Simon Ayotte

I was very fortunate to be supervised by Professor Leslie Rusch during my master's and doctoral studies. Leslie not only cares about the training of her students, but also cares about their happiness. She listens to students, very available to them to discuss the directions of their research. She knows how to get the best for all.

Many of the research projects supervised by Leslie are done in collaboration with industry. Also, when the training of her students is sufficiently advanced, Leslie tries to open doors for students to find internships in companies. This is a great opportunity to be able to compare academia and the job market. It also allows students to make themselves known in business and to add a string to their bow in their CV. Several of his students were lucky. As far as I'm concerned, Leslie opened the door to an internship at Intel in California in a research and development group at the cutting edge of technology. I stayed there for 9 months and it was an invaluable experience.

The training that Professor Leslie Rusch gave me, as well as the internship experience she offered me, enabled me to get a research position for the TeraXion company as soon as I finished my studies in doctorate in January 2008. I am still there and I am extremely happy to work in research and development in a Quebec company.

Leslie is passionate about research and teaching. She takes her work to heart. Leslie is very attentive to her students, very understanding. She is truly the best director I could have dreamed of having.