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F ALL 2006 WWW. ENGINEERING. UALBERTA. CA

Keeping in Touch with Alumni

Following the Family Flight Plan

Reagan Williams (Mechanical ’92) and his father and company founder, A.D. Williams

Plug and Play the Oil Game Poisson's Ratio PCL: The Pooled Collective Invested With Success ENGMAGsfall06.qxd 9/25/06 12:04 PM Page 2

Message from the Engineering Faculty of ENGINEERING Representative on the University University of Alberta

of Alberta Alumni Council Vision To be one of the largest and most accomplished s Engineering representative on the U of A Alumni Council, I will represent engineering teaching and A thousands of my fellow graduates, as well as our collective interests. What does research centres, a leader in it matter if we stay in touch with the Faculty of Engineering and our classmates? How North America. important are alumni to the University? We are a source of inspiration and motivation Mission To prepare top for students, staff, and administration. Our pictures hang on the walls quality engineering professionals, so that current students have a constant reminder that it is possible to conduct world-leading to pass and move into this proud career. Names of alumni and their research, and to celebrate the various corporations are on buildings and classrooms and walls— first-class reputation and constant reminders of the success our education has brought us. outstanding accomplishments What can you do to show appreciation to the Faculty of Engineering? of alumni. Start by showing up at Reunion Weekend. It will be a fabulous oppor- Values Dedication, integrity, tunity to network. In my life, I can truly say that the most important professionalism, and excellence part, so far, has been the people I meet and the friends I make. I need you to be involved; in teaching, research, and service otherwise my voice on Alumni Council will carry little weight. Why should you do this? to the global economy and Because you were asked. community.

Yours truly, Jim Funk (Mechanical ’86) President, Lubex Enterprises Ltd. Edmonton, AB

NEW to www.engineering.ualberta.ca

by Rusti Lehay Cultural Diversity Engineer

hen Peter Janele (PhD Mechanical ’88) entered engineering, he W discovered that oil exploration was a bit more complex than he thought. As international team leader of reservoir modelling and To read the complete article, log characterization for Chevron, Janele has learned firsthand that oil onto www.engineering.ualberta.ca exploration can pose cultural and political challenges as well as tech- nical ones. Janele’s work has taken him around the world, including a five-year stint in Indonesia and four years in Kuwait. Meet a “cul- tural diversity” engineer online at www.engineering.ualberta.ca.

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Table Fall 2006 of Contents

FEATURES COVER STORY 6 Advocate for Africa 18 Following the Representing Engineers Without Borders, Family Flight Plan Rachel Maser (Mechanical [Co-op] ’05) is Reagan Williams working in southern Malawi, Africa. She (Mechanical ’92) takes over has been actively involved in a combina- the pilot's seat at A.D. tion of engineering and development Williams, an Edmonton- projects. More importantly, she provides based engineering firm. local people with training, financial man- When founded by his father, 18 agement skills, and motivation. Allen, in 1978, the firm 11 Poisson’s Ratio focused on mechanical and forensic engineering. But to In 1986, Pierre Crevolin (Metallurgical ’70) meet demand, the company and his colleagues created a liner to put soon expanded to include into steel pipelines to avoid the broad spectrum of engi- the extreme corrosion caused neering disciplines.This by saltwater when the pipe is full-service shop now put in the ground. This employs more than 130 “elastic band” approach to people at offices in inserting a plastic liner into a Edmonton, Red Deer, steel pipeline became the 30 Winnipeg, Calgary, and strength of United Pipeline Yellowknife. Systems Inc. (UPSI). Industry responded. UPSI soon took 90 21 Plug and Play the Oil Game DEPARTMENTS percent of the market share, 11 Bruce McGee (Electrical ’80, MEng 5 Letter to the Editor all thanks to Poisson’s Ratio. Electrical ’84, PhD Electrical ’98) solved an 14 Invested With Success electro-thermal problem that had 17 Engineer.alum@ plagued practitioners for years: the finite When asked about memorable moments ualberta.ca length electrode problem. Essentially, in their lives, few people would cite the 24 Virtual Engineer McGee discovered how to efficiently time the mystery of electromagnetic transfer heat between electrodes, making Meet Ross Ulan (Electrical ’84), theory was unravelled for them. But that single, mesmerizing idea feasible. His doing voice communications with Jimmy Hsu (Electrical ’75) is no ordinary life’s hard work has culminated into the NAV CANADA in Greely, Ontario. person. Born in Singapore, Hsu came to Electro-Thermal Dynamic Stripping the U of A in the early 1970s on a 30 Cross Hairs on History Process (ET-DSP™), McGee’s patented Canadian government scholarship and is Follow the history of engineering process. now one of Asia’s most knowledgeable in Alberta and Canada from 1909 private equity investors. 26 PCL: The Pooled Collective to the 1950s. One hundred year-old PCL Construction 37 Kudos has been impacting the landscape in billion-dollar ways over the last century. 39 In memoriam 14 Despite the highly competitive, high-risk nature of construction, this western- rooted company has more than 500 projects across North America in progress at any one time. Fred Russell (Civil ’72) and Nadine Harder (Civil ’81) are two of PCL employees and shareowners.

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EngineerUofA Fall 2006 Issue 21

U of A Engineer is the Faculty Message of Engineering alumni magazine. It is published three times from a year by the Dean’s Office and the is distributed to Faculty of Engineering alumni, friends, Editor and staff. Dean of Engineering David T. Lynch It is my pleasure to introduce a new colleague, Jim Sellers, who (PhD Chemical ’82), PEng is development and communications coordinator for Electrical Assistant Dean, External Relations and Computer Engineering (ECE). Sellers has put together a David M. Petis

four-page discipline-specific insert for this magazine. If you are External Relations Team a graduate of Electrical and Computer Engineering you have Mandi Cronin, Matt Ferguson, Peggy Hansen, Allyson Haug, received a special issue of U of A Engineer Ana Herrera, Katherine Irwin, Leanne Nickel, Jim Sellers, with this insert. and Laurie Shinkaruk.

Publisher/Managing Editor This insert features an intriguing device that Sherrell Steele will regrow teeth naturally, using ultrasound. Copy Editor This low-intensity pulsed ultrasound (LIPUS) Scott Rollans

device is the creation of Dr. Jie Chen of the Art Direction Department of Electrical and Computer Halkier + Dutton Strategic Design Engineering. Contributing writers and photographers The insert introduces another professor, Dr. Blue Fish Studios, Michael Chomitsch, Andrea Collins, Chris Backhouse, who is finding new methods of making health Phoebe Dey, Engineers Without Borders, Joan Galat, Don technologies more accessible through miniaturization and inte- Hammond Photography Ltd., gration. He is directly tackling the problem of incorrect medical Tom Keyser, Rusti Lehay, Dr. Bruce McGee, PCL, Richard diagnosis. Siemens, TIF Ventures, University of Alberta Archives, Bruce White.

You will also be introduced to Kenneth Chau, a doctoral student Send your comments to: Sherrell Steele working at the Ultrafast Photonics and Nano-optics Laboratory Faculty of Engineering in Electrical and Computer Engineering. Chau is redefining the E6-050 Engineering Teaching & Learning Complex understanding and applications for terahertz (THz) light— University of Alberta Edmonton, AB T6G 2V4 invisible light whose frequency lies between that of far infrared Tel: 780.492.4514 or 1.800.407.8354 and microwave radiation. Fax: 780.492.0500 E-mail: If you a graduate of a discipline other than ECE and interested [email protected] Website: in this insert, please contact me at [email protected] http://www.engineering.ualberta.ca

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 Publications Mail Agreement welcome. Contact me at 780.492.4514 or at No. 40051128 [email protected]. Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to: Faculty of Engineering, University of Alberta E6-050 Engineering Teaching & Learning Complex Edmonton, AB T6G 2V4 e-mail: [email protected] 4 U of A Engineer ENGMAGsfall06.qxd 9/25/06 12:04 PM Page 5

Dear Editor:

am writing in reference to the article, true. The writer suggests Halifax LV 907 a myriad of other bits and pieces. However, I “Restoring NA337, A Labour of Love.” (Friday the 13th), located in Yorkshire the bottom line is that this is not a restored More specifically, I am responding to the England is a Halifax Bomber fully restored Halifax, as no part of it originates from letter to the editor in your last edition. The to WWII condition. This is neither true nor LV907. letter was written by Ken E. Townend correct. Townend refers to the remains of (Electrical ’55). Townend suggests errors in The Yorkshire re-creation of a Halifax Halifax Wl048, a Mk II Bomber recovered three places that are misleading and can Bomber shares its roots with us. It started from a fiord, as being an intact Halifax. confuse the real circumstances. I would when the McKenzie family of Stomaway, The remains of this aircraft were recovered like to present our case and point of view Isle of Lewis, purchased two Halifax rear with the intention of restoring it. It proved and let your readers decide. fuselage sections from a local scrap dealer. impractical and unaffordable and the The words “the Halifax Bomber was They simply added barn doors to each end attempt was abandoned. The remains are raised from its watery grave” are noted as and used them as hen houses. on display. We have tended not to consider being incorrect in that Townend claims NA them as surviving aircraft. Quite simply, 337 was, in fact, not a bomber. We While NA337 is they weren’t. disagree. While NA337 is designated as a designated as a Mark VII Of interest, the construction of the Halfax Mark VII Halifax, it was built to specifica- Halifax, it was built to was unique and innovative. When the more tion P 13/36, an air specification for a powerful Bristol Hercules engines were fitted bomber. It was fitted with bomb sights and specification P 13/36, to the Halli, an innovative low-drag cowling 11 bomb racks. At the time of the “drop” it an air specification for called a townend ring was fitted. was under the command of flight sergeant a bomber. Could it be that Townend comes from a Gordon Russell Tuckett, Bomb Aimer. long line of aeronautical engineers? (Tuckett perished in the icy waters of Lake I use as my reference a story from a Regards, Mjosa.) Number 644 and other special Scottish newspaper (The Sunday Post) BILL TYTULA operations squadrons routinely carried out from the Isle of Lewis dated December 12, Lieutenant Colonel (Retired) bombing missions. To the best of our 2004. The title, “Halifax henhouses were Halifax Restoration Project Manager knowledge, every aircraft in this squadron all the rage on Lewis,” reveals that the rear (Mechanical ’60) was fitted for bombing missions. The fact fuselages of the Yorkshire Halifax and our that these missions were covert made these NA337 were both donated by the aircraft special ops and hence labeled as Mackenzie family. It suggests that we all errors and omissions Halifax A Mk VIIs. We tend to downplay owe a lot to the people of the Isle of Lewis There was an error on page 36 of the summer the bomber aspect ourselves, but would not and to the homeless chickens. 2006 issue. It was incorrectly noted that Bill fault anyone for labelling it as one. In 1983 they donated one fuselage sec- Matheson, the author of the note on the The comment, “None exist intact tion to the Royal Air Force. The Yorkshire Halifax aircraft, was a graduate of Civil ’68. today” meaning that there are no other Air Museum has done marvelous work cre- The author is a graduate of Commerce ’49 intact Halifax Aircraft in existence is very ating a very respectable aircraft from it and at McGill.

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Ad

6 U of A Engineer ENGMAGsfall06.qxd 9/25/06 12:04 PM Page 7 dvocate for Africaby Andrea Collins 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.

s a woman, not only is Maser a minority in a profession dominated by men, she is also an educated white woman in a country where the rules of patriarchy gov- A ern gender relations. While she splits her time between engineering and development projects, she focuses much of her attention 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.

