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Concordia University’s engineering school is first in Canada to be named after a woman

Published

6 années ago

septembre 24, 2018

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As a rookie engineer in the late 1980s, Gina Parvaneh Cody attended a conference in Toronto that she will never forget.

The conference was about tower cranes, but that’s not what made it memorable. The moment that has now crystallized in her memory is when the MC opened his mouth to greet the crowd of 700 people: “Lady and gentleman,” he began, “good evening.”

“There was one woman. It was me,” Cody recently recalled, speaking from her North York home. “I still remember that.”

Since moving to Canada from Iran in 1979 to pursue her master’s degree, Cody has been a trailblazer in the male-dominated field of engineering: she was the first woman to earn a PhD in building engineering from Concordia University and the first to scale Toronto’s construction cranes as a machine inspector. She enjoyed a successful career spanning three decades that saw her collect accolades and ascend to the executive chair position at her engineering firm, which Profit magazine once named one of Canada’s most profitable woman-owned companies.

Opinion | The urgent need to get more women involved in technology

Now, two years after her retirement, Cody is making her mark on the industry once again. On Monday, Concordia University announced that it will be renaming its engineering faculty the Gina Cody School of Engineering and Computer Science — making it the first engineering school in Canada (and one of the few worldwide) to be named after a woman.

The announcement comes on the heels of a $15-million donation Cody made to the engineering faculty to promote equity, diversity and inclusion — funds that will be matched in part by Concordia to create programming dedicated to these issues.

The gift will also support student scholarships, research on smart cities, and the creation of three academic chairs: in data analytics and artificial intelligence, the “internet of things,” and Industry 4.0 and advanced manufacturing.

“The name change is a reflection of our desire to achieve equity, diversity and inclusion with a particular emphasis on gender balance,” said Amir Asif, dean of the engineering faculty, in a press release. “Gina will be a perfect role model for young women and inspire them to join this exciting profession.”

Throughout her career, Cody has yearned to see more women thriving in the professional field she loves. Across Canada, only 20 per cent of university engineering students are women, according to Engineers Canada. (At Concordia, 23 per cent of engineering and computer science students in the last academic year were women.)

By the time these students enter the job market, the numbers grow even bleaker: currently, women make up only 12.8 per cent of the country’s working engineers, according to Statistics Canada.

Many barriers are systemic but Cody also believes girls need more women role models in the field. That’s why she agreed to lend her name to Concordia’s engineering school and insisted it always include the “Gina” and never be shortened to “Cody” — an uncharacteristic decision for a person whom friends describe as understated.

“I’m trying to send a message,” Cody said. “I think it will break that fear that engineering and computer science is for boys. I’m hoping kids at school, when they hear it, will say, ‘Oh, it’s a woman’s name!’ and it will matter.”

Growing up in Tehran, Cody was always handy as a child and often wound up fixing the broken furniture and televisions in her home. Engineering is something of a calling in her family: her father ran a private school for boys but also worked in construction, and all three of her brothers grew up to become engineers, leaving only her sister, who became a dentist instead. (One of Cody’s two daughters is now studying engineering, while the other is in law school.)

Cody never thought of engineering as a dream beyond her reach. In fact, both of her parents encouraged her to pursue her education in whatever field she desired — especially her mother, whose own education ended at Grade 11. “She used to tell me that the only way for a woman to have independence is to have an education,” Cody said. “That (stayed) in my brain.”

Cody got her degree in structural engineering at Iran’s top university and in 1979 she moved to Canada to pursue her master’s at McGill University.

But when she landed in Montreal, clutching $2,000 in traveller’s cheques, she was met by her brother, who was then studying at Concordia. He convinced her to meet with one of his engineering professors, Cedric Marsh, and Cody agreed.

After a lengthy meeting, which clearly left Marsh impressed, the professor suggested to Cody that she change her plans. Why don’t you come to Concordia instead? he asked, also throwing in a scholarship to cover her $4,000 tuition. “It was a dream come true,” she said.

Her encounter with Marsh changed the course of her life and career. At Concordia, Cody learned the skills that became the foundation for a successful 30-year career in engineering; she also met her future husband and the father of her two daughters, Thomas Cody, who is now retired from his position as senior vice-president with the Bank of America Canada.

At Concordia, Cody’s initial focus was on earthquake engineering and this work brought her to Peru, where she collaborated with Marsh on a Canadian government-funded project to improve housing for people in earthquake-prone areas.

After graduating, she moved to Toronto, where the booming job market lured several of her engineering classmates. Cody spent a year working for Ontario’s Ministry of Housing, where she helped shape the province’s building codes.

Her first private sector job was with an engineering consulting company called Construction Control, where she was trained to perform crane inspections — an often harrowing job that involved climbing the sky-high machines to inspect every nut and bolt.

