Following the FamilyFlightPlanF ALL 2006 Keeping in Touchwith Alumni Plug and Play the Oil Game Poisson's Ratio PCL: The Pooled Collective Invested With …

F A L L 2 0 0 6 W W W. E N G I N E E R I N G . U A L B E R T A . C A

KKeeeeppiinngg iinn TToouucchh wwiitthh

Alumni

PPooiissssoonn''ss RRaattiiooPPlluugg aanndd PPllaayy tthhee OOiill GGaammee PPCCLL:: TThhee PPoooolleedd CCoolllleeccttiivvee IInnvveesstteedd WWiitthh SSuucccceessss

Family Flight PlanFollowing the

RReeaaggaann WWiilllliiaammss ((MMeecchhaanniiccaall ’’9922)) aanndd hhiiss ffaatthheerr aanndd ccoommppaannyy ffoouunnddeerr,, AA..DD.. WWiilllliiaammss

ENGMAGsfall06.qxd 9/25/06 12:04 PM Page 1

Vision To be one of the

largest and most accomplished

engineering teaching and

research centres, a leader in

North America.

Mission To prepare top

quality engineering professionals,

to conduct world-leading

research, and to celebrate the

first-class reputation and

outstanding accomplishments

of alumni.

Values Dedication, integrity,

professionalism, and excellence

in teaching, research, and service

to the global economy and

community.

Faculty of ENGINEERINGUniversity of Alberta

As Engineering representative on the U of A Alumni Council, I will represent

thousands of my fellow graduates, as well as our collective interests. What does

it matter if we stay in touch with the Faculty of Engineering and our classmates? How

important are alumni to the University? We are a source of inspiration and motivation

for students, staff, and administration. Our pictures hang on the walls

so that current students have a constant reminder that it is possible

to pass and move into this proud career. Names of alumni and their

various corporations are on buildings and classrooms and walls—

constant reminders of the success our education has brought us.

What can you do to show appreciation to the Faculty of Engineering?

Start by showing up at Reunion Weekend. It will be a fabulous oppor-

tunity to network. In my life, I can truly say that the most important

part, so far, has been the people I meet and the friends I make. I need you to be involved;

otherwise my voice on Alumni Council will carry little weight. Why should you do this?

Because you were asked.

Yours truly,

Jim Funk (Mechanical ’86)

President, Lubex Enterprises Ltd.

Edmonton, AB

Message from the EngineeringRepresentative on the University of Alberta Alumni Council

U of A E n g i n e e r2

Cultural Diversity Engineerby Rusti Lehay

To read the complete article, logonto www.engineering.ualberta.ca

N E W t o w w w . e n g i n e e r i n g . u a l b e r t a . c a

When Peter Janele (PhD Mechanical ’88) entered engineering, hediscovered that oil exploration was a bit more complex than

he thought. As international team leader of reservoir modelling andcharacterization for Chevron, Janele has learned firsthand that oilexploration can pose cultural and political challenges as well as tech-nical ones. Janele’s work has taken him around the world, includinga five-year stint in Indonesia and four years in Kuwait. Meet a “cul-tural diversity” engineer online at www.engineering.ualberta.ca.


F E A T U R E S

6 Advocate for AfricaRepresenting Engineers Without Borders,Rachel Maser (Mechanical [Co-op] ’05) isworking in southern Malawi, Africa. Shehas been actively involved in a combina-tion of engineering and developmentprojects. More importantly, she provideslocal people with training, financial man-agement skills, and motivation.

11 Poisson’s RatioIn 1986, Pierre Crevolin (Metallurgical ’70)and his colleagues created a liner to put

into steel pipelines to avoidthe extreme corrosion causedby saltwater when the pipe isput in the ground. This“elastic band” approach toinserting a plastic liner into asteel pipeline became thestrength of United PipelineSystems Inc. (UPSI). Industryresponded. UPSI soon took 90percent of the market share,all thanks to Poisson’s Ratio.

14 Invested With SuccessWhen asked about memorable momentsin their lives, few people would cite thetime the mystery of electromagnetictheory was unravelled for them. ButJimmy Hsu (Electrical ’75) is no ordinaryperson. Born in Singapore, Hsu came tothe U of A in the early 1970s on aCanadian government scholarship and isnow one of Asia’s most knowledgeableprivate equity investors.

of ContentsTable F a l l 2 0 0 6

U of A E n g i n e e r 3

D E P A R T M E N T S

5 Letter to the Editor

17 [email protected]

24 Virtual EngineerMeet Ross Ulan (Electrical ’84),doing voice communications withNAV CANADA in Greely, Ontario.

30 Cross Hairs on HistoryFollow the history of engineeringin Alberta and Canada from 1909to the 1950s.

37 Kudos

39 In memoriam

C O V E R S T O R Y

18 Following the Family Flight PlanReagan Williams(Mechanical ’92) takes overthe pilot's seat at A.D.Williams, an Edmonton-based engineering firm.When founded by his father,Allen, in 1978, the firmfocused on mechanical andforensic engineering. But tomeet demand, the companysoon expanded to includethe broad spectrum of engi-neering disciplines.Thisfull-service shop nowemploys more than 130people at offices inEdmonton, Red Deer,Winnipeg, Calgary, andYellowknife.

21 Plug and Play the Oil GameBruce McGee (Electrical ’80, MEngElectrical ’84, PhD Electrical ’98) solved anelectro-thermal problem that hadplagued practitioners for years: the finitelength electrode problem. Essentially,McGee discovered how to efficientlytransfer heat between electrodes, makingthat single, mesmerizing idea feasible. Hislife’s hard work has culminated into theElectro-Thermal Dynamic StrippingProcess (ET-DSP™), McGee’s patentedprocess.

26 PCL: The Pooled Collective One hundred year-old PCL Constructionhas been impacting the landscape inbillion-dollar ways over the last century.Despite the highly competitive, high-risknature of construction, this western-rooted company has more than 500projects across North America in progressat any one time. Fred Russell (Civil ’72)and Nadine Harder (Civil ’81) are two ofPCL employees and shareowners.

1188

1111

1144

2266

3300



thefrom

Editor Message

It is my pleasure to introduce a new colleague, Jim Sellers, who

is development and communications coordinator for Electrical

and Computer Engineering (ECE). Sellers has put together a

four-page discipline-specific insert for this magazine. If you are

a graduate of Electrical and Computer Engineering you have

received a special issue of U of A Engineer

with this insert.

This insert features an intriguing device that

will regrow teeth naturally, using ultrasound.

This low-intensity pulsed ultrasound (LIPUS)

device is the creation of Dr. Jie Chen of the

Department of Electrical and Computer

Engineering.

The insert introduces another professor, Dr.

Chris Backhouse, who is finding new methods of making health

technologies more accessible through miniaturization and inte-

gration. He is directly tackling the problem of incorrect medical

diagnosis.

You will also be introduced to Kenneth Chau, a doctoral student

working at the Ultrafast Photonics and Nano-optics Laboratory

in Electrical and Computer Engineering. Chau is redefining the

understanding and applications for terahertz (THz) light—

invisible light whose frequency lies between that of far infrared

and microwave radiation.

If you a graduate of a discipline other than ECE and interested

in this insert, please contact me at [email protected]

I hope you enjoy this special insert. In fact, I hope you enjoy

all the content in fall issue of the magazine. Feedback is always

welcome. Contact me at 780.492.4514 or at

[email protected].

UofAEngineerU of A Engineer is the Faculty

of Engineering alumni magazine.It is published three times

a year by the Dean’s Office andis distributed to Faculty of

Engineering alumni, friends, and staff.

Dean of EngineeringDavid T. Lynch

(PhD Chemical ’82), PEng

Assistant Dean, External Relations

David M. Petis

External Relations TeamMandi Cronin, Matt Ferguson,Peggy Hansen, Allyson Haug,Ana Herrera, Katherine Irwin,

Leanne Nickel, Jim Sellers, and Laurie Shinkaruk.

Publisher/Managing EditorSherrell Steele

Copy EditorScott Rollans

Art DirectionHalkier + Dutton Strategic

Design

Contributing writers and photographers

Blue Fish Studios, MichaelChomitsch, Andrea Collins,

Phoebe Dey, Engineers WithoutBorders, Joan Galat, Don

Hammond Photography Ltd.,Tom Keyser, Rusti Lehay, Dr.Bruce McGee, PCL, Richard

Siemens, TIF Ventures, Universityof Alberta Archives, Bruce White.

Send your comments to: Sherrell Steele

Faculty of EngineeringE6-050 Engineering Teaching

& Learning ComplexUniversity of Alberta

Edmonton, AB T6G 2V4Tel: 780.492.4514 or

1.800.407.8354Fax: 780.492.0500

E-mail:[email protected]

Website: http://www.engineering.ualberta.ca

Fall 2006 Issue 21

Publications Mail Agreement No. 40051128

Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to:Faculty of Engineering, University of AlbertaE6-050 Engineering Teaching & Learning ComplexEdmonton, AB T6G 2V4

e-mail: [email protected]



Dear Editor:

Iam writing in reference to the article,“Restoring NA337, A Labour of Love.”

More specifically, I am responding to theletter to the editor in your last edition. Theletter was written by Ken E. Townend(Electrical ’55). Townend suggests errors inthree places that are misleading and canconfuse the real circumstances. I wouldlike to present our case and point of viewand let your readers decide.

The words “the Halifax Bomber wasraised from its watery grave” are noted asbeing incorrect in that Townend claims NA337 was, in fact, not a bomber. We disagree. While NA337 is designated as aMark VII Halifax, it was built to specifica-tion P 13/36, an air specification for abomber. It was fitted with bomb sights and11 bomb racks. At the time of the “drop” itwas under the command of flight sergeantGordon Russell Tuckett, Bomb Aimer.(Tuckett perished in the icy waters of LakeMjosa.) Number 644 and other specialoperations squadrons routinely carried outbombing missions. To the best of ourknowledge, every aircraft in this squadronwas fitted for bombing missions. The factthat these missions were covert made theseaircraft special ops and hence labeled asHalifax A Mk VIIs. We tend to downplaythe bomber aspect ourselves, but would notfault anyone for labelling it as one.

The comment, “None exist intacttoday” meaning that there are no otherintact Halifax Aircraft in existence is very

true. The writer suggests Halifax LV 907(Friday the 13th), located in YorkshireEngland is a Halifax Bomber fully restoredto WWII condition. This is neither true norcorrect.

The Yorkshire re-creation of a HalifaxBomber shares its roots with us. It startedwhen the McKenzie family of Stomaway,Isle of Lewis, purchased two Halifax rearfuselage sections from a local scrap dealer.They simply added barn doors to each endand used them as hen houses.

I use as my reference a story from aScottish newspaper (The Sunday Post)from the Isle of Lewis dated December 12,2004. The title, “Halifax henhouses wereall the rage on Lewis,” reveals that the rearfuselages of the Yorkshire Halifax and ourNA337 were both donated by theMackenzie family. It suggests that we allowe a lot to the people of the Isle of Lewisand to the homeless chickens.

In 1983 they donated one fuselage sec-tion to the Royal Air Force. The YorkshireAir Museum has done marvelous work cre-ating a very respectable aircraft from it and

a myriad of other bits and pieces. However,the bottom line is that this is not a restoredHalifax, as no part of it originates fromLV907.

Townend refers to the remains ofHalifax Wl048, a Mk II Bomber recoveredfrom a fiord, as being an intact Halifax.The remains of this aircraft were recoveredwith the intention of restoring it. It provedimpractical and unaffordable and theattempt was abandoned. The remains areon display. We have tended not to considerthem as surviving aircraft. Quite simply,they weren’t.

Of interest, the construction of the Halfaxwas unique and innovative. When the morepowerful Bristol Hercules engines were fittedto the Halli, an innovative low-drag cowlingcalled a townend ring was fitted.

Could it be that Townend comes from along line of aeronautical engineers?

Regards,BILL TYTULA

Lieutenant Colonel (Retired) Halifax Restoration Project Manager(Mechanical ’60)

While NA337 is designated as a Mark VIIHalifax, it was built tospecification P 13/36,an air specification for

a bomber.

There was an error on page 36 of the summer2006 issue. It was incorrectly noted that BillMatheson, the author of the note on theHalifax aircraft, was a graduate of Civil ’68.The author is a graduate of Commerce ’49 at McGill.

errors and omissions



Ad



Africaby Andrea Collins

s a woman, not only is Maser a minority in a professiondominated by men, she is also an educated whitewoman in a country where the rules of patriarchy gov-ern gender relations. While she splits her time between

engineering and development projects, she focuses much of herattention on improving the status of women who have tradition-ally been excluded from making decisions.

“There is a huge disparity between men and women,” says Maser.

“Many women still have to kneel to greet a man.” This attitude has proven particularly hard for Maser to

overcome.

Recent graduate RACHEL MASER

(Mechanical Co-op ’05) has decided to

spend her first year after university volun-

teering with Engineers Without Borders

(EWB). She is in Malawi—a small land-

locked nation in southeastern African

with a population of nearly 13 million

people—applying her education to chal-

lenges that at first may not seem like the

traditional domain of engineers. While

with EWB, Maser is assigned to Action

Aid International Malawi (AAIM), where

she dedicates her time to a combination of

engineering and development projects.

A

dvocate for



“Sometimes I get the same treatment, but Ialso try to treat them the same way. I see myselfas a woman like other women, and so anytreatment that emphasizes that I’m differentmakes me feel uncomfortable.”

Malawians have a deep respectfor white westerners, and Maserrecognizes that her race is a sourceof political empowerment as wellas one of cultural isolation.

“I make sure that my voice isheard and people understandwhere I’m coming from,” she says.

“I’m not afraid to challengeauthority. Women in engineering,especially mechanical, are strongwomen because we have to be, ifwe’re not assertive people walk allover us.

“[Melawian] women are oftendenied an education, they are dis-couraged from speaking up, andtherefore they have few choices.Our workshops encourage them touse their own initiative, to chal-lenge the status quo, to empowerthem to stand up for their rights, toask for better health care and edu-cation.”

Not surprisingly, local men don’talways approve of Maser’s efforts.