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“Sometimes I get the same treatment, but I a part of the training (gender, business, and also try to treat them the same way. I see myself finance) so they gain skills and can learn as a woman like other women, and so any about gender relations. We may also include treatment that emphasizes that I’m different men in the work groups, but we’ll have to be makes me feel uncomfortable.” very clear that the men are in a supporting Malawians have a deep respect role only, not a leadership role,” she says. for white westerners, and Maser To design engineering solutions for prob- recognizes that her race is a source lems in the developing world, it’s important of political empowerment as well to use technology that functions as simply as as one of cultural isolation. possible. This reduces the likelihood that on- “I make sure that my voice is going maintenance and training will be a bur- heard and people understand den to the local community once the where I’m coming from,” she says. engineers have left. “I’m not afraid to challenge “Beekeeping technology is very simple, authority. Women in engineering, but it can be a profitable business as there is especially mechanical, are strong considerable demand for local honey,” Maser women because we have to be, if explains. we’re not assertive people walk all She will be assisting to introduce technol- over us. ogy “that is supposed to be environmentally “[Melawian] women are often friendly and less labour intensive, which is denied an education, they are dis- especially important for women who are liv-

Maser works with community members to plan couraged from speaking up, and ing with HIV/AIDS, and therefore are not in development projects. therefore they have few choices. optimal health.” Our workshops encourage them to Maser is training and motivating villagers use their own initiative, to chal- to be independent and to advocate for ser- lenge the status quo, to empower vices they need. them to stand up for their rights, to “Sometimes I feel very isolated here,” ask for better health care and edu- she says. cation.” “Though English is the official language Not surprisingly, local men don’t of Malawi, a former British colony, most peo- always approve of Maser’s efforts. ple speak the native language, Chichewa, so “In many cases, if the men are communication can be difficult. There are not included in the efforts to volunteers here from other organizations I empower local women, there have can share experiences with. However, those been instances where men subvert groups have a different vision and mission the intervention. For example, many than we do; our focus is human development interventions aim to economically and cultural integration.” empower women, but traditionally Her engineering project involves rehabili-

Maser leads a rights workshop men control the money. So a woman tating a gravity-fed water system built by for community women. may make money from the initiative, but the AAIM in the late 90s. This ingenious network man will take it all from her. Or men have been involves channelling fresh spring water from known to sabotage the intervention because the mountainous areas into holding tanks. they see it is a threat to their power over From there, pipes lead to taps in numerous women and dominance in the economic and small communities. It is a straightforward con- social sphere.” cept, but it takes time to repair it. To address this gender conflict, Maser is Maser observes that, “People here have helping to develop beekeeping as a source of little sense of community ownership and let it financial empowerment for local women. She’s fall into disrepair. We’re working with engi- also looking for ways to involve local men. neers from Blantyre (Malawi’s largest city) to “When designing this project we did not survey the system so we can calculate the include men, and one of my roles will be to positioning of the pipes and delivery pres- go back and find ways of including men so sures along the route. We will then fix leak- they do not feel marginalized and support the ing tanks and broken pipes to make it women. We’ll include men by having them be functional and prevent contamination.

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“The gravity-fed scheme is brilliant for its ter, and the CIDA website. On July 29, 2006, simplicity, and parts can be found locally. the Journal published her story about a visit However, it does get run down after a few years to a refugee camp on World Refugee Day, and needs to be maintained. This is best done where she was moved by the stories told by the beneficiaries themselves—which is where by women brutally violated in war-torn the critical aspect of ownership comes in.” countries. Other themes she’s exploring are Maser describes carrying water on her head as While EWB plays a crucial role in under- “one of the most painful experiences of my life.” a day in the life of a villager, the taking engineering projects, it seeks to create contrast between engineering in Alberta and solutions that can be managed by the local One such woman is Chrissie Hausi, direc- Malawi, and the story of a local AIDS sup- community, and to cultivate a legacy of tor of MWASO, an AIDS support organiza- port organization. indigenous empowerment. tion. Besides this demanding volunteer role, Though a Canadian by birth who still Though the project requires engineering Hausi teaches school, and is raising six chil- calls Edmonton home, Maser had first-hand skills, Maser places even more importance on dren, three of her own and three orphans. She experience in Africa during her childhood. training locals to handle maintenance and has also taken one of the business courses Her family lived in Zimbabwe, where her financial management, and on developing Maser has helped to developed and has start- journalist father was assigned the sub- a sense of ownership. After consulting ed to make fruit wine from bananas, tanger- Saharan beat. with surrounding communities, the team has ines, and papayas. “Living there gave us all a secured an agreement that each household “She walks an hour and a half from her special affection for Africa. Family dinner will make a monthly contribution for mainte- home village, Mphete, to Mwanza every day discussions about African politics and nance (equal to 10-15 cents in Canada). The but never complains,” marvels Maser. economics influenced me.” communities will also form water point “She is always smiling and laughing. Maser is passionate in both her defence committees to oversee maintenance and “I’ve spent a few weekends with her and and love of Africa. operations. her family, carrying water, picking pigeon peas, “In my articles, I don’t focus only on the Maser has also helped train individuals and making nsima (a thick corn-based staple problems. I try to show the multi-dimension- and community groups in planning, finan- with the consistency of mashed potatoes). ality and dynamism of Africa. There is so cial, and organizational management, to help Carrying water was one of the most painful much more to this continent than war and them launch businesses such as beekeeping, experiences of my life. It gave me tremendous hungry children.” wine making, and dairy cattle. The success of respect for the men and women here who carry each project depends on trust. Maser gains just about everything on their heads.” Andrea Collins is an Edmonton- this trust in workshops and by visiting homes Maser advocates for Africa, both in based freelance writer and and villages, where she joins local people in Malawi and at home. She has written articles communications consultant. their daily lives. for the Edmonton Journal, the EWB newslet- Engineers Without Borders at U of A

WB began at the University of life of the majority.” Participants opportunities to benefit the Wheeler adds, “We want EWaterloo and now has chap- performed tasks similar to those people who need it most.” Edmonton to become one of ters in 24 universities across of a typical Ghanaian woman Traditionally, alumni involve- Canada’s leading communities Canada. The U of A chapter of (hauling wood and water, gar- ment has been vital to EWB’s for supporting international EWB began in 2000. Now, it dening, cooking, and processing activities, and many alumni development. I think we can boasts approximately 50 fully food) to encourage them to take make very valuable contributions create some real change in the committed members and close to action on issues of global poverty. to our member education, public world by starting right here at 1,000 people interested in the “For this year, the group has outreach, high school outreach, home. We are putting our engi- group’s local, national, and inter- plans to reach over 10,000 peo- and other activities. Alumni neering skills toward really posi- national activities. ple, including 50 presentations can also support the group tive things for the world, and The local EWB organized 17 to high school students alone,” financially by contacting the are confident that as people community outreach events explains EWB U of A president Dean’s Office. learn more about us, they will reaching over 4,000 people, and Justin Wheeler. “We have a professional want to support us, ideologically made presentations to over “Engineers have skills and member category specifically for and financially.” 2,000 high school students in resources that can positively alumni and other members of Alberta and several hundred in impact millions of people all over the public. Our meetings and For more information on supporting Saskatchewan this past year. the world, and EWB is working events are open to everyone, EWB at U of A, contact Matt One of the community out- to engage members of the engi- including non-students and non- Ferguson in the Dean’s Office at reach events was “a day in the neering profession to use their volunteers.” [email protected].

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Mechanical Petting Zoo by Bruce White R

Pierre Crevolin (Metallurgical ’70)

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If not for one fateful phone call, Pierre Crevolin’s (Metallurgical ’70) life would have run a much different course. That was before Poisson’s Ratio. But we’re getting ahead of the story . . . Poisson’sby Phoebe Dey RATIO

n 1973, Crevolin’s engineering days Then the phone rang. Kuwait before heading into the management seemed to be behind him. A promised job It was Darwin Hawn (Metallurgical ’70) stream. He helped restructure departments I at Celanese had fallen through, and who called to say that Caproco Corrosion and, by 1979, was named the company’s Crevolin had returned to university to Prevention was looking to hire an engineer Canadian manager—a huge responsibility, become a teacher. He had spent two years for a summer job. Crevolin took the job and, considering that 90 percent of business came teaching classes at his old alma mater, at the end of the summer, was offered a per- from this country. Edmonton’s St. Francis Xavier High School, manent position. He reluctantly decided to In 1984, Crevolin and four co-workers left and he and his wife Sylvia (a graduate of leave his teaching career behind. Caproco to form their own company, United Home Economics ’69) were preparing to It was a wise move. With Caproco, Corrosion Consultants Ltd (UCCL). It would head out of town for the holidays. Crevolin travelled to places like Iran and be the start of a 15-year run of building, buy-

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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 gas industry. In early 1985 the firm diversified into a pipeline business and purchased SureLok Coupling Inc., a company that had developed a mechanized method of joining internally coated steel pipe used in saltwater injection systems in oil production. By late 1985, UCCL had a staff of around 70. The company’s ownership had grown to 20 key employees, most of who stayed with United through the years and whose invest- ments would eventually pay handsome returns. Then, in 1986, Crevolin and his col- leagues came up with an invention that changed the corrosion industry. They created a tight-fitting high-density polyethylene liner for steel pipelines, to pre- vent the extreme corrosion caused by saltwa- ter when the pipe is put in the ground. One of the major shareholders, Dale Kneller, con- ceived the idea of using the “elastic band” approach to inserting a plastic liner into a steel pipeline. Crevolin recalled a mechanical engineer- ing class given by Dr. George Ford (Civil ’42, MSc Civil ’46, DSc [Hon] ’88) in 1968, when the instructor introduced Poisson’s Ratio. “When a cylinder is elongated, the diam- eter gets smaller,” says Crevolin. “It was such a simple concept, and I remember 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.”

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George Ford told us about it. We used that incorporated stringent quality assurance pro- Crevolin’s involvement in NACE went simple principle to build our liner and it grams and employee bonus programs, from local, to national, to international, ended up becoming the strength of a separate rewarding all employees for increased cus- before he finally ended up as president. If he corporation we spun off from UCCL, called tomer satisfaction. We believed that no mat- didn’t know the answer to a problem, he United Pipeline Systems Inc. (UPSI). ter how big or small a project, or whether the could easily find someone who did. “UPSI was the first to develop a one-step job was in the middle of winter, we could “That helped establish a technical credi- process that was quick and efficient and tech- tackle it.” bility, and I and our companies got so much nically, the best solution out there.” That philosophy worked. CSI started turn- back from the experience.” The industry responded. UPSI soon took ing increasing profits and attracted the atten- Once his post as NACE president ended 90 percent of the market share—all thanks to tion of Corrpro Canada (yes, again). So, after in 2004, Crevolin stayed connected. He Poisson’s Ratio. many months of negotiations, Crevolin and his remains on the board of the NACE UPSI became known as the world leader, partners sold CSI to Corrpro in 1999. Crevolin Foundation, which raises funds and develops and its product was not only attractive to stayed on with a three-year management con- programs to increase the profile of corrosion clients, but to other companies as well. tract, and finally left in 2002. At the time he control with high school and post-secondary Insituform Mid-America, a St. Louis-based officially retired, but he remains as busy as ever. educational institutions. operation looking to expand to the oil field And, just as he did when he developed his industry, looked all over the world and found innovative pipe liner, Crevolin credits his suc- United Pipeline Systems’ liner to be the best. cess to the common sense engineering princi- Insituform ended up purchasing UPSI in ples he learned at U of A Engineering. 1991, and today boasts that United Pipeline “We used an engineering approach to the has constructed and internally lined more ‘business of business’ and would develop dif- than 10,000 kilometres of pipelines on five ferent ways of doing things in the shop and in continents. the field that made us stand out,” says So, after all this, Crevolin and the other Crevolin, whose two sons, Jeff (Mechanical owners were left with the original cathodic ’96) and Patrick (Materials ’02), are both protection company, United Corrosion engineers. Consultants Ltd. (UCCL), which, in turn, “We had a really analytical approach to had purchased CSI Coating Systems Inc., a evaluating what we were doing and, if we company that preformed protective coating and other shops would offer a similar service, services to tanks and pipelines in the oil and we would figure out a more efficient way to gas industries. do it.” (Crevolin credits his wife for his suc- But the exchange in ownership didn’t end cess and that of his sons.) there. In 1994, Corrpro Canada, an Alberta- Crevolin’s short stint as a teacher also based subsidiary of a public company that helped prepare him for the business world. It traded on the NYSE, Corrpro Companies In 2003, Crevolin was elected president of taught him public speaking, thinking on his Inc., bought United Corrosion Consultants NACE International, a Houston-based feet, and team building—personal training Ltd., including CSI, almost ten years to the 16,000-member engineering/technical soci- you might not receive with a technical degree. day after UCCL was incorporated. But, after ety, becoming only the fifth Canadian to hold “That’s why I migrated to the managerial three months, Corrpro decided it wasn’t the post since its inception in 1943. side in business. With high school kids you interested in the coating business, so Crevolin Crevolin knew NACE well. He first started can’t lead by an iron fist. You have to get bought CSI back. volunteering with the organization more your students, just like clients in business, to Immediately bringing in four partners, than 25 years earlier in the Edmonton sec- buy into what you are selling.” Crevolin was back in business. And as usual, tion, a strategic move that would pay off Still, he might never have put those busi- he advanced the industry again. CSI devel- along the way. ness skills to work, if not for that one fateful oped a quality assurance program to docu- “In the mid-1970’s, as a rookie in my 20s, phone call. ment his company’s philosophy and I organized NACE education courses for “If that friend had not called in the sum- operating procedures, and the program con- people to attend. mer of 1973, I would have retired as a tinues to guide every CSI project. “I met every single new person coming teacher and missed out on a fortuitous career. “The system we developed was quite into the industry, and a lot of them would It’s funny how things work out.” unique, and it was through that and a lot of end up being customers. The payback might hard work that we built up our business,” not have been direct but, because I met Phoebe Dey is an Edmonton-based says Crevolin. everybody in Canada in the industry, it freelance writer. “We decided CSI had to concentrate on definitely had its indirect benefits that couldn’t doing business in a different manner. We be measured.”

