The McGill news v.98 no.2 Winter 2017-18

2017·54.3 MB·English

by  McGill University. Graduates' Society.

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ALUMNI MAGAZINE WINTER
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CHARLES TAYLOR HAS HIS SAY -7 INDIGENOUS PERSPECTIVES
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RISE OF THE MACHINES
Montreal has become a global hotspot for cutting-edge
research in artificial intelligence. As AI transforms
the world of technology, McGill computer scientists
Joelle Pineau and Doina Precup are playing major roles.
BY DANIEL MCCABE, BA'89
A PHILOSOPHER OF THE ROAD TO UN TRAVAIL
THE HERE AND NOW RECONCILIATION DE MONTREALISTES
One of the world's most With the Report of the Pour etre membre du Centre
influential thinkers, Truth and Reconciliation de recherches interdisciplinaires
Charles Taylor, BA' 52, Commission serving as en etudes montrealaises
has long been celebrated a catalyst, McGill is planning (CRI EM), les chercheurs
for his compassionate and for a future in which many doivent obligatoirement
clear-eyed approach. more Indigenous students adherer au principe du partage
As he takes stock of the pursue degrees at the des expertises et de la
21st century, he sees cause University-almost triple eo-construction du savoir
for both hope and alarm. the current number. avec le milieu.
BY USA FITIERMAN, BA'81 BY PATRICK MCOONAGH PAR JEAN-BENOTT NADEAU (8. A.l992)
M GILL NEWS• INTEH 2017/18 1
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McGillNews
EDITOR'S NOTEBOOK
WINTER 2017/18
Volume 98 I No 2
A SPECIAL
EDITOR
Daniel McCabe, BA'89
RELATIONSHIP
SENIOR CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Brenda Branswell
CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
Daniel Chonchol. BCL'81, LLB'82
MANAGING DIRECTOR, Th e first time I gained a real sense of just how important McGill was to
COMMUNICATIONS AND Montreal was when I read X-Men #120 back in high school.
DONOR RELATIONS
Derek Cassoff At the time, X-Men was the best-selling comic book in North
America and a pop culture phenomenon-at least among nerdy
EDITORIAL ASSISTANTS 15-year-olds like me. What made that issue particularly noteworthy was
Jennifer Testa the introduction of a brand-new Canadian superh ero team called Alpha Flight.
Natasha Carr -Harris
Among its members was a shaggy orange behemoth named Sasquatch, who, in
his civilian identity, was Walter Langkowski, a former NFL player turned physics
ADVISORY BOARD
Courtney Mullins. 8Com'06 (Chair) professor. Langkowski lived in Montreal, where he taught at McGill.
Annmarie Adams. BA'81 My hometown got a mention in X-Men. Because of McGill. That got my
Christopher Buddle attention. (And the notion of a former NFL player becoming a McGill physics
Carole Graveline. BA'75
professor seems a little less preposterous since McGill medical student
Allan Johnson. BA'85
Laurent Duvernay-Tardif began taking breaks from his studies to suit up for
Gabrielle Korn
Adam Muscott, 8Com'99, MBA'05 the Kansas City Chiefs.)
Marc Weinstein. BA'85, BCL'91, LL8'91 The first time I gained a real sense of just how important Montreal was to
me was a few years ago on a train as it approached Windsor Station. I had been
DESIGN encouraged to apply for ajo b in another city and I was heading back home after
Steven McClenaghan
an interview for the position. As the train travelled past familiar landmarks,
Graphic Design, Communications
and External Relations I was caught off-guard by a wrenching sorrow caused by the possibility that I
might be moving on. I knew I liked Montreal, but I hadn't fully realized how
MCGILL NEWS much I loved Montreal. (I was soon rescued from any further psychic discomfort
1430 Peel Street when the decision was made to hire someone else for that job.)
Montreal, QC, Canada H3A 3T3
Montreal is a unique and dynamic city, in part, because it has McGill.
Tel.: [phone]
Fax:[phone] McGill consistently attracts talented people, in part, because they want to live
Email: news.alumni®mcgill.ca in Montreal. It's been a win-win proposition for almost two centuries now.
Web: mcgillnews.mcgill.ca Principal Suzanne Fortier has her own thoughts on the special relationship
Twitter: @McGillNewsMag between her city and her university. You can find them by turning the page.
One of our feature articles this issue focuses on the McGill-led Centre for
McGill News is published by
Interdisciplinary Research on Montreal, a consortium of Montreal-based
McGill University
Circulation: 50,000 copies researchers that will be carefully examining the city and its defining charac
Printed in Canada ISSN 0709 9223 teristics for years to come. CIRM members have already noticed one thing.
Montrealers often take some of their city's best qualities-its diversity, for
Canadian Publications Mail Product
instance -for granted.
