The quarterly publication of APEGA. This edition features Plot Devices: Children Engineer Solutions for Storybook Characters; Council Candidates Announced; Legislative Review Wraps Up; Dues Increase Goes to Risk Reserve; Foundation Renamed, Refocused
WINTER 2015
Legislative Review
Planning and Preparation
The Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta | apega.ca
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Contents
PEG
WINTER 2015
FEATURED PHOTO: PAGE 70 ››
12
41-43
8
FEATURES
DEPARTMENTS
Planning and Preparation 32 A Regulatory Look Ahead
4 President’s Notebook
65 Focal Point
6 CEO’s Message
70 Good Works
44 Bettering Yourself Through PD
12 AEF Campaign Connection
80 Member Benefits
18 Latitude
83 Record
50 Branch Renewal Update
42 Professional Development
55 New Approach to University Outreach
58 And You Are?
PRINTED IN CANADA
WINTER 2015 PEG | 1
US POSTMASTER: PEG (ISSN 1923-0044) is published quarterly in Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter, by the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta, c/o US Agent-Transborder Mail 4708 Caldwell Rd E, Edgewood, WA 98372-9221. $15 of the annual membership dues applies to the yearly subscription of The PEG. Periodicals postage paid at Puyallup, WA, and at additional mailing offices. US POSTMASTER, send address changes to PEG c/o Transborder Mail, PO Box 6016, Federal Way, WA 98063-6016, USA. The publisher has signed an affiliation agreement with the Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency. Please return Canadian undeliverables to: APEGA, 1500 Scotia One, 10060 Jasper Ave., Edmonton, AB T5J 4A2. Publications Mail Sales Product Agreement No. 40062712
VOLUME 6 | NUMBER 4 | WINTER 2015 (Print) ISSN 1923-0044 (Online) ISSN 1923-0052
Opinions published in The PEG do not necessarily reflect the opinions or policy of the Association or its Council. Editorial inquiries: glee@apega.ca. Advertising inquiries: chiemstra@apega.ca.
Editor George Lee glee@apega.ca Administrative Assistant Catherine Hiemstra
chiemstra@apega.ca
COUNCIL President Connie Parenteau , P.Eng., FEC, FGC (Hon.) ( St. Albert) President-Elect Dr. Steve Hrudey , P.Eng., FCAE (Canmore) Vice-President Nima Dorjee , P.Eng. (Calgary) Past-President Colin Yeo , P.Geo., FGC, FEC (Hon.) (Calgary) Councillors Dr. Jeff DiBattista , P.Eng., MBA (Edmonton) Lisa Doig , P.Eng., FEC, FGC (Hon.) (Calgary) Jennifer Enns , P.Eng. (Calgary) George Eynon , P.Geo., FGC, FEC (Hon.) (Calgary) Dr. Brad Hayes , P.Geol., FGC (Calgary) Wenona Irving , P.Eng., FEC, FGC (Hon.) (Edmonton)
STAFF LEADERSHIP
EXECUTIVE Chief Executive Officer Mark Flint , P.Eng. Director, Executive & Government Relations Pat Lobregt , FEC (Hon.), FGC (Hon.) Director of Operations Krista Nelson-Marciano , BA
REGULATORY Registrar Carol Moen , P.Eng.
MEMBER SERVICES Director, Member Services Heidi Yang , P.Eng., FEC, FGC (Hon.) COMMUNICATIONS Director, Communications Philip Mulder , APR, FEC (Hon.), FGC (Hon.)
Paul Knowles , P.Eng. (Calgary) Craig McFarland , P.Eng. (Calgary) Mahsoo Naderi-Dasoar , P.Eng. (Edmonton) John Rhind , P.Geol. (Calgary)
CORPORATE SERVICES Director, Corporate Services D.S. (Pal) Mann , P.Eng.
Art Washuta , P.Eng. (Edmonton) Terry Waters , P.Eng. (Calgary) Public Representatives Ross J. Harris , FCA, ICD.D Robert Lloyd , QC Mary Phillips-Rickey , F CA Engineers Canada Directors Jim Beckett , P.Eng., FEC, FGC (Hon.) Larry Staples , P.Eng., FEC, FGC (Hon.) Geoscientists Canada President George Eynon , P.Geo., FGC, FEC (Hon.) BRANCH CHAIRS Calgary Adekunle (Ade) Okusanya, P.Eng., MBA calgarybranch@apega.ca Central Alberta Sonny Nagra , P.Eng. centralalbertabranch@apega.ca Edmonton Sadiq A. Pirani , P.Eng. edmontonbranch@apega.ca Fort McMurray Unokhaso (Uno) Monofi , P.Eng. fortmcmurraybranch@apega.ca Lakeland Natasha Pounder , P.Eng. lakelandbranch@apega.ca Lethbridge Adam St. Amant , P.Eng. lethbridgebranch@apega.ca Medicine Hat Said Said Yussuf , P.Eng. medicinehatbranch@apega.ca Peace Region Brian Morrison , P.Eng. peaceregionbranch@apega.ca Vermilion River Dustin Wiltermuth , P.Eng. vermilionriverbranch@apega.ca Yellowhead Vacant
APEGA CONTACT INFO
HEAD OFFICE 1500 Scotia One
CALGARY OFFICE 2200 Scotia Centre
10060 Jasper Avenue NW Edmonton AB T5J 4A2 PH 780-426-3990 TOLL FREE 1-800-661-7020 FAX 780-426-1877
700 Second Street SW Calgary AB T2P 2W1 PH 403-262-7714 TOLL FREE 1-888-262-3688 FAX 403-269-2787
www.apega.ca email@apega.ca
2 | PEG WINTER 2015
It’s almost time for APEGA’s
Friday, February 19, to Sunday, March 20, 2016
Have you reset your password yet? On September 28, 2015, APEGA reopened the Member Self-Service Centre (MSSC) at apega.ca. If you’ve attempted to login since then, you know that you were required to reset your password to gain access to your account. If you haven’t been to the MSSC since then, please go there now — particularly if you plan to vote during the election. APEGA’s electronic voting system is run through the MSSC. Visit apega.ca to get to the MSSC. Need Password Reset Help? Call 1-800-661-7020 and press 2 when prompted.
