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To honour National Indigenous History month, we are featuring Connor Scheu, P.Eng., ally to women in APEGA's Women in APEGA advisory group and proud Metis person and advocate - he is a member of Engineers Canada & Indigenous Advisory Committee. "I
believe that being raised Metis with some Indigenous values gave me an innate sense of societal good and a respect for nature and the Earth."
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The anticipation is palpable as APEGA President Lisa Doig, P.Eng., speaks at the opening of a star-studded exhibit at TELUS World of Science - Edmonton. APEGA is the presenting sponsor of Apollo: When We Went to the Moon, which features interactive
educational displays and artifacts from early space missions, including Apollo 11, the legendary spaceflight marked by the first-ever footfalls on our cratered sidekick.
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Nicole Imeson, P.L.(Eng.), is proud to be a voice amplifying the collective experience of women in male-dominated professions in her podcast the Glorious Ladies of Engineering. She explains engineering failures and what we can do better next time in her
podcast Failurology. She's hoping to improve the profession, one episode at a time.
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On his tours, Diakiw joins Metis heritage to geoscience, speaking to the history of the land geologically and spiritually, as an absolute piece of who he is. "I see myself now as that connector, the bridge from the past to the present."
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Following a member bylaw vote in November 2021 to accept the recommendations made by the Special Committee of Council on Nominations, APEGA's process for identifying Council candidates will be more transparent, beginning with the 2023 Council election
nominations.
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Oil and gas professionals lean in head to head, watching a geoscientist's fingertip run along the edge of a drawing of a mountain formation on the page, tracing out the range's stress direction. It's 1996, and the group is using the Geological Atlas of the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin to find new areas to develop for the oil and gas industry. Now, the atlas is getting an update, going digital, and helping drive green industry development. The industry-famous tome is targeted for completion by 2027, thanks to a group of dedicated geoscientists.
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Dr. Maydianne Andrade, a professor at the University of Toronto Scarborough (UTSC), is the leading expert on neurotoxin-rich Australian redback spiders, working out of a lab complete with 100,000 elegant, black-hinged legs stretching across white webs. Ironically, entering a lab teeming with spiders bearing enough poison to down a human is not the most courageous thing Dr. Andrade does. She is an activist, president and co-founder of the Canadian Black Scientists Network, and founder and co-chair of the Toronto Initiative for Diversity and Excellence, and she has served as the vice-dean of faculty affairs and equity at UTSC. She shares data and stories of bias to educate others in hopes of creating a more equitable world.
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After related incidents causing injury and loss of life occurred, APEGA Council saw the need to develop a clear and defined standard to regulate the practice of outsourcing engineering and geoscience work to prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future and to safeguard Alberta's public welfare. The practice standard, Relying on the Work of Others and Outsourcing, defines the requirements APEGA licensed professionals and permit holders must follow when they outsource or rely on the work of others. After a year-long transition period, this practice standard becomes enforceable on May 1, 2022.
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APEGA's 2022 Women in Engineering and Geoscience Champion Summit Award recipient, Dr. Qiao Sun, P.Eng., is simultaneously an educational leader, a government influencer, and an entire grassroots organization unto herself. She imparts the courage to fail
and succeed on her mentees, and is a symbiotic asset to her students and colleagues at the University of Calgary's Schulich School of Engineering. She says, "Engineering training gives you that attitude: If you don't like it, change it."
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The sun shines on Murray Smith as suit-clad, he treads five blocks of grey sidewalk, from 501 Pennsylvania Avenue to Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., pitch book enclosed in his grip. It's 2006, a hot day in May, and a congressman from
the Carolinas has phoned: he wants to meet in the Canadian Embassy to talk about Alberta's oilsands. He ponders what the potential $100 billion of investment capital in this 14-month endeavour of proving the oilsands exist will mean for Alberta's
economy.