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Sam Prochazka (Computer ’01) Jimmy Hsu (Electrical ’75)

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Invested with by Phoebe Dey Success

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.

su has Dr. Schmidt knowledgeable private equity investors. Singapore males, he had to serve two and half Weinmar to thank for Like many others drawn to field of engi- years in the Singapore Armed Forces before explaining electromag- neering, Hsu’s pet subjects in junior high commencing eight years’ employment for the netism. Not only did were math and physics, so studying electrical government. Hthe professor impart his engineering at university seemed a natural “It was tough initially to adjust to the profound knowledge on extension of those interests. When he arrived highly regimented military life, especially his students, he “was also a great amateur on campus after receiving a Canadian after four years of soft living at the U of A,” pianist regaling us, at his modest university International Development Assistance says Hsu. quarters, with his unique renditions of Bach, (CIDA) award, he made his rounds at most of “But in retrospect, the experience was Schumann, and Strauss,” says Hsu, who also the residences—St. Joseph’s College, Lister, good. The military helps to mould character studied German in summer school after being and Hub. And believe it or not, he cherished and toughens you, not only physically, but nudged by Weinmar. the Alberta winters for their clean, unpollut- also mentally to deal with stress. Moreover, Born in Singapore, Hsu came to the U of A ed skies—a nice change from Singapore’s the friendships and networks that you forge in the early 1970s on a Canadian government equatorial climate. there become useful contacts later.” scholarship. He later parlayed his background But only a month after his 1975 gradua- Once Hsu left the army, he was assigned in engineering to become one of Asia’s most tion, Hsu had to return to Singapore. Like all to the government’s Economic Development

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Board as an investment’s promotion officer. and could understand and empathize with He worked on the United States desk and their ideas and their dreams. We funded some then on the Japanese. He became fluent in of these small companies, which later became Japanese while marketing Singapore to tech- giant enterprises.” nology and industrial companies. After an One of those burgeoning businesses was assignment with the Ministry of Cisco Systems. Communications, he helped negotiate some Although Hsu wasn’t directly using his of the open-skies treaties that have allowed engineering degree in his new position, his Singapore Airlines to expand its flights to education laid the groundwork for what was Hsu greets a delegation many cities worldwide. to come. His time at the U of A trained him from the Middle East. In the middle of these high-profile posi- to “analyze problems methodically, view tions, Hsu found time to earn his MBA in the issues with a certain detached objectivity, and were given to the National Science and evenings at the National University of arrive at various alternative solutions,” he Technology Board (NSTB) and the other half Singapore. says. was given to GIC to invest. Hsu was chosen Then, in 1984, Hsu left the government “The heavily quantitative engineering to lead the portion allotted to the GIC. and decided to try his hand at private indus- training also made it a breeze for me to pick Later, the NSTB and GIC merged to cre- ate a single investment entity called TIF Ventures. Again, the government appointed Hsu to lead the newly formed group. When asked about memorable moments in their lives, His goal is not only to invest Singapore’s money to deliver “superior financial perfor- few people would cite the time the mystery of electro- mance,” but also to explore how the country can benefit from his investment activities. For magnetic theory was unravelled for them. But Jimmy example, Hsu has helped attract more than 20 top tier global VC firms to establish oper- Hsu (Electrical '75) is no ordinary person. Born in ations in Singapore. “These firms undertake various activities Singapore, Hsu came to the U of A in the early 1970s here, from bringing their portfolio companies to market, to selling and establishing joint ventures here, to using Singapore as a hub on a Canadian government scholarship and is now one into the rest of Asia,” says Hsu. “Personally, my goal is to further enhance of Asia's most knowledgeable private equity investors. the role and reputation of Singapore as a facilitator for innovative companies that want to do business in Asia.” Today, TIF Ventures manages $1.3 billion try. Joining British Petroleum, he worked in up finance and accounting later. All of these in assets and has 165 investment profession- that global firm’s non-petroleum, hard-rock skills served me well in the various govern- als and more than 70 primary fund managers minerals development efforts in Papua, New ment-assigned positions.” around the world. Guinea and Indonesia. After a successful run in California, GIC Despite, his hectic schedule, Hsu always When a job opened in California in 1986 capitalized on Hsu’s talent and transferred him finds time to learn, no matter the arena. Last with the Singapore Government’s Investment to London, England, where he set up a similar year, for example, he and his daughter took a Corporation (GIC), the temptation to return office to run the European operations. Once course together in Chinese calligraphy. Hsu is to North America was too strong. After a he established a thriving workforce and GIC’s also currently studying Korean. year of training in the venture capital (VC) presence there—and after welcoming a daugh- In the end, Hsu’s most rewarding side of the private equity business, Hsu and ter to the family—he returned to Singapore in triumph is simple: that he has been able to his wife, (Shu) settled in Silicon Valley, where 1994 to head its north-east Asian operations use his education to do a meaningful and he and his team made GIC’s first private equi- in private equity funds and co-investments. enriching job. Coming from Hsu, that is ty investments in North America. Five years later, in 1999, the Singapore no surprise. “At that time, I dealt a lot with entrepre- government wanted in on the Internet boom. neurs full of innovative ideas—mostly engi- Planning to invest money in information Phoebe Dey is an Edmonton-based neers who had a vision to change the world technology companies related to cyberspace, freelance writer. with their inventions,” says Hsu. the government created a billion dollar “tech- “Being an engineer, I spoke their language no-preneurship” fund. Half of those dollars

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engineer.alum @ualberta.ca

Electrical Engineering Zaputowycz, Roman (Electrical ’56) I read with great interest “Nova’s Bath, Duncan (Electrical ’45) Supernova” by Tom Keyser about Val Mechanical Engineering This is referring to the U of A Engineer Mirosh’s life story. I must however, point out summer, 2006 issue—particularly the article a gross error in the beginning, namely that the Labossiere, Pierre Dr. (PhD Mechanical ’87) on page 34 on the Brooks Aqueduct. You German–Soviet war broke out in 1941, not First, please find below a link to a brief might be interested in some lapses in the use 1940 (to be precise: Sunday, June 22, 1941 at news item that was published on Thursday, of SI in that interesting piece. 03:00 hours, with a cloudless sky). I was May 4, 2006, in Liaison, the Université de awakened at 02:58 hours by the roar of the Sherbrooke’s journal. This is an advertise- flying formations of hundreds of Heinkel 111, ment of an exhibition of some of my own Junkers 87 (“Stuka”) and 88 bombers as well photographs of the Northwest Passage. The as many Messerchmidt 109 fighters, flying exhibition took place here at the Université over our house in city of Cholm, 50 km west de Sherbrooke. of the Soviet border. We expected the impend- http://www.usherbrooke.ca/liaison_vol40 ing conflict, because of the amassed German /n17/a_expo.html military near the border with the Soviet Union. The news item is in French, of course. It There is also an apparent confusion as to basically reports that I have been a frequent the location of Poltava. The city of Poltava, traveller to the Arctic and the Antarctic in the Ukraine, is located about 130 km north west recent years, and that my most The table of “Brooks Aqueduct Technical from the Dnipro (Russian name was/is recent trip has taken me from Statistics” notes the “anticipated capacity” at Dniepr) river, and is on the river Vorskla. The Anadyr (Russia) to Resolute 25 cms. This, of course, should have been strategic bridge and others across Dnipro (Nunavut), thus crossing the 3 25 m s. And, although correct, “50,600 bombed that day is in the city Kremenchug, Bering Strait and then sailing hectares of land” would have been better on the river Dnipro. Was it perhaps the bridge along the coasts of Alaska, 2 3 expressed as 500 km . Further, 18,350 m of in Poltava, across Vorskla, also strategically Yukon, and Nunavut. It says concrete would have provided plenty of preci- important? It is some 150 km west of city that I took “striking images” of sion for the purposes of an article such as this. Kharkiv (its Russian name was Kharkov), a the Northwest Passage, pho- And, just imagine: “Construction costs of very big industrial centre. tographs that I shared through $600,000.” In the ending (the last sentence, in the sec- an exhibition that took place in Oh, for the good old days of the five-cent ond paragraph from the end) Keyser writes: June, 2006. The quadruple image of a bear ice cream cone! “...he grew up in, the old house near the that was used to accompany the news item is I had my beginnings 100 kilometres straight Dnieper, was still intact.” reproduced above. I also include below a east of Calgary and, though I remember Well, as I pointed out, Poltava is not on copy of the invitation card to this exhibition. references to the Bassano Dam, the Eastern the Dnipro river. Was he in Poltava or in some For the record: I obtained my Ph.D. in Irrigation District, and Lake Newell etc., village on Dnipro? Mechanical Engineering in 1987. After a few I never saw any of those places. By being a Ukrainian, or so it sounds to years at the Université de Moncton, I joined I look forward to seeing the Brooks me, Mr. Mirosh's name was probably abbrevi- the Department of Civil Engineering at the Aqueduct on my next trip west. ated from something like Miroshnychenko, a Université de Sherbrooke in 1992. This is coming from your Metric Monitor popular name in Ukraine. And, yes, I am from Standard, Alberta. Also, how did he manage to planning another Truderung, Harry (Electrical ’70) be a Russian citizen, by being voyage in the North I am enjoying life in the environs of Calgary, born in Germany (near this summer—this Canmore, Vancouver, and Maui, after 33 years Dresden)? It’s another moot time around Baffin in the telecommunications industry, most point. Island. recently as president, AT&T Canada, and president of Telus Mobility. Greetings and best wishes to all my Engineering friends and faculty.