President’s Notebook
MASTER APEGA
Planning and Preparing for What Can’t be Known BY CONNIE PARENTEAU, P.ENG., FEC, FGC (HON.) APEGA President
consultations on the Act itself starts in late February and ends in March. Soon after, we’ll begin work on the General Regulations, and soon after that the Bylaws. Member and stakeholder input continues through those two phases. In April of 2016, Members will be presented with a report of the proposed recommendations Council has endorsed to present to the government to use as guiding principles in negotiations for changes to the Act. I need to emphasize here that you will not be voting on these principles or approving the Act itself. That’s because the Act does not belong to APEGA or Members. It’s our job as an Association to gather input from you and other stakeholders, which we’re doing. It’s the government’s job to accept, reject, or revise what we present. We’ve looked at the legislation guiding other regulators. We’ve listened to Permit Holders, individual Members, and the public. We’ve counted on the work of our champions collaborative to get the word out at the Branch level and hear what the grassroots of the organization has to say. As I said, another round of consultations is about to start. So please watch your inbox for the e-PEG to find out more, and do your part in developing the APEGA of the future. A future in which every Professional Member of APEGA will ultimately be living out the decisions that make up our new legislation.
need to have the right tools at hand, and we need to know how to use them. Many of APEGA’s tools are within the Engineering and Geoscience Professions Act (EGP Act) , which is owned by the people of Alberta through the Government of Alberta. APEGA will recommend legislation to the government that needs to have relevance for decades down the road to ensure that the professions of engineering and geosci- ence are regulated appropriately to protect the public. We don’t pretend to know the specifics of the Alberta of 2045, but we are certain that an Act that was created in the 1980s is not what we need. How do we know this? Frankly, the Act is showing its age. Expectations placed on regulators — and of all bodies that serve or interact with the public, from governments to corporations to everything in between, are greater than they’ve ever been. We need an Act that understands and communicates the social partnership APEGA is building with Albertans. An Act that is more reflec- tive of our times. An Act that allows, with clarity, APEGA to be quick and nimble. An Act that’s flexible enough for a future we can’t predict with certainty. Many of you have been involved in our legislative review process so far. Right now, the fall consultations have just wrapped up. More information about what we heard this fall from you and other stakeholders is either posted or will be soon on the legisla- tive review website, which you can reach through apega.ca. As well, a story on where we are now and where we’re going with the review appears in this edition of The PEG . If you haven’t taken part in the process yet, there’s still time. A third round of
In Canada, we enjoy a high standard of living. Public services like fire and police protection, healthcare, and much more are readily available. We sometimes complain about them, but at the end of the day the issues we have can often be chalked up as so-called first-world problems. Perhaps because we have so much, we sometimes surrender our personal responsibilities to others. We’re along for the bus ride. My challenge to all Members, however, is to stop being simply a passenger. Step up and step out to make a difference — even when what may happen is unknown. One opportunity to do so is by taking part in APEGA’s legislative review. We are the regulators of engineering and geoscience in Alberta, and these days we’re peering into that proverbial but perpetually cloudy crystal ball. I’m sure you’re doing the same in your professional and personal lives, particularly in light of the recession Canada is experiencing and the downturn that persists in the oil and gas industry. We must continuously look ahead, and we must do so in multiple roles: as individuals, as Professional Members of APEGA, as regulators, and as members of the public. When you think about it, Planning and Preparation — capitalized because they’re the theme for this PEG — are not about knowing what will happen. They’re about knowing something will happen. Sure, we look at the trends and make our best as- sumptions. But really what we’re doing is planning and preparing for the worst, while keeping ourselves in a position to succeed no matter what. We need to poise ourselves to act on opportunities as they arise. We
MORE ABOUT PLANNING AND PREPARATION
When I learned that the theme for this edition of The PEG is Planning and
4 | PEG WINTER 2015
President’s Notebook
APEGA
Preparation, I thought of the challenges those two words present. It’s interesting to me to look at what we’re doing on the legislative review front — and really on many other fronts in the organization — while hearing various speakers at various events confirm that our approaches are sound. No, the speakers aren’t offering a clear picture of what Alberta will be like 30 years from now (and to be fair, none of them purported to be doing so). But many of them, as it turns out, have a lot to say about planning and preparation. Two specific things come to mind, both of which I alluded to earlier in this column. One is the need to plan for the worst. The other is the role of individual responsibility — the self in self- regulation.