Sales Agreement No. 40613661
Another of our features looks at Montreal's emergence in the flourishing
Cover illustration: Thinkstock field of artificial intelligence. Publications like Fortune and Fast Company have
taken notice and many of the biggest names in the tech industry are setting
up shop in the city and turning to McGill professors and graduates for their
expertise. It's another example ofMcGill benefitting Montreal and Montreal
benefitting McGill.
Once you get past the potholes and the construction detours and the longwinters
and the Canadiens' perpetual inability to find a top-line centre, Montrealers
would quickly agree that this is a city with one-of-a-kind charms. The 375th
anniversary might be over, but our celebration of Montreal will never end.""
DANIEL MCCABE, BA'89
M GILL N •WS·WINTER 2017/18 3
Building better
body armour
WhenFLORAJORDAN, BEng'12, designed new body armour for
the US. Mru:ine Corps, she went to unusual lengths tote tit out.
To get a sense ofw hat it felt like, she trudged six miles daily, up
and down a mountain in California, wearing the protective gear
alongside marine instructors.
She also hiked with the new geartlu·ough the jungle in Panama
during a test event. "That was kind ofm i erable,' laughs Jordan, a
body armo r engineer with the Marines Corps Systems Command. make good design choices, you have to thoroughly understand how
That dedication didn't go unnoticed. She was among the US. mal'ines operate in the equipment you create for them.
federal workers recently honoured with a 2017 Samuel J. Heyman The body armour system Jordan designed is 45 per cent lighter
Service to America Medal, known as the "Oscars ofU.S. govern than the armour currently used by marines.
ment service. Before setting about her task, she interviewed 600 marines to
Jordan received the Promising Innovations Medal for designing get their input.
lighter body armour that provides greater mobility, allows for a bet "The fact that I can take their perspective and actually con
ter fit for men and women of different statures, and offers potential vert it into a physical item that's going to help them do their
long-term health benefits by reducing the impact on back and job better, that's my favourite part" of the work, says Jordan.
shoulders. It's also just as protective as the mal'ines' current gear. BRENDA BRANSWELL
"''ve tested a lot ofg ear and I've tested it all with them," she says
ofm arines. It stems from her belief that to be a good engineer and
1'
Body armour engineer
Flora Jordan
PREPARING/or their RHODES TRIP
healthcare," says Lachapelle. He put his Outside of her classes, she has been
Me Gill medical studies on hold for a year the web editorfortheMcGill Tribune, the
to join an artificial intelligence startup in director ofHackMcGill, the vice-pres
New York, where he got an up-close look ident academic of McGill's Computer
at how machine learning methods could Science Undergraduate Society, and the
reduce diagnostic errors and improve eo-chair of the World University Service
patient outcomes. Canada, where she helped raise funds for a
"It was one of the most enriching student refugee program. She is also an
experiences of my life," Lachapelle says. avid musician (clarinet, bass, saxophone,
It convinced him that AI can play a pivotal cello and piano).
role in health care. It also showed how "I do things that I find interesting
introducing new innovations is no easy and meaningful," she says. "Ijusthappen
thing-the regulatory and commercial to find a lot of things interesting and
ization challenges alone can be daunting. meaningful."
Mc Gill's newest Rhodes Scholars, Lachapelle was also a liaison officer for McGill has now produced 144 Rhodes
medical student ALEXANDER the International Federation of Medical Scholars, the highest number for any
LACHAPELLE and math and Students' Associations (IF M SA), an university in Canada.
computer science student CLARE organization that represents 1.3 million NEALE MCDEVITT
LYLE, will both spend their time at the medical students from 127 countries.
University of Oxford learning all they Lyle will work towards a doctorate in !": McGill's newest Rhodes Scholars
can about machine learning. machine learning at Oxford. "I am espe Alexandre lachapelle and Clare lyle.
"I want to study how we can use cially interested in looking at theoretical
[machine learning] to improve access to foundations for machine learning."
6 MCGILL NEWS•WINTER 2017/18
KEEPING TORONTO
HEALTHY
71 EILEEN DE VILLA, BSc'91, leads an organization with nearly
2,000 employees, a budget close to $250 million, and the task
oflooking after the health of 2.8 million people.
Sound daunting? Clearly not to de Villa, who relishes her
new role as Toronto's medical officer of health.
"I think it's the perfect role because it combines everything
that I'm interested in and allows me the opportunity to apply my
skills and knowledge - I feel-to good use."
S.e arch engine It's an incredible platform, she adds, to advance public health
goals and set the pace for Toronto, and arguably further afield,
p1oneer now a
about what improves the health status ofpopulations.
Deciding to become a doctor took her a bit of time, says de
hall of famer
Villa, recalling how she had many interests when she graduated
from McGill.