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

illiams, Jr. was 11 years old at other careers didn’t appeal to him. He had the time when his father, Allen, always loved math, and had grown up on a W started his own Edmonton- farm with a mechanically inclined father, so based engineering firm. The fami- he pursued an engineering degree from the ly was sitting around the dinner table trying University of Saskatchewan. Pl to come up with a name for the new compa- Math wasn’t his only passion. Williams, ny. Someone suggested keeping it simple by Sr. always wanted to be a pilot. He knew of a using the founder’s name. That marked the consulting firm that had its own airplane, so, birth of A.D. Williams, and the first of to accommodate both loves, he equipped his many brainstorming sessions between father own business with a company plane. Today, and son. Williams Jr. has a commercial pilot license. Williams, Sr. is now slowly stepping back That first aircraft and several others that after handing over the company reins to followed—the newest plane, a Jetprop, Williams, Jr. last year. arrived in August—have helped keep the The business has come a long way since family firm competitive. Williams, Sr.’s first day in his one-person shop. “We have the ability to react quickly, “I had no clients, no real office, no book- since our engineers can be on site within a keeping services or anything like that,” he matter of hours,” says Williams, Jr. says from his stunning downtown building “We can go out and do an inspection and perched on the banks of the North be back later that day. Our staff love it. And Saskatchewan River. we get to enjoy it a little bit as well.” “I never thought I would fail, but I also They’ve earned it. When Williams, Sr. never thought we would be where we are started in 1978, he focused on mechanical and today.” forensic engineering. But to meet demand, the Today, the full-service shop employs more company soon expanded to include the broad than 130 people at offices in Edmonton, Red spectrum of engineering disciplines. Deer, Winnipeg, Calgary, and Yellowknife. The in-house team of engineers means the But Williams, Sr. first became interested in company can provide the full range of services engineering by a process of elimination, when without having to contract out for their vari-

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ght lan

(left to right) Reagan Williams (Mechanical ’92) and his father and company founder, A.D. Williams

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Williams, Jr. was exposed to a range of Aside from competing for a range of jobs—the firm just recently won the bid to projects in almost every Arctic community. He design the lieutenant governor’s residence as well as to provide consulting services for a worked on a fuel facility upgrade in Baffin $19.5 million dollar multi-use facility in Whitecourt—Williams, Jr. has put a lot Island and spent 12 months building a camp of effort into human resources. He has developed an industry-leading web-based with PCL and Clark Builders at the Ekati Career Path program that promotes growth Diamond Mine in the Northwest Territories. and advancement within the company. Engineers and technical staff can choose between the technical and business streams of the firm, to become technical specialists or high-level managers. “Our firm has to grow for our people, and ety of projects. For instance, the firm recently the client—one who knows exactly what he we have to give our staff the opportunity to worked on Edmonton’s South Light Rail wants—is a reflection of us.” advance,” says Williams, Jr., who also Transit System (LRT) and conducted all of the Williams, Jr. learned many tricks of the encourages his colleagues to take university utility relocations related to the transit’s exten- trade from watching his dad, but he also put classes during work time. sion. Their services included the designs of his time in before being named president. “Because we’re an employee-owned firm electrical underground and aerial power distri- Right out of university, he worked for an oil- and our staff is given the ability to have equi- bution, street light power, fibre optic and tele- field manufacturing company that serviced ty in the company, we believe that’s how we phone communications, as well as water and clients such as Imperial Oil. Then, in 1995, can be the most successful. sanitary gas design. On the forensic engineer- he joined A.D. Williams’s Yellowknife office “Compared to other industries, we’re still ing side, the company recently investigated the (“We put him in exile,” jokes his dad). doing a lot of technical stuff, but you also collapse of a pedestrian walkway in Calgary The remote location helped the junior need the soft interpersonal skills or you can that sent debris and workers into the river. mechanical engineer gather invaluable lose the confidence of your client.” Williams, Jr. also remembers some of the experience. Williams, Jr. was exposed to Williams, Sr. agrees, saying that most peo- company’s more simple, yet exciting, develop- a range of projects in almost every Arctic ple don’t understand that engineering is as ments along the way. He was at the office community. He worked on a fuel facility much a business as any other. Students, he when A.D. Williams got its first computer and upgrade in Baffin Island and spent 12 says, should have at least a rudimentary a Wang word processor—it took up an entire months building a camp with PCL and knowledge of the business side of the consult- room. The firm also boasted one of the first Clark Builders at the Ekati Diamond Mine in ing industry. fax machines in Edmonton. They were work- the Northwest Territories. Because they were It is a side Williams, Jr. now knows well. ing on a large casino hotel in the Bahamas and in such a remote location, everything had Looking ahead, he welcomes the opportunity needed an easy way to communicate. to be flown in, making planning and to lead this already successful company, espe- Williams, Sr. quickly became involved in logistics one of the most central parts of cially knowing his mentor is close by. the engineering community, first as a board the process. The younger Williams concedes he isn’t member and then as president for the “If you order 32 two-by-fours and you very good at leaving work discussions at the Consulting Engineers of Alberta. In 2004, he later find out you need 34, getting those last office; he has been known to bring up a pro- was named Chairperson of the Board for the two are going to be really tough,” he says. ject or two while on a family ski or fishing trip. Association of Consulting Engineers of “The thoroughness of planning becomes And while Williams, Sr. tries to ease off Canada. The post took him to Washington, really important.” from the business, he admits it is hard to let go. where he met astronaut Neil Armstrong (and Williams, Jr. also recalls going to “It makes it easier that Reagan is doing learned that the two men both started out with the opening of a centre and being called on such good work. And as the company gets the same airplane). to fix some of the building’s electrical larger you have to have good people in place Right from the beginning, A.D. Williams problems. When he explained he was a that you can trust. I definitely do. It is in put the emphasis on the clients. Believe it or mechanical, not an electrical engineer, “the great hands.” not, that wasn’t a common philosophy at the response was, ‘You’re the only engineer here, time, says Williams, Sr. It paid off. Almost 95 so fix it.’ I obviously learned a lot during Phoebe Dey is an Edmonton-based percent of the company’s clients are now that time.” freelance writer. repeat customers. After three years in his northern post, he “We very consciously decided that we returned to Edmonton and held a number of need quality clients,” says Williams, Jr. positions in the company before being named “We’re in a business where the quality of to the top.

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Plug and Play by Michael ChomitschThe Oil Game

McGee

Dr. Bruce McGee (Electrical ’80), MEng Electrical ’84, PhD Electrical ’98)

asically, you plug it in and get oil,” still do,” McGee says. dilemma that had plagued practitioners for “BDr. Bruce McGee (Electrical ’80), “I felt committed to doing something years: the finite length electrode problem. MEng Electrical ’84, PhD Electrical ’98) jokes. with it.” Essentially, McGee discovered how to effi- Heat bitumen-rich oil sands with electric- That he has, though there were many who ciently transfer heat between electrodes, mak- ity and remove the oil from it. This idea doubted anything would come of it. McGee ing that single, mesmerizing idea feasible. mesmerized McGee from the moment his had faith and persevered, driven by his firm McGee’s life’s work has culminated in his professor Dr. Fred Vermeulen (Electrical ’60, belief in the technology. patented Electro-Thermal Dynamic Stripping PhD Electrical ’66) gave a presentation on his He took Vermeulen and Chute’s approach Process (ET-DSP™). ET-DSP basically passes research in 1980. and made it better. He brought it from the electrical current between electrodes placed McGee saw the huge potential in the idea classroom to the field, in one of the most suc- in soil, heating the oil in bitumen-rich pioneered by two of his professors, cessful technology transfers to happen at the deposits to allow it to be pumped out. Vermeulen and Dr. Steve Chute, at the U of A. The process has several remarkable University of Alberta in the 1970s. McGee, who has a diverse engineering features. Oil can be recovered from deposits “It was technology I believed in then and background, solved an electro-thermal very quickly—75 to 80 percent of oil can be

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technology to the investment community,” McGee admits. “But by doing it right, you can get the best people in the world working with you.” In the end, he raised the money he need- ed. His lifelong work was about to take its next giant step. Some of the major oil industry players from Canada, the U.S., and Europe are now investors, and even partners, in ET-Energy. In addition, the Alberta Government helped fund the project with a $675,000 grant. Once the results of the field test are eval- uated, McGee will seek additional investment to 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 in reserve in the 14.5 sections of land it owns, the company is currently the largest junior oil company in the Athabasca Oil Sands. ET-DSP™ in the field. McGee has faith in ET-DSP and believes the field test will be successful. “I know it will work. I’ve seen it work recovered in one year. It is environmentally McGee says with a smile. and I’ve built a company around it.” friendly; small wells are drilled for electrodes ET-DSP’s potential is even more remark- As it turns out, he actually built two. and pumps while the rest of the land is dis- able. According to McGee, nearly two-thirds Somewhat ironically, it was the work of the turbed as minimally as possible. It is scal- of the estimated 2.5 trillion barrels of oil other company he founded, McMillan- able—as more oil is recovered, more wells can in the oil sands is either too shallow to McGee Corporation (McC2), that helped be drilled and more capital generated. Finally, be reached by conventional drilling methods make believers out of the investors. McGee the costs for electricity are inexpensive when or too deep to be extracted via steam established McC2 in 1995, while working on compared to more conventional methods of injection. The alternative is an in-situ process his PhD. McC2 first used ET-DSP to reclaim oil extraction, such as surface mining. like ET-DSP. contaminated sites. No other oil extraction/recovery process In other words, if McGee’s claims are cor- “The principles are the same regardless of can boast such quick, cost-effective returns rect, E-T Energy has a possible niche market of with such minimal environmental impact. 1.66 trillion barrels of oil—enough oil to sus- While McGee patented the process three years tain the world’s current needs for 55 years. ago, he’s only now drawing his first drops Despite this phenomenal forecast, McGee of oil from the bitumen-rich Athabasca had trouble convincing oil industry compa- Oil Sands. nies to test ET-DSP on their leases. Generally McGee and E-T Energy, the company conservative by nature, the oil industry didn’t he formed in 2004 to apply ET-DSP in leap to support new technology such as his. the oilfield, are currently conducting a field But McGee wasn’t fazed. test at a one-hectare test site approximately “If they didn’t do it, I would. I know this four kilometres north of Fort McMurray. process will work,” he declares. If the technology works, E-T Energy can So, he formed E-T Energy. A friend, who A cross-section of an electrode. begin to develop the approximately 1.25 is now a partner in the company (McGee billion barrels of oil in place on its oil retains 38 percent ownership), had some what ET-DSP is used for,” says McGee. sand leases. influence in the oil industry, and helped line “You heat the soil and the chemicals will In a stroke of good fortune, the one thing up some investors. However, they needed $12 vaporize. They can then be collected and ET-DSP needs the most—power—is supplied million to start the field test. McGee took his extracted from the soil. Oil gets hot and it by a power line that runs right through the pitch to potential investors in New York City, flows easier. It’s the same process, but the test site. Boston, Toronto, and Calgary. end-product is usable.” “The stars couldn’t line up better,” “The hardest part was letting go of the Environmentalists were the first to

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Water envelope embrace the technology, applying it to envi- there are plans to increase that to $200 ronmental problems. million next year. Its customers include “During the first ten years, we were clean- the U.S. Department of Energy, the Bitumen film ing soils in urban areas where we couldn’t U.S. Environmental Protection disturb the infrastructure,” McGee says. Agency, the U.S. Department of “Focussing on the environmental aspect Defence, and large companies of the process became more and more impor- such as TOTAL, Esso, and Sand particle tant over time. It is really gratifying to clean Shell. McC2 has offices in up a site, to make harmful soil clean.” Florida and California. The expected recovery rate of oil using Despite McC2 success, McGee’s ET-DSP—between 75 to 80 percent—demon- sights were always set on using ET-DSP in strates McGee’s commitment to the environ- the oil sands. Electrical current ment. Given that both companies use ET-DSP, it

“The timeline (for oil recovery) is very should come as no surprise that they work The extraction process. short,” McGee points out. seamlessly together. They share a brand new “When you compare environmental dis- office and manufacturing facility in Calgary. turbance to the benefit, it’s almost negligible.” ET-DSP involves high-level calculations, hour workweeks. He currently spends nearly His goal is to recover oil in the first year and it takes a multi-disciplinary engineering three quarters of that time on E-T Energy, but of a project and begin environmental recla- team to make it all work. The staff of 20 he expects to focus entirely on the company mation in the second. includes environmental, electrical, power, when things really get rolling. McC2’s work proved to be a huge advan- chemical, and petroleum engineers. Any blue- “We’re up for the challenge. We’ll make tage for E-T Energy. It proved ET-DSP works. collar work required is contracted out. it work; there’s no doubt about that.” “Some of our biggest environmental McC2 manufactures all the circuits used in clients were oil companies. They examined the process and monitors the projects in real McC2 and were confident that E-T Energy time over the Internet. Clients are leased Michael Chomitsch is an Edmonton- could create wealth.” power supply units, sold electrodes, and based freelance writer. McC2 is very successful in its own right. receive engineering consulting services as part ET-DSP is currently deployed on $150 million of their contract. in contracted environmental projects, and McGee works hard, averaging 70- to 80-

Electro-thermal Dynamic Stripping Process

At the basic level, ET-DSP™ places electrodes in a bitu- Other key features of ET-DSP include: men-rich oil sands formation and passes an electrical current • Quick return on investment—Oil recovery begins within 30 to 60 days of between the electrodes. Additionally, water is injected into start-up. This creates a revenue cycle, where, as more oil is recovered, more the electrodes to transfer the heat rapidly into the oil sands. electrodes can be drilled, more pumps can be used, more oil can be recov- This heats and displaces the oil so that it flows easily in the ered. A “pay as you go” economic model is quickly established. reservoir and can then be extracted at production wells using surface pumps. • Water conservation—ET-DSP uses only one barrel of water to recover one In actuality, it is a phenomenally complex multi-discipli- barrel of oil—far less that other oil recovery methods. The issue of water nary feat of engineering. It involves applied electromagnetic usage in the oilfield is becoming an increasing concern for the Alberta fields, non-linear physics, mass and heat transfer coupled to Government, which has hinted it may start charging for water usage in the the electro-thermal processes. province. In a target volume of soil, electrode wells are drilled in a • Energy efficiency—Electricity is actually a by-product of the waste heat of dense grid. This maximizes efficiency in heating, which refining, so, exclaims McGee, “We’re producing energy without adding one occurs as electrical current is passed between the electrodes. molecule of greenhouse gases into the environment.” (He admits that, They can be stacked and drilled to reach a maximum depth while electricity is an expensive form of energy, the ET-DSP process is so of 300 m. thermally efficient that its use more than offsets the cost of the electricity.) The bitumen has half the heat capacity of water, which • Minimal environmental impact—Oil is recovered in one year and the only means, as McGee points out, “We heat with the most effi- environmental impact is the number of wells and pumps that need to be cient thing we can use—the oil!” drilled. Environmental recovery, using methods proven by the forestry When oil gets hot, it flows better and is easier to extract, industry, can begin in the second year of operation. which is done via small surface pumps on the surface. Indeed, multiple extraction points are a key component to • Year-round operation – ET-DSP can be conducted 365 days per year. ET-DSP’s effectiveness.