Optimism is important in life. So why prepare for the worst? Why come up with a plan for the most egregious and dramatic events imaginable? Doesn’t that mean you’re just dwelling on the negative? Yes. Please, dwell on the negative. But dwell on it in a positive way. Develop a plan that will get you through the worst of events. It just makes sense for Alberta families, for example, to prepare for tornadoes. Chances are they’ll never have to deal with one. But having a plan in place makes windstorms all the more survivable. There’s a certain confidence that comes from a well-rehearsed and clearly written plan. It allows you to do a thing that successful humans are good at: compartmentalize. Once your plan is in place, you can confidently and optimistically get on with the other things your life demands. In times of crisis, there is only so much that the institutions you’ve come to rely upon can do for you. This is the individual responsibility part. As Members of a self-regulating organization, we need to always remember our own roles. So let me take this opportunity, once again, to encourage you to take part in the consultation process in the legislative review. Here’s another thought. As you plan your own professional future, please take a close look at what you are doing to fulfill APEGA’s mandatory Continuing Professional Development requirements. You have a professional obligation in this area, of course, but there’s practical purpose, too. It’s to your advantage to personalize your program and make it relevant to your career and your practice, now and in the future. Is your program, for example, relevant in an economic climate that features oil selling at under $40 a barrel? And is your program relevant in a world of high public expectations placed upon professionals, regulators, governments, and other organizations? APEGA offers professional development options to help you plan and prepare. Read about the details elsewhere in this PEG .
EVERYDAY LEADERSHIP
Members still bring up my column from the summer 2015 PEG , titled Everyday Leadership — Pass it On. It’s really rewarding to write about something that means so much to me personally and find out that it resonates widely. So I’ll end by thanking our champions collaborative for being everyday leaders in legislative renewal. The skills and knowledge you are developing and practising are building a better APEGA. You’ve engaged your fellow Members in a process critical to the future, and you’ve passed leadership on to others. And since this is the last PEG of 2015, let me wish the best of the new year to Members and readers.
Questions or comments? president@apega.ca
WINTER 2015 PEG | 5
CEO’s Message
APEGA
Planning to Become a Better Regulator? There’s a Cost BY MARK FLINT, P.ENG. APEGA Chief Executive Officer
Prediction is very difficult, especially if it’s about the future.
Last, but no less important, is that unique opportunity I mentioned. It’s the commemoration of the 100th year of our professions in Alberta, which arrives in 2020. APEGA’s Council and senior leadership team have been engaged in developing strategy over the past year. We have a clear understanding of what we want to achieve. But as I have already alluded to, we are conscious of the challenges that lie ahead, both in terms of what we want to do and how much it will cost. Clearly, the questions are: “So why bother building a new plan at all? Why is it so important to do these things, anyway?” The Alberta Energy Regulator has recently taken measures to define what a world-class regulator should be in order to be ef- fective and maintain its social partnership. That’s good regulatory news in Alberta, but as we scan the regulatory landscape there’s clear pressure on regulators across Canada to better fulfill their mandates. Ordre des ingénieurs du Québec (OIQ) faces serious pressure from its oversight body, Office des professions du Québec. OIQ has now been directed to overhaul its governance and other processes to enable it to attract and retain high-quality employees and to better protect the public. OIQ announced that it was going to raise Member dues by $100 to pay for the changes. This created a veritable rebellion within its ranks, which has resulted in significant upheaval in its leadership. In British Columbia, the review of the failure of the tailings dam at the Mount Polley mine suggests steps could have been taken to prevent this environmental disaster. Sharing such lessons learned is critical in creating a climate of learning within our professions. Nevertheless, APEGBC Members recently rejected their Council’s attempt to initiate a professional development program — the precise type of program needed to ensure the communication of professional learnings and therefore help prevent failures like the one at Mount Polley. Professional Engineers Ontario (PEO) did an outstanding job of working with the Elliot Lake Inquiry following the collapse of the Algo Mall parkade, a collapse that killed two people. Although many of PEO’s recommendations are still being considered for implementation, some PEO Members do not support implementing their own self-regulating organization’s recommendations.
- NIELS BOHR, Physicist
Regardless of whether you believe it was Niels Bohr or Yogi Berra that coined the above ironic insight into the unknown, when the topic of planning comes up it usually elicits one of two divergent reactions. Some people will experience a pre-dormant eye-glazing, followed by a period of deep unconsciousness. For others, endor- phin production spikes and an ensuing, unregulated level of hubris drives them to produce highly complex and colourful plans that will transform the universe. Regardless of where you sit on the spectrum, the unfortunate truth is this: “If you don't know where you are going, you might wind up someplace else.” OK, that one was Yogi Berra. Apparently. This issue of The PEG is devoted to planning and the future. As we close out the third year of our current strategic plan and enter into its last year, we do so knowing that 2016 is a year of transi- tion for APEGA. We have dedicated the past three years to building capacity aimed at improving many of APEGA’s current systems and functions. The year 2016 arrives during a dramatic economic shift, which has resulted in some significant economic impacts here in Alberta. As we transition from our current strategic plan and prepare to launch APEGA’s new strategy in 2017, how will APEGA position itself to achieve the aim of being a more capable regulator? Let me explain the three main thrusts, plus a unique opportunity that needs careful attention. The first line of effort is aimed at continuing to improve opera- tional excellence. APEGA has done much over the past few years to improve business practices, but we have lots left to do. Second, we are going to revamp APEGA’s Continuing Professional Development program to improve its effectiveness, and we will include an ethics component stemming from our own learnings and from events in other jurisdictions. The third element is to improve the Professional Practice Management Program so we can deliver better value to our Permit Holders by enhancing their role in self-regulation.