“In many cases, if the men arenot included in the efforts toempower local women, there havebeen instances where men subvertthe intervention. For example, manyinterventions aim to economicallyempower women, but traditionallymen control the money. So a woman

may make money from the initiative, but theman will take it all from her. Or men have beenknown to sabotage the intervention becausethey see it is a threat to their power overwomen and dominance in the economic andsocial sphere.”

To address this gender conflict, Maser ishelping to develop beekeeping as a source offinancial empowerment for local women. She’salso looking for ways to involve local men.

“When designing this project we did notinclude men, and one of my roles will be togo back and find ways of including men sothey do not feel marginalized and support thewomen. We’ll include men by having them be

a part of the training (gender, business, andfinance) so they gain skills and can learnabout gender relations. We may also includemen in the work groups, but we’ll have to bevery clear that the men are in a supportingrole only, not a leadership role,” she says.

To design engineering solutions for prob-lems in the developing world, it’s importantto use technology that functions as simply aspossible. This reduces the likelihood that on-going maintenance and training will be a bur-den to the local community once theengineers have left.

“Beekeeping technology is very simple,but it can be a profitable business as there isconsiderable demand for local honey,” Maserexplains.

She will be assisting to introduce technol-ogy “that is supposed to be environmentallyfriendly and less labour intensive, which isespecially important for women who are liv-ing with HIV/AIDS, and therefore are not inoptimal health.”

Maser is training and motivating villagersto be independent and to advocate for ser-vices they need.

“Sometimes I feel very isolated here,” she says.

“Though English is the official languageof Malawi, a former British colony, most peo-ple speak the native language, Chichewa, socommunication can be difficult. There arevolunteers here from other organizations Ican share experiences with. However, thosegroups have a different vision and missionthan we do; our focus is human developmentand cultural integration.”

Her engineering project involves rehabili-tating a gravity-fed water system built byAAIM in the late 90s. This ingenious networkinvolves channelling fresh spring water fromthe mountainous areas into holding tanks.From there, pipes lead to taps in numeroussmall communities. It is a straightforward con-cept, but it takes time to repair it.

Maser observes that, “People here havelittle sense of community ownership and let itfall into disrepair. We’re working with engi-neers from Blantyre (Malawi’s largest city) tosurvey the system so we can calculate thepositioning of the pipes and delivery pres-sures along the route. We will then fix leak-ing tanks and broken pipes to make itfunctional and prevent contamination.

MMaasseerr wwoorrkkss wwiitthh ccoommmmuunniittyy mmeemmbbeerrss ttoo ppllaannddeevveellooppmmeenntt pprroojjeeccttss..

MMaasseerr lleeaaddss aa rriigghhttss wwoorrkksshhoopp ffoorr ccoommmmuunniittyy wwoommeenn..


9U of A E n g i n e e r

“The gravity-fed scheme is brilliant for itssimplicity, and parts can be found locally.However, it does get run down after a few yearsand needs to be maintained. This is best doneby the beneficiaries themselves—which is wherethe critical aspect of ownership comes in.”

While EWB plays a crucial role in under-taking engineering projects, it seeks to createsolutions that can be managed by the localcommunity, and to cultivate a legacy ofindigenous empowerment.

Though the project requires engineeringskills, Maser places even more importance ontraining locals to handle maintenance andfinancial management, and on developing a sense of ownership. After consulting with surrounding communities, the team hassecured an agreement that each householdwill make a monthly contribution for mainte-nance (equal to 10-15 cents in Canada). Thecommunities will also form water point committees to oversee maintenance and operations.

Maser has also helped train individualsand community groups in planning, finan-cial, and organizational management, to helpthem launch businesses such as beekeeping,wine making, and dairy cattle. The success ofeach project depends on trust. Maser gainsthis trust in workshops and by visiting homesand villages, where she joins local people intheir daily lives.

One such woman is Chrissie Hausi, direc-tor of MWASO, an AIDS support organiza-tion. Besides this demanding volunteer role,Hausi teaches school, and is raising six chil-dren, three of her own and three orphans. Shehas also taken one of the business coursesMaser has helped to developed and has start-ed to make fruit wine from bananas, tanger-ines, and papayas.

“She walks an hour and a half from herhome village, Mphete, to Mwanza every daybut never complains,” marvels Maser.

“She is always smiling and laughing. “I’ve spent a few weekends with her and

her family, carrying water, picking pigeon peas,and making nsima (a thick corn-based staplewith the consistency of mashed potatoes).Carrying water was one of the most painfulexperiences of my life. It gave me tremendousrespect for the men and women here who carryjust about everything on their heads.”

Maser advocates for Africa, both inMalawi and at home. She has written articlesfor the Edmonton Journal, the EWB newslet-

ter, and the CIDA website. On July 29, 2006,the Journal published her story about a visitto a refugee camp on World Refugee Day,where she was moved by the stories told by women brutally violated in war-torncountries. Other themes she’s exploring are a day in the life of a villager, the contrast between engineering in Alberta andMalawi, and the story of a local AIDS sup-port organization.

Though a Canadian by birth who stillcalls Edmonton home, Maser had first-handexperience in Africa during her childhood. Her family lived in Zimbabwe, where herjournalist father was assigned the sub-Saharan beat.

“Living there gave us all a special affection for Africa. Family dinnerdiscussions about African politics and economics influenced me.”

Maser is passionate in both her defenceand love of Africa.

“In my articles, I don’t focus only on theproblems. I try to show the multi-dimension-ality and dynamism of Africa. There is somuch more to this continent than war andhungry children.”

EWB began at the University ofWaterloo and now has chap-

ters in 24 universities acrossCanada. The U of A chapter ofEWB began in 2000. Now, itboasts approximately 50 fullycommitted members and close to1,000 people interested in thegroup’s local, national, and inter-national activities.

The local EWB organized 17community outreach eventsreaching over 4,000 people, andmade presentations to over2,000 high school students inAlberta and several hundred inSaskatchewan this past year.

One of the community out-reach events was “a day in the

life of the majority.” Participantsperformed tasks similar to thoseof a typical Ghanaian woman(hauling wood and water, gar-dening, cooking, and processingfood) to encourage them to takeaction on issues of global poverty.

“For this year, the group hasplans to reach over 10,000 peo-ple, including 50 presentationsto high school students alone,”explains EWB U of A presidentJustin Wheeler.

“Engineers have skills andresources that can positivelyimpact millions of people all overthe world, and EWB is workingto engage members of the engi-neering profession to use their

opportunities to benefit the people who need it most.”

Traditionally, alumni involve-ment has been vital to EWB’sactivities, and many alumnimake very valuable contributionsto our member education, publicoutreach, high school outreach,and other activities. Alumni can also support the groupfinancially by contacting theDean’s Office.

“We have a professionalmember category specifically foralumni and other members ofthe public. Our meetings andevents are open to everyone,including non-students and non-volunteers.”

Wheeler adds, “We wantEdmonton to become one ofCanada’s leading communitiesfor supporting internationaldevelopment. I think we can create some real change in theworld by starting right here athome. We are putting our engi-neering skills toward really posi-tive things for the world, andare confident that as peoplelearn more about us, they willwant to support us, ideologicallyand financially.”

Engineers Without Borders at U of A

Andrea Collins is an Edmonton-based freelance writer and communications consultant.

For more information on supportingEWB at U of A, contact MattFerguson in the Dean’s Office at [email protected].

MMaasseerr ddeessccrriibbeess ccaarrrryyiinngg wwaatteerr oonn hheerr hheeaadd aass““oonnee ooff tthhee mmoosstt ppaaiinnffuull eexxppeerriieenncceess ooff mmyy lliiffee..””


RMechanical Petting Zooby Bruce White


PPiieerrrree CCrreevvoolliinn((MMeettaalllluurrggiiccaall ’’7700))


RATIOU of A E n g i n e e r 11

If not for one fateful phone call, PierreCrevolin’s (Metallurgical ’70) life wouldhave run a much different course. Thatwas before Poisson’s Ratio. But we’regetting ahead of the story . . .

b y P h o e b e D e y

Poisson’sn 1973, Crevolin’s engineering daysseemed to be behind him. A promised jobat Celanese had fallen through, and

Crevolin had returned to university tobecome a teacher. He had spent two yearsteaching classes at his old alma mater,Edmonton’s St. Francis Xavier High School,and he and his wife Sylvia (a graduate ofHome Economics ’69) were preparing tohead out of town for the holidays.

I Then the phone rang.It was Darwin Hawn (Metallurgical ’70)

who called to say that Caproco CorrosionPrevention was looking to hire an engineerfor a summer job. Crevolin took the job and,at the end of the summer, was offered a per-manent position. He reluctantly decided toleave his teaching career behind.

It was a wise move. With Caproco,Crevolin travelled to places like Iran and

Kuwait before heading into the managementstream. He helped restructure departmentsand, by 1979, was named the company’sCanadian manager—a huge responsibility,considering that 90 percent of business camefrom this country.

In 1984, Crevolin and four co-workers leftCaproco to form their own company, UnitedCorrosion Consultants Ltd (UCCL). It wouldbe the start of a 15-year run of building, buy-



ing, diversifying, and selling companies.UCCL grew quickly to 30 employees dur-

ing its initial year, performing cathodic pro-tection services mainly in the oil and gasindustry. In early 1985 the firm diversifiedinto a pipeline business and purchasedSureLok Coupling Inc., a company that haddeveloped a mechanized method of joininginternally coated steel pipe used in saltwaterinjection systems in oil production.

By late 1985, UCCL had a staff of around70. The company’s ownership had grown to20 key employees, most of who stayed withUnited through the years and whose invest-ments would eventually pay handsomereturns.

Then, in 1986, Crevolin and his col-leagues came up with an invention thatchanged the corrosion industry.

They created a tight-fitting high-densitypolyethylene liner for steel pipelines, to pre-vent the extreme corrosion caused by saltwa-ter when the pipe is put in the ground. One ofthe major shareholders, Dale Kneller, con-ceived the idea of using the “elastic band”approach to inserting a plastic liner into asteel pipeline.

Crevolin recalled a mechanical engineer-ing class given by Dr. George Ford (Civil ’42,MSc Civil ’46, DSc [Hon] ’88) in 1968, whenthe instructor introduced Poisson’s Ratio.

“When a cylinder is elongated, the diam-eter gets smaller,” says Crevolin.

“It was such a simple concept, and Iremember the day I sat in class and Dr.

“We created a tight-fitting high-density polyethylene

liner for steel pipelines, to prevent the extreme corro-

sion caused by saltwater when the pipe is put in the

ground using the "elastic band" approach to inserting a

plastic liner into a steel pipeline. This was inspired by

Poisson's Ratio: When a cylinder is elongated, the

diameter gets smaller. Using this simple principle,

United Pipeline Systems Inc. (UPSI) built liners. The

industry responded. UPSI soon took 90 percent of the

market share—all thanks to Poisson's Ratio.”



George Ford told us about it. We used thatsimple principle to build our liner and itended up becoming the strength of a separatecorporation we spun off from UCCL, calledUnited Pipeline Systems Inc. (UPSI).

“UPSI was the first to develop a one-stepprocess that was quick and efficient and tech-nically, the best solution out there.”

The industry responded. UPSI soon took90 percent of the market share—all thanks toPoisson’s Ratio.

UPSI became known as the world leader,and its product was not only attractive toclients, but to other companies as well.Insituform Mid-America, a St. Louis-basedoperation looking to expand to the oil fieldindustry, looked all over the world and foundUnited Pipeline Systems’ liner to be the best.Insituform ended up purchasing UPSI in1991, and today boasts that United Pipelinehas constructed and internally lined morethan 10,000 kilometres of pipelines on fivecontinents.

So, after all this, Crevolin and the otherowners were left with the original cathodicprotection company, United CorrosionConsultants Ltd. (UCCL), which, in turn,had purchased CSI Coating Systems Inc., acompany that preformed protective coatingservices to tanks and pipelines in the oil andgas industries.

But the exchange in ownership didn’t endthere. In 1994, Corrpro Canada, an Alberta-based subsidiary of a public company thattraded on the NYSE, Corrpro CompaniesInc., bought United Corrosion ConsultantsLtd., including CSI, almost ten years to theday after UCCL was incorporated. But, afterthree months, Corrpro decided it wasn’tinterested in the coating business, so Crevolinbought CSI back.

Immediately bringing in four partners,Crevolin was back in business. And as usual,he advanced the industry again. CSI devel-oped a quality assurance program to docu-ment his company’s philosophy andoperating procedures, and the program con-tinues to guide every CSI project.

“The system we developed was quiteunique, and it was through that and a lot ofhard work that we built up our business,”says Crevolin.

“We decided CSI had to concentrate ondoing business in a different manner. We

incorporated stringent quality assurance pro-grams and employee bonus programs,rewarding all employees for increased cus-tomer satisfaction. We believed that no mat-ter how big or small a project, or whether thejob was in the middle of winter, we couldtackle it.”

That philosophy worked. CSI started turn-ing increasing profits and attracted the atten-tion of Corrpro Canada (yes, again). So, aftermany months of negotiations, Crevolin and hispartners sold CSI to Corrpro in 1999. Crevolinstayed on with a three-year management con-tract, and finally left in 2002. At the time heofficially retired, but he remains as busy as ever.

In 2003, Crevolin was elected president ofNACE International, a Houston-based16,000-member engineering/technical soci-ety, becoming only the fifth Canadian to holdthe post since its inception in 1943.

Crevolin knew NACE well. He first startedvolunteering with the organization more than 25 years earlier in the Edmonton sec-tion, a strategic move that would pay offalong the way.

“In the mid-1970’s, as a rookie in my 20s,I organized NACE education courses for people to attend.

“I met every single new person cominginto the industry, and a lot of them wouldend up being customers. The payback mightnot have been direct but, because I met everybody in Canada in the industry, it definitely had its indirect benefits that couldn’tbe measured.”

Crevolin’s involvement in NACE wentfrom local, to national, to international,before he finally ended up as president. If hedidn’t know the answer to a problem, hecould easily find someone who did.

“That helped establish a technical credi-bility, and I and our companies got so muchback from the experience.”

Once his post as NACE president endedin 2004, Crevolin stayed connected. Heremains on the board of the NACEFoundation, which raises funds and developsprograms to increase the profile of corrosioncontrol with high school and post-secondaryeducational institutions.

