
High school students explore USask and technology at Digitized conference
Digitized provides a unique opportunity for high school students to learn about the latest developments in technology at the USask campus.
By Ellen RedlickDigitized 2023, an event aimed at promoting technology and innovation, took place on Tuesday, May 2 at the University of Saskatchewan, in partnership with the Saskatoon Industry-Education Council. Over 300 students in grades 10-12 attended the event, which featured a range of speakers and hands-on workshops. Students participated in one workshop and two speaker sessions during the event, based on their personal interests.

The day began with all students enjoying a presentation by keynote speaker Jon Lovering, a senior software engineer at Saskatchewan start-up, Precision AI. Jon, who has worked at major tech companies including Amazon, Apple, and Google, highlighted the fact that the tech landscape is strong in Saskatchewan and that there is no longer a need to move to Silicon Valley for cutting-edge work in the field. He demonstrated this using examples from his current work at Precision AI, a company that engineers artificially intelligent drones for fully autonomous farming. The company has recently been selected as a 2023 John Deere Startup Collaborator, and has won several awards in the tech sector.
Four additional speakers provided insight on a wide range of topics during the day. Vendasta CTO Dale Hopkins spoke about the importance of life-long learning in tech.
Assistant Professor Madison Klarkowski addressed students about games research, the impacts of videogames, and the rise of esports.
Professor Raymond Spiteri presented his team’s research in virtual clothes fittings, explaining how the math and physics equations students are learning in high school were involved in solving this problem.
Finally, Professor Julita Vassileva spoke about the future with AIs such as ChatGPT; how it can be used to improve our lives, but also how critical it is to have transparency and rules around its development.

During the event, students also participated in hands-on workshops, where they could build their own video game, design new user interfaces, hunt down cybersecurity weaknesses, code with Arduinos, or explore data analysis with machine learning.
The event was a great success and provided a unique opportunity for students to learn about the latest developments in technology and explore potential careers in the field. More photos of the day can be found on our Flickr.
Digitized is hosted by The Department of Computer Science at the University of Saskatchewan, in partnership with the Saskatoon Industry-Education Council.
The event is open to Grade 10-12 students from Saskatoon Public, Greater Saskatoon Catholic, Prairie Spirit, and Saskatoon Tribal Council schools. Learn more about Digitized at the event website: https://digitized.usask.ca/.
We would like to thank the speakers, workshop leaders, and event volunteers, as well as the following sponsors for 2023:
- Sasktel
- SIGA
- University of Saskatchewan Office of the President
- University of Saskatchewan College of Arts and Science
- University of Saskatchewan ICT
- ESTI Consulting
Together we will support and inspire students to succeed. We invite you to join by supporting current and future students' needs at USask.