6 | PEG WINTER 2015
CEO’s Message
MASTER APEGA
could find ourselves in the unenviable position of being directly regulated through other forms of government oversight. Addressing the priorities of the 2017—2019 strategy is important work — important work that requires resources. And while people are understandably sensitive when the issue of resources arises, I offer the following in regards to our main source of resources: our annual Member dues. As many of you know, APEGA currently charges dues that are about average when compared to our regulatory peers across Canada. Also, our dues are very modest when compared to those of other professional self-regulatory organizations in Alberta. I’m not suggesting that just because our annual dues are lower than almost every other profession in Alberta that we should raise them. But I am suggesting that it is consistent with every other regulator that we fund our regulatory needs. In short, professional regulation will take more money than it traditionally has. To strengthen our existing regulatory functions and to develop a more robust capacity to address emerging regulatory issues, as well as to execute on APEGA’s strategy, we will need to significantly increase revenue starting in 2017. While we have not discussed detailed options with Council, I could foresee a scenario where we would need to increase APEGA’s current overall revenue by more than 50 per cent by year 2020. This could potentially include an increase to Member dues of $200 to $300! To prepare for the future, starting in 2016 APEGA will conduct a review of its revenue structure, aimed at building a more appro- priate funding model to sustain the regulation of the professions. It will include a review of the application fee structure to develop a fee-for-service approach, linking the costs of applications for licensure proportional to the amount of effort and services needed to process them. While I expect that some Members will have questions and concerns about this review, there will be no changes to any of our existing funding approaches without a substantive dialogue within APEGA’s Council and without Council’s approval. Over the next year, should you have questions or comments regarding the future of APEGA’s finances, I remain at your service to answer those questions and to understand your thoughts on our future and any implications there may be for self-regulation. I anticipate that there may be a significant response to this article, especially in the context of global economic factors, their impact on Alberta’s economy, and the fact that many of our Members are losing their jobs. Please send me your comments at the email address below. I will do my utmost to respond to all of them, but if the demand is high I might not be able to do so directly. I do commit myself, however, to reading them all.
In Alberta, we know we need to strengthen our current regu- latory systems and tools, and we’re working on that. But we also have to evolve to counter emerging regulatory threats such as those mentioned above. If we don’t figure out how to do it ourselves, we
Questions or comments? ceo@apega.ca
WINTER 2015 PEG | 7
It’s almost time for APEGA’s
Friday, February 19, to Sunday, March 20, 2016
Have you reset your password yet? On September 28, 2015, APEGA reopened the Member Self-Service Centre (MSSC) at apega.ca. If you’ve attempted to login since then, you know that you were required to reset your password to gain access to your account. If you haven’t been to the MSSC since then, please go there now — particularly if you plan to vote during the election. APEGA’s electronic voting system is run through the MSSC. Visit apega.ca to get to the MSSC. Need Password Reset Help? Call 1-800-661-7020 and press 2 when prompted.
8 | PEG WINTER 2015
ASSOCIATION
Nominations Set for Election 2016
The self-nomination period is now over and the list of candidates for APEGA’s Election 2016 is set. In all, 11 APEGA Professional Members are seeking three-year terms on Council. Three other Members are in the running for President-Elect/Vice-President. Bylaw amendments approved in 2015 allowed APEGA’s Nomi- nating Committee to review all candidates (self-nominated as well as those it recommends) at the same time. The new process also allows the committee to identify those candidates that it endorses. This is significantly different than process used in past elections. Your new President will be Steve E. Hrudey, P.Eng., PhD, FEC, who will officially take office at the APEGA Annual General Meeting, April 22, 2016, in Edmonton. Dr. Hrudey was the successful President-Elect candidate in the 2015 election. Connie Parenteau, P.Eng., FEC, FGC (Hon.), will continue on the APEGA Executive as Past-President. Names of all 2016 candidates were announced in a December e-PEG, available online at apega.ca. Full candidate statements will be published in the spring edition of The PEG , to be distributed in February. The spring edition will also include complete voting information. In January, APEGA will post candidate and further voting and election information at apega.ca and in the Member Self- Service Centre, accessible through the APEGA website. Polling will be open: Friday, February 19, to Sunday, March 20, 2016
If you have questions about the election, please call us at 1-800-661-7020. During polling, we will have someone available to answer your questions 24/7. You can also email us anytime at elections@apega.ca and we will get back to you within two business days.
ELECTRONIC VOTING
To vote in the election, you will need to access your account in the Member Self-Service Centre (MSSC). For security reasons, on September 28 APEGA began requiring that Members reset their passwords. If you haven’t reset yours yet, please do so in time to cast your ballot. If you need assistance with your password reset, call 1-800-661-7020 anytime and press 2 when prompted.
NOTICE OF ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING In accordance with Bylaw 16(2) of The Engineering and Geoscience Professions Act , official notice of the Annual General Meeting is hereby given.
Friday, April 22, 2016 | 2 p.m. Shaw Conference Centre Edmonton, Alberta
Attendance Qualifies for CPD Credit
Luncheon 11:30 a.m. – 1:40 p.m. | See pages 41-43 for more information on APEGA Summit 2016 Annual General Meeting & Conference
WINTER 2015 PEG | 9
Proudly brought to you by Professionals in Engineering and Geoscience
www.apega.ca
A NEW OPPORTUNITY TO HELP OUR YOUTH A NEW YEAR,
The holiday season has ended, but there’s still time to give back. With your donation, the APEGA Education Foundation is able to fund outreach programs that help students reach their full potential by sparking their interest in the engineering and geoscience professions. Donate today at apegaeducationfoundation.ca or call 888-262-3688 for more information.
