This text is part of the special Quebec engineering booklet
During his college studies, Sébastien Duquette hesitated between medicine and engineering — nothing less! A surely well-meaning professor warned him against the profession of engineer, seeing in it only a life spent in front of screens and without real human interaction. The health network thus gained an anesthesiologist.
With hindsight, Sébastien Duquette, not resentful for two pennies, still believes that “it is not necessarily a good reflection of genius at the present time”. And this health professional knows what he is talking about since he successfully completed a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering at the University of Quebec in Rimouski (UQAR). For this father whose children also attend university, it will soon be the end of a decisive academic break, crowned by the Jean-Jacques Archambault scholarship. This prestigious distinction awarded by Hydro-Québec opened the doors to the Institute of Electrical Power Engineering, located at Polytechnique Montréal, the last step before obtaining his diploma.
He was the first to be surprised by his great passion for all facets of electricity, he who, through professional distortion, thought he was destined for biomedical engineering. Again, the influence of the masters was decisive, and in a good way. “I had the chance to meet professors, including Maxime Berger, who introduced me to the genius of electrical energy”, underlines the future graduate, who took advantage of every opportunity during his time at UQAR. “to know as much as possible”. A profitable curiosity in many respects for those who recognize their luck in having been able to take a long break from their first job to learn another.
After exploring the facets of the electric car through the Volt Fast project, a learning platform where students discover more about motor control and battery management, Sébastien Duquette does not intend to commit in this asphalt road. Originally from Sherbrooke, anesthetist in Sainte-Anne-des-Monts, the future UQAR graduate will put down even more roots in Rimouski by soon joining Innovation maritime.
In this applied research center affiliated with the Institut maritime du Québec, he will take off, in a way. “With a small, very dynamic team of engineers, we are going to work on electrification projects for ships of all sizes, both cargo ships and fishing boats”, underlines the soon-to-be-engineer doctor, who is very excited about the idea. to participate in the transformation of this sector of activity.
When we highlight his perseverance and his courage to have returned to university in 2019, Sébastien Duquette prefers that we shine the spotlight on his deep conviction: “No matter the age, it is always possible to go back to school. As a good engineer, he gave a very concrete demonstration of this.
This special content was produced by the Special Publications team of the Duty, pertaining to marketing. The drafting of Duty did not take part.