And, just as he did when he developed hisinnovative pipe liner, Crevolin credits his suc-cess to the common sense engineering princi-ples he learned at U of A Engineering.

“We used an engineering approach to the‘business of business’ and would develop dif-ferent ways of doing things in the shop and inthe field that made us stand out,” saysCrevolin, whose two sons, Jeff (Mechanical’96) and Patrick (Materials ’02), are bothengineers.

“We had a really analytical approach toevaluating what we were doing and, if weand other shops would offer a similar service,we would figure out a more efficient way todo it.” (Crevolin credits his wife for his suc-cess and that of his sons.)

Crevolin’s short stint as a teacher alsohelped prepare him for the business world. Ittaught him public speaking, thinking on hisfeet, and team building—personal trainingyou might not receive with a technical degree.

“That’s why I migrated to the managerialside in business. With high school kids youcan’t lead by an iron fist. You have to getyour students, just like clients in business, tobuy into what you are selling.”

Still, he might never have put those busi-ness skills to work, if not for that one fatefulphone call.

“If that friend had not called in the sum-mer of 1973, I would have retired as ateacher and missed out on a fortuitous career.It’s funny how things work out.”

Phoebe Dey is an Edmonton-based freelance writer.



SSaamm PPrroocchhaazzkkaa((CCoommppuutteerr ’’0011))

JJiimmmmyy HHssuu ((EElleeccttrriiccaall ’’7755))



su has Dr. SchmidtWeinmar to thank forexplaining electromag-netism. Not only didthe professor impart hisprofound knowledge on

his students, he “was also a great amateurpianist regaling us, at his modest universityquarters, with his unique renditions of Bach,Schumann, and Strauss,” says Hsu, who alsostudied German in summer school after beingnudged by Weinmar.

Born in Singapore, Hsu came to the U of Ain the early 1970s on a Canadian governmentscholarship. He later parlayed his backgroundin engineering to become one of Asia’s most

H

by Phoebe Dey

When asked about memorable moments in their lives, few people

would cite the time the mystery of electromagnetic theory was unravelled

for them. But Jimmy Hsu (Electrical ’75) is one exception.

InvestedwithSuccess

knowledgeable private equity investors. Like many others drawn to field of engi-

neering, Hsu’s pet subjects in junior highwere math and physics, so studying electricalengineering at university seemed a naturalextension of those interests. When he arrivedon campus after receiving a CanadianInternational Development Assistance(CIDA) award, he made his rounds at most ofthe residences—St. Joseph’s College, Lister,and Hub. And believe it or not, he cherishedthe Alberta winters for their clean, unpollut-ed skies—a nice change from Singapore’s equatorial climate.

But only a month after his 1975 gradua-tion, Hsu had to return to Singapore. Like all

Singapore males, he had to serve two and halfyears in the Singapore Armed Forces beforecommencing eight years’ employment for thegovernment.

“It was tough initially to adjust to thehighly regimented military life, especiallyafter four years of soft living at the U of A,”says Hsu.

“But in retrospect, the experience wasgood. The military helps to mould characterand toughens you, not only physically, butalso mentally to deal with stress. Moreover,the friendships and networks that you forgethere become useful contacts later.”

Once Hsu left the army, he was assignedto the government’s Economic Development



and could understand and empathize withtheir ideas and their dreams. We funded someof these small companies, which later becamegiant enterprises.”

One of those burgeoning businesses wasCisco Systems.

Although Hsu wasn’t directly using hisengineering degree in his new position, hiseducation laid the groundwork for what wasto come. His time at the U of A trained himto “analyze problems methodically, viewissues with a certain detached objectivity, andarrive at various alternative solutions,” hesays.

“The heavily quantitative engineeringtraining also made it a breeze for me to pick

up finance and accounting later. All of theseskills served me well in the various govern-ment-assigned positions.”

After a successful run in California, GICcapitalized on Hsu’s talent and transferred himto London, England, where he set up a similaroffice to run the European operations. Oncehe established a thriving workforce and GIC’spresence there—and after welcoming a daugh-ter to the family—he returned to Singapore in1994 to head its north-east Asian operationsin private equity funds and co-investments.

Five years later, in 1999, the Singaporegovernment wanted in on the Internet boom.Planning to invest money in informationtechnology companies related to cyberspace,the government created a billion dollar “tech-no-preneurship” fund. Half of those dollars

were given to the National Science andTechnology Board (NSTB) and the other halfwas given to GIC to invest. Hsu was chosento lead the portion allotted to the GIC.

Later, the NSTB and GIC merged to cre-ate a single investment entity called TIFVentures. Again, the government appointedHsu to lead the newly formed group.

His goal is not only to invest Singapore’smoney to deliver “superior financial perfor-mance,” but also to explore how the countrycan benefit from his investment activities. Forexample, Hsu has helped attract more than20 top tier global VC firms to establish oper-ations in Singapore.

“These firms undertake various activitieshere, from bringing their portfolio companiesto market, to selling and establishing jointventures here, to using Singapore as a hubinto the rest of Asia,” says Hsu.

“Personally, my goal is to further enhancethe role and reputation of Singapore as afacilitator for innovative companies thatwant to do business in Asia.”

Today, TIF Ventures manages $1.3 billionin assets and has 165 investment profession-als and more than 70 primary fund managersaround the world.

Despite, his hectic schedule, Hsu alwaysfinds time to learn, no matter the arena. Lastyear, for example, he and his daughter took acourse together in Chinese calligraphy. Hsu isalso currently studying Korean.

In the end, Hsu’s most rewarding triumph is simple: that he has been able touse his education to do a meaningful andenriching job. Coming from Hsu, that is no surprise.

Board as an investment’s promotion officer.He worked on the United States desk andthen on the Japanese. He became fluent inJapanese while marketing Singapore to tech-nology and industrial companies. After anassignment with the Ministry ofCommunications, he helped negotiate someof the open-skies treaties that have allowedSingapore Airlines to expand its flights tomany cities worldwide.

In the middle of these high-profile posi-tions, Hsu found time to earn his MBA in theevenings at the National University ofSingapore.

Then, in 1984, Hsu left the governmentand decided to try his hand at private indus-

try. Joining British Petroleum, he worked inthat global firm’s non-petroleum, hard-rockminerals development efforts in Papua, NewGuinea and Indonesia.

When a job opened in California in 1986with the Singapore Government’s InvestmentCorporation (GIC), the temptation to returnto North America was too strong. After ayear of training in the venture capital (VC)side of the private equity business, Hsu andhis wife, (Shu) settled in Silicon Valley, wherehe and his team made GIC’s first private equi-ty investments in North America.

“At that time, I dealt a lot with entrepre-neurs full of innovative ideas—mostly engi-neers who had a vision to change the worldwith their inventions,” says Hsu.

“Being an engineer, I spoke their language


HHssuu ggrreeeettss aa ddeelleeggaattiioonnffrroomm tthhee MMiiddddllee EEaasstt..

When asked about memorable moments in their lives,

few people would cite the time the mystery of electro-

magnetic theory was unravelled for them. But Jimmy

Hsu (Electrical '75) is no ordinary person. Born in

Singapore, Hsu came to the U of A in the early 1970s

on a Canadian government scholarship and is now one

of Asia's most knowledgeable private equity investors.



@ualberta.caengineer.alum

EElleeccttrriiccaall EEnnggiinneeeerriinngg

Bath, Duncan (Electrical ’45)

This is referring to the U of A Engineer

summer, 2006 issue—particularly the articleon page 34 on the Brooks Aqueduct. Youmight be interested in some lapses in the useof SI in that interesting piece.

The table of “Brooks Aqueduct TechnicalStatistics” notes the “anticipated capacity” at25 cms. This, of course, should have been 25 m3s. And, although correct, “50,600hectares of land” would have been betterexpressed as 500 km2. Further, 18,350 m3 ofconcrete would have provided plenty of preci-sion for the purposes of an article such as this.

And, just imagine: “Construction costs of$600,000.”

Oh, for the good old days of the five-centice cream cone!

I had my beginnings 100 kilometres straighteast of Calgary and, though I remember references to the Bassano Dam, the EasternIrrigation District, and Lake Newell etc., I never saw any of those places.

I look forward to seeing the BrooksAqueduct on my next trip west.

This is coming from your Metric Monitorfrom Standard, Alberta.

Truderung, Harry (Electrical ’70)

I am enjoying life in the environs of Calgary,Canmore, Vancouver, and Maui, after 33 yearsin the telecommunications industry, mostrecently as president, AT&T Canada, and president of Telus Mobility. Greetings and best wishes to all my Engineering friends andfaculty.

Zaputowycz, Roman (Electrical ’56)

I read with great interest “Nova’sSupernova” by Tom Keyser about ValMirosh’s life story. I must however, point outa gross error in the beginning, namely that theGerman–Soviet war broke out in 1941, not1940 (to be precise: Sunday, June 22, 1941 at03:00 hours, with a cloudless sky). I wasawakened at 02:58 hours by the roar of theflying formations of hundreds of Heinkel 111,Junkers 87 (“Stuka”) and 88 bombers as wellas many Messerchmidt 109 fighters, flyingover our house in city of Cholm, 50 km westof the Soviet border. We expected the impend-ing conflict, because of the amassed Germanmilitary near the border with the Soviet Union.

There is also an apparent confusion as tothe location of Poltava. The city of Poltava,Ukraine, is located about 130 km north westfrom the Dnipro (Russian name was/isDniepr) river, and is on the river Vorskla. Thestrategic bridge and others across Dniprobombed that day is in the city Kremenchug,on the river Dnipro. Was it perhaps the bridgein Poltava, across Vorskla, also strategicallyimportant? It is some 150 km west of cityKharkiv (its Russian name was Kharkov), avery big industrial centre.

In the ending (the last sentence, in the sec-ond paragraph from the end) Keyser writes:“...he grew up in, the old house near theDnieper, was still intact.”

Well, as I pointed out, Poltava is not onthe Dnipro river. Was he in Poltava or in somevillage on Dnipro?

By being a Ukrainian, or so it sounds to me, Mr. Mirosh's name was probably abbrevi-ated from something like Miroshnychenko, apopular name in Ukraine.Also, how did he manage tobe a Russian citizen, by beingborn in Germany (nearDresden)? It’s another mootpoint.

MMeecchhaanniiccaall EEnnggiinneeeerriinngg

Labossiere, Pierre Dr. (PhD Mechanical ’87)

First, please find below a link to a briefnews item that was published on Thursday,May 4, 2006, in Liaison, the Université deSherbrooke’s journal. This is an advertise-ment of an exhibition of some of my ownphotographs of the Northwest Passage. Theexhibition took place here at the Universitéde Sherbrooke.

http://www.usherbrooke.ca/liaison_vol40/n17/a_expo.html

The news item is in French, of course. Itbasically reports that I have been a frequenttraveller to the Arctic and the Antarctic in therecent years, and that my mostrecent trip has taken me fromAnadyr (Russia) to Resolute(Nunavut), thus crossing theBering Strait and then sailingalong the coasts of Alaska,Yukon, and Nunavut. It saysthat I took “striking images” ofthe Northwest Passage, pho-tographs that I shared throughan exhibition that took place inJune, 2006. The quadruple image of a bearthat was used to accompany the news item isreproduced above. I also include below acopy of the invitation card to this exhibition.

For the record: I obtained my Ph.D. inMechanical Engineering in 1987. After a fewyears at the Université de Moncton, I joinedthe Department of Civil Engineering at theUniversité de Sherbrooke in 1992.

And, yes, I amplanning anothervoyage in the Norththis summer—thistime around BaffinIsland.



FligPl

Followingthe

illiams, Jr. was 11 years old atthe time when his father, Allen,started his own Edmonton-

based engineering firm. The fami-ly was sitting around the dinner table tryingto come up with a name for the new compa-ny. Someone suggested keeping it simple byusing the founder’s name. That marked thebirth of A.D. Williams, and the first of many brainstorming sessions between fatherand son.

Williams, Sr. is now slowly stepping backafter handing over the company reins toWilliams, Jr. last year.

The business has come a long way sinceWilliams, Sr.’s first day in his one-person shop.

“I had no clients, no real office, no book-keeping services or anything like that,” hesays from his stunning downtown buildingperched on the banks of the NorthSaskatchewan River.

“I never thought I would fail, but I alsonever thought we would be where we aretoday.”

Today, the full-service shop employs morethan 130 people at offices in Edmonton, RedDeer, Winnipeg, Calgary, and Yellowknife.But Williams, Sr. first became interested inengineering by a process of elimination, when

other careers didn’t appeal to him. He hadalways loved math, and had grown up on afarm with a mechanically inclined father, sohe pursued an engineering degree from theUniversity of Saskatchewan.

Math wasn’t his only passion. Williams,Sr. always wanted to be a pilot. He knew of aconsulting firm that had its own airplane, so,to accommodate both loves, he equipped hisown business with a company plane. Today,Williams Jr. has a commercial pilot license.

That first aircraft and several others thatfollowed—the newest plane, a Jetprop,arrived in August—have helped keep thefamily firm competitive.

“We have the ability to react quickly,since our engineers can be on site within amatter of hours,” says Williams, Jr.

“We can go out and do an inspection andbe back later that day. Our staff love it. Andwe get to enjoy it a little bit as well.”

They’ve earned it. When Williams, Sr.started in 1978, he focused on mechanical andforensic engineering. But to meet demand, thecompany soon expanded to include the broadspectrum of engineering disciplines.

The in-house team of engineers means thecompany can provide the full range of serviceswithout having to contract out for their vari-

FamilyW

It was a simple enough supper conversation, but one that left animprint on Reagan Williams’(Mechanical ’92) memory. by Phoebe Day



ghtlan

((lleefftt ttoo rriigghhtt)) RReeaaggaann WWiilllliiaammss((MMeecchhaanniiccaall ’’9922)) aanndd hhiiss ffaatthheerr aannddccoommppaannyy ffoouunnddeerr,, AA..DD.. WWiilllliiaammss



the client—one who knows exactly what hewants—is a reflection of us.”

