Dr. Saida Maaroufi
Postdoctral fellow, École Polytechnique de Montréal
Chair, IEEE Montréal Section

Biography
Dr. Saida Maaroufi is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Mobile Computing and Networking Research Laboratory (LARIM), École Polytechnique de Montréal. She received her Ph.D. degree in computer engineering from École Polytechnique de Montréal in 2016. She teaches courses on networking and computer engineering since 2008. Her research broadly revolves around wireless and mobile computing with specific interests on distributed computing, interworking architecture design, context-aware ubiquitous computing, software-defined networking and network security. She is the Chair of IEEE Women In Engineering (WIE) Montreal and Area East Chair of IEEE Canada Women In Engineering (WIE). Since January 2019, she is serving as the Chair of IEEE Montreal Section.

Prasun Lala
Research officer, École de Technologie Supérieure de Montréal (ÉTS)

Biography
Prasun Lala is a research officer at l’École de technologie supérieure de Montréal (ÉTS) where he runs the SARA program – a program that helps graduate students develop their skills in scientific communication with hands-on group activities as well as feedback on their work. He also collaborates with researchers at McGill at the Centre for Intelligent Machines, as well as the Multimodal Interaction Lab, on computer vision topics. He has worked in technical and research settings for both private and academic institutions in Montréal, New York, and Lisbon. He holds a MSc. in Neurophysiology from the Aerospace Medical Research Unit at McGill.

Maxime Julien
Entrepreneur en Résidence - Centech Accélération

Biography
Maxime Julien is a tech executive with strong academic background and extensive experience as CEO, COO and VP of operations, VP program management and engineering, in high tech industries where complex products are designed, developed, built and operated. He is also a serial entrepreneur. While constantly working at developing new businesses, Maxime currently serves as Entrepreneur in Residence at Centech. Within two years as SkyMotion's CEO, Maxime took the technology at an early prototype stage and transformed it into a commercially successful product, and then sold the company in October 2013 to AccuWeather, a worldwide leader in weather forecasting information. Prior to SkyMotion, Maxime Julien served as COO for Electronic Arts Montreal Studio and before that, he served as VP Operations for Ubisoft’s Montreal Studio. Before joining the gaming industry, Maxime also held several executive leadership roles in the management of high-tech enterprises and blue-chip companies such as Ericsson, Motorola and CAE. Maxime holds a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering (B.Eng.) from Laval University in Quebec City and a M.B.A. degree with a specialisation in Finance from HEC Montreal.

Dr. Federico Rosei
Professor, Centre Énergie, Matériaux et Télécommunications, INRS
Vice Chair, IEEE Montréal Section

Biography
Federico Rosei received MSc (1996) and PhD (2001) degrees from the University of Rome “La Sapienza”. He held the Canada Research Chair (Junior) in Nanostructured Organic and Inorganic Materials (2003–2013) and since May 2016 he holds the Canada Research Chair (Senior) in Nanostructured Materials. He is Professor at the Centre Énergie, Matériaux et Télécommunications, Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique, Varennes (QC) Canada, where he served as Director from July 2011 to March 2019. Since January 2014 he holds the UNESCO Chair in Materials and Technologies for Energy Conversion, Saving and Storage. Dr. Rosei’s research interests focus on the properties of nanostructured materials, and on how to control their size, shape, composition, stability and positioning when grown on suitable substrates. He has extensive experience in fabricating, processing and characterizing inorganic, organic and biocompatible nanomaterials. He is co-inventor of three patents and has published over 315 articles in prestigious international journals (including Science, Nature Photonics, and many others), has been invited to speak at over 310 international conferences and has given over 240 seminars and colloquia, over 55 professional development lectures and 40 public lectures in 45 countries on all inhabited continents. His publications have been cited over 12,400 times and his H index is 56. He is Fellow of numerous prestigious national and international societies and academies, and has received several awards and honours, including the Rutherford Memorial Medal in Chemistry (Royal Society of Canada 2011), the Herzberg Medal (Canadian Association of Physics 2013), the Brian Ives lectureship award (ASM international / Canada Council 2013), the Award for Excellence in Materials Chemistry (Canadian Society for Chemistry 2014), the José Vasconcelos Award for Education (World Cultural Council 2014), the IEEE NTC Distinguished Lectureship 2015–2016, the Lash Miller Award (Electrochemical Society 2015), the Chang Jiang Scholar Award (Government of China), the Khwarizmi International Award from the Iran Research Organization for Science and Technology (IROST), the Recognition for Excellence in Leadership from the American Vacuum Society (2015), the John C. Polanyi Award (Canadian Society for Chemistry 2016), the Outstanding Engineer Award (IEEE Canada 2017), the Sigma Xi Distinguished Lectureship (2018–2020), the Sichuan 1000 talent (short term) award, the Changbai Mountain Friendship Award (2018), the IEEE Montreal Gold Medal (2018), the APS John Wheatley Award (2019) and the Blaise Pascal Medal (European Academy of Science 2019).