President’s Notebook
MASTER APEGA
Let’s Apply our Knowledge and Innovation to Moving Alberta Forward
BY DR. STEVE E. HRUDEY, P.ENG., FEC, FCAE, FSRA APEGA President
for an effective solution, even if it is not the ultimate truth. Engineers put people on the moon by relying on calculations based on Newtonian mechanics, without needing the corrections arising from Einstein’s Theory of Relativity. Our judgment is essential in knowing when an answer is close enough to the truth to achieve our objectives. As a retired academic, I readily acknowledge that our professional education generally does not excel at fostering problem identification. More emphasis tends to be placed on teaching an ever-expanding body of knowledge. (Student design projects and competitions, which require a major
As I contemplate the challenges I’ll face chairing the governing Council for the largest self-regulating professional organization in Western Canada, I'm reminded of what has always been at the foundation of our professions — applying scientific knowledge and evidence to diverse problems. Most of us can likely agree that this essential skill is fundamental to what we find challenging and rewarding about our professions. Whether large or small, complex or simple, solutions must start with a serious and comprehensive focus on defining and thoroughly understanding the true dimensions of a problem. The most elegant solution in history will have limited value, possibly even negative consequences, if it is not directed at the authentic problem. When we’re faced with the practical realities of providing professional services in an increasingly competitive and global market place, it can be challenging to avoid defining problems in terms of what we know best — the adage that if you are most skilled with a hammer, every problem may look like a nail. Albert Einstein once said: “If I had an hour to solve a problem, I'd spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and five minutes thinking about solutions.” This particularly rings true as the pace of technological development continues to accelerate. Focusing our intellectual energy and adequate resources on problem identification often gives rise to the insights necessary to generate truly innovative and effective solutions. One of the things that distinguishes applied scientists from theoretical scientists is the savvy to know when our knowledge is close enough
investment of teaching resources to deliver, are an obvious and effective exception.) One of the most compelling lessons I learned in my first job after graduation is that there are no answers in the back of a textbook that solve complex, real-world problems. Perhaps we need to let future Professional Members in on this insight, while they are still in primary learning mode as students and Members-in-Training. Our professions face enormous challenges caused by current economic conditions. We have been subject to boom and bust cycles for as long as I can remember. Only a handful of my 50 graduating classmates in mechanical engineering in 1970 had job offers. Knowing that our professions are strongly affected by economic cycles allows us to be cautiously optimistic about the future, because we know that conditions inevitably change. However, we cannot simply presume that the boom of recent years will return to Alberta in the same fashion.
4 | PEG SUMMER 2016
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