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U of A Engineering alumni are making an impact across Canada and around the world. “Virtual Engineer” features online interviews with alumni working outside of Edmonton. Virtual Engineer RossUlan(Electrical ’84) Here we meet Ross Ulan (Electrical ’84), doing voice communications with Nav Canada in Greely, Ontario.

What has been your career path fro m graduation to now? Over the years, my work with NAV CANADA has been quite varied and interest- ing. Upon graduation, I worked as a techni- cian at the CNCP switching office in Calgary for a year. This provided valuable experience from the practical viewpoint to complement the 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 design engineer with Transport Canada in the west- ern region (Edmonton) for three years. I next moved to the Microwave Landing System (MLS) group in Ottawa for four years. In the subsequent five years I worked for modular aeronautical communications system in Ottawa. This was an early digital voice switch to replace the analogue voice consoles then in use. My current job is in voice communica- tions. I have been with the radio group pro- ject two years.

What has been the most memorable/ exciting/rewarding aspect of your career thus far? I found moving to Ottawa to be very exciting when I first did that back in ’88. There has certainly been much growth and change since then. It felt great to be part of the microwave landing system project team, and I still keep in touch with many of those people to this day. Much of the work we do is out of the glare of the public spotlight, but is impor- tant as it is what keeps the air navigation service and infrastructure running. There have been challenges with time and resource conflicts but these are generally resolvable as long as one keeps the overall view of safety in mind.

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NAV CANADA NAV CANADA is the non-share What emotional/sentimental/intellectu- capital, private corporation that al/professional connections/associations owns and operates Canada’s civil air still remain with the Faculty of navigation service. With coast-to- Engineering/University of Alberta? coast operations, NAV CANADA I still keep in touch with many of the peo- provides its customers—airlines and ple I went to school with, and I have an emo- other owners and operators of air- craft—with air traffic control, flight What has been your proudest tional attachment to Edmonton as that is information, weather briefings, achievement, personally, professionally where I grew up. In fact, I was in high school aeronautical information, airport or socially? and University during the Edmonton Oilers advisory services, and electronic aids I’ve really enjoyed most of the work I’ve dynasty years and Calgary rivalry, so there are a great many good memories from this. to navigation. done over the years, even though it has occa- The Corporation is responsible sionally become quite bureaucratic. No one Having visited many other cities over the past years has given me a renewed appreciation for the safety and efficiency of the particular project stands out; rather I’ve been air navigation service (ANS). ANS proud of all the various assignments I’ve of how nice Edmonton is, with its big river valley, etc. facilities include seven area control done over the years. centres, one stand-alone terminal control unit, and over 100 airport What have been your greatest disap- What fosters pride for you as an control towers and flight service sta- pointments or lessons learned? alumnus? tions. These facilities are supported While University was relatively hard, I It can be very disappointing when projects by a network of 1,400 enroute and have many great memories of those years, are cancelled after putting sometimes several terminal aids to navigation and and indeed it was a special time in my life. I years of work into them. Often the cause of landing aids. have enjoyed attending the alumni meetings the cancellation is outside of your control, NAV CANADA co-ordinates the in Ottawa to find out how the programs are being either politically or market driven and safe and efficient movement of air- changing at U of A. These have also given you just have to accept that. I’ve learned time craft in Canadian domestic airspace me the opportunity to meet some interesting and task management skills over the years, and international airspace assigned people that made history (for example people and have improved my human relations to Canadian control. that have worked on the Avro Arrow, etc.). skills—all being very helpful in getting the job It is a private company and not a done. It’s important to follow certain proce- federal agency. However, the com- What messages do you have for poten- dures, documents, standards, etc., even though pany’s safety performance is regulat- tial students, undergraduates, and young these items appear to take longer initially. ed by Transport Canada. The system professionals just entering their fields? was purchased from the Federal How did your education or experience at Life is an ongoing learning process; don’t government, on November 1, 1996, Faculty of Engineering/University of be afraid to keep learning new things. People for a cost of $1.5 billion. Alberta equip you for your current are interesting to deal with, and some are Some 5,400 employees work at work? more emotional than others. Keep a profes- NAV CANADA, including air traffic I learned how to look carefully “below the sional outlook on things, as the Engineering controllers, flight service specialists, surface” to analyze and solve problems, and Ethics courses convey. Take time to take electronics technologists, opera- not just blindly accept the obvious. I appreci- breaks and smell the roses once in a while, it’s tional support specialists, engineers, ated the opportunity to attend the Faculty of all important. managers, and administrative staff. Engineering as it opened my eyes to many There appears to be some big energy issues What is their approach to safety? possibilities and taught me how to learn. developing in the world, and while Alberta is Rather than trying the fix problems awash in oil, it is important to start the focus after they have happened, as was What are the greatest challenges facing on alternative energy programs. This is where done in the past, the new focus is to the airline/regulatory industry in Canada the U of A Engineering Facility could defi- design redundancy into systems and in 2006? nitely have a presence—I saw some of this at procedures. This way, if and when the 20-year open house last fall. Fuel costs are becoming a big concern, things fail, either backup systems and competition has reduced ticket costs. But take over or procedures are in place a cautious balance must also be maintained to deal with the failure. between controlling costs and operating a safe system and aircraft.

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Construction has been around for a century now, PCL but its impact on Alberta’s landscape far exceeds its corporate lifespan. Despite the highly competitive, high-risk nature of construction, this western-rooted company has more than 500 projects across the pooled North America in progress at any one time. How did PCL hit the hundred-year mark in such fine style? Fred Russell (Civil ’72) and Nadine collective Harder (Civil ’81) are PCL employees—and PCL shareholders. They both agree that employee ownership contributes significantly by Joan Marie Galat to the staff commitment that pervades PCL projects. The company has been employee owned since 1977. “It definitely does influence your feelings about the company,” says 56 year-old Russell, a PCL project director for 34 years. “You’re part of the company and you ben- efit from the collective effort. There are a lot of decisions we make on a daily basis where we don’t just consider our project, we think of L the district and the company as a whole.” The company employs more than 2,500 professional and administrative staff. Of these, more than 2,000 are shareholders. There are around 5,000 hourly tradespeople, depending on the season and stage of construction. About 60 percent are located in Canada and 40 per- cent in the United States. Once a year since 1977, the vast majority of salaried staff at all levels have been offered the opportunity to purchase 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 began her career as a structural design engineer, eventually returning to the U of A to obtain a Master of Arts (Communications and Technology) in 2004. Now manager of operations support, Harder lives in Calgary with her husband, Pearson International Airport, Toronto. John Harder (Civil ’80, MEng Civil ’84), a principal with the structural engineering firm Read Jones Christoffersen Ltd. Every week,

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Scotiabank Place, Ottawa. Roy Grogan Roy

she flies to Edmonton to facilitate communi- PCL’s 100-year anniversary. As home to PCL’s cation and network operations across North College of Construction, the CLC includes America, focusing on internal communica- high-tech collaboration meeting rooms for tions and operational training. conference calls and web-based meeting “The company embraces sharing knowl- spaces. These can be used to host workshops, edge and has a commitment of getting people training seminars, and best practices forums, Supreme Court of Canada, Ottawa, 1995. to know each other, which is somewhat previously held across North America. unique to an organization as spread out as The CLC is eligible for silver certification this one,” says Harder. under the international LEEDS program, Companies live and die on their abilities to “The real strength of employee ownership which recognizes the use of alternative mate- innovate, and to find faster and more eco- is in the relations you have with the people rials and environmentally sound construction nomical ways to do things. you work with.” and design methods. This is timely, as an “You have to be on the ball to stay alive,” Employees with ownership are much increasing number of PCL clients consider says Russell. more conscious of overhead costs and show a certification for their projects. “There’s no such thing as not being in a greater willingness to help each other out and Less structured training, in the form of mindset of continuous improvement. There are see each other succeed,” suggests Harder. mentoring, also plays a role at PCL. Both new a lot of good people in this industry and they’re “I’ve seen some amazing things from and established employees benefit from a will- all trying to get the same jobs. You have to be retirees who are strongly committed to coming ingness to advise others and accept coaching. that little bit better and you have to make sure back to mentor and deliver formal training. It’s “One of the fun parts of the business is you don’t get arrogant.” a huge sense of family. Every year, a few more mentoring,” says Russell. With that in mind, Russell’s own manage- people hit a 25-year milestone. That has quite “I’ve been around for 34 percent of the ment style reflects a sincere respect for an impact to new folks coming in.” company’s history and know some who were individual contributions. Accustomed to Now, those coming back to deliver training around for 34 percent before that. I see a lot dealing with hundreds of people on a project, will enjoy a 2,700-square-metre addition to of training take place through storytelling he appreciates individual dedication to a PCL’s four-hectare business park in south and word of mouth.” common goal. Edmonton. The $13-million Centennial Sharing ideas is particularly critical in the “You develop some really good relations, Learning Centre (CLC) is a legacy to mark engineering and construction business. you meet talented people, and you get

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exposed to the brilliance of the common kind of nice. No one can ever say, ‘I built person at times. By involving people, you can that.’ You’re just part of it. And years later find solutions. Sometimes someone on the job when you drive by, you’re still part of it.” will make a comment that leads to a wonder- Russell’s PCL career began with survey ful solution. Giving a person the power to be work on the Beverly Bridge after accepting a heard can lead to some very brilliant things.” summer job with the company in his last year Russell also credits PCL’s success to its his- of at the U of A. After graduating, he tory and its strong leadership. designed shoring systems for deep excavations “The province is just a hundred years old on projects in Edmonton, including the Westin and the company rose from the roots of a and Edmonton Centre. A transfer to Regina in Edmonton water treatment plant, 1947. strong western Canadian entity,” says Russell. 1973 placed him as estimator, and he eventual- “PCL’s growth is mirrored in ly moved into project manage- more seals to deal with. Details have to be the development of western ment. perfect. The larger the lab, the more details Canada and the north. Our After being named president to perfect.” expansion is part of the develop- of PCL Constructors Northern Russell’s U of A education prepared him ment of the country. I think Inc. in 1990, Russell returned well for facing challenges. there’s something about coming to Edmonton to take charge of “The U of A gave me a good solid view out of Saskatchewan that has special projects. Eventually, he of what an engineer was and generated an shaped the organization. It’s a began to work as construction enthusiasm for the disciplines they were Nadine Harder teaching, and the concept of what an engineer very comfortable fit for me.” (Civil ’81) manager on major projects. PCL was founded in His latest Edmonton project, is—the optimal use of materials and the scien- Saskatchewan, but moved its head located on the U of A campus, is tific knowledge to create.” office to Alberta in 1932. the Health Research Innovation Harder agrees. PCL projects range in value Facility (HRIF), which consists “I don’t think you can have a better foun- from $20,000 to more than of two buildings in different dation for facing any challenge. You always $2 billion and include the phases. Construction challenges know there is a way to get the job done.” Pearson International Airport include massive size—both “I’ve known some fantastic leaders and excellent engineers,” adds Russell. Redevelopment (Toronto), Hard Fred Russell buildings are 68,000 square Rock Cafés (Minneapolis and (Civil ’72) metres—as well as the challenge “What we’re really doing is celebrating the Toronto), UE-1 Upgrader Oil of building a very large contain- people. When I look at that 100 years, I’m Sands Expansion (Fort McMurray), and ment level three laboratory for biological looking at all the people who have con- Lee Roy Selmon Crosstown Expressway research. This requires additional barriers, res- tributed to that. It’s a celebration of their (Tampa). piratory protection, and other features to min- accomplishments.” “It’s very interesting managing this type imize the risk of releasing infectious organisms of work because you do have a sense of into the working area and environment. Joan Marie Galat is an accomplishment,” says Russell. “They’re interested in keeping bugs out Edmonton-based freelance “You drive around and you see projects and keeping bugs in,” says Russell, journalist. you were involved in years ago, and that’s “The size presents challenges. You have