"Actually trying to narrow down, to say 'this is what I'm going
WhenALAN EMTAGE, BSc'87, MSc'91, was
to do for the rest of my life,' I found very challenging."
recently inducted into the Internet Hall of
She decided she might be able to accomplish meaningful things
Fame, he wore a bright red McGill tie. It was
within international or public health if she became a physician.
a tribute to the school where he achieved
In addition to becoming a doctor, she also earned an MBA
pioneer status in 1989 when he created Archie,
De Villa began her new job last March and in the summer called
generally regarded as the world's first Internet
for a public discussion on decriminalizing drugs. The current
search engine.
enforcement approachmeantto discourage drug use "doesn't seem
'1 don't think of myself as a visionary," says
to be effective," she says, citing the opioid crisis facing Canadian
Emtage. "It was just a matter of being at the
communities.
right place at the right time."
Chronic disease is another preoccupation. She says much
Emtage wasn't the only person working on
can be done at a population level to prevent or delay the onset of
an Internet search engine in the late eighties,
chronic diseases. The better public health is at doing that, "the
but Archie was the first to be publicly distrib
more sustainable we're making the health care system."
uted, which is why he's considered an innovator.
Today, search engines like Google are ubiqui BRENDA BRANSWELL
to us, but back then, Emtage's goal was merely to
create something simple to make his work at the
School ofC omputer Science a little less tedious.
At the time, modems operated at unfathom
ably slow speeds and were prone to slowdowns
and clogging. Emtage created a system that
operated at night, when no one else in the
department was using the Internet.
As sophisticated as search engines have
become, Emtage says Archie created a basic
template that's still being followed today.
'1\rchie developed the principles.that these
search engines work on, which is basically go
out there, retrieve information, index it and
allow people to search through," he explains.
Emtage, now the chief technical officer for
Mediapolis, a web development company in 6
NewYork,enjoyedtheopportunitytocompare ~
t;;
notes with the other hall offamers.
~ Eileen de Villa is the medical officer of health for Toronto
"There were a lot ofo ld timers there, and we z
~
were all saying if anyone says they knew [the
~
Internet] would basically revolutionize human 0::
0< (
life, they're lying." 'i
~
ERIK LEIJON ~
~
----------------------------------~~
Alan Emtage at the 20171ntemet Hall of Fame
induction ceremony M GILL NEWS•WINTER 2017/18 1
A cheaper, greener way
to make concrete
A CANADIA HERO
FINALLY
GETS HIS DUE
H
e may be the country's greatest war hero,
but most Canadians had never heard of
71 A team ofMcGill graduates vying for a $7.5 million grand prize in
JAMES CAMPBELL CLOUSTON.
a global competition will learn in February if they've made it to
The onetime McGill engineering student
the final round.
played a decisive role in one of the most
If they scale that hurdle, the Montreal-based CARBICRETE
remarkable events ofthe Second World War:
team will be in the homestretch, so to speak, of the 54-month NRG
Operation Dynamo -the 1940 evacuation of
COSIA CarbonXPRIZE. Winners will be announced in March 2020.
some 400,000 British and Allied troops from the
Teams compete to develop breakthrough technologies that convert
beach at Dunkirk. Christopher Nolan's recent
carbon dioxide emissions from power plants and oil and gas facilities
blockbuster Dunkirk rekindled interest in
into valuable products.
this epic event, and in the essential role that a
In Carbicrete's case, that's cement-free, carbon-negative concrete.
Canadian played in the dramatic rescue.
Cement production accounts for five per cent ofg lobal C02emissions,
The massive evacuation seemed doomed to
notes team leader MEHRDAD MAHOUTIAN, PhD'14.
fail. Since the waters off the beach were too shal
Carbicrete's concrete method uses steel slag, a by-product from
low for warships, a flotilla of some 700 civilian
steel factories that mostly ends up in landfill sites, says Mahoutian.
boats was put into service. In the film, a blonde
Carbicrete's process also involves injecting C02 into wet concrete,
Kenneth Branagh portrays Commander Bolton,
which strengthens it. By permanently sequestering the C02 in the
the Royal Navy officer tasked with overseeing
concrete, the company says products made with its patented technol
the operation. But the piermaster on the eastern
ogy are carbon-negative.
breakwater atDunkirkwas actually a dark-haired
"We've basically figured out that we can make concrete for a lower
Canadian whose purposeful leadership and engi
cost than regular concrete based on today's pricing materials," says
ne er's approach to solving problems helped save
eo-founder CHRIS STERN, BEng'94. "And we believe that in the
the lives ofhundreds oft housands of soldiers.
future there's also added benefit from sequestering carbon dioxide,
After working around the clock for five
which will have a value."
days, an exhausted Clouston was sent back
YURI MYTKO, BA'99, and MARIO VENDITTI, BEng'93,
to England. But a day later, he volunteered to
MBA'07, round out the team.
return to Dunkirk to help with the evacuation
Up to five teams will be picked for the final round from each oft he
of French troops. His boat was attacked by
two tracks in the competition sponsored by US. power company NRG
German bombers and he was killed.
and COSIA, Canada's Oil Sands Innovation Alliance.
