july 2009 issue
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Student Report
The Enablers of Dreams
Thoughts from the National Engineering Summit 2009
Editor’s Note: An APEGGA student member and a graduating student attended the National Engineering Summit in Montreal, May 19-21, which looked at ways the profession can become more cohesive and develop insights in its service to society and the public. The PEGG agreed to publish their impressions of this historic event.
Six national engineering groups hosted the summit — Engineers Canada, the Association of Canadian Engineering Companies, the Engineering Institute of Canada, the Canadian Academy of Engineering, the Canadian Federation of Engineering Students, and the National Council of Deans of Engineering and Applied Science. Participants from the health, environment, infrastructure and industrial sectors, as well as academia, were invited to identify, with the engineering profession, steps to affect positive change for a healthier, cleaner, safer, more competitive and sustainable Canada in a global society.
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BY AMANDA SCHNECK & EUGENE CHEN, E.I.T. |
PEGG Correspondents |
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Amanda Schneck is a materials engineering biomedical co-op student at the University of Alberta. She’ll be entering her fourth year of a five-year program in September.
Eugene Chen, E.I.T., just graduated with distinction from U of A. He has bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering, co-op option. With a background in technology, program management and product development, he’s starting a new company with another graduate to focus on online collaboration.
The National Engineering Summit 2009 started off on an inspirational foot as Patrick Quinn, summit chair, proposed the idea that, “engineers are the enablers of dreams.” The rest of the summit — the grounds and birthplace of the Montreal Declaration — would prove to be just as bold and exciting.
The summit, held in May in Montreal, was truly unique. Not only was the summit the first of its kind, hosted by major national engineering organizations such as Engineers Canada and the Canadian Federation of Engineering Students, the majority of the speakers were not engineers. Unlike many conferences where the speakers and panelists share similar professional backgrounds, the organizers opted to invite and listen to leading non-engineering experts from across different industries to hear their thoughts on the impact and potential of engineering. The speeches and panels were thus different, refreshing and thought-provoking.
The theme of the summit, Leading a Canadian Future: The New Engineer in Society, could not have been more appropriate, as we were taken on a three-day journey looking at the evolution of the engineering profession and concluding with the changes that engineers need to be making to more effectively benefit society.
The summit began with a wide range of speakers who presented how their area of study applied to the new engineer in Canadian society. Delegates were taken on an amazing video adventure to the Antarctic to discover climate change.
We learned about current proposals and challenges to drastically transform the undergraduate engineering education in the United States, which in-cluded the requirement of a graduate engineering degree to become a professional engineer, much like a doctor or lawyer. Finally — among several more presentations and speeches — we were presented with an analysis on the predicted trends of the future for the next 25 years.
Smaller panels and presentations were later held through concurrent sessions on five main areas of interest: health, the environment, safety and security, competitiveness in a global economy, and quality of life. Given our backgrounds of materials biomedical engineering and electrical engineering, with added business courses, we attended the health and competitiveness in a global economy sessions.
From the health stream, some of the most prominent ideas we heard included the urgency for engineers to be involved in public health. For example, engineers can design more bike- and pedestrian-friendly neighbourhoods and roadways to help reduce the threat of the obesity epidemic.
Another common theme was the opportunities available for engineers in medicine and medical research, from high-tech innovation such as tissue engineering to low-tech innovation such as handrails for the aging population. Every speaker agreed that there certainly is a place for engineers among doctors.
The competitiveness sessions focused on the necessary directions the engineering profession must pursue to be more competitive. We learned of the uniquely critical role Canadian universities play in research, and that industrial research and development needs to keep up with our global competitors to be relevant. The need to adopt diversity-friendly workplace policies by identifying the changing needs of this generation — for example, lowering entry-exit barriers for mothers interested in flexible work schedules — was noted as a key competitive edge for hiring and retaining talented individuals.
Finally, with the help of professional writers, session moderators and the organizers, these ideas and recommendations — including many we could not include here — were discussed, gathered and summarized into the Montreal Declaration.
The signing of the Montreal Declaration was an inspirational moment for the both of us in that the passionate presentations and spirited discussions resulted in a signed document of commitments by the key leaders of our national organizations. This was an impressive display of active collaboration, strategic foresight, commitment and action over words.
We had participated in a historic summit that would help to, as the declaration itself says, “contribute to a healthier, cleaner, safer, more competitive and sustainable Canada — to apply its leadership, leverage the strengths of its various disciplines, and prepare the next generation of engineers for the challenges to come.”
This is an experience we will never forget. And neither will we forget the calling contained in those words.
Additional Experiences
Of course, it was not only the speakers and the formal discussions that made this experience so incredible. We met numerous successful professional engineers, professionals from other disciplines of study, and fellow student leaders. In particular, it was great to meet the various staff and executives from different national and provincial engineering associations, including
our own.
We had the opportunity to meet and speak with Jim Beckett, P.Eng., Dr. Gordon Williams, P.Geol., and Kim Farwell, P.Eng., APEGGA’s current President, Past-President, and President-Elect respectively. In addition to the variety of backgrounds from the delegates, it was refreshing to see just how receptive everyone was to having the student voice present.
Additionally, we were impressed to learn that two out of eight national awards were to come from Alberta. The representatives from APEGGA were particularly inviting in allowing us the opportunity to attend the Engineers Canada Awards Gala.
Here we were further inspired by the likes of Laura Lucier, P.Eng., a University of Calgary graduate and recipient of the Young Engineers Achievement Award for her work with NASA as a member of the Canadian Space Agency’s Robotics Flight Control Team.
Just as inspiring was Dr. Chris Backhouse, P.Eng., who together with Dr. Duncan Elliottt, P.Eng., and Dr. Jim McMullin, P.Eng., all from the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at the University of Alberta, won the National Award for an Engineering Project for their work on “lab on a chip” technology. This has the potential to revolutionize the medical industry by offering cheaper, onsite solutions to the alternative of expensive, outsourced medical diagnostics.
Being able to attend the National Engineering Summit was truly an unparalleled experience, which allowed all those involved, including us students, a chance to be a part of history. Canadian engineers are equipped with the knowledge, the social awareness and the drive to make anything happen. By discussing and sharing the ideas for the future of the engineering profession, we are now able to see a clearer picture of what the “enablers of dreams” should be like and how we can strive to achieve this.
More Info
The Montreal Declaration
www.engineeringsummit.ca
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