Williams, Jr. learned many tricks of thetrade from watching his dad, but he also puthis time in before being named president.Right out of university, he worked for an oil-field manufacturing company that servicedclients such as Imperial Oil. Then, in 1995,he joined A.D. Williams’s Yellowknife office(“We put him in exile,” jokes his dad).

The remote location helped the juniormechanical engineer gather invaluable experience. Williams, Jr. was exposed to a range of projects in almost every Arcticcommunity. He worked on a fuel facilityupgrade in Baffin Island and spent 12 months building a camp with PCL and Clark Builders at the Ekati Diamond Mine inthe Northwest Territories. Because they werein such a remote location, everything had to be flown in, making planning and logistics one of the most central parts of the process.

“If you order 32 two-by-fours and youlater find out you need 34, getting those lasttwo are going to be really tough,” he says.

“The thoroughness of planning becomesreally important.”

Williams, Jr. also recalls going to the opening of a centre and being called on to fix some of the building’s electrical problems. When he explained he was amechanical, not an electrical engineer, “theresponse was, ‘You’re the only engineer here,so fix it.’ I obviously learned a lot during that time.”

After three years in his northern post, hereturned to Edmonton and held a number ofpositions in the company before being namedto the top.

Aside from competing for a range ofjobs—the firm just recently won the bid todesign the lieutenant governor’s residence aswell as to provide consulting services for a$19.5 million dollar multi-use facility inWhitecourt—Williams, Jr. has put a lot of effort into human resources. He has developed an industry-leading web-basedCareer Path program that promotes growthand advancement within the company.Engineers and technical staff can choosebetween the technical and business streams ofthe firm, to become technical specialists orhigh-level managers.

“Our firm has to grow for our people, andwe have to give our staff the opportunity toadvance,” says Williams, Jr., who alsoencourages his colleagues to take universityclasses during work time.

“Because we’re an employee-owned firmand our staff is given the ability to have equi-ty in the company, we believe that’s how wecan be the most successful.

“Compared to other industries, we’re stilldoing a lot of technical stuff, but you alsoneed the soft interpersonal skills or you canlose the confidence of your client.”

Williams, Sr. agrees, saying that most peo-ple don’t understand that engineering is asmuch a business as any other. Students, hesays, should have at least a rudimentaryknowledge of the business side of the consult-ing industry.

It is a side Williams, Jr. now knows well.Looking ahead, he welcomes the opportunityto lead this already successful company, espe-cially knowing his mentor is close by.

The younger Williams concedes he isn’tvery good at leaving work discussions at theoffice; he has been known to bring up a pro-ject or two while on a family ski or fishing trip.

And while Williams, Sr. tries to ease offfrom the business, he admits it is hard to let go.

“It makes it easier that Reagan is doingsuch good work. And as the company getslarger you have to have good people in placethat you can trust. I definitely do. It is ingreat hands.”

ety of projects. For instance, the firm recentlyworked on Edmonton’s South Light RailTransit System (LRT) and conducted all of theutility relocations related to the transit’s exten-sion. Their services included the designs ofelectrical underground and aerial power distri-bution, street light power, fibre optic and tele-phone communications, as well as water andsanitary gas design. On the forensic engineer-ing side, the company recently investigated thecollapse of a pedestrian walkway in Calgarythat sent debris and workers into the river.

Williams, Jr. also remembers some of thecompany’s more simple, yet exciting, develop-ments along the way. He was at the officewhen A.D. Williams got its first computer anda Wang word processor—it took up an entireroom. The firm also boasted one of the firstfax machines in Edmonton. They were work-ing on a large casino hotel in the Bahamas andneeded an easy way to communicate.

Williams, Sr. quickly became involved inthe engineering community, first as a boardmember and then as president for theConsulting Engineers of Alberta. In 2004, hewas named Chairperson of the Board for theAssociation of Consulting Engineers ofCanada. The post took him to Washington,where he met astronaut Neil Armstrong (andlearned that the two men both started out withthe same airplane).

Right from the beginning, A.D. Williamsput the emphasis on the clients. Believe it ornot, that wasn’t a common philosophy at thetime, says Williams, Sr. It paid off. Almost 95percent of the company’s clients are nowrepeat customers.

“We very consciously decided that weneed quality clients,” says Williams, Jr.

“We’re in a business where the quality of

Williams, Jr. was exposed to a range of

projects in almost every Arctic community. He

worked on a fuel facility upgrade in Baffin

Island and spent 12 months building a camp

with PCL and Clark Builders at the Ekati

Diamond Mine in the Northwest Territories.




McGee

“Basically, you plug it in and get oil,” Dr. Bruce McGee (Electrical ’80),

MEng Electrical ’84, PhD Electrical ’98) jokes.Heat bitumen-rich oil sands with electric-

ity and remove the oil from it. This idea mesmerized McGee from the moment hisprofessor Dr. Fred Vermeulen (Electrical ’60,PhD Electrical ’66) gave a presentation on hisresearch in 1980.

McGee saw the huge potential in the ideapioneered by two of his professors,Vermeulen and Dr. Steve Chute, at theUniversity of Alberta in the 1970s.

“It was technology I believed in then and

still do,” McGee says. “I felt committed to doing something

with it.”That he has, though there were many who

doubted anything would come of it. McGeehad faith and persevered, driven by his firmbelief in the technology.

He took Vermeulen and Chute’s approachand made it better. He brought it from theclassroom to the field, in one of the most suc-cessful technology transfers to happen at theU of A.

McGee, who has a diverse engineeringbackground, solved an electro-thermal

dilemma that had plagued practitioners foryears: the finite length electrode problem.Essentially, McGee discovered how to effi-ciently transfer heat between electrodes, mak-ing that single, mesmerizing idea feasible.

McGee’s life’s work has culminated in hispatented Electro-Thermal Dynamic StrippingProcess (ET-DSP™). ET-DSP basically passeselectrical current between electrodes placedin soil, heating the oil in bitumen-richdeposits to allow it to be pumped out.

The process has several remarkable features. Oil can be recovered from depositsvery quickly—75 to 80 percent of oil can be

by Michael Chomitsch

DDrr.. BBrruuccee MMccGGeeee ((EElleeccttrriiccaall ’’8800)),, MMEEnnggEElleeccttrriiccaall ’’8844,, PPhhDD EElleeccttrriiccaall ’’9988))

The Oil GamePlug and Play



recovered in one year. It is environmentallyfriendly; small wells are drilled for electrodesand pumps while the rest of the land is dis-turbed as minimally as possible. It is scal-able—as more oil is recovered, more wells canbe drilled and more capital generated. Finally,the costs for electricity are inexpensive whencompared to more conventional methods ofoil extraction, such as surface mining.

No other oil extraction/recovery processcan boast such quick, cost-effective returnswith such minimal environmental impact.While McGee patented the process three yearsago, he’s only now drawing his first drops of oil from the bitumen-rich Athabasca Oil Sands.

McGee and E-T Energy, the company he formed in 2004 to apply ET-DSP in the oilfield, are currently conducting a fieldtest at a one-hectare test site approximatelyfour kilometres north of Fort McMurray. If the technology works, E-T Energy canbegin to develop the approximately 1.25 billion barrels of oil in place on its oil sand leases.

In a stroke of good fortune, the one thingET-DSP needs the most—power—is suppliedby a power line that runs right through thetest site.

“The stars couldn’t line up better,”

technology to the investment community,”McGee admits.

“But by doing it right, you can get thebest people in the world working with you.”

In the end, he raised the money he need-ed. His lifelong work was about to take itsnext giant step.

Some of the major oil industry playersfrom Canada, the U.S., and Europe are nowinvestors, and even partners, in ET-Energy. Inaddition, the Alberta Government helpedfund the project with a $675,000 grant.

Once the results of the field test are eval-uated, McGee will seek additional investmentto go commercial.

Regardless of the outcome of the field test,E-T Energy is already poised to make its mark.With an estimated 1.25 billion barrels of oil inreserve in the 14.5 sections of land it owns, thecompany is currently the largest junior oilcompany in the Athabasca Oil Sands.

McGee has faith in ET-DSP and believesthe field test will be successful.

“I know it will work. I’ve seen it workand I’ve built a company around it.”

As it turns out, he actually built two.Somewhat ironically, it was the work of theother company he founded, McMillan-McGee Corporation (McC2), that helpedmake believers out of the investors. McGeeestablished McC2 in 1995, while working onhis PhD. McC2 first used ET-DSP to reclaimcontaminated sites.

“The principles are the same regardless of

what ET-DSP is used for,” says McGee. “You heat the soil and the chemicals will

vaporize. They can then be collected andextracted from the soil. Oil gets hot and itflows easier. It’s the same process, but theend-product is usable.”

Environmentalists were the first to

McGee says with a smile.ET-DSP’s potential is even more remark-

able. According to McGee, nearly two-thirdsof the estimated 2.5 trillion barrels of oil in the oil sands is either too shallow to be reached by conventional drilling methodsor too deep to be extracted via steam injection. The alternative is an in-situ processlike ET-DSP.

In other words, if McGee’s claims are cor-rect, E-T Energy has a possible niche market of1.66 trillion barrels of oil—enough oil to sus-tain the world’s current needs for 55 years.

Despite this phenomenal forecast, McGeehad trouble convincing oil industry compa-nies to test ET-DSP on their leases. Generallyconservative by nature, the oil industry didn’tleap to support new technology such as his.But McGee wasn’t fazed.

“If they didn’t do it, I would. I know thisprocess will work,” he declares.

So, he formed E-T Energy. A friend, whois now a partner in the company (McGeeretains 38 percent ownership), had someinfluence in the oil industry, and helped lineup some investors. However, they needed $12million to start the field test. McGee took hispitch to potential investors in New York City,Boston, Toronto, and Calgary.

“The hardest part was letting go of the

EETT--DDSSPP™™ iinn tthhee ffiieelldd..

AA ccrroossss--sseeccttiioonn ooff aann eelleeccttrrooddee..



Michael Chomitsch is an Edmonton-based freelance writer.

embrace the technology, applying it to envi-ronmental problems.

“During the first ten years, we were clean-ing soils in urban areas where we couldn’tdisturb the infrastructure,” McGee says.

“Focussing on the environmental aspectof the process became more and more impor-tant over time. It is really gratifying to cleanup a site, to make harmful soil clean.”

The expected recovery rate of oil usingET-DSP—between 75 to 80 percent—demon-strates McGee’s commitment to the environ-ment.

“The timeline (for oil recovery) is veryshort,” McGee points out.

“When you compare environmental dis-turbance to the benefit, it’s almost negligible.”

His goal is to recover oil in the first yearof a project and begin environmental recla-mation in the second.

McC2’s work proved to be a huge advan-tage for E-T Energy. It proved ET-DSP works.

“Some of our biggest environmentalclients were oil companies. They examinedMcC2 and were confident that E-T Energycould create wealth.”

McC2 is very successful in its own right.ET-DSP is currently deployed on $150 millionin contracted environmental projects, and

there are plans to increase that to $200million next year. Its customers includethe U.S. Department of Energy, theU.S. Environmental ProtectionAgency, the U.S. Department ofDefence, and large companiessuch as TOTAL, Esso, andShell. McC2 has offices inFlorida and California.

Despite McC2 success, McGee’ssights were always set on using ET-DSP inthe oil sands.

Given that both companies use ET-DSP, itshould come as no surprise that they workseamlessly together. They share a brand newoffice and manufacturing facility in Calgary.

ET-DSP involves high-level calculations,and it takes a multi-disciplinary engineeringteam to make it all work. The staff of 20includes environmental, electrical, power,chemical, and petroleum engineers. Any blue-collar work required is contracted out.

McC2 manufactures all the circuits used inthe process and monitors the projects in realtime over the Internet. Clients are leasedpower supply units, sold electrodes, andreceive engineering consulting services as partof their contract.

McGee works hard, averaging 70- to 80-

hour workweeks. He currently spends nearlythree quarters of that time on E-T Energy, buthe expects to focus entirely on the companywhen things really get rolling.

“We’re up for the challenge. We’ll makeit work; there’s no doubt about that.”

At the basic level, ET-DSP™ places electrodes in a bitu-men-rich oil sands formation and passes an electrical currentbetween the electrodes. Additionally, water is injected intothe electrodes to transfer the heat rapidly into the oil sands.This heats and displaces the oil so that it flows easily in thereservoir and can then be extracted at production wellsusing surface pumps.

In actuality, it is a phenomenally complex multi-discipli-nary feat of engineering. It involves applied electromagneticfields, non-linear physics, mass and heat transfer coupled tothe electro-thermal processes.

In a target volume of soil, electrode wells are drilled in adense grid. This maximizes efficiency in heating, whichoccurs as electrical current is passed between the electrodes.They can be stacked and drilled to reach a maximum depthof 300 m.

The bitumen has half the heat capacity of water, whichmeans, as McGee points out, “We heat with the most effi-cient thing we can use—the oil!”

When oil gets hot, it flows better and is easier to extract,which is done via small surface pumps on the surface.Indeed, multiple extraction points are a key component toET-DSP’s effectiveness.

Electro-thermal Dynamic Stripping ProcessOther key features of ET-DSP include:

• QQuuiicckk rreettuurrnn oonn iinnvveessttmmeenntt—Oil recovery begins within 30 to 60 days ofstart-up. This creates a revenue cycle, where, as more oil is recovered, moreelectrodes can be drilled, more pumps can be used, more oil can be recov-ered. A “pay as you go” economic model is quickly established.

• WWaatteerr ccoonnsseerrvvaattiioonn—ET-DSP uses only one barrel of water to recover onebarrel of oil—far less that other oil recovery methods. The issue of waterusage in the oilfield is becoming an increasing concern for the AlbertaGovernment, which has hinted it may start charging for water usage in theprovince.

• EEnneerrggyy eeffffiicciieennccyy—Electricity is actually a by-product of the waste heat ofrefining, so, exclaims McGee, “We’re producing energy without adding onemolecule of greenhouse gases into the environment.” (He admits that,while electricity is an expensive form of energy, the ET-DSP process is sothermally efficient that its use more than offsets the cost of the electricity.)

• MMiinniimmaall eennvviirroonnmmeennttaall iimmppaacctt—Oil is recovered in one year and the onlyenvironmental impact is the number of wells and pumps that need to bedrilled. Environmental recovery, using methods proven by the forestryindustry, can begin in the second year of operation.