"Commander Clouston was an essential
While the competition goes on, Carbicrete is forging ahead
character in the Dunkirk evacuation, but because
as a business. Stern believes their approach is "game-chang
he died before the operat_ion ended, his role is
ing" and Carbicrete will be delivering that message to concrete
poorly documented," says Jeffrey Street, an
makers-its target market.
Ottawa-based war historian who is writing a
BRENDA BRANSWELL
book about Clouston.
1' Carbicrete eo-founders This past summer, Street helped organize an
Mehrdad Mahoutian and elaborate ceremony at the Lachine Canal His
Chris Stern
toric Site, attended by family members, Canadian
Armed Forces senior officers and local dignitar
ies, where Clouston was officially commemorated
as a Hometown Hero.
8 MCGILL NEWS•WINTER 2017/18 LINDA SUTHERLAND

ALUMNI PROFILE
·SHAKING
THINGS UP IN .
RIVER DALE
s a writer, ROBERTO AGUIRRE-SACASA,
MA'97, takes pride in his ability to craft a good
plot twist. But even he would be hard-pressed
to come up with a narrative as unlikely as the
one that has seen him become a key player
in the revitalization of Archie Comics. The
company once viewed him in the worst possible light. And
it all started at McGill. exactly what I did. The particulars aren't quite the same, but
While pursuing his master's in English, Aguirre-Sac as a the idea oft aking the Archie characters and putting them in
took part in the McGill Drama Festival, a competition involv a very different situation-that is what I did with my play
ing one-act plays written by students. A longtime Archie all those years ago."
fan, Aguirre-Sacasa included the affable redhead and his When J on Gold water took over as the new CEO ofA rchie
Riverdale pals in a play that also involved the notorious in 2009, he felt the company could use its characters in more
young murderers Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb (the imaginative ways. He looked for people to help him shake
inspirations for Hitchc ock's Rope). The idea, in part, was to things up. Soon, Aguirre-Sacasa, now a successful TV writer
contrast the amorality of the killers with the sweetness of (Big Love, Glee), was again on Archie's radar.
the Archie characters. A big part ofA guirre-Sacasa's current job involves finding
The play did well and Aguirre-Sacasa developed it further. opportunities to use the Archie characters on TV or in films
Eventually, he received a cease-and -desist letter from attor and that led to Riverdale.
neys representing Archie Comics. "I really like the idea of taking these characters and
"I talked to the lawyer atArchie Comics and said, 'I under putting them in some version of a genre. Season one was a
stand you're upset, but really, this is coming from a deep and murder mystery. Season two is more of a thriller. The other
abiding love for these characters and it's my dream to one day thing that I really enjoy is the way that this is a show [largely]
work on these characters properly,'" says Aguirre-Sacasa. about friendship. I like writing about these friendships and
"And the guy basically said, 'Over my dead body."' relationships."
Today, Aguirre-Sacasa is the chief creative officer for While Aguirre-Sac as a enjoys using the Arc hie characters
Archie Comics and the person most responsible for the in unexpected ways, he says it's important to respect their
TV series Riverdale. core identities.
Riverdale has been described more than once as "Dawson's "For Archie, it's a fundamental core of goodness. It's a
Creek meets Twin Peaks" and the show involves some steamy fundamental desire to help his family and his friends. For
(and surprising) couplings as well as ajarringmurder or two. Betty, the archetype is the mythical girl next door. She's
An unexpectedly dark exploration of the Archie charac smart, resourceful, tenacious.
ters? That sounds ... familiar. "J ughead [has] a slightly skewed view oft he world and a
"Some of my friends watch Riverdale and say, 'You're different perspective than all his friends-and perhaps [is]
still writing that play you wrote about the Archie characters a little bit wiser than his friends. Veronica is fighting to be
20 years ago,"' says Aguirre-Sacasa. "My first response was, more than her stereotype-the shallow rich girl who only
no, this is totally different, and then I realized, no, this is cares about appearances and money."
His favourite character? Betty.
"I always liked her spunk. I always liked that she was a
71 Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa little bit of a tomboy. I just wanted her to be my friend." "-.
is the chief creative DANIEL MCCABE, BA'89
officer for Archie Comics
10 MCGILL NEWS • WINTER 2017/18