Author: Adiki Puplampu
Date: 31 January 2023
On November 1st, 2022, Salim Soufi, a 2021 and 2022 ELITE Program intern was honored with a 2022 TD Scholarship for Community Leadership. A returning intern, Salim spent this summer working as a research assistant with the Rehab Robotics Lab, a group within the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine doing research on robotic and technological solutions to rehabilitative issues. While working with the lab, Salim, a high school student at the time, produced his first scientific abstract in collaboration with his colleagues and principal investigator on the similarities between marker-based and marker-less motion capture technology.
“As my first scientific paper, I felt a sort of pride in it as it represented all the hard work I put into the topic over the summer”, said Salim.
During his internship Salim had the chance to connect with professionals from various backgrounds and ask them questions, conversations that helped him determine his current career path.
Now a first year Bachelor of Science student with a major in Computer Science at the University of Alberta, Salim went into awards night excited to celebrate his accomplishments with classmates and teachers. For Salim, the award feels like a recognition of all his work so far and it signals a strong start to the work yet to come.
Initially, a computer science degree appealed to Salim because of his interest in game development. But in the future he hopes to use this degree and the lessons he learned from the ELITE Program’s Entrepreneurship Design Series to own a game development and design company that develops brain-computer interface technology to enhance the experiences of people with physical or cognitive disabilities.
“The most exciting thing about the ELITE experience itself is the crossover between science and business. The addition of the entrepreneurship series is what I think makes it stand apart from any other internship program.”
It’s always exciting to celebrate the successes of former and current ELITE Program interns, and we continue to be proud of our interns and their various accomplishments.