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APEGA's Professional Practice team is performing a greater number of permit holder practice reviews than ever before, thanks to the implementation of a new flow chart system called Graduated Risk Assessment of Permit Holders (GRAPH). This system targets permit holders that are most at risk based on industry trends, company or organizational size, Responsible Member knowledge, and past compliance for review, creating greater efficiency within APEGA's operations.
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The whole world sits atop the side table in Colonel Chris Hadfield's living room; a globe, angled so with a glance he sees a slice of our planet, a sectional view, akin to how he'd photograph Earth while floating upside down in the cupola of the International Space Station (ISS). Flipping through his book of photos he took as an astronaut aboard the ISS, You Are Here, one realizes he has a special perspective: as a person who travelled to outer space, as someone with an eye for artful aperture, and as an individual
who has aspired to be many things, achieved them, and advanced human knowledge as a celebrated explorer of our era.
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Mandy Williams, P.Geol., stayed up much of the night directing the drilling progress of a horizontal well. Even though she hasn't slept much, she's still invigorated. Drilling wells is a responsibility she enjoys as a professional geologist at a junior oil company.
Ambiguity trails through regions of the geoscience landscape in more ways than oil-pool prospects. It is similarly plaited into the experience of being a woman in a male-dominated industry. The data is bringing this to light, in part by APEGA's just-released report Women in the Workplace: A Shift in Industry Work Culture, made possible by Women and Gender Equality Canada.
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Clayton Bos, P.Eng., wants to cultivate a community of collective thriving. "I really believe we need to build an environment that's obviously right for our natural environment, but the bigger part of that is our social environment." He reflects perhaps this is where his drive for volunteerism comes from. Bos volunteered more than 500 hours of his time in 2021, earning him a Star of Alberta Award.
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Professional engineer Dr. Andre McDonald is preparing Black youth to innovate industry and make history through a program designed to create opportunities and provide mentorship.
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People have been using rocks and fossils to find their way for centuries, and professional geoscientist David Hills has always found himself guided by the Earth, and now he's helping his fellow geoscientists, and all of Alberta, navigate using technology,
mapping, and the rocks underfoot.
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As we wrap up this year and get ready to ring in the next, APEGA's editors curated the article vault to bring you five of our favourite stories of 2021. It wasn't always an easy year, but we found solace and inspiration in the stories of our members and
communities. Join us as we stroll down memory lane and revisit some of the themes that helped make 2021 a year to remember.
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A sleek black pup races by cars perched helter-skelter atop mounds of cement and rubble on a snow-frosted morning in Brandon, Man. With ease, she leaps up jagged grey juts, pauses at a crevice and sticks her head in, her back end waving with nervous excitement.
She has searched for and located a person trapped in the debris in under a minute, which spells a test well-passed for the black Labrador. Peggy, who APEGA is proud to sponsor through our partnership with Canada Task Force 2, has earned her level
two certification as a search canine.
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Find out which stories most interested our members and the engineering and geoscience community and decide which one tops your list.
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As APEGA's branches begin their election processes, consider putting your name forward to become a member of your local branch's executive team, or nominate an engineer, geoscientist, or member-in-training you think would be a great fit!
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The soft, peach-hued horizon traces the outline of the vivid yellow frame of Harbour Air's DHC-2 Havilland Beaver, C-FJOS, as the pilot pulls the yoke, the plane lifts, and water spray sparkles off the pontoons. It's the first commercial electric airplane to ascend into the air, leaving the crowd gathered at the Fraser River squinting upwards, following the path of the four-minute historical flight with their fingertips. In celebration of International Civil Aviation Day, APEGA is sharing the story of how one of our professional engineers, Siyu Leng, P.Eng., helped the first commercial electric airplane take flight.
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The Rockies have long made a mammoth impact on the province, but for a century of prospectors, their draw involved something more chilling: madness, murder, and the Lost Lemon Gold Mine.