PCL yesterday PCL today

• Founded by Ernest Poole in 1906. • In 2006, PCL was named: • PCL is Canada’s largest contracting • Edmonton became home to the A Platinum Member of the Best organization and the 10th largest in corporate office in 1932. Managed Program North America. • Led by Bob Stollery (Civil ’49, One of Canada’s 50 Best Employers • Work spans commercial, institutional, multi-family LLD [Hon] ’85), a group of senior One of Financial Post’s Ten Best residential, industrial, agri-business, employees purchased the company Companies to Work For and one and civil markets. from majority shareholders Dr. John of Alberta’s Top 20 Employers (Civil ’37, LLD [Hon] ’87) and • Projects are directed from more than • PCL’s annual billings are George (Civil ’43) Poole, the sons 27 major North American cities. approaching $5 billion. of Ernest Poole in 1977.

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Cross Hairs on History

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. Engineering over the decades People and events that have shaped engineering from 1909 to 1958.

SETTING THE STAGE 1887 The Canadian Society for 1903 The first powered flight physicist, mathematician, 1867 Confederation of Canada Civil Engineering is founded. takes off. and theologian. is celebrated. 1891 The Calgary and 1905 Alberta becomes a HISTORICAL HIGHLIGHTS 1880s Natural gas is discovered Edmonton railway (now CPR) province. 1909 The Department of Civil at Medicine Hat and other reaches Strathcona. 1906 The first automobile and Municipal Engineering is places in eastern Alberta. 1901 The first automobile trip between Edmonton and created. 1885 The arrives in Alberta. Calgary takes two days. William Muir Canadian 1902 The Low Level Bridge 1908 University of Alberta Edwards is the Pacific Railway opens with the first railway opens with 45 students and U of A’s first is completed. across the North Saskatchewan four professors in classrooms engineering The first tele- River at in the Duggan Street School professor. phone service Edmonton. in Strathcona, which is now starts in part of Edmonton. The Edmonton. University’s first president, Dr. Henry Marshall Tory, is a

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1909-1958 Important Events

Up to 1909 When the teaching One of the Faculty’s of engineering at University of first engineering classes Alberta began, engineering was gets ready to survey. not yet formally organized as a profession in Canada. The uni- versity was only a year old, and the province itself only four. In 1909, most Albertans were farmers and ranchers, but the population also included miners, railroaders, and grow- ing numbers of city dwellers. Engineers had already begun to shape Alberta, dating back to the railway engineers from Montreal who connected Alberta with the rest of Canada in the 1880s. The 1910s The second decade gave birth to the mass entertain- The war was followed by a A flood of immigration and of the 20th century began as a ment industry. worldwide flu epidemic that settlement quickly followed. By period of continuing migration A new Department of took millions more lives, includ- 1909, most of the hardscrabble to Alberta; another 100,000 Mechanical and Metallurgical ing that of William Muir pioneering was over with, but people arrived within the next Engineering opened in 1914. Edwards, the U of A’s first there was plenty of growth still few years. The same year a terrible professor of engineering. to come. By the next census, in Railways continued to “war to end all wars” began, The first post-war class in 1911, there were 374,000 expand, and a second transcon- tearing Europe apart for the 1919 had a record enrolment of people living in Alberta. tinental route was completed. next four years and costing mil- more than 1,000 students (and Only a few dozen of these Charlie Chaplin’s movie lions of lives. U of A faculty plenty of parking space in the early Albertans were university debut as the “Little Tramp” members contributed to the sci- fields of Strathcona), the student students, including the five who entific war effort, through such ranks swollen by returning sol- enrolled in the U of A’s first achievements as helping develop diers who had postponed their engineering program in 1909 sonar to detect submarines. education to serve their country. and graduated in 1913.

The Lethbridge Viaduct opens, Motley, is completed. It carries 1914 An offfice is created to There is completion of the the longest and highest railway trains, streetcars, and automo- oversee commercial research Canadian Northern Railway bridge of its kind in the world. biles on two levels across the done by the University. (now Canadian National) via 1912 Athabasca Hall opens North Saskatchewan River. The Department of Mining and Yellowhead Pass. with seven classrooms, five U of A convocation includes the Metallurgical Engineering 1916 Because of the war, laboratories, offices, library, first graduating class of engi- opens. engineering classes are kitchen, and dining room, and neers, consisting of five The Brooks Aqueduct begins to suspended until 1919. living quarters for 50 students. students. carry water from the Bow River 1918 Professor Muir Edwards Robert William Boyle becomes to irrigate farms in southeast- dies, a victim of worldwide head of the physics depart- ern Alberta. influenza. ment; he later establishes the 1915 Construction of the Civil Canadian Society of Civil Department of Electrical Engineering Building (South Engineers changes its name to Engineering. Lab) begins. the Engineering Institute of 1913 Edmonton’s High Level Canada. Bridge, designed by P.M.

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Cross Hairs on History

The 1920s After so much death, a spirit of renewed opti- mism returned to Alberta and its young university. Dr. Karl Clark joined the university to begin a long career in oil sands research. The Alberta Research Council was born in 1921— government-backed research having played a role in winning the war. Engineering matured as a profession by 1925, with the introduction of the professional oath and iron ring ceremony. CKUA, Canada’s first educa- tional radio station, went on the air in 1927 from the U of A Power Plant, its transmitters providing the platform for many electrical engineering stu- dent projects.

Engineering students in a drafting class in 1944.

The 1930s The 1930s began depressed farm commodity which about 280 were enrolled with a severe economic depres- prices, experienced the hardest in engineering. sion and ended with a world times in its history during the Mining was one of the few war. Yet the news wasn’t all 1930s. The province was forced fields that offered employment bad; civil aviation came of age to close down the Alberta prospects for engineers; conse- and roads began to compete Research Council for a while. quently a third to a half of with railways for the trans- But even as funding for educa- grads in this era were mining portation of goods and people. tion and research dried up, uni- engineers. Radio brought us “Hockey versity enrolment was on the But as the decade progressed, Night in Canada” live from rise. In the early 1930s, the the world spiraled ever deeper coast to coast in 1933. U of A was admitting roughly into conflict, and engineers once Alberta, dependent on 2,000 students each year, of again marched off to war.

1919 The South Lab is 1920 Norman Charles Pitcher 1921 The Alberta Research expanded; construction begins is appointed head of Mining Council, then known as the on North Lab for Mining and Metallurgical Engineering; Scientific and Industrial Engineering and agriculture he would hold the post for Research Council of Alberta departments. 25 years. (SIRC), is founded with offices Driven by post-war boom, on the U of A campus. U of A enrolment passes 1,000 Development of the province’s students for the first time. natural resources was a priority for the Council. The Engineering Students’ Society is founded. Dr. Karl A. Clark begins his 45-year career in oil sands research, as a professor in the Civil and Mechanical Engineering department.

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The 1940s Barely two decades highway to defend Alaska from after the “war to end all wars,” a feared invasion. Europe and the Pacific were As always, engineers were once again embroiled in violent in the thick of things. The mad conflict. The decade that scramble to create terrible brought us Dunkirk, Pearl weapons also brought about Harbor, and Hiroshima also innovations—including rocketry, marked a coming of age for jet engines, atomic energy, and Canada, which ended the war computers—paving the way for a with the world’s third-largest peaceful technological revolution navy. Demand for aircraft, in the post-war era. ships, and munitions helped Alberta found its future at the transform Canada into a lead- end of a drill bit in 1947, when a ing industrial power. major oil deposit was struck near Alberta’s contribution to the Leduc—a victory for seismic oil war effort included the building exploration. The 1950s A twinned version “Hockey Night in Canada” of a network of pilot training Two years later, Dr. Clark’s of Highway 2 opened between moved from radio to television. bases, the forging of air routes bitumen processes were Edmonton and Calgary in the Computers began to appear over the North Pole to theatres demonstrated at a pilot plant 1950s, slicing 45 hours off the in large corporations and insti- of war, and acting as the com- at Bitumount, north of Fort travel time by road five decades tutions. The U of A got its first mand post for construction of a McMurray. earlier. taste of the future with a $50,000 mainframe monster. A refining and petrochemi- A pilot plant at Bitumount. cal complex grew up around Edmonton to process the prodi- gious outpouring of crude from Leduc, Redwater, and numerous other oil fields. Pipelines were built to carry Alberta oil and gas across most of North America. The teaching of engineering at the U of A expanded rapidly, with petroleum engineering among the new offerings. Alberta began to look as it does today.

Dr. Henry Marshall Tory is the Rudyard Kipling to write “The 1927 CKUA he would hold the post until Council’s chair and Dr. Karl Clark Ritual Calling of an Engineer.” radio, Canada’s 1946. becomes its first staff member. 1925 First Ritual of the Iron first education- 1930 Camp 6 is established, Professor Edgar Stansfield Ring in Canada inducts engi- al broadcaster the official establishment for becomes chief research engineer neers into the profession. goes on the the engineering profession in air. for SIRCA; he would be instru- Clark and graduate student S.M. Alberta. mental in the development of (Sid) Blair build an experimental 1928 The first 1933 Funding for Alberta Alberta’s coal mining industry. plant in Dunvegan in northwest degree is granted in Chemical Research Council is halted due 1922 Herbert Haultain, profes- Edmonton. This plant is the first Engineering. to the Great Depression. U of A sor of civil engineering at the to continuously separate 1929 Dr. Henry Marshall Tory absorbs its remnants and University of Toronto, suggests bitumen from oil sands. leaves the U of A to become Dr. Clark becomes a lecturer in an oath for young professional U of A engineering professor president of the National Civil Engineering. engineers to remind them of J.W. Campbell publishes a paper Research Council. 1935 The federal government their professional and social proving that space travel would Robert Starr Leigh Wilson passes the Trans-Canada responsibilities. Haultin asks be impossible for humans. becomes dean of engineering; Highway Act.