• YYeeaarr--rroouunndd ooppeerraattiioonn – ET-DSP can be conducted 365 days per year.

EElleeccttrriiccaall ccuurrrreenntt

TThhee eexxttrraaccttiioonn pprroocceessss..

SSaanndd ppaarrttiiccllee

BBiittuummeenn ffiillmm

WWaatteerr eennvveellooppee



WWhhaatt hhaass bbeeeenn yyoouurr ccaarreeeerr ppaatthh ffrroo mmgg rraadduuaattiioonn ttoo nnooww??

Over the years, my work with NAVCANADA has been quite varied and interest-ing. Upon graduation, I worked as a techni-cian at the CNCP switching office in Calgaryfor a year. This provided valuable experiencefrom the practical viewpoint to complementthe theoretical viewpoint learned in University.At that time the commercial personal comput-er was just being developed in the industry.

After that I was employed as a designengineer with Transport Canada in the west-ern region (Edmonton) for three years. I nextmoved to the Microwave Landing System(MLS) group in Ottawa for four years. In thesubsequent five years I worked for modularaeronautical communications system inOttawa. This was an early digital voiceswitch to replace the analogue voice consolesthen in use.

My current job is in voice communica-tions. I have been with the radio group pro-ject two years.

WWhhaatt hhaass bbeeeenn tthhee mmoosstt mmeemmoorraabbllee//eexxcciittiinngg//rreewwaarrddiinngg aassppeecctt ooff yyoouurr ccaarreeeerrtthhuuss ffaarr??

I found moving to Ottawa to be veryexciting when I first did that back in ’88.There has certainly been much growth andchange since then. It felt great to be part of themicrowave landing system project team, and Istill keep in touch with many of those peopleto this day. Much of the work we do is out ofthe glare of the public spotlight, but is impor-tant as it is what keeps the air navigation service and infrastructure running. There havebeen challenges with time and resource conflicts but these are generally resolvable aslong as one keeps the overall view of safety in mind.

EngineerVirtual

U of A Engineering alumni are making an impact acrossCanada and around the world. “Virtual Engineer” featuresonline interviews with alumni working outside of Edmonton.

RossUlan(Electrical ’84)

Here we meet Ross Ulan (Electrical ’84), doing voice communications with Nav Canada in Greely, Ontario.



WWhhaatt hhaass bbeeeenn yyoouurr pprroouuddeesstt aacchhiieevveemmeenntt,, ppeerrssoonnaallllyy,, pp rrooffeessssiioonnaallllyyoorr ssoocciiaallllyy??

I’ve really enjoyed most of the work I’vedone over the years, even though it has occa-sionally become quite bureaucratic. No oneparticular project stands out; rather I’ve beenproud of all the various assignments I’vedone over the years.

WWhhaatt hhaavvee bbeeeenn yyoouurr ggrreeaatteesstt ddiissaapp--ppooiinnttmmeennttss oorr lleessssoonnss lleeaarrnneedd??

It can be very disappointing when projectsare cancelled after putting sometimes severalyears of work into them. Often the cause ofthe cancellation is outside of your control,being either politically or market driven andyou just have to accept that. I’ve learned timeand task management skills over the years,and have improved my human relationsskills—all being very helpful in getting the jobdone. It’s important to follow certain proce-dures, documents, standards, etc., even thoughthese items appear to take longer initially.

HHooww ddiidd yyoouurr eedduuccaattiioonn oorr eexxppeerriieennccee aattFFaaccuullttyy ooff EEnnggiinneeeerriinngg//UUnniivveerrssiittyy ooffAAllbbeerrttaa eeqquuiipp yyoouu ffoorr yyoouurr ccuurrrreennttwwoorrkk??

I learned how to look carefully “below thesurface” to analyze and solve problems, andnot just blindly accept the obvious. I appreci-ated the opportunity to attend the Faculty ofEngineering as it opened my eyes to manypossibilities and taught me how to learn.

WWhhaatt aarree tthhee ggrreeaatteesstt cchhaalllleennggeess ffaacciinnggtthhee aaiirrlliinnee//rreegguullaattoorryy iinndduussttrryy iinn CCaannaaddaaiinn 22000066??

Fuel costs are becoming a big concern,and competition has reduced ticket costs. Buta cautious balance must also be maintainedbetween controlling costs and operating asafe system and aircraft.

WWhhaatt eemmoottiioonnaall//sseennttiimmeennttaall//iinntteelllleeccttuu--aall//pprrooffeessssiioonnaall ccoonnnneeccttiioonnss//aassssoocciiaattiioonnssssttiillll rreemmaaiinn wwiitthh tthhee FFaaccuullttyy ooffEEnnggiinneeeerriinngg//UUnniivveerrssiittyy ooff AAllbbeerrttaa??

I still keep in touch with many of the peo-ple I went to school with, and I have an emo-tional attachment to Edmonton as that iswhere I grew up. In fact, I was in high schooland University during the Edmonton Oilersdynasty years and Calgary rivalry, so thereare a great many good memories from this.Having visited many other cities over the pastyears has given me a renewed appreciation of how nice Edmonton is, with its big rivervalley, etc.

WWhhaatt ffoosstteerrss pprriiddee ffoorr yyoouu aass aann aalluummnnuuss??

While University was relatively hard, Ihave many great memories of those years,and indeed it was a special time in my life. Ihave enjoyed attending the alumni meetingsin Ottawa to find out how the programs arechanging at U of A. These have also givenme the opportunity to meet some interestingpeople that made history (for example peoplethat have worked on the Avro Arrow, etc.).

WWhhaatt mmeessssaaggeess ddoo yyoouu hhaavvee ffoorr ppootteenn--ttiiaall ssttuuddeennttss,, uunnddeerrgg rraadduuaatteess,, aanndd yyoouunnggpp rrooffeessssiioonnaallss jjuusstt eenntteerriinngg tthheeiirr ffiieellddss??

Life is an ongoing learning process; don’tbe afraid to keep learning new things. Peopleare interesting to deal with, and some aremore emotional than others. Keep a profes-sional outlook on things, as the EngineeringEthics courses convey. Take time to takebreaks and smell the roses once in a while, it’sall important.

There appears to be some big energy issuesdeveloping in the world, and while Alberta isawash in oil, it is important to start the focuson alternative energy programs. This is wherethe U of A Engineering Facility could defi-nitely have a presence—I saw some of this atthe 20-year open house last fall.

NAV CANADANAV CANADA is the non-share

capital, private corporation thatowns and operates Canada’s civil airnavigation service. With coast-to-coast operations, NAV CANADAprovides its customers—airlines andother owners and operators of air-craft—with air traffic control, flightinformation, weather briefings,aeronautical information, airportadvisory services, and electronic aidsto navigation.

The Corporation is responsiblefor the safety and efficiency of theair navigation service (ANS). ANSfacilities include seven area controlcentres, one stand-alone terminalcontrol unit, and over 100 airportcontrol towers and flight service sta-tions. These facilities are supportedby a network of 1,400 enroute andterminal aids to navigation andlanding aids.

NAV CANADA co-ordinates thesafe and efficient movement of air-craft in Canadian domestic airspaceand international airspace assignedto Canadian control.

It is a private company and not afederal agency. However, the com-pany’s safety performance is regulat-ed by Transport Canada. The systemwas purchased from the Federalgovernment, on November 1, 1996,for a cost of $1.5 billion.

Some 5,400 employees work atNAV CANADA, including air trafficcontrollers, flight service specialists,electronics technologists, opera-tional support specialists, engineers,managers, and administrative staff.

What is their approach to safety?Rather than trying the fix problemsafter they have happened, as wasdone in the past, the new focus is todesign redundancy into systems andprocedures. This way, if and whenthings fail, either backup systemstake over or procedures are in placeto deal with the failure.



PCENGMAGsfall06.qxd 9/28/06 9:05 AM Page 26


PCL Construction has beenaround for a century now,but its impact on Alberta’s

landscape far exceeds its corporate lifespan.Despite the highly competitive, high-risknature of construction, this western-rootedcompany has more than 500 projects acrossNorth America in progress at any one time.

How did PCL hit the hundred-year markin such fine style?

Fred Russell (Civil ’72) and NadineHarder (Civil ’81) are PCL employees—andPCL shareholders. They both agree thatemployee ownership contributes significantlyto the staff commitment that pervades PCLprojects. The company has been employeeowned since 1977.

“It definitely does influence your feelingsabout the company,” says 56 year-oldRussell, a PCL project director for 34 years.

“You’re part of the company and you ben-efit from the collective effort. There are a lotof decisions we make on a daily basis wherewe don’t just consider our project, we think ofthe district and the company as a whole.”

The company employs more than 2,500professional and administrative staff. Of these,more than 2,000 are shareholders. There arearound 5,000 hourly tradespeople, dependingon the season and stage of construction. About60 percent are located in Canada and 40 per-cent in the United States. Once a year since1977, the vast majority of salaried staff at alllevels have been offered the opportunity topurchase shares. Employee ownership encour-ages future-focused thinking and low turnover.

Harder, with PCL for more than 18 years,was one of only five women out of her grad-uating class of more than ninety. She beganher career as a structural design engineer,eventually returning to the U of A to obtaina Master of Arts (Communications andTechnology) in 2004.

Now manager of operations support,Harder lives in Calgary with her husband,John Harder (Civil ’80, MEng Civil ’84), aprincipal with the structural engineering firmRead Jones Christoffersen Ltd. Every week,

Lthe pooledcollectiveby Joan Marie Galat

PPeeaarrssoonn IInntteerrnnaattiioonnaallAAiirrppoorrtt,, TToorroonnttoo..

ENGMAGsfall06.qxd 9/28/06 9:05 AM Page 27


she flies to Edmonton to facilitate communi-cation and network operations across NorthAmerica, focusing on internal communica-tions and operational training.

“The company embraces sharing knowl-edge and has a commitment of getting peopleto know each other, which is somewhatunique to an organization as spread out asthis one,” says Harder.

“The real strength of employee ownershipis in the relations you have with the peopleyou work with.”

Employees with ownership are muchmore conscious of overhead costs and show agreater willingness to help each other out andsee each other succeed,” suggests Harder.

“I’ve seen some amazing things fromretirees who are strongly committed to comingback to mentor and deliver formal training. It’sa huge sense of family. Every year, a few morepeople hit a 25-year milestone. That has quitean impact to new folks coming in.”

Now, those coming back to deliver trainingwill enjoy a 2,700-square-metre addition toPCL’s four-hectare business park in southEdmonton. The $13-million CentennialLearning Centre (CLC) is a legacy to mark

Companies live and die on their abilities toinnovate, and to find faster and more eco-nomical ways to do things.

“You have to be on the ball to stay alive,”says Russell.

“There’s no such thing as not being in amindset of continuous improvement. There area lot of good people in this industry and they’reall trying to get the same jobs. You have to bethat little bit better and you have to make sureyou don’t get arrogant.”

With that in mind, Russell’s own manage-ment style reflects a sincere respect for individual contributions. Accustomed todealing with hundreds of people on a project,he appreciates individual dedication to acommon goal.

“You develop some really good relations,you meet talented people, and you get

PCL’s 100-year anniversary. As home to PCL’sCollege of Construction, the CLC includeshigh-tech collaboration meeting rooms forconference calls and web-based meetingspaces. These can be used to host workshops,training seminars, and best practices forums,previously held across North America.

The CLC is eligible for silver certificationunder the international LEEDS program,which recognizes the use of alternative mate-rials and environmentally sound constructionand design methods. This is timely, as anincreasing number of PCL clients considercertification for their projects.

Less structured training, in the form ofmentoring, also plays a role at PCL. Both newand established employees benefit from a will-ingness to advise others and accept coaching.

“One of the fun parts of the business ismentoring,” says Russell.

“I’ve been around for 34 percent of thecompany’s history and know some who werearound for 34 percent before that. I see a lotof training take place through storytellingand word of mouth.”

Sharing ideas is particularly critical in theengineering and construction business.

SSuupprreemmee CCoouurrtt ooff CCaannaaddaa,, OOttttaawwaa,, 11999955..

SSccoottiiaabbaannkk PPllaaccee,, OOttttaawwaa..

Roy

Gro

gan



Joan Marie Galat is anEdmonton-based freelance journalist.

• Founded by Ernest Poole in 1906.

• Edmonton became home to the corporate office in 1932.

• Led by Bob Stollery (Civil ’49, LLD [Hon] ’85), a group of senioremployees purchased the companyfrom majority shareholders Dr. John(Civil ’37, LLD [Hon] ’87) andGeorge (Civil ’43) Poole, the sons of Ernest Poole in 1977.

• In 2006, PCL was named:

A Platinum Member of the BestManaged Program

One of Canada’s 50 Best Employers

One of Financial Post’s Ten BestCompanies to Work For and one of Alberta’s Top 20 Employers

• PCL’s annual billings are approaching $5 billion.

• PCL is Canada’s largest contractingorganization and the 10th largest inNorth America.

• Work spans commercial, institutional, multi-family residential, industrial, agri-business,and civil markets.

• Projects are directed from more than27 major North American cities.

exposed to the brilliance of the common person at times. By involving people, you canfind solutions. Sometimes someone on the jobwill make a comment that leads to a wonder-ful solution. Giving a person the power to beheard can lead to some very brilliant things.”

Russell also credits PCL’s success to its his-tory and its strong leadership.

“The province is just a hundred years oldand the company rose from the roots of astrong western Canadian entity,” says Russell.

“PCL’s growth is mirrored inthe development of westernCanada and the north. Ourexpansion is part of the develop-ment of the country. I thinkthere’s something about comingout of Saskatchewan that hasshaped the organization. It’s avery comfortable fit for me.”

PCL was founded inSaskatchewan, but moved its headoffice to Alberta in 1932.

PCL projects range in valuefrom $20,000 to more than $2 billion and include thePearson International AirportRedevelopment (Toronto), HardRock Cafés (Minneapolis andToronto), UE-1 Upgrader OilSands Expansion (Fort McMurray), and Lee Roy Selmon Crosstown Expressway(Tampa).

“It’s very interesting managing this typeof work because you do have a sense ofaccomplishment,” says Russell.