WINTER 2015 PEG | 11
AEF CAMPAIGN CONNECTION
Building a Female Engineering Foundation Operation SMART in Fort McMurray, a program supported by the APEGA Education Foundation (AEF), introduces girls to engineering by encouraging them to explore, ask questions, solve problems — and get their hands dirty
-photo courtesy Girls Inc.
12 | PEG WINTER 2015
AEF CAMPAIGN CONNECTION
BY CORINNE LUTTER Member & Internal Communications Coordinator
YOUR GIFT TO THE PROFESSIONS The APEGA Education Foundation makes it easy for Professional Engineers and Professional Geoscientists to give back to professions that have enabled them to enjoy fulfilling and rewarding careers. When you give to the foundation, you’re investing in the future of the engineering and geoscience professions. Your gift will live on in perpetuity — not only through endowments created and built through your support, but through the meaningful work of young people entering the professions, creating wealth, sustaining the environment, and enhancing the quality of life in our communities. FOUR WAYS TO DONATE • Attach a cheque for the foundation to your annual APEGA membership renewal form and mail it in. • Donate online through the APEGA Member Self-Service Centre. • Donate online or begin monthly donations through CanadaHelps.org. • Download a donation form from the AEF website at apega.ca/AEF and mail in a cheque. Optimize assembly lines? Extract oil from sand? Convert raw materials into everyday products? Check, check, and check. “I think it would be interesting to go into engineering, and there are lots of different jobs that you can do when you finish (school),” says Layla. She was one of 30 girls, aged 12 to 14, who took part in the nine-week program this fall. It’s one of several programs offered by the Fort McMurray branch of Girls Inc., a non-profit organization that empowers young women in Canada and the U.S. to break free from gender stereotypes and develop their confidence. Operation SMART started in Fort McMurray four years ago, through the volunteer efforts of several APEGA Members. Three- hour sessions are held on Saturdays from late September through November. A variety of hands-on activities — like egg drop challeng- es, circuit construction and building Rube Goldberg machines — give students a chance to explore, ask questions, and solve problems. “It’s fun — brainstorming ideas and learning new ways of doing things,” Layla says. Thanks to a $4,000 grant from the APEGA Education Founda- tion (AEF), the program was able to expand its curriculum in 2015. This allowed the addition of an extra class — computer science and web development. On the final day of the program, students got to create their own website, girlsincsmart2015.com, a place for shar- ing their favourite Operation SMART experiences. “Our goals are to give the girls an idea of what engineering is and introduce some of the different disciplines within engineering,” says D’Andre Wilson-Ihejirika, P.Eng. She designed the Operation SMART curriculum and coordinates its volunteers, most of whom are APEGA Members.
Building geodesic domes, newspaper towers, and robots is tons of fun. But for Layla Dillon, 11, the best part about taking part in Opera- tion SMART (Science, Math, and Relevant Technology) was meeting real-life engineers and learning about what they do at work.
Design buildings? Check. Develop websites? Check.
TOWER TIME Operation SMART participants learn how to manage project resources by building towers using only newspapers.
WINTER 2015 PEG | 13
AEF CAMPAIGN CONNECTION
During classes, lively talks about engineering concepts and project management augment the hands-on learning. “Students have to think about the problem they’re trying to solve, how much time they have to solve it, the budget they have to stick within, the materials available to them, and other factors,” says Ms. Wilson- Ihejirika. The all-girl environment lets girls be girls. “It allows them to be in a safe space where they can learn and make mistakes, and they don’t have to feel like they’re being judged in any way.” Ms. Wilson-Ihejirika, currently on maternity leave from her job as a project development lead with Suncor Energy Inc., is a passion- ate supporter of science, math, engineering, and technology (STEM) education. The founder of BrainSTEM Alliance — a company that helps organizations incorporate STEM into their programming — she offered to help Girls Inc. get Operation SMART off the ground. “I thought it would be good to expose girls in Fort McMurray to engineering, especially with all the oil sands activity here. A lot of the local industry is based around engineering, science, and math,” she says. “I wanted to work with Girls Inc. so we could put this program in place, so the girls could see that there’s a lot of career opportunities right here in their hometown.” As a young girl in the Bahamas, Ms. Wilson-Ihejirika didn’t know much about engineering. “I just ended up choosing engineer- ing because I had to choose something to study,” she says. “I had always liked math and science, especially chemistry. I kind of stum- bled upon engineering and said, OK, let’s try this out. Then I went to university and realized I really liked it.” She came to Canada in 2006 to study chemical engineering at McGill University in Montreal, then, at the University of Toronto, completed a master’s degree in chemical engineering and applied chemistry. An internship with Suncor brought her to Fort McMur- ray. Soon she was volunteering with Operation SMART. “We really want to expose girls to engineering and show them that it can be fun — show them the creative side of engineering and how they can make a difference,” says Ms. Wilson-Ihejirika. Word is getting out and demand is growing. Since its inception four years ago, Operation SMART has increased to 30 participants from 10, About 20 volunteers — mostly female P.Eng.s and Engi- neers-in-Training — are vital to the program’s success. “The girls get to meet a bunch of female engineers. They see women can do these roles just as well as men can and are comfort- able doing them,” says Ms. Wilson-Ihejirika. Chemical engineer Loree D’Orsay, P.Eng., is one of those volunteers. She works with Ms. Wilson-Ihejirika at Suncor and has been an Operation SMART volunteer from the beginning. One of her aims is to help girls build confidence in themselves and their abilities. “I’ve heard a lot of girls say they can’t do math. That it’s a boy thing. So every message and every example that you can give a young girl — that they’re just as capable as boys are — is important. By exposing girls to women who have gone into the engineering field — that’s a strong message that they can achieve their dreams.” Ms. D’Orsay still remembers when engineering students vis- ited her high school in Nova Scotia. One of them pulled a ballpoint pen out of his pocket and talked about all the engineering that went
MAY THE FORCES BE WITH YOU Operation SMART volunteer Amie McGowan, P.Eng., discusses force and energy with participants as they design Rube Goldberg machines. -photo courtesy Girls Inc.