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Cross Hairs on History 1909-1958 Notable People

Dr. Karl A. Clark is the opment. In 1925, his pilot plant Clark also was the first father of Alberta’s oil sands in Dunvegan (now northwest researcher hired by the Alberta industry. A geologist trained in Edmonton) was the first to con- Research Council and a highly Ontario and Illinois, Clark tinuously extract bitumen from respected professor in the U of arrived at the University of oil sands. Contrary to popular A Civil and Mechanical Alberta as a research professor myth, his wife’s washing Engineering Departments, where in 1920 and began four decades machine was never used for his lectures were renowned for of oil sands research and devel- bitumen extraction. their clarity. As a teacher, he believed that if someone could- n’t explain something simply, they probably didn’t understand it themselves. He died in 1966, only nine William Muir Edwards months before Alberta’s first commercial oil sands plant William Muir Edwards, opened using his hot-water an Ottawa native trained at separation method. McGill University in Montreal, Dr. Henry Marshall Tory was one of the University of had more influence in shaping Alberta’s original four profes- Canada’s universities and sors when it opened in 1908. research institutions than any The following year he became person before or since. A farm its first engineering professor. boy born in Nova Scotia in At age 47, during the world- 1864, Tory earned honours in wide influenza epidemic of mathematics and physics from 1918, Professor Edwards McGill University. He later stud- volunteered to care for the sick ied theology, preached for two in Pembina Hall, which had years, and then joined the facul- been converted into an emer- ty of McGill University in 1893 gency hospital. There, he as a lecturer in mathematics, contracted the disease and died. eventually earning a doctorate and associate professorship. He

Dr. Karl A. Clark

1936 Oil is discovered at The Engineering Students’ linking the continental United Turner Valley. Society banquet, a rowdy high- States to Alaska and the Soviet 1939 Germany invades Poland. light of the year for students Union; the Alaska Highway; and (although not for the rest of an oil pipeline from Norman 1940 Driven by wartime the city), is banned for the Wells, N.W.T. demand, and with Turner Valley duration of the war. production already in decline, Edmonton’s population rapidly 1942 The Japanese invade the rises from 75,000 to 100,000. the government of Canada U of A engineers participate in Aleutian Islands. seeks ways to increase domestic The 2,432-kilometre Alaska a secret study of the feasibility oil production, including heavy Funding is reinstated for the Highway is built in just six of using giant ice islands to oil and bitumen. Alberta Research Council, with months. build floating air bases to 1941 The Department of oil sands development a priority. protect North Atlantic and Electrical Engineering begins to Edmonton is a hub for three Murmansk convoys from U-boat give special courses in electron- major war-effort construction attack. The study includes secret ics for naval and air force projects: the Northwest Staging ice research at Patricia Lake, personnel. Route, a series of airfields Jasper National Park.

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Dr. John A. Allan, a geolo- for geologists being included in a gist, joined the U of A in 1912 separate wing of the Association and became the first head of the of Professional Engineers—he Mining Engineering Department became APEGGA’s 11th presi- in 1914. He systematically dent in 1930. mapped Alberta’s mineral He was a consultant to resources for the government in Calgary Power when it built a the 1920s. series of hydroelectric projects Allan also was responsible on the Bow River system.

Dr. Henry Marshall Tory

helped to establish McGill At the age of 78, Tory start- University College of British ed yet another university: in Columbia (a milestone in the 1942 he became the first presi- evolution of UBC) and, in 1908, dent of Carleton in Ottawa, a became the first president of the post he held for last five years of University of Alberta. his life. The U of A Engineering Robert William Boyle Faculty was established the joined the U of A in 1912 as following year. the head of the Physics After the First World War, Department. He also established Tory convinced the government the Department of Electrical of Alberta to establish the Engineering and during the First Alberta Research Council, and World War did secret research became its first chairperson. into the use of sound waves to After 20 years at the helm of detect submarines. After the the U of A, he moved to Ottawa war, he became the dean of the to become the president of the Faculty of Applied Sciences; he fledgling National Research later joined Tory at the National Council, which he also helped Research Council. to create.

Robert William Boyle

1943 No. 2 Canadian Army 1945 The first atomic bomb is 1947 Discovery of oil west of Engineering students steal, University Corps sends 60 exploded. Leduc marks beginning of then return, the cornerstone soldiers to U of A for first-year 1946 Enrolment in engineering Alberta’s modern oil and gas for the Rutherford Library. engineering studies; many soars by one-third over the pre- industry. Some of the first crude 1949 The Alberta government survive the war and return to vious year to 874 students as to reach the surface was saved demonstration plant at complete their studies. soldiers return from war. for Ralph Rutherford, a U of A Bitumount, north of Fort The federal government takes geology professor who had McMurray produces synthetic Robert M. promised to drink the first over wartime oil sands research Hardy, a oil using Clark’s hot-water sepa- but its venture ultimately ends bucket of oil that anyone ever ration process. specialist found by seismograph. in failure. in soil mechanics, 1948 The Department of becomes Chemical Engineering holds dean of first “mud” school for engineering. petroleum industry.

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Cross Hairs on History

I.F. Morrison, a jects, including the Edmonton Massachusetts native, came to “Rathole” and the Bow River the U of A as a lecturer in Civil hydroelectric projects. Engineering in 1912 by way of Robert M. Hardy, a MIT. For the next 35 years, specialist in soil mechanics, Morrison taught every engineer- believed that an educator ing student who graduated from should participate in the profes- the U of A. He also was the first sion he teaches. He was dean of professor in Canada to teach soil engineering from 1946 to 1959, mechanics and worked closely left for a time as a consultant in with Allan on consulting pro- private practice, then was reap-

Robert Starr Leigh Wilson

pointed dean from 1963 to Leonard Eustace Gads was 1971. As a researcher and pro- born in Russia to a prosperous fessor, he helped put the U of A family that fled to China to on the map for graduate studies escape the Russian Revolution. in engineering. The young Gads was penniless His favourite saying was, when he arrived in Wetaskiwin in “Old deans never die; they just 1926. He worked as a farm lose their faculties.” labourer for 10 years before he Robert Starr Leigh enrolled at the U of A; he gradu- Wilson, an expert in railway ated in Civil Engineering in 1939. building, came to the U of A in Gads enlisted in the RCAF dur- 1919. He was a strong advocate ing the war as an instructor in for the Alberta Engineering navigation, after which he Profession Act passed in 1920. returned to teach at the U of A. He was the dean of engineering He was appointed professor in from 1929 to 1946, and is 1956 and associate dean in 1969. remembered for ramping up the faculty to accommodate a tripling Bruce White of student enrolment at the end ([email protected]) of the Second World War. is an Edmonton-based business writer and Robert M. Hard y editor.

1950 The first graduates in 1954 The Civil Engineering in highway engineering. 1958 The Department of petroleum engineering and building opens. A Metallurgical Engineering Mechanical Engineering is irrigation engineering enter Karl Clark retires as a professor degree is offered. created, ending a cost-saving the workforce. arrangement between Alberta in the Mining Engineering 1957 The U of A becomes the 1951 Enrolment in engineering Department. and Saskatchewan in which third university in Canada to chemical engineering was in 1951–52 falls to 460 students, 1955 Alberta Research Council acquire a computer, an LGP-30 less than half the post-war peak offered at the U of A and opens new headquarters on that costs $50,000. mechanical at the U of S. only four years earlier. However, campus. It would move to the demand for engineers would Edmonton Research Park in SOURCES accelerate through the rest of 1986. ONLINE SOURCES– Alberta Research Council, Canadian Society for Civil Engineering, the 1950s. Wikipedia, Corporation of the Seven Wardens Inc., University of Alberta, University of 1956 U of A establishes Calgary, Edmonton Journal, Edmonton Economic Development Corp. Dr. S.M. Blair undertakes a Canada’s first graduate program feasibility study of extracting oil BOOKS– Sons of Martha: University of Alberta Faculty of Engineering 1913-1988, George in civil engineering specializing Ford, 1988; Leduc by Aubrey Kerr, 1991; Canada’s New Main Street: the Trans-Canada from tar sands. Highway, David W. Monaghan, 2002; The Story of Canadian Roads, Edwin Guillet, 1966; Oil Sands Scientist: The Letters of Karl Clark, Mary Clark Shepherd, 1989.

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Kudos Taking pride in achievement

Columbia, Alberta, the Yukon, BARTLETT, F. MICHAEL DR. CHAMBERS, DON HOLE, HARRY (PhD Civil ’94) PEng and Ontario. He is a member of (Civil ’70) PEng (Civil ’44, LLD [Hon] ’05) PEng has been appointed the Canadian Institute of Steel is now past presi- received an Order a fellow of the Construction, the American dent of the of Excellence from Canadian Society Concrete Institute, ASCE, and Consulting the University of for Civil the International Association Engineers of Alberta as part of Engineering (CSCE). of Bridge and Structural Alberta (CEA) Reunion Weekend Bartlett received his Engineering. He has been an board of directors. 2006 activities. M.A.Sc. in Structural Engineering active member of the CSCE Chambers is the president of from the University of Waterloo since 1982. Walters Chambers & Associates in 1982. Following graduation, Ltd. and has 32 years of experi- JAGER, CHRIS (Metallurgical ’75) he worked for almost eight years BASHIR, NASEEM ence in the consulting engineer- with Buckland & Taylor Ltd. in ing industry. He has worked on was promoted to (Electrical ’92) PEng president and CEO Vancouver, before completing his has been appointed varied projects, from LRT sta- PhD in Civil Engineering from tions to chemical plants, often as of AltaSteel. Jager a director of the was formerly vice the University of Alberta in 1994. 2005/2006 board the prime consultant. He began his academic career at president of opera- of directors for the tions, and has the University of Western Consulting Ontario in 1995, where he is DMYTRUK, CHRYS. worked at AltaSteel for 31 years. Engineers of (Chemical ’60) PEng now a professor. Bartlett’s exper- Alberta. Bashir is principal and tise has also been recognized out- has been re-elected vice president of A.D. Williams LABOSSIERE, PIERRE DR. side the University, with for a second term Incorporated. Bashir has provid- (PhD Mechanical ’87) ENG important appointments in the to Council for the ed support, engineering, and Association of was awarded a fel- fields of bridge code development project management services to lowship by the and calibration. He was a mem- Professional clients in western and northern Engineers, Canadian Society ber of the team assigned to the Canada for over 20 years. for Civil innovative calibration work on Geologists and Geophysicists of Alberta (APEGGA). Engineering. The the Confederation Bridge (linking award was peer P.E.I. and New Brunswick). He BECKETT, WIILLIAM JAMES recommended and awarded in also worked on the bridge’s (Electrical ’73) PEng HAUGEN, JAY recognition of his contribution design criteria, including unique is a councillor (Electrical ’82) PEng for civil engineering and his pro- load and resistance factors to continuing in has been appointed fessional leadership. Labossiere achieve the stringent target relia- office for the partner at Parlee is currently the associate vice- bility levels and design life Association of Mclaws LLP, a rector at the Université de required. Bartlett was appointed Professional legal firm in Sherbrooke. to two committees of the Engineers, Edmonton, Canadian Highway Bridge Geologists, and Geophysicists of Alberta. Haugen Design Code and made important Alberta (APEGGA). joined the Edmonton law firm as LOEWEN, DALE contributions to the code now associate lawyer in December (Civil ’84) PEng used countrywide as a National was recently CAMPBELL, ROBERT 2000. As a patent and trade- Standard of Canada. He is the mark agent, he advises clients on appointed general designated project leader for (Mechanical ’68, MEng Mechanical manager of south- ’70) PEng patent, trade-mark, and intellec- research team implementing the ern Alberta opera- has been appointed tual property protection and “Three Little Pigs” facility at tions for the to the 2005/2006 enforcement. His engineering Western, a $6.8 M laboratory to Associated board of directors experience was primarily with test full-scale houses and light- Engineering group of companies. for the Consulting AGT and EdTel (the previous frame construction to simulated Previous to this appointment, Engineers of government owned telephone hurricane-force winds. The lab Loewen was manager of infra- Alberta. Campbell services) and TELUS. Haugen’s received Canada Foundation for structure services in Calgary. is principal mechanical engineer work included the design and Innovation funding in 2004. Loewen is a senior civil engineer with Hemisphere Engineering development of fibre optic sys- Bartlett was awarded the Donald and project manager with more Incorporated, and has been with tems, but he later graduated to Jamieson Fellowship in Structural than 20 years’ experience on Hemisphere since 1978. With regulatory services. He contin- Engineering in 1990 and 1991. infrastructure, water, transporta- over 37 years of experience, ued this area of work, assisting Since 1992 he has been a four- tion, and environmental Campbell has been involved TELUS with their CRTC appli- time recipient of the P.L. Pratley projects. with heating, ventilation, air cations while attending law Medal for best paper on bridge conditioning design, and man- school. engineering and was twice agement throughout his career. awarded an honourable mention. He currently manages In 2002, he received the Sir Hemisphere’s Edmonton office. Casimir Gzowski Medal, Canada’s oldest engineering award. Bartlett is a registered professional engineer in British