“You drive around and you see projectsyou were involved in years ago, and that’s

kind of nice. No one can ever say, ‘I builtthat.’ You’re just part of it. And years laterwhen you drive by, you’re still part of it.”

Russell’s PCL career began with surveywork on the Beverly Bridge after accepting asummer job with the company in his last yearof at the U of A. After graduating, hedesigned shoring systems for deep excavationson projects in Edmonton, including the Westinand Edmonton Centre. A transfer to Regina in1973 placed him as estimator, and he eventual-

ly moved into project manage-ment.

After being named presidentof PCL Constructors NorthernInc. in 1990, Russell returnedto Edmonton to take charge ofspecial projects. Eventually, hebegan to work as constructionmanager on major projects.

His latest Edmonton project,located on the U of A campus, isthe Health Research InnovationFacility (HRIF), which consistsof two buildings in differentphases. Construction challengesinclude massive size—bothbuildings are 68,000 squaremetres—as well as the challengeof building a very large contain-

ment level three laboratory for biologicalresearch. This requires additional barriers, res-piratory protection, and other features to min-imize the risk of releasing infectious organismsinto the working area and environment.

“They’re interested in keeping bugs outand keeping bugs in,” says Russell,

“The size presents challenges. You have

more seals to deal with. Details have to beperfect. The larger the lab, the more details to perfect.”

Russell’s U of A education prepared himwell for facing challenges.

“The U of A gave me a good solid viewof what an engineer was and generated anenthusiasm for the disciplines they wereteaching, and the concept of what an engineeris—the optimal use of materials and the scien-tific knowledge to create.”

Harder agrees. “I don’t think you can have a better foun-

dation for facing any challenge. You alwaysknow there is a way to get the job done.”

“I’ve known some fantastic leaders andexcellent engineers,” adds Russell.

“What we’re really doing is celebrating thepeople. When I look at that 100 years, I’mlooking at all the people who have con-tributed to that. It’s a celebration of theiraccomplishments.”

PCL yesterday PCL today

NNaaddiinnee HHaarrddeerr((CCiivviill ’’8811))

FFrreedd RRuusssseellll((CCiivviill ’’7722))

EEddmmoonnttoonn wwaatteerr ttrreeaattmmeenntt ppllaanntt,, 11994477..



on HistoryCross Hairs

SETTING THE STAGE

1867 Confederation of Canadais celebrated.

1880s Natural gas is discoveredat Medicine Hat and otherplaces in eastern Alberta.

1885 TheCanadianPacific Railwayis completed.

The first tele-phone servicestarts inEdmonton.

1887 The Canadian Society forCivil Engineering is founded.

1891 The Calgary andEdmonton railway (now CPR)reaches Strathcona.

1901 The first automobilearrives in Alberta.

1902 The Low Level Bridgeopens with the first railwayacross the North SaskatchewanRiver atEdmonton.

1903 The first powered flighttakes off.

1905 Alberta becomes aprovince.

1906 The first automobile trip between Edmonton andCalgary takes two days.

1908 University of Albertaopens with 45 students andfour professors in classrooms in the Duggan Street School in Strathcona, which is nowpart of Edmonton. TheUniversity’s first president, Dr. Henry Marshall Tory, is a

physicist, mathematician, and theologian.

HISTORICAL HIGHLIGHTS

1909 The Department of Civiland Municipal Engineering iscreated.

William MuirEdwards is theU of A’s firstengineeringprofessor.

Engineering

People and events that have shapedengineering from 1909 to 1958.

over thedecades

Editor’s Note — Each year during a Reunion Weekend at the Dean’s Brunch, Dr. Lynch

provides an informative overview of the history of Alberta, the history of the Faculty

of Engineering, and the many significant contributions U of A professors and engineers

have made to the province and the nation. Engineering alumni frequently ask for copies

of Dr. Lynch’s speech. This article is a partial response to such requests.



The Lethbridge Viaduct opens,the longest and highest railwaybridge of its kind in the world.

1912 Athabasca Hall openswith seven classrooms, five laboratories, offices, library,kitchen, and dining room, andliving quarters for 50 students.

Robert William Boyle becomeshead of the physics depart-ment; he later establishes theDepartment of ElectricalEngineering.

1913 Edmonton’s High LevelBridge, designed by P.M.

Motley, is completed. It carriestrains, streetcars, and automo-biles on two levels across theNorth Saskatchewan River.

U of A convocation includes thefirst graduating class of engi-neers, consisting of fivestudents.

1914 An offfice is created tooversee commercial researchdone by the University.

The Department of Mining andMetallurgical Engineeringopens.

The Brooks Aqueduct begins tocarry water from the Bow Riverto irrigate farms in southeast-ern Alberta.

1915 Construction of the CivilEngineering Building (SouthLab) begins.

There is completion of theCanadian Northern Railway(now Canadian National) viaYellowhead Pass.

1916 Because of the war, engineering classes are suspended until 1919.

1918 Professor Muir Edwardsdies, a victim of worldwideinfluenza.

Canadian Society of CivilEngineers changes its name tothe Engineering Institute ofCanada.

Important Events1909-1958

Up to 1909 When the teachingof engineering at University ofAlberta began, engineering wasnot yet formally organized as aprofession in Canada. The uni-versity was only a year old, andthe province itself only four.

In 1909, most Albertanswere farmers and ranchers, butthe population also includedminers, railroaders, and grow-ing numbers of city dwellers.

Engineers had already begunto shape Alberta, dating back tothe railway engineers fromMontreal who connectedAlberta with the rest of Canadain the 1880s.

A flood of immigration andsettlement quickly followed. By1909, most of the hardscrabblepioneering was over with, butthere was plenty of growth stillto come. By the next census, in1911, there were 374,000 people living in Alberta.

Only a few dozen of theseearly Albertans were universitystudents, including the five whoenrolled in the U of A’s firstengineering program in 1909and graduated in 1913.

The 1910s The second decadeof the 20th century began as aperiod of continuing migrationto Alberta; another 100,000people arrived within the nextfew years.

Railways continued toexpand, and a second transcon-tinental route was completed.

Charlie Chaplin’s moviedebut as the “Little Tramp”

gave birth to the mass entertain-ment industry.

A new Department ofMechanical and MetallurgicalEngineering opened in 1914.

The same year a terrible“war to end all wars” began,tearing Europe apart for thenext four years and costing mil-lions of lives. U of A facultymembers contributed to the sci-entific war effort, through suchachievements as helping developsonar to detect submarines.

The war was followed by aworldwide flu epidemic thattook millions more lives, includ-ing that of William MuirEdwards, the U of A’s first professor of engineering.

The first post-war class in1919 had a record enrolment ofmore than 1,000 students (andplenty of parking space in thefields of Strathcona), the studentranks swollen by returning sol-diers who had postponed theireducation to serve their country.

OOnnee ooff tthhee FFaaccuullttyy’’ssffiirrsstt eennggiinneeeerriinngg ccllaasssseessggeettss rreeaaddyy ttoo ssuurrvveeyy..



1919 The South Lab is expanded; construction beginson North Lab for Mining Engineering and agriculturedepartments.

Driven by post-war boom, U of A enrolment passes 1,000students for the first time.

The Engineering Students’Society is founded.

1920 Norman Charles Pitcher is appointed head of Miningand Metallurgical Engineering;he would hold the post for 25 years.

Dr. Karl A. Clark begins his 45-year career in oil sandsresearch, as a professor in the Civil and MechanicalEngineering department.

1921 The Alberta ResearchCouncil, then known as theScientific and IndustrialResearch Council of Alberta(SIRC), is founded with officeson the U of A campus.Development of the province’snatural resources was a priorityfor the Council.

The 1920s After so muchdeath, a spirit of renewed opti-mism returned to Alberta and itsyoung university.

Dr. Karl Clark joined theuniversity to begin a long careerin oil sands research.

The Alberta ResearchCouncil was born in 1921—government-backed researchhaving played a role in winningthe war.

Engineering matured as aprofession by 1925, with theintroduction of the professionaloath and iron ring ceremony.

CKUA, Canada’s first educa-tional radio station, went onthe air in 1927 from the U of APower Plant, its transmittersproviding the platform formany electrical engineering stu-dent projects.

The 1930s The 1930s beganwith a severe economic depres-sion and ended with a worldwar. Yet the news wasn’t allbad; civil aviation came of ageand roads began to competewith railways for the trans-portation of goods and people.

Radio brought us “HockeyNight in Canada” live fromcoast to coast in 1933.

Alberta, dependent on

depressed farm commodityprices, experienced the hardesttimes in its history during the1930s. The province was forcedto close down the AlbertaResearch Council for a while.But even as funding for educa-tion and research dried up, uni-versity enrolment was on therise. In the early 1930s, the U of A was admitting roughly2,000 students each year, of

which about 280 were enrolledin engineering.

Mining was one of the fewfields that offered employmentprospects for engineers; conse-quently a third to a half ofgrads in this era were miningengineers.

But as the decade progressed,the world spiraled ever deeperinto conflict, and engineers onceagain marched off to war.


EEnnggiinneeeerriinngg ssttuuddeennttss iinn aa ddrraaffttiinngg ccllaassss iinn 11994444..



Dr. Henry Marshall Tory is theCouncil’s chair and Dr. Karl Clarkbecomes its first staff member.

Professor Edgar Stansfieldbecomes chief research engineerfor SIRCA; he would be instru-mental in the development ofAlberta’s coal mining industry.

1922 Herbert Haultain, profes-sor of civil engineering at theUniversity of Toronto, suggestsan oath for young professionalengineers to remind them oftheir professional and socialresponsibilities. Haultin asks

Rudyard Kipling to write “TheRitual Calling of an Engineer.”

1925 First Ritual of the IronRing in Canada inducts engi-neers into the profession.

Clark and graduate student S.M.(Sid) Blair build an experimentalplant in Dunvegan in northwestEdmonton. This plant is the firstto continuously separatebitumen from oil sands.

U of A engineering professorJ.W. Campbell publishes a paperproving that space travel wouldbe impossible for humans.

1927 CKUAradio, Canada’sfirst education-al broadcastergoes on theair.

1928 The firstdegree is granted in ChemicalEngineering.

1929 Dr. Henry Marshall Toryleaves the U of A to becomepresident of the NationalResearch Council.

Robert Starr Leigh Wilsonbecomes dean of engineering;

he would hold the post until1946.

1930 Camp 6 is established, the official establishment forthe engineering profession inAlberta.

1933 Funding for AlbertaResearch Council is halted dueto the Great Depression. U of Aabsorbs its remnants and Dr. Clark becomes a lecturer inCivil Engineering.

1935 The federal governmentpasses the Trans-CanadaHighway Act.

The 1940s Barely two decadesafter the “war to end all wars,”Europe and the Pacific wereonce again embroiled in violentconflict. The decade thatbrought us Dunkirk, PearlHarbor, and Hiroshima alsomarked a coming of age forCanada, which ended the warwith the world’s third-largestnavy. Demand for aircraft,ships, and munitions helpedtransform Canada into a lead-ing industrial power.

Alberta’s contribution to thewar effort included the buildingof a network of pilot trainingbases, the forging of air routesover the North Pole to theatresof war, and acting as the com-mand post for construction of a

highway to defend Alaska froma feared invasion.

As always, engineers were in the thick of things. The madscramble to create terribleweapons also brought aboutinnovations—including rocketry,jet engines, atomic energy, andcomputers—paving the way for apeaceful technological revolutionin the post-war era.

Alberta found its future at theend of a drill bit in 1947, when amajor oil deposit was struck nearLeduc—a victory for seismic oilexploration.

Two years later, Dr. Clark’sbitumen processes were demonstrated at a pilot plant at Bitumount, north of FortMcMurray.

The 1950s A twinned versionof Highway 2 opened betweenEdmonton and Calgary in the1950s, slicing 45 hours off thetravel time by road five decadesearlier.

“Hockey Night in Canada”moved from radio to television.

Computers began to appearin large corporations and insti-tutions. The U of A got its firsttaste of the future with a$50,000 mainframe monster.

A refining and petrochemi-cal complex grew up aroundEdmonton to process the prodi-gious outpouring of crude fromLeduc, Redwater, and numerousother oil fields. Pipelines werebuilt to carry Alberta oil andgas across most of NorthAmerica.

The teaching of engineeringat the U of A expanded rapidly,with petroleum engineeringamong the new offerings.

Alberta began to look as itdoes today.

AA ppiilloott ppllaanntt aatt BBiittuummoouunntt..



1936 Oil is discovered at Turner Valley.

1939 Germany invades Poland.

1940 Driven by wartimedemand, and with Turner Valleyproduction already in decline,the government of Canadaseeks ways to increase domesticoil production, including heavyoil and bitumen.

1941 The Department ofElectrical Engineering begins togive special courses in electron-ics for naval and air forcepersonnel.

The Engineering Students’Society banquet, a rowdy high-light of the year for students(although not for the rest ofthe city), is banned for theduration of the war.

1942 The Japanese invade theAleutian Islands.

Funding is reinstated for theAlberta Research Council, withoil sands development a priority.

Edmonton is a hub for threemajor war-effort constructionprojects: the Northwest StagingRoute, a series of airfields

linking the continental UnitedStates to Alaska and the SovietUnion; the Alaska Highway; andan oil pipeline from NormanWells, N.W.T.

Edmonton’s population rapidlyrises from 75,000 to 100,000.

The 2,432-kilometre AlaskaHighway is built in just sixmonths.

U of A engineers participate ina secret study of the feasibilityof using giant ice islands tobuild floating air bases toprotect North Atlantic andMurmansk convoys from U-boatattack. The study includes secretice research at Patricia Lake,Jasper National Park.

William Muir Edwards,

an Ottawa native trained atMcGill University in Montreal,was one of the University ofAlberta’s original four profes-sors when it opened in 1908.The following year he becameits first engineering professor.At age 47, during the world-wide influenza epidemic of1918, Professor Edwards volunteered to care for the sickin Pembina Hall, which hadbeen converted into an emer-gency hospital. There, he contracted the disease and died.