DIVERSITY STEPS
The APEGA Education Foundation funds several Alberta outreach programs — like Operation SMART — that encour- age students to explore math and science and to imagine their futures in the engineering and geoscience professions. Outreach programs are the first step to ensuring healthy and diverse professions. As part of its new business plan, the foundation — a Member-run group that operates at arms-length from APEGA — aims to increase its outreach funding from $95,000 to $145,000 annually. This will help attract more Alberta youths, especially girls and Aboriginals, into Profes- sional Engineering and Professional Geoscience careers.
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This year was the first time Ivy Zhang, E.I.T., volunteered with Operation SMART. Also with Suncor, the civil engineering E.I.T. wanted to share her love for engineering with young students. She taught the girls about buildings, bridges, and geometry while they created structures with straws, tape, and the construction toy system K’NEX. She inspired the students — and they inspired her. “Sometimes the girls came up with designs that were a bit weird — or might not work — but they tried them anyways. I learned from them to always keep my mind open to different ways of solving problems and to be enthusiastic about my work,” she says. Ms. Zhang grew up in a family of engineers. Both her par- ents and an uncle were early role models in the profession. They showed her that engineering is a fulfilling career. So, too, did her professors and the supervisors that she worked under during her summer student terms. “They were all people who were passionate about engineering and encouraged me to always strive to be the best I could be,” she says. By volunteering with Operation SMART, Ms. Zhang hopes to do the same for its participants. “My hope is that they take
into designing and manufacturing the seemingly simple tool. “I was hooked.” That’s the feeling she hopes Operation SMART participants will get. It’s another reason why interactive activities are so important. “Seeing how something works and doesn’t work allows them to grasp concepts easier, rather than just talking about things,” Ms. D’Orsay says. “We encourage them to speak their minds and talk about what they’re learning. Giving them an opportunity to take the lead on projects builds their confidence.” Of course, there are always some girls who are resistant to the program — at first, anyway. One such participant let it be known how boring she thought the classes would be. Recalls Ms. D’Orsay: “After we started doing some of the activities, we couldn’t get her to stop and go home. The girls were building roller coasters using marbles — the more tricks and loops they had, the more points they got. She wanted to improve her design. Just seeing that passion develop is really rewarding.” To see the world of engineering through fresh eyes is also gratifying, she says. “It takes you back to a simpler place. I always leave with a big smile on my face.”
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AEF CAMPAIGN CONNECTION
CIRCUIT TRAINING Students learn about electrical engineering by creating a simple circuit and drawing a circuit diagram. -photo courtesy Girls Inc.
these memorable experiences into consideration as they begin to plan their further education and careers. That they can picture themselves in STEM fields once they’ve had a chance to interact with female role models who are like an older version of themselves.” Even though more women are choosing STEM careers all the time, significant gaps remain. At the post-secondary level in Canada, about 20 to 30 per cent of engineering students are female, depending on the school. That number increases to about 45 per cent for geoscience. In the workplace, the number drops even further. Yet only about 14 per cent of APEGA’s Professional Members are women. By offering a supportive environment, Operation SMART aims to remove obstacles that might keep girls from discovering STEM opportunities before they even know or understand what they’re all about.
GETTING PAST THE YUCK FACTOR
One of those obstacles? The yuck factor. “Girls get to a certain age and think they aren’t supposed to get dirty or messy. It’s a message that they get — girls have to be neat,” says Girl’s Inc. Executive Director Ann Dort MacLean. At Operation SMART, though, that stereotype is checked at the door. Whether they’re building electronic flip-flops that light up when you walk, making slime, or cleaning up broken eggs that didn’t survive the egg drop, girls are encouraged to dive right in. “We want them to connect with the fun part of it and not worry about the yuck part of it,” says Ms. Dort MacLean. Another strategy of Operation SMART: Let participants make big, interesting mistakes. Rather than protecting them from failure, Operation SMART encourages students to solve problems on their own — ask questions, assess risks, and take chances “Some of the best inventions happened because of mistakes, especially in science,” explains Ms. Dort MacLean. “It’s important for kids to know that it’s OK to make mistakes, as long as you learn from them. You don’t have to be perfect. You just have to analyze and figure it out. Because that’s what engineering is all about: iden- tifying and solving problems.” Although it does include individual learning activities, a big part of Operation SMART is team building. Group projects help encour- age collaboration and cooperation. Teams may compete against each other in challenges, but they work together afterwards to analyze their projects and propose solutions. “There’s a lot of dialogue and conversations, so the girls really feel like it’s their program,” says Ms. Dort MacLean. It’s all about reconnecting girls with science. “Up until about age 12, girls are as interested in science, and as good in science, as boys are. When they hit 12, the message that
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AEF CAMPAIGN CONNECTION
“The girls get to meet a bunch of female engineers. They see women can do these roles just as well as men can and are
comfortable doing them”
D’ANDRE WILSON-IHEJIRIKA, P.ENG. Operation SMART
they’re getting, either subliminally or directly, is that science isn’t something that girls are good at, that they do, or should want to do. We want the girls to develop the strength and the skills to make their own decisions.”