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Matt Oliver, P.Eng., has spent the past two years treading steadfastly into discussions about COVID-19 spreading through aerosol transmission and how to best protect ourselves. His steps into the conversation are guided by his wholistic Metis
worldview, his scientific brain, and his people-first perspective.
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Dr. Philip Egberts, P.Eng., is an associate professor in the mechanical and manufacturing engineering department at the University of Calgary's Schulich School of Engineering, where he is setting an example, giving support, and creating a safe space for students.
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Yitong Wu, E.I.T., is currently earning his master's in electrical engineering, specifically in energy systems, at the University of Alberta. He explains he puts himself in new situations to promote self-growth and improve his skills. "The most important thing would be whether you are able to communicate well with other people." He is reaching out to others in the engineering profession through APEGA's Mentoring Program and by attending APEGA's Emerging Professionals Summit.
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Dr. Rafiq Ahmad, P.Eng., sees the best in systems. He leverages all the useful parts, sloughs off the useless, generates maximum efficiency. "Farming is one of the least automated industries," he explains. "That's where I see a lot of opportunity." For him, this opportunity comes through creating an aquaponics system for the future. He is the founder and director of the world's first aquaponics learning factory.
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"Mach 32 is the speed at which one can travel around the entire world in an hour," smiles Chris Terriff, P.Eng. It's also a combination of the first two letters of his and his partner Dr. Marc Curial's' given names and the age at which they launched their
Edmonton-based start-up, aptly named MACH32, through which they create innovative medical devices. Terriff is named one of Edmonton's Top 40 Under 40 for 2021 for engineering these life-saving devices and making Edmonton a better place to live.
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His mother, one of his greatest influences and the catalyst for his move to Calgary from Lagos, Nigeria, always told him, "Make sure you connect with others, because you can't do things alone." Habib Adesola Jinadu, E.I.T., has taken this to heart. "It's a personal goal of mine to try and network and meet different engineers. Attending APEGA's Emerging Professionals Summit was one way I met this goal."
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"Only nine per cent of Canadian plastic is currently recycled, and recycling processes are not very sustainable," Dr. Rafiq Ahmad, P.Eng., explains. "We want to create new, cheaper processes and a bigger impact by combining different technologies. We can do this because we are one of the labs in the world pioneering artificial intelligence and digitization."
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Dr. Steven Boyd, P.Eng., examines the most sophisticated structures, pinpointing their strengths and weaknesses, their changes over time and environment. Structures possessing an electrical grid, a plumbing system, and most important to his studies, an intricate internal framework holding everything in place. Dr. Boyd studies bones and joints in the human body, and his most fascinating subjects are those who have returned from outer space.
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"Every rock has a story to tell." Professional geoscientist Keith Diakiw's love of Mother Earth and her mysteries flourished as he went rock and mineral hunting as a young boy and later became a geoscientist. Now, he's sharing his knowledge with the children
of Alberta at APEGA's Rock and Fossil Clinic held virtually over two weekends, on Oct. 16 and 23, 2021. Check out some rocks and minerals you can find along Alberta's rivers.
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When she first moved to Canada, mentoring was a foreign concept to Mairim Neves, P.Eng. "I remember a friend told me I needed a mentor. I didn't know what the term meant." Fast forward 12 years, Neves has become the mentor she once needed, volunteering in APEGA's Mentoring Program.
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With the Innovation in Education Awards, APEGA is helping teachers create hands-on and engaging classroom experiences to foster a love of science, technology, engineering, and math in their students.
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When Dr. Amit Kumar, P.Eng., began his career as an energy engineer in the 1990s, few people were talking about climate change. That has changed recently in the past few years, and now it seems climate change is top of mind for many.
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Already a tenuous time of unknowns for every new graduate, entering the workforce while living through a global pandemic brought a new element of ambiguity for Nima Macci, E.I.T. She was looking for answers and direction, which she found at APEGA's Emerging
Professionals Summit in 2020.