Dr. Karl A. Clark is thefather of Alberta’s oil sandsindustry. A geologist trained inOntario and Illinois, Clarkarrived at the University ofAlberta as a research professorin 1920 and began four decadesof oil sands research and devel-

opment. In 1925, his pilot plantin Dunvegan (now northwestEdmonton) was the first to con-tinuously extract bitumen fromoil sands. Contrary to popularmyth, his wife’s washingmachine was never used forbitumen extraction.


Clark also was the firstresearcher hired by the AlbertaResearch Council and a highlyrespected professor in the U ofA Civil and MechanicalEngineering Departments, wherehis lectures were renowned fortheir clarity. As a teacher, hebelieved that if someone could-n’t explain something simply,they probably didn’t understandit themselves.

He died in 1966, only ninemonths before Alberta’s firstcommercial oil sands plantopened using his hot-water separation method.

Dr. Henry Marshall Tory

had more influence in shapingCanada’s universities andresearch institutions than anyperson before or since. A farmboy born in Nova Scotia in1864, Tory earned honours inmathematics and physics fromMcGill University. He later stud-ied theology, preached for twoyears, and then joined the facul-ty of McGill University in 1893as a lecturer in mathematics,eventually earning a doctorateand associate professorship. He

Notable People1909-1958

DDrr.. KKaarrll AA.. CCllaarrkk

WWiilllliiaamm MMuuiirr EEddwwaarrddss



1943 No. 2 Canadian ArmyUniversity Corps sends 60 soldiers to U of A for first-yearengineering studies; manysurvive the war and return tocomplete their studies.

The federal government takesover wartime oil sands researchbut its venture ultimately endsin failure.

1945 The first atomic bomb isexploded.

1946 Enrolment in engineeringsoars by one-third over the pre-vious year to 874 students assoldiers return from war.

Robert M.Hardy, a specialist in soilmechanics,becomesdean of engineering.

1947 Discovery of oil west ofLeduc marks beginning ofAlberta’s modern oil and gasindustry. Some of the first crudeto reach the surface was savedfor Ralph Rutherford, a U of Ageology professor who hadpromised to drink the firstbucket of oil that anyone everfound by seismograph.

1948 The Department ofChemical Engineering holdsfirst “mud” school for petroleum industry.

Engineering students steal,then return, the cornerstonefor the Rutherford Library.

1949 The Alberta governmentdemonstration plant atBitumount, north of FortMcMurray produces syntheticoil using Clark’s hot-water sepa-ration process.

helped to establish McGillUniversity College of BritishColumbia (a milestone in theevolution of UBC) and, in 1908,became the first president of theUniversity of Alberta.

The U of A EngineeringFaculty was established the following year.

After the First World War,Tory convinced the governmentof Alberta to establish theAlberta Research Council, andbecame its first chairperson.

After 20 years at the helm ofthe U of A, he moved to Ottawato become the president of thefledgling National ResearchCouncil, which he also helped to create.

At the age of 78, Tory start-ed yet another university: in1942 he became the first presi-dent of Carleton in Ottawa, apost he held for last five years ofhis life.

Robert William Boyle

joined the U of A in 1912 as the head of the PhysicsDepartment. He also establishedthe Department of ElectricalEngineering and during the FirstWorld War did secret researchinto the use of sound waves todetect submarines. After thewar, he became the dean of theFaculty of Applied Sciences; helater joined Tory at the NationalResearch Council.

Dr. John A. Allan, a geolo-gist, joined the U of A in 1912and became the first head of theMining Engineering Departmentin 1914. He systematicallymapped Alberta’s mineralresources for the government inthe 1920s.

Allan also was responsible

RRoobbeerrtt WWiilllliiaamm BBooyyllee

DDrr.. HHeennrryy MMaarrsshhaallll TToorryy

for geologists being included in aseparate wing of the Associationof Professional Engineers—hebecame APEGGA’s 11th presi-dent in 1930.

He was a consultant toCalgary Power when it built aseries of hydroelectric projectson the Bow River system.



1950 The first graduates in petroleum engineering and irrigation engineering enter the workforce.

1951 Enrolment in engineeringin 1951–52 falls to 460 students,less than half the post-war peakonly four years earlier. However,demand for engineers wouldaccelerate through the rest ofthe 1950s.

Dr. S.M. Blair undertakes a feasibility study of extracting oilfrom tar sands.

1954 The Civil Engineeringbuilding opens.

Karl Clark retires as a professorin the Mining EngineeringDepartment.

1955 Alberta Research Councilopens new headquarters oncampus. It would move to theEdmonton Research Park in1986.

1956 U of A establishesCanada’s first graduate programin civil engineering specializing

in highway engineering.

A Metallurgical Engineeringdegree is offered.

1957 The U of A becomes thethird university in Canada toacquire a computer, an LGP-30that costs $50,000.

1958 The Department ofMechanical Engineering iscreated, ending a cost-savingarrangement between Albertaand Saskatchewan in whichchemical engineering wasoffered at the U of A andmechanical at the U of S.

ONLINE SOURCES– Alberta Research Council, Canadian Society for Civil Engineering,Wikipedia, Corporation of the Seven Wardens Inc., University of Alberta, University ofCalgary, Edmonton Journal, Edmonton Economic Development Corp.

BOOKS– Sons of Martha: University of Alberta Faculty of Engineering 1913-1988, GeorgeFord, 1988; Leduc by Aubrey Kerr, 1991; Canada’s New Main Street: the Trans-CanadaHighway, David W. Monaghan, 2002; The Story of Canadian Roads, Edwin Guillet, 1966; Oil Sands Scientist: The Letters of Karl Clark, Mary Clark Shepherd, 1989.

SOURCES


I.F. Morrison, aMassachusetts native, came tothe U of A as a lecturer in CivilEngineering in 1912 by way ofMIT. For the next 35 years,Morrison taught every engineer-ing student who graduated fromthe U of A. He also was the firstprofessor in Canada to teach soilmechanics and worked closelywith Allan on consulting pro-

jects, including the Edmonton“Rathole” and the Bow Riverhydroelectric projects.

Robert M. Hardy, a specialist in soil mechanics,believed that an educatorshould participate in the profes-sion he teaches. He was dean ofengineering from 1946 to 1959,left for a time as a consultant inprivate practice, then was reap-

RRoobbeerrtt MM.. HHaarrddyy

Leonard Eustace Gads wasborn in Russia to a prosperousfamily that fled to China toescape the Russian Revolution.The young Gads was pennilesswhen he arrived in Wetaskiwin in1926. He worked as a farmlabourer for 10 years before heenrolled at the U of A; he gradu-ated in Civil Engineering in 1939.Gads enlisted in the RCAF dur-ing the war as an instructor innavigation, after which hereturned to teach at the U of A.He was appointed professor in1956 and associate dean in 1969.

pointed dean from 1963 to1971. As a researcher and pro-fessor, he helped put the U of Aon the map for graduate studiesin engineering.

His favourite saying was,“Old deans never die; they justlose their faculties.”

Robert Starr Leigh

Wilson, an expert in railwaybuilding, came to the U of A in1919. He was a strong advocatefor the Alberta EngineeringProfession Act passed in 1920.He was the dean of engineeringfrom 1929 to 1946, and isremembered for ramping up thefaculty to accommodate a triplingof student enrolment at the endof the Second World War.

Bruce White([email protected])is an Edmonton-basedbusiness writer and editor.

RRoobbeerrtt SSttaarrrr LLeeiigghh WWiillssoonn

ENGMAGsfall06.qxd 9/26/06 8:55 AM Page 36


T a k i n g p r i d e i n a c h i e v e m e n t

BARTLETT, F. MICHAEL DR.(PhD Civil ’94) PEng

has been appointeda fellow of theCanadian Societyfor CivilEngineering (CSCE).Bartlett received his

M.A.Sc. in Structural Engineeringfrom the University of Waterlooin 1982. Following graduation,he worked for almost eight yearswith Buckland & Taylor Ltd. inVancouver, before completing hisPhD in Civil Engineering fromthe University of Alberta in 1994.He began his academic career atthe University of WesternOntario in 1995, where he isnow a professor. Bartlett’s exper-tise has also been recognized out-side the University, withimportant appointments in thefields of bridge code developmentand calibration. He was a mem-ber of the team assigned to theinnovative calibration work onthe Confederation Bridge (linkingP.E.I. and New Brunswick). Healso worked on the bridge’sdesign criteria, including uniqueload and resistance factors toachieve the stringent target relia-bility levels and design liferequired. Bartlett was appointedto two committees of theCanadian Highway BridgeDesign Code and made importantcontributions to the code nowused countrywide as a NationalStandard of Canada. He is thedesignated project leader forresearch team implementing the“Three Little Pigs” facility atWestern, a $6.8 M laboratory totest full-scale houses and light-frame construction to simulatedhurricane-force winds. The labreceived Canada Foundation forInnovation funding in 2004.Bartlett was awarded the DonaldJamieson Fellowship in StructuralEngineering in 1990 and 1991.Since 1992 he has been a four-time recipient of the P.L. PratleyMedal for best paper on bridgeengineering and was twiceawarded an honourable mention.In 2002, he received the SirCasimir Gzowski Medal,Canada’s oldest engineeringaward. Bartlett is a registeredprofessional engineer in British

Columbia, Alberta, the Yukon,and Ontario. He is a member ofthe Canadian Institute of SteelConstruction, the AmericanConcrete Institute, ASCE, andthe International Association of Bridge and StructuralEngineering. He has been anactive member of the CSCEsince 1982.

BASHIR, NASEEM(Electrical ’92) PEng

has been appointeda director of the2005/2006 boardof directors for theConsultingEngineers of

Alberta. Bashir is principal andvice president of A.D. WilliamsIncorporated. Bashir has provid-ed support, engineering, andproject management services toclients in western and northernCanada for over 20 years.

BECKETT, WIILLIAM JAMES(Electrical ’73) PEng

is a councillor continuing inoffice for theAssociation ofProfessionalEngineers,

Geologists, and Geophysicists ofAlberta (APEGGA).

CAMPBELL, ROBERT(Mechanical ’68, MEng Mechanical’70) PEng

has been appointedto the 2005/2006board of directorsfor the ConsultingEngineers ofAlberta. Campbell

is principal mechanical engineerwith Hemisphere EngineeringIncorporated, and has been withHemisphere since 1978. Withover 37 years of experience,Campbell has been involvedwith heating, ventilation, airconditioning design, and man-agement throughout his career.He currently managesHemisphere’s Edmonton office.

CHAMBERS, DON(Civil ’70) PEng

is now past presi-dent of theConsultingEngineers ofAlberta (CEA)board of directors.

Chambers is the president ofWalters Chambers & AssociatesLtd. and has 32 years of experi-ence in the consulting engineer-ing industry. He has worked onvaried projects, from LRT sta-tions to chemical plants, often asthe prime consultant.

DMYTRUK, CHRYS.(Chemical ’60) PEng

has been re-electedfor a second termto Council for theAssociation ofProfessionalEngineers,

Geologists and Geophysicists ofAlberta (APEGGA).

HAUGEN, JAY(Electrical ’82) PEng

has been appointedpartner at ParleeMclaws LLP, alegal firm inEdmonton,Alberta. Haugen

joined the Edmonton law firm asassociate lawyer in December2000. As a patent and trade-mark agent, he advises clients onpatent, trade-mark, and intellec-tual property protection andenforcement. His engineeringexperience was primarily withAGT and EdTel (the previousgovernment owned telephoneservices) and TELUS. Haugen’swork included the design anddevelopment of fibre optic sys-tems, but he later graduated toregulatory services. He contin-ued this area of work, assistingTELUS with their CRTC appli-cations while attending lawschool.

HOLE, HARRY(Civil ’44, LLD [Hon] ’05) PEng

received an Orderof Excellence fromthe University ofAlberta as part ofReunion Weekend2006 activities.

JAGER, CHRIS(Metallurgical ’75)

was promoted topresident and CEOof AltaSteel. Jagerwas formerly vicepresident of opera-tions, and has

worked at AltaSteel for 31 years.

LABOSSIERE, PIERRE DR.(PhD Mechanical ’87) ENG

was awarded a fel-lowship by theCanadian Societyfor CivilEngineering. Theaward was peer

recommended and awarded inrecognition of his contributionfor civil engineering and his pro-fessional leadership. Labossiereis currently the associate vice-rector at the Université deSherbrooke.

LOEWEN, DALE(Civil ’84) PEng

was recentlyappointed generalmanager of south-ern Alberta opera-tions for theAssociated

Engineering group of companies.Previous to this appointment,Loewen was manager of infra-structure services in Calgary.Loewen is a senior civil engineerand project manager with morethan 20 years’ experience oninfrastructure, water, transporta-tion, and environmental projects.

Kudos


UofA E n g i n e e r38

T a k i n g p r i d e i n a c h i e v e m e n t

LUEKE, JASON DR.(Civil ’97, MSc Civil ’99, PhD Civil’05) PEng

received theOutstanding PaperAward for co-authoring“Relining of anIrregularly Shaped

Double Barrel Sewer,” his pre-sentation to the North AmericanSociety for TrenchlessTechnology. The awards werepresented in Nashville earlierthis year.

MAIER, GERALD DR.(Petroleum ’51, LLD [Hon] ’99)PEng

was awarded theAlberta CentennialMedal in 2005 inrecognition of hiscontributions tothe province.

MCGHAN, TOM(Electrical ’80) PEng

has been appointedvice president ofproject engineeringfor ATCO PowerLimited. McGhanwill be responsible

for overseeing all aspects of pro-ject engineering and the techni-cal analysis and execution ofnew projects for ATCO PowerCanada Ltd. He started withATCO as a senior instrumenta-tion engineer in the generationengineering section with AlbertaPower Limited in 1988. He hasheld several successive manage-ment positions in his 26 years ofworking in the electrical energyutility industry, including fouryears as station manager at theOsborne Cogeneration Facilityat Adelaide in South Australia.McGhan’s experience in con-structing and managing largethermal stations and gas turbineplants has resulted in expertisein commercial, project and oper-ating management, and has con-tributed to technical, industry,and community organizationsduring his working career.

MCTAVISH, MARK(Mechanical ’78) PEng

has been appointeddirector of alarmsolutions and glob-al training atMatrikon, wherehe provides leader-

ship to improve the safety ofoperations at processing facilitiesaround the world.

