2003 Winner: Leaders of Tomorrow
If there is such a thing as a “born leader,” Tim Poon would be part of the definition. At the age of 24, he has been a valuable contributor to Alberta’s high-tech industry for a number of years and has been motivating others for almost as long. Poon is working on his Master of Science degree at the University of Alberta performing fundamental research in wireless communications in the iCORE (Informatics Circle of Research Excellence) Wireless Communications Laboratory, one of the top research groups in wireless communications in the world.
While employed as a co-op student with TELUS Mobility, he recognized the growing problem of radio interference due to increasing use of wireless devices. His research uses mathematical models to predict the performance of optimal receivers in the presence of interference and could lead to improved wireless communications. Poon has had three articles reporting this research accepted for publication by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the world’s leading technical society in the field. This year Poon was selected as one of ten Canadian students to receive full funding to attend the International Space University Summer Session Program sponsored by the European Space Agency. Poon’s potential was recognized early. He was one of 16 high school students from around the world to achieve a perfect score in the 1996 International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme. At the age of 17 he submitted a 4,000-word essay to the International Baccalaureate Organization titled The influence of low-temperature cooling and the use of cryoprotectant dimethyl sulfoxide on the survival of Chinese hamster fibroblast cells.
In 1997 Poon was awarded the C.D. Howe Memorial Fellowship Engineering Scholarship, which recognizes the most outstanding male first-year engineering student in Canada. He received his Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering with Distinction in 2001. Poon volunteers his time readily to promote science and technology. In the iCORE lab, he organized an ongoing student seminar series and has organized conference trips for graduate students. He also leads campus tours for high school students, helps orientate incoming engineering students, and has been a judge for the Edmonton Science Olympics. In 1998, Poon served as director of finance for a national student engineering conference, managing a budget of $150,000. In 1999, he was awarded the U of A Peter Lougheed Leadership Scholarship, the top leadership award offered at the university.