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Weaving materials together to create strong, resilient, and useful products is professional engineer Dr. Jason Carey's specialty. He is a braiding expert. Now, he's spending his time weaving ethics and values into engineers. He's doing such a great job, he was recognized with a 2020 Summit Award.
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Alison Thompson, P.Eng., is about progress and perpetual movement forward towards a cleaner country. This drive earned her the APEGA Centennial Leadership Summit Award in 2020. For years she worked in the oil and gas industry before having an epiphany about geothermal energy. Why was the Canadian sector not leveraging this system that had been in use for more than 100 years in other countries?
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"The crowd started this roar that came across the field, into the tunnel, and hit us. I felt that sound physically. Its impact was almost at a molecular level." In an instant, Rod Garossino felt like the Olympian he was. This same dedication that brought him to the Olympics eventually led him to the APEGA Foundation in 2015, where he served as executive director.
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When his research assistant contract was coming to an end, Juan Sebastian Marin Quintero, E.I.T., attended APEGA's Emerging Professionals Summit to explore options for his future. He wanted to meet other engineers and find ways to improve.
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Dr. Moshirpour, P.Eng., and Dr. Duffett-Leger, a registered nurse, use their commonalities to produce software to benefit patients, health-care providers, and students. Their latest endeavour, Ignitingale, teams up engineering and nursing students to innovate software solutions for real
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Each year, branch executives organize area-specific golf tournaments. These well-attended events are great for making connections and developing a network of fellow engineers and geoscientists in your area. Check out the tournaments happening in your area in summer 2022, and glean some tips from each branch on improving your game.
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If you look at the photo above, you may see a young woman or you may see an elderly lady. You may see neither, or something or someone completely different. Recognizing people see things differently is what AJ Conway, APEGA's mentoring and networking
coordinator, says is paramount to creating successful mentoring relationships.
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Lindsay Seidel-Wassenaar, P.Eng., is a consultant with the Recycling Council of Alberta, leading a team making big changes for Banff, Strathcona County, and Lethbridge as part of the Circular Economies Initiative.
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Engineers gathered for a virtual conference in June to address the culture of exclusion many women and under-represented groups in the profession experience, a problem Megan Bowen, P.Eng., personally encounters and passionately strives to solve.
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Grade 3 students at Elmer Gish School collect outdoor debris and recycled materials to create ingenious floating birds' nests in their outdoor classroom as participants in APEGA's 2021 Science Olympics. They are solving a real-world problem: providing a safe wetland home for birds with threatened habitats.
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Professional engineer Vivin Thomas, capital projects engineer with the Calgary Parking Authority, is on his way to his newest accomplishment, the 1,000,000-square-foot, $80-million Platform Innovation Centre and Parkade. He is going to marvel at the building's engineered dexterity to morph to meet the future needs of the area. He's also going to shoot some hoops.
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Professional engineer Steven Vaivada is in a unique position to help Indigenous communities thrive. He is Blackfoot, Niitsitapi - a member of the Blood Tribe. He is a wise middleman navigating the touchpoints between business, engineering, and the culture
and traditions of Indigenous Peoples to create sustainable, equitable developments.
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AJ Conway, APEGA's mentoring and networking coordinator, has connected mentors to mentees at APEGA since 2018, moving the process from a formal year-long match to a more informal up-to-a-year timeline, making the program more accessible for busy engineers and geoscientists. He enjoys breaking down barriers so people can connect and network to grow their careers.
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Lucy Kootenay, E.I.T., has always worked to forge a path for those who identify as Indigenous to become engineers, just as her father did for her. She began an Indigenous Engineering Student Association while attending the University of Alberta and is currently an active member of AECOM's Blooming Program, working to hire and mentor professional engineers identifying as Indigenous.
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Previously, we brought you part one of our two-part Meet the President series designed to introduce the man leading APEGA as we inch closer to the end of the pandemic. In part two, we sit down with Brian Pearse, P.Eng., to get to know the man behind the presidency in his own words.
