Canadian Studies Announcements

In This Issue:

Academic Opportunities

• Call for Papers: 24th Biennial Conference of the American Council for Québec Studies

Upcoming Events

• Taking the Long-Term View: Technology Relations between Canada and the Bay Area in the Age of AI

External Events

• National Women’s Soccer League Canadian Heritage Night: Bay FC vs. Ottawa Rapid FC

• Le Vent du Nord & Foghorn Stringband at the Freight

ACADEMIC OPPORTUNITIES

Deadline: May 1

The American Council for Québec Studies (ACQS) has extended the deadline for its call for proposals for its next biennial conference, to be held November 12–15, 2026, at the Omni Mont-Royal Hotel in Montreal.

The chosen theme, “Crossings, Crossroads, Intersections: Québec Studies Between Fracture and Connection,” welcomes a wide range of approaches in both the social sciences and the arts and humanities. It aims to highlight the significance of the exchanges made possible through the cultural and political intersections that enrich North American Francophone communities.

Conference presentations can be made in French or English. Click here to read the full call for papers.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Canadians have made foundational contributions to the world’s technological advances. Before Apple and Google dominated the market, Research in Motion’s Blackberry invented the mobile office. Today’s AI landscape rests on the work of titans like Geoffrey Hinton, Yoshua Bengio, Richard Sutton, Joelle Pineau, Doina Precup, and Ilya Sutskever. Their long-term research pursuits at both universities and companies have fueled modern neural networks and machine learning.

The Bay Area, meanwhile, has long been a hub of technological innovation. It is a place where scientific theory mixes with venture funding and engineering expertise to make designs into successful products. The relationship between the Bay Area and Canada’s technological talent has always been strong, and this panel will explore the current landscape and the outlook for the future. How can we ensure that both the long-term research pursuits as well as the start-ups necessary for innovation thrive in both environments? What can we learn from the different ecosystems, and the relationships that we’ve built up to now?

About the Panelists

Timothy Barfoot is a professor at the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies (UTIAS) and a researcher in robot autonomy and vehicle navigation technologies. He is Director of the UofT Robotics Institute, co-Faculty Advisor of UofT’s self-driving car team, and previously worked as Director of Autonomous Systems at Apple in California. Professor Barfoot holds a BASc from the University of Toronto, and a PhD from UTIAS in robotics.

Carl Choi is the President of RLWRLD USA, a physical AI startup developing robot foundation models for industrial environments. Before joining RLWRLD, he was a partner with Alumni Ventures in Silicon Valley, where he led investments in AI, robotics, and foundational technologies. Mr. Choi holds a bachelor of mathematics from the University of Waterloo, a BBA from Wilfrid Laurier University, and an MBA from UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business.

Matei Zaharia is an associate professor of Electrical Engineering & Computer Sciences (EECS) at UC Berkeley. His research focuses on computer systems for large-scale workloads such as AI, data analytics, and cloud computing. He is also the co-founder and CTO of Databricks, a cloud-based platform for data analytics. Professor Zaharia holds a bachelor of mathematics from the University of Waterloo, and a PhD from UC Berkeley. Prior to joining the Berkeley faculty, he taught at MIT and Stanford.

Claire Tomlin (moderator) is a professor in the Department of EECS at UC Berkeley and holds the James and Katherine Lau Chair in Engineering. Her research interests include unmanned aerial vehicles, air traffic control and modeling of biological processes. Professor Tomlin holds a BASc from the University of Waterloo, an MSc from Imperial College, London, and a PhD in EECS from UC Berkeley.

This event will have a remote attendance option via Zoom. Please select the “virtual attendance” in the RSVP form to receive the link.

If you require an accommodation to participate fully in this event, please let us know with as much advance notice as possible by emailing canada@berkeley.edu.

EXTERNAL EVENTS

National Women’s Soccer League Canadian Heritage Night: Bay FC vs. Ottawa Rapid FC

Fri., April 17 | 7:00 pm | San Jose | Tickets

Be a part of history at the first-ever match of a Canadian team playing in the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL)! Home team Bay FC also has two players on the Canadian National Team: Sydney Collins and Lysianne Proulx. Join fellow soccer fans from around the Bay and friends from the Digital Moose Lounge and Consulate to cheer on these Canadian athletes!

This unique offer, customized for all Canadian communities in the Bay Area, grants you access to a select seating location at an exclusive group rate for Bay FC’s match against the Ottawa Rapids at PayPal Park on April 17th (7pm kickoff). Doors open at 5:00 pm to enjoy the family-friendly open space, food trucks, and fan experiences.

Le Vent du Nord & Foghorn Stringband at the Freight

Thurs., May 7 | 8:00 pm | Berkeley | Tickets

Get ready for an evening of high-energy roots traditions as Québécois band Le Vent du Nord joins forces with the Foghorn Stringband for an exciting co-feature performance at the Freight in Berkeley. Blending the driving rhythms of Québecois music with the old-time flavors of the American string band tradition, this electrifying evening promises foot-stomping grooves, rich harmonies, and masterful musicianship.

Le Vent du Nord are globally-recognized ambassadors of Canada’s Francophone culture and a major creative force within Québec’s progressive folk music scene. The band has released 13 albums and received numerous international awards including Artists of the year at Folk Alliance International & Canadian Folk Music Awards and two JUNO Awards.

The Foghorn Stringband is the gold standard in the old-time American string band music. They draw from old-time, bluegrass, classic country, and Cajun music traditions in an ongoing quest to present a broad span of American historical music.

Canadian Studies Program

213 Philosophy Hall #2308

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