Cody says she was the only woman in Toronto doing this type of work at the time. She remembers climbing down a crane one day in the middle of winter, only to be confronted by an astonished construction worker. “He said, ‘Why don’t you learn to type? You don’t have to do this hard work at -30 degrees,” she said. “I don’t think he meant it in the wrong way. He was genuine, but that was the view and vision. That women are weak.”

Before long, Cody was scaling the ranks at her company, which was renamed CCI Group in 2013 (after a 2016 merger, the company now operates under McIntosh Perry Consulting Engineers). She eventually became its president and CEO, retiring in 2016 as executive chair and principal shareholder.

Throughout her career, Cody was also a prolific volunteer, serving on various boards, associations and organizations, including Professional Engineers Ontario, the industry’s regulatory and licensing body. “She’s a trailblazer,” said Johnny Zuccon, the organization’s interim registrar. “Whatever she took on, she’d go beyond what was required and always delivered on deadline.”

Under her watch, CCI was recognized by the Financial Post as one of Canada’s best-managed companies and in 2010, Profit magazine — which called Cody one of the country’s top women entrepreneurs — listed it as the ninth most profitable Canadian company owned by a woman.

Cody said she has always tried to support women in her industry, where dismissive and discriminatory attitudes continue to lurk. She thinks back to times when people would mistake her as someone’s assistant, or to the older men who clearly resented seeing a woman at the front of the room.

During her time at the helm of CCI, female representation on staff grew to between 20 and 25 per cent, she noted in a 2013 interview with Concordia University Magazine — a relatively high number in an industry where less than 13 per cent are currently women.

Cody now hopes to continue supporting women engineers through her donation to Concordia. She said she’s always wanted to give back to the university because she’s grateful for the opportunities it gave her when she first arrived in Canada. She hopes, in part, that her donation will also change some of the negative attitudes she now sees towards immigrants. “We cherish Canada. We want to give back.”

But more than anything, she wants the Gina Cody School of Engineering and Computer Science to send a message to young girls and women — that they, too, belong in these professions, should they choose to pursue them.

“I don’t want to be the only woman in the room,” she said. “My mission is having more women in this field. That’s what I want to see.”

Jennifer Yang is a Toronto-based reporter covering identity and inequality. Follow her on Twitter: @jyangstar

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Anglais

Nostalgia and much more with Starburst XXXtreme

Published

3 années ago

août 10, 2021

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Get a taste of adventure with Starburst XXXtreme based on the legendary NetEnt Game. The nostalgic themes are sure to capture fans of the classic version as they get treated to higher intensity, better visuals, and features. The most significant element of the game is its volatility. Patience will not be an essential virtue considering the insane gameplay, and there is a lot of win potential involved. It retains the original makeup of the previous game while adding a healthy dose of adrenaline.

Starburst Visuals and Symbols

The game is definitely more conspicuous than before. The setting happens over a 5-reel, 3-row game grid with nine fixed win lines, which function if a succession from the left to the right reel is present. Only those players that that attain the highest win per bet line are paid. From a visual standpoint, the Starburst XXXtreme slots illustrates lightning effects behind the reels, which is not surprising as it is inherited from the original version. Available themes include Classic, Jewels, and Space. The game is also available in both desktop and mobile versions, which is advantageous for players considering the global pandemic. According to Techguide, American gamers are increasingly having more engaging gaming experiences to socialize to fill the gap of in-person interaction. Starburst XXXtreme allows them to fill the social void at a time when there is so much time to be had indoors.

Starburst XXXTreme Features

Players get to alternate on three features which are Starburst Wilds, XXXtreme Spins, and Random Wilds. The first appears on reels 2,3, or 4. When these land, they expand to cover all positions while also calculating the wins. They are also locked for a respin. If a new one hits, it also becomes locked while awarding another respin. Starburst XXXtreme offers a choice between two scenarios for a higher stake. In one scenario with a ten times stake, the Starburst Wild is set on random on reels 2,3, or 4, and a multiplier starts the respin. The second scenario, which has a 95 times stake, starts with two guaranteed starburst wilds on reels 2,3, or 4. it also plays out using respin game sequence and features. The game also increases the potential with the Random Wilds feature to add Starburst Wilds to a vacant reel at the end of a spin. Every Starburst Wild gives a random multiplier with potential wins of x2, x3, x5, x10, x25, x50, x100, or even x150.

The new feature is sure to be a big hit with the gaming market as online gambling has shown significant growth during the lockdown. AdAge indicates the current casino customer base is an estimated one in five Americans, so Starburst XXXtreme’s additional features will achieve considerable popularity.

