Mateo Jarquin loves bringing his ideas to life – and sharing his journey from concept to execution to inspire others.
Growing up, Jarquin loved experimenting with LEGO and Minecraft. Today he uses a 3D printer to design and produce his creations, like a robotic hand that mirrors finger movements, which earned him Quebec’s prestigious youth innovator award.
Jarquin documents his endeavours on his popular YouTube channel, MateoTechLab, where he has built an audience of more than 42,000 subscribers. His most popular video has nearly 514,000 views, and his latest, I Built Glasses That Give You Spider-Sense, transforms pop culture fantasy into a new form of wearable tech with real-world applications for the visually impaired.
Perhaps most impressive – he’s done all of this before even starting university.
Jarquin is one of six new Schulich Leaders starting at McGill this fall, each a recipient of Canada’s most generous STEM scholarship. Along with Salma Elzayat and Odysseas Stefanakis, Jarquin has received a Schulich Leader Scholarship worth $120,000 to fund his studies in McGill’s Faculty of Engineering. Fittingly, Jarquin chose to study mechanical engineering.
“This scholarship will give me the freedom to focus on learning, building, and taking on ambitious engineering projects without worrying as much about the financial side of university,” says Jarquin, a native of Sherbrooke, Quebec. “I plan to keep designing technology that solves real problems while sharing my journey in hopes of inspiring others to start building their own ideas.”
Incoming bioengineering student and Schulich Leader Salma Elzayat, shares Jarquin’s enterprising spirit.
Growing up in rural Bonnyville, Alberta, where STEM learning opportunities were limited, Elzayat followed her natural curiosity, teaching herself MATLAB coding and taking the initiative to learn about neurotechnology.
“STEM has appealed to me for as long as I can remember,” reflects Elzayat. “But my interest in bioengineering first sparked when I was in grade 10, when I learned about brain-computer interfaces (BCIs). I was instantly drawn to the impactful work neurotechnology companies were leading through them.”
“Coming across an article about an individual with a spinal cord injury walking again and watching videos about patients with neurodegenerative diseases being able to verbally communicate again propelled my goal of BCI research and development,” she says, of the technology that enables a direct communication link between a person’s brain and an external device such as a computer. Elzayat hopes to one day develop devices that improve the lives of people with neurodegenerative conditions.
Jarquin, Elzayat and their fellow Schulich Leaders at McGill are among the 100 students each year who receive Schulich Leader Scholarships for undergraduate STEM studies at 20 partner universities across Canada.
The scholarship fund is the brainchild of McGill graduate Seymour Schulich, BSc’61, MBA’65, DLitt’04, who launched the program in 2012 to support outstanding STEM students and build a pipeline of talent to help ensure Canada’s competitiveness in the knowledge-based economy.
Schulich himself received a life-altering scholarship to attend McGill’s inaugural MBA class in 1965. A billionaire and one of Canada’s greatest philanthropists, he is passionate about paying his good fortune forward.
Fellow Schulich Leaders Danylo Berezovskyi, Brent Suter, and Aljoscha Ziegler are entering the Faculty of Science with scholarships worth $100,000.
Danylo Berezovskyi couldn’t quite believe his eyes when he saw the e-mail announcing he had received one of the prized scholarships. “I showed it to my twin sister for confirmation,” recalls Berezovskyi, who attended high school in Winnipeg.
He plans to study mathematics – a discipline he says will play an important future role in a wide variety of academic fields and industrial sectors.
“’Climate science, machine learning, and software development all heavily rely on mathematics,” says Berezovskyi, who won the Canadian senior mathematics Olympiad at his high school and helped lead an award-winning team that shone in a junior achievement business competition in Manitoba. He also landed a paid IT internship with the Royal Canadian Sea Cadets.
Berezovskyi is grateful that the scholarship will eliminate the need to balance his studies with working to pay his way through school. “This scholarship will allow me to seek more research, networking, and exchange opportunities along with being able to scout more internships for my future career development,” he says.
“I want to say thank you to the Schulich Foundation,” Berezovskyi adds, “and to everyone that helped me receive this scholarship, including my twin sister, Ielyzaveta, who has helped me through the entire process.”