May 2007 ISSUE
newsmakers
New U of C Chair Receives
Alberta Ingenuity Injection
COMPILED BY FRANCINE MAXWELL
Editorial Assistant
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WHEN THE CHIPS ARE UP |
Dr. Michal Okoniewski, P.Eng., will receive $2.5 million to turn advances in electrical engineering and biomedical research into practical applications.
The University of Calgary researcher and entrepreneur was recently named the Alvin Libin Ingenuity Chair for Biomedical Engineering. The chair will receive the funding over 10 years, with $150,000 per year coming from the Schulich School of Engineering’s Schulich benefaction and $100,000 a year from Alberta Ingenuity.
A key project for Dr. Okoniewski and his team is a micro-scale chip that will have the same functional capacity as nuclear magnetic resonance devices, known for their use in MRI diagnostic machines.
Oil Sands Work Recognized
Dr. David Devenny, P.Eng., P.Geol., is the 2007 recipient of the Engineering
Institute of Canada’s Julian C. Smith Medal for achievement in the development
of Canada. The award recognizes Dr. Devenny’s contributions to the development
of Alberta’s oil sands and was presented at an awards gala in Ottawa.
A past president of APEGGA and a Summit Award winner, Dr. Devenny was recently elected president of the APEGGA Education Foundation.
The Engineering Institute of Canada also annually elects a select number of engineers to the level of fellow for their exceptional contributions to engineering in Canada. This year the EIC elected APEGGA members Dr. Graham Jullien, P.Eng., a University of Calgary professor and chair of the Informatics Circle of Research Excellence, and Dr. Don Koval, P.Eng., a University of Alberta professor.
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Dr. David Devenny, |
Shell Invests In
Future Workforce
The future looks a bit brighter for Alberta’s workforce, with a Shell Canada
announcement of $1.15 million in investment with University of Calgary. The money
will go towards the development of future workforce capacity and research innovation.
“This investment is about developing the skills, the attitudes and the science Canada and indeed the world will need to meet its energy challenge,” said Clive Mather, Shell Canada’s president and CEO. “We’re working to promote technical education, research and innovation – it is at the heart of what we need as a company, as an industry and as a society.”
Through Shell’s Campus Ambassador Program, $400,000 will support the creation of the Shell Experiential Energy Learning Program within the university’s Institute for Sustainable Energy, Environment and Economy, or ISEEE. The Campus Ambassador Program will provide funding for enhanced learning opportunities for students that include club activities, field trips and undergraduate research.
Shell is also investing $750,000 with ISEEE and the Schulich School of Engineering for the purchase of equipment for oil sands research. The equipment will allow researchers to improve the accuracy of their understanding of bitumen characterization. The end goal is to develop a more effective way to extract bitumen too deep for surface mining.
ATCO Owner Receives
Order of Canada Companionship
APEGGA Honorary Member Ron Southern, founding president and CEO of ATCO and co-owner
of Spruce Meadows Equestrian Centre, has been appointed to the highest rank of
the Order of Canada.
Mr. Southern was first inducted as a member of the Order of Canada in 1986. This
year, he was promoted to companion of the order. He has also been inducted as
a member of the Order of the British Empire, and was later elevated to commander
within that order.
Hemisphere Engineering
Turns 50
What started out as a three-person operation in the 1950s has grown into a multi-national
engineering firm with staff numbering 150. Hemisphere Engineering is celebrating
its 50th anniversary in Edmonton.
John Chomiak, P.Eng., the CEO and president of Hemisphere, said the company’s
success is due largely to staff members who have remained loyal through Hemisphere’s
growing pains.
“In our early days in the late 1950s we were an unknown company of three people,” Mr. Chomiak said. “We grew to 180 in the 1970s but market contraction due to the National Energy Program forced us to close branch offices and reduce our staff to approximately 35, leaving only Edmonton and Calgary as the serving offices.
“It took the entire 1980s and a portion of the 1990s to recover. As a CEO,
I appreciate all of the employees who have worked so hard and who are so loyal.
Our staff is the best asset we have.”
Hemisphere has been involved with some well-known Alberta projects. These include
designing mechanical systems for Southgate Mall in Edmonton in 1970, designing
systems for the downtown Westin Hotel in Edmonton, and working on Red Deer’s
first high-rise, known as the Professional Building.
In 1980 Hemisphere was one of the first Canadian engineering firms to open an office in Dubai. An early residential project in Dubai was a four-storey house for the country’s ruler, featuring an elevator from the garage to the main bedroom – and plenty of air conditioning.
Today, the company is most commonly known as the one of the scientific community’s top choices for bio-containment laboratory design. More precisely, it’s involved with the design and execution of the air filtration, distribution and containment systems within laboratory buildings.
In late 2006, Hemisphere was putting the final touches on high containment labs in the $140-million Center for Disease Control in Atlanta. Hemisphere was also involved with the National Institute for Nanotechnology in Edmonton.
Hemisphere has worked on similar projects at the University of Texas Medical Branch, Rocky Mountain Laboratories in Montana and others. It teamed up with other engineering firms and architectural firms in a successful bid for the Canadian Science Centre for Human and Animal Health in Winnipeg. This lab is part of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.
APEGGA Members Appointed
To New Task Force
The governments of Canada and Alberta have jointly announced the creation of
a Canada-Alberta ecoENERGY Carbon Capture and Storage Task Force. The men and
women on this task force will advise on the best way to implement the capture
and storage of carbon dioxide as well as underground storage of the gas on a
large scale.
Named as chair of the task force is Steve Snyder, P.Eng. Mr. Snyder is president and chief executive officer of TransAlta Corporation.
Also named to the task force were Kathy Sendall, P.Eng., senior vice-president of Petro-Canada, and Alberta Energy Deputy Minister Dan McFayden, P.Eng.
NAIT Gets Richer Soils
EBA Engineering Consultants has invested $100,000 in the Northern Alberta Institute
of Technology to help establish a namesake soils lab. A fifth of the financial
boost will go towards a scholarship fund for civil engineering co-op students
at NAIT.
Who’s Moved Where
Tom Zavesiczky, P.Geol., was appointed vice-president, exploration, of Codero
Energy Inc. Mr. Zavesiczky brings with him 26 years of experience in oil and
gas exploration, development and management.
Neil Wilson, P.Eng. was promoted to vice-president, engineering for Cordero Energy Inc. Mr. Wilson has valuable experience in reservoir and exploitation engineering including acquisition evaluation, reserves assessment and production.
Tom Field, P.Eng., was appointed vice-president, engineering and operations,
for Culane Energy Corp. Mr. Field brings to the position 23 years of diversified
experience in the oil and gas industry.
Quentin Enns, P.Geol., was appointed as director of Mirage Energy Ltd. Mr. Enns
has over 20 years of oil-and-gas experience.