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A Career Lifts Off
Tim Poon, E.I.T. is this year's ASTech Leaders of Tomorrow
winner.
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Names of APEGGA members and permit holders are found throughout
the list of honourees in the 2003 ASTech Awards, presented
Nov. 7 during a black-tie gala in Calgary. More than 1,000
representatives of government, academia, industry and business
were on hand to acknowledge winners and recipients in 13
award and prize categories.
An engineering grad student and a professor in electrical
and computer engineering at the University of Alberta won
two major ASTechs at the event, now in its 14th year. And
two large Calgary permit-holders also shone for their science
and technology success stories.
“ASTech’s theme, Innovations for Living Well, was demonstrated
admirably by this year’s field of finalists and prize
recipients,” said ASTech Foundation Chair Carmen Forster. “Indeed,
Albertans are making a significant contribution to an improved
quality of life for people, both here and around the world.”
U of A’s Tim Poon, E.I.T., received the 2003 Leaders
of Tomorrow Award and Dr. Michael Brett, P.Eng., received
the 2003 Outstanding Leadership in Alberta Technology Award.
The university was also cited for its outreach work, with
the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research Outreach Program
receiving the Excellence in Science and Technology Public
Awareness Prize.
Mr. Poon, 24, is performing research in wireless communications
theory, in the Informatics Circle of Research Excellence
Wireless Communications Laboratory. This is one of the world’s
top research groups in his area of study.
He attended the 2003 International Space University Summer
Session Program, sponsored by the European Space Agency,
and was one of 10 students from across Canada selected for
full funding.
Currently working on his master of science degree, Mr. Poon
received the Peter Lougheed Leadership Award in 1999 – the
top U of A leadership award for students in all faculties – and
in 2001 was recognized with another leadership award, this
one from his peers in the Engineering Students’ Society.
His high-tech contributions in Alberta, in fact, go back
to when he was just 17.
The ASTechs honoured Dr. Brett of the University of Alberta
for technological sophistication, commercial impact, the
applicability of his research to a variety of industry sectors,
international peer recognition, and overall contributions
to Alberta technology. His research is in the area of thin
film processes for microelectronics and nanotechnology.
Dr. Brett’s work has led to five issued patents and
two major commercial spin-offs. He holds the Micralyne/Natural
Science and Engineering Research Council Senior Industrial
Research Chair, and is an iCORE professor in the nanotechnology
frontier. A past holder of the Killam Annual Professorship
and a McCalla Research Professorship, Dr. Brett was awarded
the 2002 Canada Research Chair in Nanoengineered Thin Films.
Permit holder NOVA Chemicals Corporation of Calgary received
the Outstanding Commercial Achievement in Alberta Science
and Technology Award, to corporations with gross sales of
$25 million or more. Aggressive investment in developing
and commercializing technology for producing polyethylene
earned NOVA the award.
A project with the major involvement of Shell Canada Ltd.
won the Syncrude/ASTech Innovation in Oilsands Research Prize.
The ASTechs honoured Shell and CANMET Energy Technology Centre
for their work with the Paraffinic Froth Treatment Technology
Commercialization Team.
The treatment uses a paraffinic solvent to produce a bitumen
product that’s essentially free of solids and water,
and has been partially upgraded through selective deasphalting.
The prize recognizes the continued development and application
of the process at Albian Sands Energy’s new 155,000-barrel-per-day
plant. The process was discovered and patented by Syncrude
Canada Ltd. Dr. Robert Tipman, P.Eng., of Shell Canada Ltd.,
is a senior process consultant on the team.
The Alberta Science and Technology Leadership Foundation
has helped gain national and international attention for
Alberta’s science and technology community, through
the ASTech Awards. It was founded in 1989.
MORE INFO
Visit www.astech.ab.ca
for complete list
of recipients
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