IT’S COMPLICATED
After taking part in Operation SMART, 11-year-old Gabriella Gonza- lez isn’t ready to commit to an engineering career just yet. But she has a much better appreciation for what Professional Engineers do. “I would describe engineers as complicated,” she says. And her love of science is growing. “My favourite activity was when we got to build a structure out of spaghetti and marshmallows. The building we made was really tall but it wasn’t very stable,” she says. Still, her team learned a valuable lesson from that miscalculation: triangles are the strongest shape. “You learn something new in every class,” she says. “It’s fun to solve problems using my own ideas and creativity.”
FAN GIRL Applying electric circuit concepts to build a battery powered fan. -photo courtesy Girls Inc.
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The Buzz
ALBERTA BUDGET BOOSTS INFRASTRUCTURE SPENDING Alberta infrastructure projects were updated ina big way by the provincial government, in its 2015 budget tabled in October. The province says the investment — a 15 per cent increase in capital spending that adds up to $34 billion over the next five years — will drive job creation in the engineering and construction industries, which have been hit hard by the energy sector slowdown. Included in the funding is $3.8 billion for schools; $4.7 billion for roads and bridges; $2.2 billion for health facilities and equipment; and $4.4 billion for other new projects and programs. Smaller municipalities will get $119 million to support rehabilitation and construction of roads and bridges through the newly restored Strategic Transportation Infrastructure Program. The remaining $4.6 billion for roads and bridges will go to projects throughout the province, including $2.9 billion for the Edmonton and Calgary ring roads. Calgary’s ring road is set to be complete in 2022, while the final northeast portion of Anthony Henday Drive in Edmonton will be done next year. Also included is funding for work on Highways 63, 28, and 19. Another major project — the Calgary Cancer Centre, featured in the fall Buzz — will get $830 million, although that falls short of the estimated $1.3 billion total cost. The province says the centre, which
toric area into one of the city’s hippest neighbourhoods. But all the while, the fenced-off lot at the southeast corner of 105th Street has remained undeveloped. The former site of a gas station underwent nearly 20 years of remediation because of contamination from leaking tanks. With the site now cleaned up, Calgary developer Wexford Developments has announced plans to transform the brownfield into a 132,000-square-foot mixed-use development. It will be called the Raymond Block, after the Raymond Hotel that occupied the site in the 1900s. The $40-million project will offer 21,000 square feet of retail, restaurant, and office space on its bottom two storeys and 96 luxury apartments on its top four floors. Designed by the APEGA
was expected to open in 2020, will now open in 2023-2024. The 2015 budget featured a record $6.1-billion deficit. The province will run $18 billion in operational deficits to the 2019-20 fiscal year, but plans to balance its books after that. -Corinne Lutter
TRANFORMATION AHEAD FOR WHYTE AVENUE BROWNFIELD
Edmonton’s Whyte Avenue has continu- ally evolved over the last two decades, with the arrival of new restaurants, pubs, and shops. Building facades have undergone facelifts and new structures have appeared, transforming the his-
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LATITUDE
SLASH CARBON EMISSIONS, WIN XPRIZE
PRIME TIME Raymond Block, a new development on Edmonton’s trendy Whyte Avenue, will soon be built at the site of a former gas station. It took nearly 20 years of remediation work to clean up the prime real estate, which was contaminated by leaking gas tanks. -artist's rendering courtesy Wexford Developments
Speaking of CO 2 , the NRG COSIA (Cana- dian Oil Sands Innovation Alliance) Car- bon XPRIZE is calling on entrepreneurs, companies, and researchers to convert carbon emissions into something that’s useful to the world. The goal: to slash greenhouse gas emissions. America’s largest independent power producer, NRG Energy Inc., and several of Canada’s largest oil sands producers are donating a total of US $20 million to fund the challenge. -Jacqueline Louie
of electricity annually. That’s enough to power 24 homes a year — although these panels will be helping offset the leisure centre's costs. In fact, the city expects the system will pay for itself in 14 years. Southland is also being used as a test site, as the city explores options for more solar projects for its new and existing buildings. -Jacqueline Louie PILOT PLANT PUTS CARBON CAPTURE TECHNOLOGY TO THE TEST An Alberta-based company is breaking new ground with the development of new carbon capture technology that grabs CO 2 from the atmosphere and turns it into fuel. Carbon Engineering is testing the patented technology at its newly opened pilot plant in Squamish, B.C. The $9-million facility will capture about one tonne of CO 2 per day, the equivalent of taking 100 cars off the road each year. But the ultimate goal is to prove the technology can work on a much greater scale. It works by moving large volumes of air through equipment that absorbs CO 2 in a liquid solution, then trans- forms the solution into calcium carbon- ate pellets. After the pellets are heated to about 900 C, they break down and release pure carbon, which can be used to produce synthetic fuels. If all goes well, the company plans to build a first-of-its-kind commercial plant around 2017. Carbon Engineering was founded by Harvard climate scientist David Keith and is backed by a notable list of investors, including Bill Gates. -Jacqueline Louie
SHELL’S QUEST REDUCES CARBON EMISSIONS