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Kudos Taking pride in achievement

asked to open an office for Bird LUEKE, JASON DR. MCTAVISH, MARK SAMEK, ROBERT (Civil ’97, MSc Civil ’99, PhD Civil (Mechanical ’78) PEng in Vancouver. The annual vol- (Chemical ’85) ’05) PEng has been appointed ume of this operation grew to has been elected as received the director of alarm over $100 million by 2000 when a director of the Outstanding Paper solutions and glob- he moved to the corporate office worldwide partner- Award for co- al training at in Toronto as executive vice ship of McKinsey authoring Matrikon, where president. & Company’s “Relining of an he provides leader- Bird Construction Company Canadian Practice. Irregularly Shaped ship to improve the safety of Limited was founded in 1920 in Samek serves major North Double Barrel Sewer,” his pre- operations at processing facilities Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan as a American and global companies sentation to the North American around the world. small partnership and has grown in the energy, mining, pulp and Society for Trenchless to become one of Canada’s top paper, and manufacturing sec- Technology. The awards were 10 national general contractors tors, specializing in capital pro- presented in Nashville earlier MORGAN, GWYN with operations across Canada jects management, operational this year. (Mechanical ’67) PEng and in the United States. Annual performance improvement, and received the revenues total $450 million. The growth strategy. He is a co- Centennial company recently converted to leader of McKinsey’s global MAIER, GERALD DR. Leadership Award an income trust. The company petroleum practice, responsible (Petroleum ’51, LLD [Hon] ’99) for highest distinc- is listed on the TSX and has a for research and knowledge PEng tion as an execu- market capitalization in excess development, and he heads the was awarded the tive or director of of $200 million. Alberta Centennial Canadian industrial practice. He a continuing enterprise from the joined the firm in 1992. Medal in 2005 in Association of Professional recognition of his Engineers, Geologists and RAJOTTE, RAY DR. contributions to Geophysicists of Alberta (APEG- (Electrical ’71, MSc Electrical ’73, PhD Electrical ’75) PEng SAUNDERS, R.J. (Bob) the province. GA). Morgan devoted three (MEng Civil ’89) PEng received an Order decades to building the largest has been appointed of Excellence from company ever to be headquar- senior geotechnical MCGHAN, TOM the University of tered in western Canada. engineer in the (Electrical ’80) PEng Alberta as part of Morgan created EnCana Calgary office of has been appointed Reunion Weekend Corporation from the merger of Thurber vice president of 2006 activities. project engineering the Alberta Energy Company Engineering. for ATCO Power (AEC) and PanCanadian Energy Saunders has worked on a wide Limited. McGhan in 2002. Before creating ROSS, BRIAN range of projects in northern and will be responsible EnCana, Morgan was president (Civil ’78) PEng western Canada, primarily in oil for overseeing all aspects of pro- and CEO of AEC, which he has been elected and gas, pipeline, and mines. He ject engineering and the techni- joined at its start-up in 1975. treasurer for the has also undertaken site investiga- cal analysis and execution of Consulting tion and assessments for bridge new projects for ATCO Power Engineers of and compressor station founda- PETHER, DON Alberta (CEA) tions, wastewater and tailings Canada Ltd. He started with (Metallurgical ’70) board of directors. ponds, cofferdams, and waste ATCO as a senior instrumenta- has been appointed Ross has worked with AMEC dumps. Saunders has extensive tion engineer in the generation chair of the board Earth and Environmental and its experience with slope stability engineering section with Alberta of directors for predecessor firms throughout assessment and remediation, hav- Power Limited in 1988. He has Dofasco western Canada since 1978. He ing worked much of his career held several successive manage- Incorporated. ment positions in his 26 years of is senior vice president of AMEC with landslides, especially related working in the electrical energy Earth and Environmental, to pipeline projects. He recently utility industry, including four responsible for the geotechnical worked on permafrost related and material lines of business as issues for the Mackenzie gas years as station manager at the RABOUD, PAUL well as their regional offices in project. Osborne Cogeneration Facility (Civil ’84) western Canada. at Adelaide in South Australia. has been appointed McGhan’s experience in con- president and chief SMITH, JIM structing and managing large operating officer (Chemical ’72) PEng thermal stations and gas turbine SABOURIN, MARC JEROME for Bird (Civil ’77) PEng is newly elected to plants has resulted in expertise Construction. Bird is a councillor con- the council of the in commercial, project and oper- Construction is one tinuing in office for Association of ating management, and has con- of Canada’s top 10 general con- the Association of Professional tributed to technical, industry, tractors. Raboud has been with Professional Engineers, and community organizations Bird Construction since 1984 Engineers, Geologists and during his working career. and began in the Toronto office Geologists and Geophysicists of Alberta of the company as a junior esti- Geophysicists of Alberta (APEGGA). mator. In 1990 Raboud was (APEGGA).

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in memoriam

The Faculty of Engineering Peterson, Benjamin Norton (Civil ’49) Kudos sincerely regrets the passing of Simpson, Charles (Electrical ’37) the following alumni and friends. Szojka, Frank (Electrical ’61) In memory of Cole, Leslie C. (Chemical ’58) Shook, Dr. Clifton (Chemical ’56) Edgecombe, Rodney (Chemical ’49) Woodlock, David (Mechanical ’63) William David Martin, Enarson, Ernest (Civil ’45) Laing, Colin (Metallurgical ’62) The Faculty of Engineering was (Civil ’44) STAMBAUGH, WES Little, Herbert (Mining ’49) recently made aware that the fol- (Civil ’79) PEng O’Brien, John (Civil ’49) lowing alumni passed away more William Martin was born on has been appointed Medhurst, Charles (Mining ’40) than a year ago. April 16, 1916 on a farm about to the 2005/2006 Metzner, Dr. Arthur (Chemical ’48) Kuspira, Major Carl (Electrical ’56) seven miles southeast of south board of directors Moore, Kenneth (Civil ’48) Strum, Herbert (Electrical ’51) Edmonton (Strathcona). He grew for the Consulting up helping out at the farm and Engineers of attended the local Mill Creek Alberta. Stambaugh School. He went on to complete is the Calgary branch manager the UMA quality management and director of ISL engineering VILCSAK, CHRIS his secondary education and steering committee, and the (Mechanical ’85) PEng and land services (formerly entered pre-engineering at the AECOM organizational peer is president and Infrastructure Systems Ltd.). Since University of Alberta in 1935. review team. CEO of Solution joining ISL in 2001 as the Calgary Martin spent the next few 105 Consulting branch manager, Stambaugh has years studying in Mining and has been nom- been responsible for the overall STEFFLER, PETER DR. Engineering and working for inated as one of corporate direction and coordina- (Civil ’78, MSc Civil ’80, PhD Civil the prairie regional Sherritt Gordon in Manitoba as tion of ISL’s resources in Calgary ’84) PEng finalists in the Ernst & Young well as helping with the construc- and the southern Alberta region. has been appointed a fellow of Entrepreneur of the Year 2006 tion of the Ft. St. John Airport in He has worked in the private and the Canadian awards. The competition hon- the summer of 1941. He returned public sectors in various roles as Society for Civil ours entrepreneurs who have project engineer and senior man- Engineering. Steffler to the University of Alberta in demonstrated excellence and ager responsible for a wide range began his academic 1942 and switched to Civil achieved extraordinary success of municipal and transportation career at the Engineering, graduating in 1944. in areas such as innovation, risk related initiatives. University of During 1943 and 1944 he was taking, company development, Alberta in 1980 as a research involved in surveying and financial performance, and per- assistant, rising to full professor redesigning roads in the national in 1993. From 1997 to 1998 he sonal commitment to their busi- STAPLES, LARRY parks, including the one from (Civil ’74) PEng served as associate chair for grad- nesses and communities. Castle Mountain to Radium received an hon- uate studies and from 1998 to orary life member- 2001 as associate dean in the Hot Springs. ship for eminent Faculty of Graduate Studies and WALTERS, DICK On December 1, 1944, Martin (Civil ’64, MSc Civil ’66) PEng service and leader- Research. Professor Steffler’s pri- married Elma Brooks. They had is newly elected to ship as president of mary field of research activity is three children. In the early 1950s the council of the the Association of computational hydraulics. he was involved in pipeline and Association of Professional Engineers, Professional pulp and paper mill construction Geologists and Geophysicists of Engineers, in Quebec and Ontario. From Alberta (APEGGA). A member of TROVATO, NICK Geologists and 1957 to 1959 he managed a pulp APEGGA since 1974, Staples has (Civil ’79, MEng Civil ’84) PEng Geophysicists of Alberta and paper construction project in assumed numerous leadership is a councillor (APEGGA). roles with the association, serving continuing in east Pakistan (now Bangladesh). on council (1982-1985 and 2004 office for of the He returned to Niagara Falls to present) and as president Association of where he was the resident engi- Professional WORKMAN, CHRIS (2005-2006). He currently heads (Civil ’88, MEng Civil ’92) PEng neer on the Seagram Tower. In Engineers, the business development activi- has been appointed 1962 he moved to San Diego to Geologists and Geophysicists of ties for the prairie region of principal and work in international consulting. Alberta (APEGGA). Acuren Group Incorporated. director of Thurber He then returned to East Pakistan Engineering Ltd. in to work on an extension of the Calgary. Workman STOWKOWY, STEVE VERHAPPEN, IAN pulp and paper mill. In 1964 he has served as a (Civil ’79) PEng (Chemical ’82) PEng went to San Diego, where he geotechnical engineer through- has been appointed has joined MTL remained until 1969, contributing out Alberta and the B.C. to the 2005/2006 Instruments Group to a variety of projects in many interior. His experience includes board of directors as director of parts of the world. He then foundation investigations and for the Consulting industrial network- design for heavy industrial moved back to Nanaimo on Engineers of ing technologies. plants, terrain hazard mapping, Vancouver Island in British Alberta. Stowkowy Verhappen is high- landslide assessments, and Columbia. is vice president Calgary region ly respected in the process dam safety. Upon retirement, Martin for UMA Engineering Ltd., automation sector and has responsible for administrative and served as project lead, engineer, pursued private and personal financial management, market designer or independent review interests. In 1986 he moved to development, strategic planning, consultant for numerous compa- Surrey, British Columbia, where staff development, and client nies spanning several industries. he lived until he passed away on management. He serves on the July l6, 2004. UMA office of risk management,

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Publications Mail Agreement No. 40051128 Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to: Faculty of Engineering, Postage paid Port payé Publications Poste- University of Alberta Mail publications E6-050 Engineering Teaching & Learning Complex 40051128 Edmonton, AB T6G 2V4 EDMONTON, ALBERTA e-mail: [email protected] University of Alberta ENGINEERING Planned Giving Help support the Faculty of Engineering Make a charitable bequest

Including a charitable bequest in your will is an effective method of supporting the 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 more of the estate to be used as you desire.

For further information contact: David M. Petis, Assistant Dean External Relations, Faculty of Engineering, University of Alberta E6-050 Engineering Teaching & Learning Complex

Edmonton, AB T6G 2V4 Christine Thom (Computer ’92) wanted to ease the financial strain

Tel: 780.492.5080 Fax: 780.492.0500 on future Engineering students. She made a charitable bequest to the E-mail: [email protected] ✃ Faculty of Engineering and established an endowed scholarship.

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$100 $500 $1,000 $2,500 Other $______$ ______Faculty of Engineering in support of undergraduate student projects, new educational initiatives in all disciplines, and general student life Cheque (made payable to the University of Alberta) VISA MasterCard enhancement activities. $ ______Chemical and Materials Engineering Fund* ______/______/______/______/ expiry date: ______$ ______Civil and Environmenetal Engineering Fund* Name (please print): ______$ ______Electrical and Computer Engineering Fund* Signature: ______$ ______Mechanical Engineering Learning Laboratory Fund* $ ______Mining and Petroleum Engineering Fund* I have also enclosed: I would like information on how to make a gift of publicly traded a corporate matching gift form from my (or my spouse‘s) employer securities to support the Faculty of Engineering at the U of A.

If you were an Alberta resident on December 31, 2005 and have already I would like information on how to include the Faculty of Engineering given $200 elsewhere, your combined income tax savings will be: 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. Your donation to the U of A $100 $500 $1,000 $2,500 Your tax credit for your gift: $42.00 $209.00 $418.00 $1,045.00

* To best meet Faculty of Engineering’s needs, donations may Please return to: be directed to endowed funds. Donations made to endowment funds Office of the Dean, Faculty of Engineering University of Alberta are invested in perpetuity and the investment earnings are used to 01914 advance the specified purposes of the fund within the University. E6-050 Engineering Teaching & Learning Complex Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2V4