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A Ryerson PhD candidate has been awarded a Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship, the country's most prestigious scholarship for doctoral students.

Raymond Phan of electrical and computer engineering is one of a select group from across Canada and around the world to receive the honour. The 2010 recipients of the scholarship were announced recently by Tony Clement, the federal minister of industry.

The scholarships are worth $50,000 annually for up to three years. The program is meant to attract and retain world-class doctoral students who are leaders in their communities and who have demonstrated a high standard of scholarly achievement in graduate studies in the social sciences and humanities, natural sciences and engineering, and health research.

"Raymond exemplifies the depth and quality of work being undertaken at the university by our students at both the undergraduate and graduate level. This is more evidence that Ryerson students are innovative, focused, and can compete with the finest in the world," said President Sheldon Levy. "On behalf of everyone at Ryerson I congratulate Raymond for being recognized as one of the top doctoral candidates anywhere."

Phan works under the supervision of professor Dimitri Androutsos, focusing on research in stereo correspondence of unconstrained video sequences for 3-D computer vision applications. Their research goal is to find a process that converts 2-D content into 3-D in a manner much faster than is currently possible. As well, Phan wants to make 3-D technology more accessible for everyone from gamers to doctors.

"If it wasn't for Ryerson, I wouldn't be where I am today. The research here is unique and Ryerson is a great incubator for innovation. I was attracted to the university's hands-on approach, which has given me the skills to achieve what I'm doing now," Phan said.

Phan earned both his undergraduate degree in computer engineering and his master's in electrical engineering at Ryerson.

In addition to his research commitments, Phan is a teaching and graduate assistant with the electrical and computer engineering, and mathematics departments. He received the first-ever best teaching assistant award from the Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Science, and then won it again -- twice. In 2008 he was the first recipient of a Ryerson Gold Medal for the School of Graduate Studies.

Phan volunteers for the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the world's largest professional association for technological advancement, and takes time to mentor and serve as a graduate student advisor in the Research Opportunities in Engineering and Science program, an annual summer internship for Grade 11 students to work in various labs at Ryerson.