Shell Canada has officially opened Quest, the world’s first oil sands carbon capture and storage (CCS) project. The $1.35-bil- lion project captures CO 2 from Shell’s bitumen upgrader near Fort Saskatch- ewan, then pipes its 65 kilometres north to Thorhild County, where its pumped over two kilometres underground and permanently stored in rock formations. Since testing began in September, over 200,000 tonnes of carbon has al- ready been sequestered. The system is designed to store more than one million tonnes of carbon emissions per year, or about one-third of the emissions produced by the upgrader. To put it into perspective, that’s about the same amount of emis- sions created annually by 250,000 cars. Quest was financed by Shell and its partners, Chevron Canada and Mara- thon Oil Canada, as part of their effort to reduce the effects of global warming. The provincial government also contributed $745 million for construction and operat- ing costs for the first 10 years, while the federal government provided $129 million for engineering and design work. -Corinne Lutter CHINESE FREIGHT COMPANY PICKS EDMONTON AS ITS CANADIAN HUB Air China Cargo has chosen Edmonton for its first freight service between
Permit Holder DIALOG, the Raymond Block will have a facade that resembles nearby historic buildings. -Caitlin Crawshaw
BRIGHT DAYS FOR CALGARY’S SOUTHLAND LEISURE CENTRE
The City of Calgary is making the most of Alberta’s sunny climate. In September, the city unveiled its largest solar panel installation so far, a 600-panel system on the roof of Southland Leisure Centre. It was built in partnership with ENMAX’s Enhanced Energy Services Program. About the size of an NHL hockey rink, the $380,000 installation will pro- duce between 161,000 and 184,000 kWh
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The Buzz
LATITUDE
TURNING CO 2 INTO CaCO 3 (left) Jane Ritchie, P.Eng., Lead Process Development Engineer with Carbon Engineering, shows the company’s pellet reactor system, which takes carbon dioxide captured from air, and turns it into calcium carbonate beads for further processing. FUEL FOR THOUGHT (above) Inside the Carbon Engineering pilot plant, where
carbon dioxide is transformed into fuel. -photos courtesy Carbon Engineering
communities from severe flooding along the Elbow River. The work — which comes with a $297-million price tag — will help protect the communities from the type of severe flooding that hit southern Alberta in June 2013 and caused $6 billion in damage. The province is also providing Calgary with an extra $150 million over 10 years for other local flood mitigation projects. Since the 2013 flood, which was the costliest natural disaster in Canadian history, dozens of mitigation ideas have
mainland China and Canada. Since September, the carrier has been landing
in the world, with 175 destinations and 1,285 global truck routes. -Caitlin Crawshaw
at the city’s airport, transporting everything from live animals to
electronics to oil and gas equipment. Besides connecting Edmonton directly to Shanghai, the service delivers freight between Alberta and Texas. Edmonton was picked because of its sophisticated transportation network and government support. Although not a household name in Canada, Air China Cargo is one of the top cargo companies
FLOOD MITIGATION APPROVED FOR CALGARY AND NEIGHBOURING COMMUNITIES A major reservoir and several other flood mitigation projects have been approved as part of a provincial plan to protect Calgary and upstream
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The Buzz
LATITUDE
been proposed by municipalities, consul- tants and residents. A research firm from the Netherlands, hired by the province, concluded the $264-million Springbank Off-stream Reservoir, combined with $33 million in local mitigation projects in Bragg Creek and Redwood Meadows were the best options. Other ideas that have been dismissed include a dry dam upstream at the confluence of McLean Creek and the Elbow River, and a diver- sion tunnel under the city. Preliminary engineering work has begun on the 70.2-million-cubic-metre reservoir, located about 15 kilometres west of Calgary. This, combined with other flood mitigation efforts and improvements to the Glenmore Reservoir, would protect against a 2013-level flood. Work in the smaller communities may include dikes and drains. Landowners impacted by the reservoir plan to fight the development as it moves through the environmental assessment stage. A Bow River working group has been established to investigate other flood mitigation and watershed management solutions. Five new studies are also underway to identify river hazards and develop new flood inundation and hazard maps for the Bow, Elbow, Sheep, Highwood, and Peace Rivers. -Corinne Lutter
-photo courtesy City of Calgary
GREEN TRANSIT COMING TO MEDICINE HAT
Medicine Hat is getting more than $14 million from the province’s Green Transit Incentives Program to improve public transit in the city. The GreenTRIP funding, announced in early November, is for 36 new buses and other improvements to the transportation network that will make public transit more comfortable, safe, and accessible. The city just renovated its Transit and Fleet Services Building so it could switch to buses fueled by compressed natural gas, which increases efficiency and produces fewer emissions than diesel. -Corinne Lutter
RAY CATCHERS (top) Located atop the Southland Leisure Centre, the City of Calgary’s largest solar panel installation will produce between 161,000 and 184,000 kWh of electricity each year. 200,000 TONNES AND COUNTING (bottom) Since September, Shell's Quest Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) project has already sequestered over 200,000 tonnes of CO 2 in underground wells. -photo courtesy Business Wire
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