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In this two-part Meet the President series, you'll gain insight into what defines APEGA's current president, Brian Pearse, P.Eng., personally and professionally. In this first part, he explains how his long involvement with horses, in particular
the sport of cutting horses, primed him to become APEGA's president.
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What's better than Albertans helping Albertans? If you ask Paul Wynnyk, P.Eng., Alberta's deputy minister of municipal affairs, the answer is easy: nothing. "I'm really inspired by that good, old Albertan spirit to pitch in
and lend a hand," he attests. It's a maxim he carried through his career in the Canadian military, and now carries as chair of Alberta's COVID-19 Vaccine Task Force.
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Remember meeting friends at the park as a child to play the game the floor is lava? Players demonstrated ideal self- and co-regulation. We’re no longer children on a playground, but self-regulation remains a guiding process.
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Garth Jesperson is not who you would expect to encounter when you think of a professional investigator. He is warm and quick to laugh, yet his background is serious. He was an RCMP officer for 28 years. Now, he's APEGA's director of investigations.
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A place to gather. An opportunity to make friends. A support network. These are just three of the offerings the PEGG Women's Club of Calgary provides for its members, and has done so since its inception 76 years ago.
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Professional engineers in Alberta are designing a textile treatment that would enable personal protective equipment to kill viruses and bacteria on contact.
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In February 2020, APEGA announced a long-term partnership with Canada Task Force 2 (CANTF2). Our sponsorship supports the purchase and training of a search-and-rescue black Labrador retriever named Peggy. While saving lives in disaster zones all over
Canada and the world, Peggy will be a living beacon of APEGA's mission to protect the public's safety.
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APEGA's practice standard Authenticating Professional Work Products, approved by Council and published in July 2019, is now enforceable. The standard highlights two methods to authenticate and validate professional work products.
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One thing Laurie Shinkaruk, the director of advancement at TELUS Spark, loves most about her job is how her dual passions of science and learning about engineering intersect. At TELUS Spark, she watches as others discover those same things, gaining
an appreciation for the role science plays in their everyday lives.
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As our society wakes up to social inequalities, industry leaders are adopting strategies to foster equity, diversity, and inclusion in the engineering and geoscience professions.
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Laleh Behjat, P,Eng., PhD, is working with industry to find better ways to recruit and retain women in engineering and science while preparing them to lead global change.
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The possibility of life on Venus. The discovery of water on the moon and Mars. The advancement of the Artemis program , which intends to return humans to the moon by 2024. Indeed, recent NASA announcements have the public buzzing with excitement about space exploration and the future of interplanetary travel. Zac Trolley, P.Eng., can relate. He has long been interested in what lies beyond our world and he has a plan for reaching the stars.
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A post-secondary facility without a women's washroom. A professor sharing photos of topless women sunbathing in the Rivera. These are just two of the realities that left an impression on Anjum Mullick, P.Eng., as she started her first year of an
undergraduate degree in civil engineering. Although it sounds like a story straight out of the 1940s, it actually took place half a century later, in 1992.
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As we close out the year, and one century of service to the public, join us for a walk down memory lane as we revisit some of the stories that meant the most to us and to our members. Over the next few weeks, we will highlight the APEGA's
top-read stories and our member profiles as we get ready to dive into our next 100 years of leadership, innovation, and excellence.
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All Dot wants for her eighth birthday is a real, live puppy to cuddle. Instead, she gets a robot dog named Sparky. The duo's adventures are highlighted in this children's book that teaches kids about friendship, perseverance, computer programming, and
robotics.
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In February, APEGA announced a partnership with Canada Task Force 2 (CANTF2) as part of our centennial celebrations. We kicked off the multi-year partnership by introducing three canine members of the team (and their handlers), and enjoyed a mock search
performed by one of the dogs at TELUS Spark in Calgary. However, due to the global health emergency, we haven’t been able to formally introduce the face of the partnership until now.