MORGAN, GWYN(Mechanical ’67) PEng

received theCentennialLeadership Awardfor highest distinc-tion as an execu-tive or director of

a continuing enterprise from theAssociation of ProfessionalEngineers, Geologists andGeophysicists of Alberta (APEG-GA). Morgan devoted threedecades to building the largestcompany ever to be headquar-tered in western Canada.Morgan created EnCanaCorporation from the merger ofthe Alberta Energy Company(AEC) and PanCanadian Energyin 2002. Before creatingEnCana, Morgan was presidentand CEO of AEC, which hejoined at its start-up in 1975.

PETHER, DON(Metallurgical ’70)

has been appointedchair of the boardof directors forDofascoIncorporated.

RABOUD, PAUL(Civil ’84)

has been appointedpresident and chiefoperating officerfor BirdConstruction. BirdConstruction is one

of Canada’s top 10 general con-tractors. Raboud has been withBird Construction since 1984and began in the Toronto officeof the company as a junior esti-mator. In 1990 Raboud was

asked to open an office for Birdin Vancouver. The annual vol-ume of this operation grew toover $100 million by 2000 whenhe moved to the corporate officein Toronto as executive vicepresident.

Bird Construction CompanyLimited was founded in 1920 inMoose Jaw, Saskatchewan as asmall partnership and has grownto become one of Canada’s top10 national general contractorswith operations across Canadaand in the United States. Annualrevenues total $450 million. Thecompany recently converted toan income trust. The companyis listed on the TSX and has amarket capitalization in excessof $200 million.

RAJOTTE, RAY DR.(Electrical ’71, MSc Electrical ’73,PhD Electrical ’75) PEng

received an Orderof Excellence fromthe University ofAlberta as part ofReunion Weekend2006 activities.

ROSS, BRIAN(Civil ’78) PEng

has been electedtreasurer for theConsultingEngineers ofAlberta (CEA)board of directors.

Ross has worked with AMECEarth and Environmental and itspredecessor firms throughoutwestern Canada since 1978. Heis senior vice president of AMECEarth and Environmental,responsible for the geotechnicaland material lines of business aswell as their regional offices inwestern Canada.

SABOURIN, MARC JEROME(Civil ’77) PEng

is a councillor con-tinuing in office forthe Association ofProfessionalEngineers,Geologists and

Geophysicists of Alberta (APEGGA).

SAMEK, ROBERT(Chemical ’85)

has been elected asa director of theworldwide partner-ship of McKinsey& Company’sCanadian Practice.

Samek serves major NorthAmerican and global companiesin the energy, mining, pulp andpaper, and manufacturing sec-tors, specializing in capital pro-jects management, operationalperformance improvement, andgrowth strategy. He is a co-leader of McKinsey’s globalpetroleum practice, responsiblefor research and knowledgedevelopment, and he heads theCanadian industrial practice. Hejoined the firm in 1992.

SAUNDERS, R.J. (Bob)(MEng Civil ’89) PEng

has been appointedsenior geotechnicalengineer in theCalgary office ofThurberEngineering.

Saunders has worked on a widerange of projects in northern andwestern Canada, primarily in oiland gas, pipeline, and mines. Hehas also undertaken site investiga-tion and assessments for bridgeand compressor station founda-tions, wastewater and tailingsponds, cofferdams, and wastedumps. Saunders has extensiveexperience with slope stabilityassessment and remediation, hav-ing worked much of his careerwith landslides, especially relatedto pipeline projects. He recentlyworked on permafrost relatedissues for the Mackenzie gas project.

SMITH, JIM(Chemical ’72) PEng

is newly elected tothe council of theAssociation ofProfessionalEngineers,Geologists and


Kudos


U of A E n g i n e e r 39U of A E n g i n e e r 39

STAMBAUGH, WES(Civil ’79) PEng

has been appointedto the 2005/2006board of directorsfor the ConsultingEngineers ofAlberta. Stambaugh

is the Calgary branch managerand director of ISL engineeringand land services (formerlyInfrastructure Systems Ltd.). Sincejoining ISL in 2001 as the Calgarybranch manager, Stambaugh hasbeen responsible for the overallcorporate direction and coordina-tion of ISL’s resources in Calgaryand the southern Alberta region.He has worked in the private andpublic sectors in various roles asproject engineer and senior man-ager responsible for a wide rangeof municipal and transportationrelated initiatives.

STAPLES, LARRY(Civil ’74) PEng

received an hon-orary life member-ship for eminentservice and leader-ship as president ofthe Association of

Professional Engineers,Geologists and Geophysicists ofAlberta (APEGGA). A member ofAPEGGA since 1974, Staples hasassumed numerous leadershiproles with the association, servingon council (1982-1985 and 2004to present) and as president(2005-2006). He currently headsthe business development activi-ties for the prairie region ofAcuren Group Incorporated.

STOWKOWY, STEVE(Civil ’79) PEng

has been appointedto the 2005/2006board of directorsfor the ConsultingEngineers ofAlberta. Stowkowy

is vice president Calgary regionfor UMA Engineering Ltd.,responsible for administrative andfinancial management, marketdevelopment, strategic planning,staff development, and clientmanagement. He serves on theUMA office of risk management,

the UMA quality managementsteering committee, and theAECOM organizational peerreview team.

STEFFLER, PETER DR.(Civil ’78, MSc Civil ’80, PhD Civil’84) PEnghas been appointed a fellow of

the CanadianSociety for CivilEngineering. Stefflerbegan his academiccareer at theUniversity of

Alberta in 1980 as a researchassistant, rising to full professorin 1993. From 1997 to 1998 heserved as associate chair for grad-uate studies and from 1998 to2001 as associate dean in theFaculty of Graduate Studies andResearch. Professor Steffler’s pri-mary field of research activity iscomputational hydraulics.

TROVATO, NICK(Civil ’79, MEng Civil ’84) PEng

is a councillor continuing inoffice for of theAssociation ofProfessionalEngineers,

Geologists and Geophysicists ofAlberta (APEGGA).

VERHAPPEN, IAN(Chemical ’82) PEng

has joined MTLInstruments Groupas director ofindustrial network-ing technologies.Verhappen is high-

ly respected in the processautomation sector and hasserved as project lead, engineer,designer or independent reviewconsultant for numerous compa-nies spanning several industries.

VILCSAK, CHRIS(Mechanical ’85) PEng

is president andCEO of Solution105 Consultingand has been nom-inated as one ofthe prairie regional

finalists in the Ernst & YoungEntrepreneur of the Year 2006awards. The competition hon-ours entrepreneurs who havedemonstrated excellence andachieved extraordinary successin areas such as innovation, risktaking, company development,financial performance, and per-sonal commitment to their busi-nesses and communities.

WALTERS, DICK(Civil ’64, MSc Civil ’66) PEng

is newly elected tothe council of theAssociation ofProfessionalEngineers,Geologists and


WORKMAN, CHRIS(Civil ’88, MEng Civil ’92) PEng

has been appointedprincipal and director of ThurberEngineering Ltd. inCalgary. Workmanhas served as a

geotechnical engineer through-out Alberta and the B.C. interior. His experience includesfoundation investigations anddesign for heavy industrialplants, terrain hazard mapping,landslide assessments, and dam safety.

KudosIn memory of William David Martin, (Civil ’44)

William Martin was born onApril 16, 1916 on a farm aboutseven miles southeast of southEdmonton (Strathcona). He grewup helping out at the farm andattended the local Mill CreekSchool. He went on to completehis secondary education andentered pre-engineering at theUniversity of Alberta in 1935.

Martin spent the next fewyears studying in MiningEngineering and working forSherritt Gordon in Manitoba aswell as helping with the construc-tion of the Ft. St. John Airport inthe summer of 1941. He returnedto the University of Alberta in1942 and switched to CivilEngineering, graduating in 1944.During 1943 and 1944 he wasinvolved in surveying andredesigning roads in the nationalparks, including the one fromCastle Mountain to Radium Hot Springs.

On December 1, 1944, Martinmarried Elma Brooks. They hadthree children. In the early 1950she was involved in pipeline andpulp and paper mill constructionin Quebec and Ontario. From1957 to 1959 he managed a pulpand paper construction project ineast Pakistan (now Bangladesh).He returned to Niagara Fallswhere he was the resident engi-neer on the Seagram Tower. In1962 he moved to San Diego towork in international consulting.He then returned to East Pakistanto work on an extension of thepulp and paper mill. In 1964 hewent to San Diego, where heremained until 1969, contributingto a variety of projects in manyparts of the world. He thenmoved back to Nanaimo onVancouver Island in BritishColumbia.

Upon retirement, Martin pursued private and personalinterests. In 1986 he moved toSurrey, British Columbia, wherehe lived until he passed away onJuly l6, 2004.

in memoriamThe Faculty of Engineering sincerely regrets the passing of the following alumni and friends.

CCoollee,, LLeesslliiee CC.. (Chemical ’58)EEddggeeccoommbbee,, RRooddnneeyy (Chemical ’49)EEnnaarrssoonn,, EErrnneesstt (Civil ’45)LLaaiinngg,, CCoolliinn (Metallurgical ’62)LLiittttllee,, HHeerrbbeerrtt (Mining ’49)OO’’BBrriieenn,, JJoohhnn (Civil ’49)MMeeddhhuurrsstt,, CChhaarrlleess (Mining ’40)MMeettzznneerr,, DDrr.. AArrtthhuurr (Chemical ’48)MMoooorree,, KKeennnneetthh (Civil ’48)

PPeetteerrssoonn,, BBeennjjaammiinn NNoorrttoonn (Civil ’49)SSiimmppssoonn,, CChhaarrlleess (Electrical ’37)SSzzoojjkkaa,, FFrraannkk (Electrical ’61)SShhooookk,, DDrr.. CClliiffttoonn (Chemical ’56)WWooooddlloocckk,, DDaavviidd (Mechanical ’63)

The Faculty of Engineering wasrecently made aware that the fol-lowing alumni passed away morethan a year ago.

KKuussppiirraa,, MMaajjoorr CCaarrll (Electrical ’56) SSttrruumm,, HHeerrbbeerrtt (Electrical ’51)


Including a charitable bequest in your will is an effective method of supportingthe Faculty of Engineering without compromising your current standard of living. Bequests are usually one of the largest gifts an individual can make.They minimize the income and capital gains to the estate, thus allowing moreof the estate to be used as you desire.

For further information contact:

David M. Petis, Assistant DeanExternal Relations, Faculty of Engineering, University of AlbertaE6-050 Engineering Teaching & Learning ComplexEdmonton, AB T6G 2V4Tel: 780.492.5080 Fax: 780.492.0500E-mail: [email protected]

Planned GivingHelp support the Faculty of EngineeringMake a charitable bequest

Postage paid Port payé

Publications Poste-Mail publications

40051128EDMONTON, ALBERTA

PPuubblliiccaattiioonnss MMaaiill AAggrreeeemmeenntt NNoo.. 4400005511112288

RReettuurrnn uunnddeelliivveerraabbllee CCaannaaddiiaann aaddddrreesssseess ttoo::FFaaccuullttyy ooff EEnnggiinneeeerriinngg,,UUnniivveerrssiittyy ooff AAllbbeerrttaaEE66--005500 EEnnggiinneeeerriinngg TTeeaacchhiinngg && LLeeaarrnniinngg CCoommpplleexxEEddmmoonnttoonn,, AABB TT66GG 22VV44

ee--mmaaiill:: sshheerrrreellll..sstteeeellee@@uuaallbbeerrttaa..ccaa

0011991144

✃

U n i v e r s i t y o f A l b e r t a ENGINEERING

YYoouurr ddoonnaattiioonn$100 $500 $1,000 $2,500ttoo tthhee UU ooff AA

YYoouurr ttaaxx ccrreeddii tt$42.00 $209.00 $418.00 $1,045.00ffoorr yyoouurr ggiifftt::

II wwiisshh ttoo mmaakkee aa ggiifftt ooff::

$100 $500 $1,000 $2,500 Other $________

Cheque (made payable to the University of Alberta) VISA MasterCard

__________/___________/__________/__________/ expiry date: __________

Name (please print): ________________________________________________

Signature: _______________________________________________________

II hhaavvee aallssoo eenncclloosseedd::

a corporate matching gift form from my (or my spouse‘s) employer

If you were an Alberta resident on December 31, 2005 and have already given $200 elsewhere, your combined income tax savings will be:

* To best meet Faculty of Engineering’s needs, donations may be directed to endowed funds. Donations made to endowment funds are invested in perpetuity and the investment earnings are used to advance the specified purposes of the fund within the University.

II wwoouulldd lliikkee mmyy ggiifftt ttoo ssuuppppoorrtt::

$ __________ Faculty of Engineering in support of undergraduate student projects,new educational initiatives in all disciplines, and general student life enhancement activities.

$ __________ Chemical and Materials Engineering Fund*

$ __________ Civil and Environmenetal Engineering Fund*

$ __________ Electrical and Computer Engineering Fund*

$ __________ Mechanical Engineering Learning Laboratory Fund*

$ __________ Mining and Petroleum Engineering Fund*

I would like information on how to make a gift of publicly traded securities to support the Faculty of Engineering at the U of A.

I would like information on how to include the Faculty of Engineering at the U of A as part of a will, life insurance, or other planned gift instrument.

I have provided for the Faculty of Engineering at the U of A in a will or trust agreement.

PPlleeaassee rreettuurrnn ttoo::OOffffiiccee ooff tthhee DDeeaann,, FFaaccuullttyy ooff EEnnggiinneeeerriinngg UUnniivveerrssiittyy ooff AAllbbeerrttaaEE66--005500 EEnnggiinneeeerriinngg TTeeaacchhiinngg && LLeeaarrnniinngg CCoommpplleexxEEddmmoonnttoonn,, AAllbbeerrttaa TT66GG 22VV44

CChhrriissttiinnee TThhoomm (Computer ’92) wanted to ease the financial strainon future Engineering students. She made a charitable bequest to theFaculty of Engineering and established an endowed scholarship.


Documents

Following the FamilyFlightPlanF ALL 2006 Keeping in Touchwith Alumni Plug and Play the Oil Game Poisson's Ratio PCL: The Pooled Collective Invested With …