Philanthropist honoured for role in mentoring youth science and tech excellence
Helping mentor thousands of Canadian students in pursuing their passions in science and technology has garnered a prominent city philanthropist their thanks.
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On Saturday, former Calgary oilman Jim Gray was presented an award for continually inspiring the organization he founded 35 years ago that would become today's MindFuel Foundation.
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The Calgary-based program encourages high school and post-secondary students to develop their technology and science ideas, many of which have led to scholarships and even valuable commercialized products.
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'Jim is a builder — he sees a problem and gets things done,' said Cassy Weber, who's been the CEO of MindFuel for the past 13 years.
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'He's so amazing and today is an opportunity just to share Jim's wisdom.'
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In the 1980s, he founded the Alberta Science Foundation, which would eventually become MindFuel, that's developed youth interest in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).
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At its core is a six-month immersive effort among students to develop prototype solutions to real-world problems, which were presented Saturday at the University of Calgary to a panel of 20 judges who'd pick winners among high school and post-secondary categories.
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It involved 220 students aged 15 to 25 from across the country.
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'Thirteen per cent of those projects become commercialized within an average of 4.2 years and it's unintentional on our part,' said Weber, who's been involved in several tech startups.
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'We get these young people engaged and involved and help them navigate the tech system but these are their wins, their work.'
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Over the years, those concepts have attracted $32.5 million in venture capital, she said.
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Among those who participate, 45 per cent are able to garner major scholarships with 92 per cent of them being awarded more than one, she added.
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