Jonathan Aubertin (Pure and Applied Science, 2011) is an assistant professor at École de Technologie Supérieure in the Construction Engineering Department.
Aubertin comp a PhD in Geological Engineering – Rock Fragmentation by Blasting and Rock Mass Characterization and takes his grad students out in the field to blast rocks.
But it’s not all fun and explosions. Since he took the teaching job at ETS in 2021, Aubertin is helping to build out the university’s mining and tunneling course offering.
“Every course that I teach is a new course that I’m creating,” he said.
Prior to joining the faculty at ETS, Aubertin was working in the mining industry in Louisiana and finishing his PhD at Queen’s remotely.
“I didn’t sleep much for a few years,” he joked. “I was happy when it was done.”
Three months after he finished the degree in 2020, his son was born. When he landed the teaching job, he was happy to come back to his native Montreal.
“An academic role is not something that comes very often. It was a unique opportunity that I couldn’t pass up,” he said.
Originally from the South Shore, Aubertin said he chose to do his Cegep at Champlain Saint-Lambert partly because he wanted to improve his English language skills.
He said completing his DEC in English helped him get into McGill University where he completed his Bachelor’s in Engineering.
Aubertin also had the chance to get involved in the Champlain community, where he served as the captain of the Cavaliers football team.
At McGill, Aubertin stayed involved, serving as the president of his student association (the Co-op Mining Engineering Undergraduate Society) and taking leadership roles in the Mining Games.
Aubertin said he’d always been interested in going into engineering and felt drawn to large construction projects: “I wanted to get my hands dirty a little bit.”
In the Co-op program at McGill, Aubertin was able to complete several internships and ended up being hired on by Windsor Salt Ltd. after.
He continued to gain field experience while completing his studies and has now returned to academia after working for five years in the industry.
Aubertin’s advice for current students and recent grads: “Keep doors open. Cegep is a time of developing and furthering opportunities. You never know where things will take you. Keep as many doors open as long you can to be able to get the opportunities you want later.”