What We Think About The Game

The gambling market has continued to diversify post-pandemic, so it is one of the most opportune times to release an online casino-based game. Thankfully Starburst XXXtreme features eye-catching visuals, including the jewels and space themes. These attract audience participation and make the gameplay inviting. The game also has a nostalgic edge. The previous NetEnt iteration featured similar visuals and gameplay, so the audience has some familiarity with it. The producers have revamped this version by tweaking the features to improve the volatility and engagement.

That is characterized by the potential win cap of 200,000 times the bet. Starburst XXXtreme does not just give betting alternatives for players that want to go big. The increase of multipliers also provides a great experience. If the respins in the previous version were great, knowing that multipliers can go hundreds of times overtakes the game to a new level.

Players should get excited about this offering. All of the features can be triggered within a single spin. Whether one plays the standard game or takes the XXXtreme spin route, it is possible to activate all of the features. Of course, the potential 200,000 times potential is a huge carrot. However, the bet size is probably going to be restricted and vary depending on the casino. It is also worth pointing out that a malfunction during the gameplay will void all of the payouts and progress. Overall, the game itself has been designed to provide a capped win of 200,000 times the original bet.

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Anglais

‘We’re back’: Montreal festival promoters happy to return but looking to next year

Published

3 années ago

juillet 23, 2021

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In downtown Montreal, it’s festival season.

In the city’s entertainment district, a musical act was conducting a sound check on stage Friday evening — the second day of the French-language version of the renowned Just For Laughs comedy festival. Tickets for many of the festival’s free outdoor shows — limited by COVID-19 regulations — were sold out.

Two blocks away, more than 100 people were watching an acoustic performance by the Isaac Neto Trio — part of the last weekend of the Festival International Nuits d’Afrique, a celebration of music from the African continent and the African diaspora.

With COVID-19 restrictions continuing to limit capacity, festival organizers say they’re glad to be back but looking forward to next year when they hope border restrictions and capacity limits won’t affect their plans.

Charles Décarie, Just For Laughs’ CEO and president, said this is a “transition year.”

“Even though we have major constraints from the public health group in Montreal, we’ve managed to design a festival that can navigate through those constraints,” Décarie said.

The French-language Juste pour rire festival began on July 15 and is followed by the English-language festival until July 31.

When planning began in February and March, Décarie said, organizers came up with a variety of scenarios for different crowd sizes, ranging from no spectators to 50 per cent of usual capacity.

“You’ve got to build scenarios,” he said. “You do have to plan a little bit more than usual because you have to have alternatives.”

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Anglais

MELS new major movie studio to be built in Montreal

Published

3 années ago

juillet 23, 2021

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MONTREAL — MELS Studios will build a new film studio in Montreal, filling some of the gap in supply to meet the demand of Hollywood productions.

MELS president Martin Carrier said on Friday that MELS 4 studio construction will begin « as soon as possible », either in the fall or winter of next year. The studio could host productions as early as spring 2023.

The total investment for the project is $76 million, with the Quebec government contributing a $25 million loan. The project will create 110 jobs, according to the company.

The TVA Group subsidiary’s project will enable it to stand out « even more » internationally, according to Quebecor president and CEO Pierre Karl Péladeau. In the past, MELS Studios has hosted several major productions, including chapters of the X-Men franchise. The next Transformers movie is shooting this summer in Montreal.

Péladeau insisted that local cultural productions would also benefit from the new facility, adding that the studio ensures foreign revenues and to showcase talent and maintain an industry of Quebec producers.

STUDIO SHORTAGE

The film industry is cramped in Montreal.

According to a report published last May by the Bureau du cinéma et de la télévision du Québec (BCTQ), there is a shortage of nearly 400,000 square feet of studio space.

With the addition of MELS 4, which will be 160,000 square feet, the company is filling part of the gap.

Carrier admitted that he has had to turn down contracts because of the lack of space, representing missed opportunities of « tens of millions of dollars, not only for MELS, but also for the Quebec economy. »

« Montreal’s expertise is in high demand, » said Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante, who was present at the announcement.

She said she received great testimonials from « Netflix, Disney, HBO and company » during an economic mission to Los Angeles in 2019.

« What stands out is that they love Montreal because of its expertise, knowledge and beauty. We need more space, like MELS 4, » she said.

There is still not enough capacity in Quebec, acknowledged Minister of Finance, the Economy and Innovation Eric Girard.

« It is certain that the government is concerned about fairness and balance, so if other requests come in, we will study them with the same seriousness as we have studied this one, » he said.

Grandé Studios is the second-largest player in the industry. Last May, the company said it had expansion plans that should begin in 2022. Investissement Québec and Bell are minority shareholders in the company.

For its part, MELS will have 400,000 square feet of production space once MELS 4 is completed. The company employs 450 people in Quebec and offers a range of services including studio and equipment rentals, image and sound postproduction, visual effects and a virtual production platform.