A landmark $15-million gift from ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ alumnus Les Vadasz, a founding member of Intel Corporation, and his wife Judy Vadasz, will enhance the prestigious doctoral fellowship program that bears their name in ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔβs Faculty of Engineering, deepening their support for outstanding PhD students who pursue innovative research at ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ.
Their gift also aims to strengthen Montreal as an engineering and technology hub by attracting more top talent to ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ.
βWeβre deeply grateful for this extraordinary gift from Les and Judy Vadasz who have done so much to support our Faculty of Engineering,β said ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔβs Principal and Vice-Chancellor Suzanne Fortier. βTheir remarkable generosity continues to open doors for talented graduate students every year, and at the same time, supports our commitment to research excellence and innovation as ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ heads into its third century.β
The gift from the Vadasz Family Foundation builds on the coupleβs remarkable legacy of supporting graduate students in ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔβs Faculty of Engineering. Their endowed gift in 2008 established the Vadasz Doctoral Fellowships in Engineering. The Fellowships have sparked huge growth in PhD enrolment (up 63 per cent since 2005) and graduate research at ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔβs Faculty of Engineering. To date, 176 students have benefitted from the Vadasz Doctoral Fellowships.
With their latest gift, the Vadasz Doctoral Fellowships in Engineering will offer greater financial support to doctoral students each year, and for a longer period β four years, which is the standard time it takes to complete a PhD in Engineering. The fellowships, which were already among the most generous in Canada, help ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ recruit top graduates who will shape the future of engineering, and enrich the Canadian workforce and economy for decades to come.
Primarily intended for Canadian citizens or permanent residents, the Vadasz Doctoral Fellowships in Engineering will now support up to 60 doctoral students at a time over a four-year cohort, including 15 new recipients each year.
Les Vadasz, ΅ώ·‘²Τ²΅β61, ΆΩ³§³¦β07, came to Montreal in 1957 as a refugee fleeing the Hungarian Revolution and earned his engineering degree at ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ. He went on to an illustrious career in the United States, notably at tech giant Intel Corp., where he was part of its founding management team, and where he oversaw the development of the worldβs first commercially available microprocessor. Despite the passage of time and distance, Vadasz has never forgotten his alma mater.
βI really value the education I received at ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ, and the Fellowship program is a way of removing financial obstacles so that engineering students can focus on their graduate research and achieve their potential,β said Les Vadasz, who is now retired and lives in California. βIt reflects my gratitude to ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ and Canada for giving me the chance to study there, and also a desire to support innovative research at ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ, which helps drive progress.β
βThe Fellowships create multiple benefits,β said Jim Nicell, Dean of ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔβs Faculty of Engineering. βThey bring outstanding students to ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ who receive an excellent education, and help drive research in the Faculty. Doctoral students are required to make significant contributions in their area of research. And because theyβre working on their PhD, theyβre pushing the research agenda of the professors and University much further.β
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Owen Egan