Task Forces Working
On Varied Fronts

The Emerging Disciplines Task Force, one of APEGGA Council’s current task forces, is nearing completion of a study into the issues of related to APEGGA’s relevance to these disciplines.

Chaired by Coun. Elizabeth Cannon, P.Eng., PhD, the task is expected to report when Council meets Nov. 25. The task force is one of five established by Council as part of its strategic planning process, which seeks to better understand trends which may impact the Association, its Members and the wider society.

The soon-to-be-released Emerging Disciplines Task Force study, is being conducted by KPMG. The study is limited to the computer engineering field — along with its sub-disciplines — and has the following goals:

• to identify organizations in the engineering emerging disciplines areas;
  
  
• to select a representative subset of these organizations which fall into the computer engineering area (including hardware, software firmware and communication systems);
  
  
• to quantify the number of individuals who are eligible for registration in this subset;
  
  
• to determine the number who should be registered in this subset; and
  
  
• to compare that number with APEGGA’s data on those who are currently registered.

Data on the age profile of engineers working for these organizations as well as their market focus (i.e. local or export) also will be analysed. Data has been collected on approximately 50 firms in Alberta. The task force expected to use the information to develop a plan of action to better meet the needs of the emerging disciplines sector.

Other Council task forces also are continuing their work, including the Regulating Corporate Practice Task Force which is in the middle of the stakeholder input phase. The task force, chaired former councillor Mark Lasby, P.Eng., has received or is scheduled to receive submissions from the Enforcement Review Committee, Consulting Engineers of Alberta and a number of individual engineers, geologists and geophysicists.

The Geoscience Task Force, chaired by Coun. Neil O’Donnell, P.Eng., P.Geol., which like the Emerging Disciplines Task Force, was formed as a result of the 1998 strategic planning session, submitted a major report to Council in May. Based on the recommendations, Council approved a series of measures to enhance communication with geoscientists. A number of initiatives, including publication of articles about APEGGA in geoscience-related publications, are under way.

The Task Force on APEGGA Relevancy, formed this year, is chaired of Coun. Linda Van Gastel, P.Eng., and a fifth task force, on statutory committees, is led by Past President Dan Motyka, P.Eng.