A new scientific director for Calcul Québec

Photo credit : UQAM

Montreal, June 8, 2020 – Calcul Quebec’s board of directors is pleased to announce the appointment of Marie-Jean Meurs as its new scientific director.

Marie-Jean Meurs is an associate professor of computer science at UQAM. Her core ​​expertise is in artificial intelligence. Her work focuses on machine learning for natural language processing and big data analysis. She has repeatedly demonstrated her leadership in several projects with researchers from different fields. In particular, she is a member of the CIRST (University Center for Research in Science and Technology), Canada’s main interdisciplinary cluster of researchers studying the historical, social, political, philosophical and economic dimensions of science and technology.

“Calcul Québec is an essential resource for researchers, their students and more broadly for the entire research community”, explains Marie-Jean Meurs. “It is crucial that we continue to develop this service to make it accessible for all disciplinary fields”.

Her research interests have led her to become involved in research data management and the diffusion of open-access work. “I am particularly interested in Calcul Québec’s approach. The resources made available to researchers allow them to work in conditions that ensure independence and promote the sharing of results. ” she explains.

Marie-Jean Meurs took office on June 1, 2020 for a two year term, renewable for one year. She will be the first woman to head the scientific board of Calcul Québec.

The entire team at Calcul Québec would like to thank Pierre-Étienne Jacques for his excellent work as scientific director for the last three years. “Pierre-Étienne took over as scientific director at a key moment for Calcul Québec. We were going through an important transition involving the creation of new computing infrastructure operated by a multi-site team. He demonstrated strong leadership and change management skills throughout this period,” notes Suzanne Talon, executive director of Calcul Québec.