LATITUDE
Movers & Shakers
work. Still clocking hours part-time as Arrow’s Chief Engineer, Mr. Prybysh oversees quality control and technical review elements of building projects for his company. And he gives back to the larger community as a board member of the Rotary Club of Edmonton and a volunteer with numerous condominium corporations. There’s a good chance you’ve already heard of Rachael L’Orsa, P.Eng. If not, we’ll correct that right now. As a robotics researcher, a volunteer mentor, a certified paramedic, a smokejumper and the president of a rowing club, among the few cool things Ms. L’Orsa hasn’t done yet is travel into outer space. But don’t worry — it’s on her bucket list. The University of Calgary graduate student made Avenue Calgary’s Top 40 under 40, and she was featured in the June 2013 PEG for her work with the APEGA-sponsored FIRST Robotics competition. Ms. L’Orsa’s early fascination with robotics led her to study mechanical engineering at the University of British Columbia. There she earned a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering and a research fellowship with the University of Tokyo, before
COMPILED AND WRITTEN BY GILLIAN BENNETT The PEG
YOUNG AND IMPACTFUL MEMBERS MAKE LIST
Don’t let their ages fool you. The three APEGA Members mentioned in this item stand out in the ranks of Alberta’s most talented and successful people. We know this thanks to Avenue magazines in Calgary and Edmonton, and their Top 40 Under 40 lists. We start with Robert Prybysh, P.Eng. He had already worked on 3,000 projects in Western Canada with the company he founded, Arrow Engineering Ltd. , when he decided he wanted to head back to school. It was a risky move for the 37-year-old, largely because he would have to cut back on his workload with his firm. But Mr. Prybysh decided it was the right thing to do. As Avenue Edmonton reports, he saw education as an opportunity to give back to his profession. Mr. Prybysh’s mandate was to create a program and research lab to study heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) — what he considers a neglected field. He is currently the Engineered Air Fellow in HVAC Engineering at the University of Alberta, while he pursues a PhD in construction engineering and management. He already has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mechanical engineering from the U of A, along with more than 12 years of experience in engineering, controls and environmental
choosing the U of C to pursue a master’s degree in electrical
The writing control software she is developing ensures a robot does what the surgeon directs it to do. The project out of the Foothills Medical Centre will have implications for space, oil and gas, and other industries that require precise repairs in hazardous environments.
engineering. Now accepted into the PhD program, her focus is Project neuroArm, a neurosurgical robotics initiative that changes the way computers are used to direct precise repeatable movement. Think surgery, for example.
58 | PEG SPRING 2015
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