“Canada is home to some of the best and brightest students, and we aim to inspire and empower them to shape the future of technology for all of us.”
This vision, shared by Martin Wildberger, Executive Vice President of Innovation & Technology at RBC, speaks to the purpose and objectives of the RBC Tech Scholars program and the Tech@RBC Insider Series.
Thanks to a donation by RBC, students can delve deeper into topics the tech industry is confronting today. The donation consists of a three-year scholarship program awarding five computer engineering and five computer science students each year, and a series of workshops and seminars featuring top talent from RBC, to take place over the next three years.
The Tech@RBC Insider Series brings real-world cybersecurity and AI challenges to the forefront and allows students to connect directly with industry experts. In the inaugural Series workshop, Cybersecurity: Defend the Digital Fortress, Milos Stojadinovic, senior director of advanced threat operations and distinguished engineer at RBC, kicked off the evening with a behind-the-scenes look at how banks tackle cybersecurity.
In the last Series event, the five CE and CS students were recognized and awarded with their scholarships.
We’re thrilled to have this talented group of students in our ECE community. Say hello to our first cohort of RBC Tech Scholars:
Dante Capobianco (he/him) Year 3, Computer Engineering (minor in AI Engineering and Engineering Business) Dante is a recipient of the RBC Tech Scholars in AI Engineering award, the Engineers Canada National Leadership Scholarship, and the Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering Top Student Award, and has ranked among the top Computer Engineering students in his year. Dante has gained industry experience through software engineering internships at Meta, including participation in Meta’s first/second-year program as the only Canadian intern in his cohort, and is currently completing another Software Engineer Intern role in New York. Beyond academics, he is the founder and lead app developer of CapoDev, a startup focused on improving the job application and recruitment process using AI-driven features, and he has supported the engineering community as an APS100 (Orientation to Engineering) teaching assistant, an academic mentor, and a student panellist for the PEY Co-op Edge Conference. He is particularly interested in applying AI and machine learning skills in real-world business contexts, and after graduation, hopes to continue building his startup while also pursuing opportunities in large-cap technology and fintech to expand his impact and skill set.
Toon Craps (he/him) Year 3, Computer Engineering (minor in Artificial Intelligence and Engineering Business) Toon has been recognized with the RBC Tech Scholars in AI Engineering Scholarship, the Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Top Student Award, the NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Award, and inclusion on the Dean’s Honours List. Toon has gained hands-on experience as a Distributed Systems & Networking Research Intern with the iQuaResearch Group, under the guidance of Professor Baochun Li, as well as through software and digital transformation internships with Kraft Heinz and the Jebsen Group. He is particularly interested in software engineering, artificial intelligence, and computer systems, and is currently focused on deepening his technical expertise through research and applied learning. After graduation, Toon hopes to work as a software or AI engineer in an engineering-driven or financial services environment, where he can continue learning while contributing to the development of core systems and technologies.
Shuhan Lei (he/him) Year 3, Electrical Engineering (minor in Artificial Engineering) Shuhan is a recipient of the RBC Tech Scholars in AI Engineering award, the University of Toronto Excellence Award (UTEA), and was invited to the ECE Awards Dinner as one of the top 30 Electrical and Computer Engineering students. Shuhan has gained research experience as a Research Intern at the University of Toronto under Professor Deepa Kundur and Dr. Amr Mohamed, where they developed an explainable AI dashboard for cybersecurity, as well as through a research internship at City University of Hong Kong focused on RISC-V processor architecture. Shuhan is particularly interested in how artificial intelligence can enhance traditional engineering domains such as signal processing, digital design, and control systems. After graduation, Shuhan hopes to pursue opportunities that bridge hardware and AI in both research and industry, contributing to technologies with meaningful real-world impact.
Ethan Lam (he/him) Year 3, Computer Engineering Ethan is a recipient of the RBC Tech Scholars in AI Engineering Award, the John M. Empey Scholarship, the Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering Top Student Award, and the University of Toronto Entrance Scholarship, and has been previously ranked first in Computer Engineering during his undergraduate studies. He has gained hands-on experience through a full-stack software internship at Bell, where he contributed to large-scale media systems, as well as through freelance work developing software, embedded systems, and end-to-end personal projects, including a multiplayer Android game and an IoT-based display device. He also served as Coding Lead for APS360 (Applied Fundamentals of Deep Learning), leading the development of a deep learning model for polyphonic music detection. Ethan is particularly interested in artificial intelligence and its applications in low-level systems and finance, and after graduation, hopes to pursue a career in machine learning and quantitative finance, applying his skills to solve complex, real-world problems in industry.
Saptarshi Talukdar (he/him) Year 3, Electrical Engineering (minor in Artificial Intelligence) Saptarshi, another recipient of the RBC Tech Scholars in AI Engineering Award, is also the recipient of the Kepler Most Innovative Design Award, has been named to the Dean’s Honours List, and was ranked among the top 30 students in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Saptarshi has gained hands-on experience through hardware- and systems-focused roles, including serving as an Undergraduate Researcher in the Power Management and Integrated SMPS Laboratory, where he developed a low-power power line communication system using FPGA-based controllers, and as a member of the Robotics for Space Exploration electrical team, designing and validating power systems for competition rovers. He is also an ASIC Team Associate with the IEEE University of Toronto Student Branch, contributing to the design of a custom chip scheduled for tapeout. Saptarshi is particularly interested in digital design, ASIC development, and AI hardware acceleration, and will be joining Qualcomm in May 2026 as a Co-op Compute AI/DSP Processor Engineer. After graduation, he hopes to pursue a career focused on enabling efficient AI computation on personal and embedded devices.