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When health authorities deemed the playground at the Little Warriors Be Brave Ranch east of Sherwood Park, Alberta--the first specialized, intensive treatment centre in Canada for children and adolescents who have been sexually abused--unsafe,
Little Warriors CEO Laurie Szymanski was at a loss.
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As part of APEGA's centennial celebrations, our Edmonton branch and The Personal Insurance Company invite you join us over the lunch hour on October 6 as we chat with Dr. Robert Thirsk, a highly decorated physician and astronaut.
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On Remembrance Day, we reflect on the sacrifices made by Canada’s military veterans in times of war, conflict, and peace. This includes Canada's military engineers, who support the survival, mobility, and combat effectiveness of the Canadian Forces.
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As a young girl in Russia, Svetlana Bidikhova, P.Geoph., thought she'd grow up to become a theoretical physicist like her father. But when she learned about the world of geophysics, she knew she had found her calling.
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To help the next generation of professional engineers and geoscientists find their way, APEGA hosted the inaugural Emerging Professionals Summit earlier this fall. Read the recap from university student Evangeline Saclamacis.
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In 2013, APEGA became one of the first regulatory bodies in Canada to employ a professional investigator to review complaints. Seven years after that modest start, that solo position has grown into a team of six investigators with more than 100 years
of experience between them.
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Having brought science and engineering to television, radio, and stages across North America for more than 40 years, Bob McDonald, host of CBC Radio's long-running Quirks and Quarks program, can rightfully say he's seen it all. Read more about his approach
to science, engineering, and our energy future.
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The work of professional engineers and geosciences is in demand around the world. You never know where your career might end up. For Calgarian Teresa Waddington, P.Eng., it was as a plant manager in Scotland.
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How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. This proverb, which has been attributed to several different historical figures, including a philosopher, an activist, and an army general, offers a charming visual, but for Elinor Linney, P.Eng., it wasn't just a statement. It was a way of life.
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Last week, we brought you part one of our two-part Meet the President series designed to introduce the man leading APEGA through our centennial year. In part two, we sat down with John to get to know the man behind the presidency in his own words.
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This past April, amid a global health emergency, collapsing oil prices, and a strained economy, APEGA welcomed its 101st president. From the very first days of his term, John Van der Put, P.Eng., has been paving his own way as the first president in the association's history to take the helm during a pandemic.
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In recognition of our centennial, we are proud to announce the next iteration of The PEG magazine as a new section on APEGA.ca. Welcome to yourPEG!
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In early June 2020, the executive leadership from all 10 APEGA branches came together for a two-day, online conference to discuss new and innovative ways to connect the branches with their membership.
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Being a great engineer means following your passion, regardless of which continent you end up on. After growing up in Venezuela and training in Spain and Scotland, Sara Naveda is proud to call Calgary home.
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On March 26, the APEGA Calgary Branch took its luncheon event, Pioneering Alberta's First Conventional Geothermal Energy Facility, online and accepted registrants from across the province, setting a precedent for a post-pandemic world.
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Looking for a new way to bring science into your child's life? Look no further than your kitchen (and the TELUS World of Science - Edmonton) for #MakerMondays!
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As we move through our new normal, the demands on working parents are at an all-time high. The line that separates work and home life is blurred at a time when maintaining that balance has never been more important.
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As Albertans continue to work from home to help flatten the COVID-19 curve, professionals are forced to find new ways to connect to keep the economy moving. However, this change in how we communicate also creates new opportunities for professional engineers and geoscientists to build stronger connections with each other and help nurture the next generation of self-regulated professionals.
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From Afghanistan to Kenya and beyond, solar power expert Faruq Vishram, P.Eng., is using his professional engineering skills to empower developing communities in Central Asia and East Africa, paying it forward as a volunteer with the Aga Khan Development Network.
