"I was pleased to do it. Queen’s had a huge impact on my life — when the time comes and you can give back, you should think about how you can best do so."
Stephen Rayment, Sc’75, MSc’77, has made a key contribution to the Electrical and Computer Engineering Trust Fund. "I graduated from undergrad in 1975, and my Master’s in 1977, with a focus on electrical engineering in electronics and communications," he says. "I had the privilege of working with Professor Campbell Searle, as a graduate student, in the areas of audio, acoustics and modelling human speech perception. He was such a mentor for me in my career and a real pioneer at Queen’s. He really instilled in me the values of ‘outside the box’ thinking, the benefits of cross-disciplinary cooperation and the importance of clarity in teaching.”
Rayment’s significant donation to the Fund recognises the role that the Electrical and Computer Engineering department played in his life and career. "I started in technical positions, moving up the ranks to executive positions," he says. "One of my earliest jobs was designing mainframe computer systems, yes right here in Canada, in Mississauga, with the Control Data Corporation. From there, I went to Bell Northern Research (BNR), the R&D arm of Northern Telecom, doing voice and telephony work, very much building on my research at Queen’s."
Rayment worked with BNR until he founded his own Ottawa-area wireless firm in the early 2000s, growing it until it was acquired by Ericsson, and working as an executive with Ericsson until his recent retirement. "I'm retired officially, but still consulting, and doing some teaching at Carleton," he explains.
Milestones are a frequent time for alumni to consider giving back, and at Homecoming 2025, Rayment began thinking about a gift commemorating his 50th anniversary as an Engineering grad. With a full career ranging from groundbreaking innovations to entrepreneurial success, it felt like the right moment. "50 years seemed like a good time, and it just made sense for me financially. I wanted to donate to the department because the electrical and computer field has been very good to me, so I figured I’d be good to it."
Rayment’s donation to the Electrical and Computer Engineering Trust Fund is an expression of confidence in the department — this discretionary fund is designed to let the department allocate funding to where it’s most needed. For ECE, this includes building GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) clusters to enhance its in-house AI (Artificial Intelligence) processing capabilities.
"It’s a bit like coming full circle; I started my career with minicomputers and then mainframe computers, and now Queen’s is building supercomputers," Rayment says.
"I met Professor Kim at our 50th anniversary; we had a great chat. Professor Kim told me about the AI research the department is doing, and how they’re intending to refit one of the computer labs with high-performance servers — AI is a field with such tremendous potential."
"The department is launching several new initiatives in artificial intelligence (AI) to further strengthen our teaching and research programs, and Mr. Rayment’s donation will be instrumental in advancing these efforts, enabling our faculty and students to explore cutting-edge technologies and pursue transformative discoveries," says department head Il-Min Kim. "We’re deeply grateful for Mr. Rayment’s commitment to Smith Engineering and the impact his generosity will make within ECE."
A financial donation is only one of the ways that Rayment has given back to the department. "I’ve returned to Smith Engineering a few times as a guest lecturer, talking to the students about the history of a startup, what’s involved in making it successful. I weave it in with some history of wireless technology through the decade, and the students find that interesting," he says. He’s also been invited to judge capstone projects for the school, which he hopes to do in the coming years. "Being on campus, whether teaching at Carleton or visiting Queen’s, is invigorating — it really charges my batteries," he says.