining Florida Solar Energy Center (FSEC), Florida as a Research Assistant in August 2022. He completed his Postdoctoral training (January 2018 to September 2021) at Concordia University, Montréal and did his Ph.D. (July 2013 to December 2017) in Mechanical Engineering at Anna University, India. Karthik has contributed to 2 book chapters, and 31 publications with h-index and i-index of 14 and 19. respectively. To know more about Karthik’s profile, please visit this website.
Sébastien Poncet
Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Sherbrooke
Sébastien Poncet received his engineering diploma and his master degree in physical oceanography from Seatech (Toulon, France) in 2002 and the Ph.D. degree in complex systems from Aix-Marseille University (IRPHE UMR 7342) in 2005, for a thesis on turbulent rotor-stator interdisk flows. He was then postdoc/assistant lecturer for one year before getting a position of assistant professor at Aix-Marseille University in 2006 (M2P2 UMR 7340). He joined the University of Sherbrooke in 2014, where he is currently full professor in the mechanical engineering department. He holds the NSERC/Hydro-Québec/Natural Resources Canada/Emerson Industrial Research Chair in Industrial Energy Efficiency (2014-24). His research interests include the experimental characterization of the thermophysical properties of complex heat transfer fluids (nanofluids, slurries, PCMs) and the advanced numerical modelings of thermal systems (supersonic ejector, vortex tube, magnetocaloric refrigeration, heat exchanger, turbomachineries…). He co-authored more than 300 publications and is member of the editorial board of several international journals. Visit: https://lmfteus.wordpress.com.
Bahare Samadi
Research, training and recruitment consultant at Adoc Talent Management Canada
Bahare holds a Ph.D. in biomedical engineering specializing in the biomechanics of human gait, pediatric rehabilitation, and artificial intelligence (AI) from Polytechnique Montreal. Recognizing the challenges that Ph.D. holders face in their transition from university to other sectors, she joined Adoc Talent Management to make this journey more efficient for both recruiters and candidates. She works as a research, training and recruitment consultant.
Rachel Samson
Analyst at CIHR (Canadian Institutes for Health Research)
My professional journey started at the Université Laval, where I worked as an undergraduate laboratory assistant in a few labs. I enjoyed research work and remained in a neuroscience lab for my master’s degree. I then followed the lab to the Center for Molecular and Behavioral Sciences of Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, where I completed their graduate program. Finally, I held a post-doc/research associate position at the Evelyn F. McKnight Brain Institute of the University of Arizona, for many years. I returned to “La Belle Province” in 2017 and held a variety of positions, including science curator for an AI startup and science writer. Since January 2021, I am a data analyst at the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), from where I had landed a postdoctoral fellowship numerous years prior. I am happy to be contributing to the advancement of health research in Canada.