Chan Wirasinghe wanted to be a civil engineer from about Grade Six, and completed his first engineering degree at his birthplace, Sri Lanka. At the time, Sri Lanka had compulsory civil service, so although he did not take transportation courses as an undergraduate, he was recruited to work for two years at the Department of Highways, which germinated his interest in transportation engineering. An American Fulbright Scholarship supported his Masters and PhD studies at the University of California at Berkeley under the supervision of Dr. Gordon Newell. His research involved the application of mathematical analysis to model public transport systems. He then joined the University of Calgary as an Assistant Professor in Civil Engineering, pleased to be the third transportation professor on faculty there. His subsequent research included: further work in public transportation systems; optimizing the geometrical design of airports; and, response to natural disasters, particularly tsunamis and tornados, through the International Institute of Infrastructure Renewal and Reconstruction. He served as Dean of the Faculty of Engineering for 12 years, overseeing the renaming of the Faculty as the Schulich School of Engineering for a total matched donation of $50 million, then the largest donation to a Canadian engineering school. He also led initiatives to increase the number of women faculty members and woman students in the Faculty.

Power systems engineer Willy Kotiuga "always liked tinkering with telephones", causing a short circuit when his parents gave him permission to open one up. His first job was working as a projectionist at Montreal's Man in World theme park in 1972: "it wasn't really engineering design, it was more troubleshooting when things went wrong." The next summer he was designing introductory experiments for undergraduate engineering students at Concordia for Professor James Lindsay. He took the system studies option, learning to look at engineering "as a whole, as part of a larger system". He subsequently developed answers for example problems in a nonlinear programming textbook written by Professor Vidya Sagar, which became part of his foundation for a PhD in that field. Eventually he developed a niche doing feasibility studies for large hydroelectric systems, including a 1000 MW dam in Saudi Arabia. He spent several years restructuring the power sector in India, and worked on the Three Gorges project in China. After adopting a daughter, he decided to "stay put at home", working for an American energy efficiency firm, then Hydro Quebec. Reflecting on changes in engineering, he notes that he started with a slide rule, then "the most powerful calculator, an HP 41 CV, then the first desktop computer in the company". He counsels high school students interested in engineering to broaden education to include economics, politics and human relations. He counsels newly graduated Engineers-in-Training to learn about liability and legal issues. In retirement, he earned a Master of Fine Arts degree from Kings University in Halifax, to prepare him for writing a book featuring his engineering stories.

Tracy Primeau grew up in Kincardine, Ontario "right beside the largest nuclear plant in the world". Her father, then a shift mechanic at Darlington, suggested that she become an operator in training, and she signed up for an internship. It took 18 months to qualify as a field operator, one of the very first women to serve in this role. On her first shift, her hand became trapped in a contamination monitor – it was designed for men, who have larger hands. She subsequently discovered that he relatively small size allowed her to work in tight spaces that did not readily accommodate larger men. She enjoyed her work with the emergency response team, recalling a "huge" transport leak at the Pickering Nuclear Generating Station in 1994, where they had to go into the reactor and manually close a valve after the unit came offline. After ten years, she was promoted from field operator to control operator – in part because it reminded her of the command deck of the Enterprise in "Star Trek: The Next Generation". As an Authorized Nuclear Operator, was involved with refurbishing Units 3 and 4 and then 1 and 2 of the Bruce A reactor. Eventually she was promoted to control room shift supervisor and the shift manager – the first and only woman to do that from the shop floor. After retiring in June, 2021, she joined the Ontario Power Generation Board of Directors. She also chairs the Women's House in Kincardine, works on the local hockey club executive, and operates a small consulting company, Agile Bear. She is active in efforts to increase the numbers of women in engineering and is part of a LinkedIn group called DAWN – "Driving for the Advancement of Women in Nuclear". Her leadership philosophies are guided by "seven grandfather teachings" in the indigenous world that include truth, respect, wisdom and humility.

Biomedical Engineer Robin Black did not know engineers in high school and, although interested in STEM, started a biology program at McMaster. When he learned that no-one from this program was accepted to medical school, he switched to engineering at Queen's, working summers at an orthopedic laboratory in Toronto. He earned a PhD, researching preventing pressure sores for children with spina bifida. He worked with the rehabilitation engineering group at Ontario Crippled Children's Centre for a number of years, until severe funding cutbacks caused him to join the medical engineering program at the National Research Council. One of his projects involved working with Spar Aerospace, then designing the Canadarm, to develop a robotic arm that would allow a bright woman to control her wheelchair with her thumb. He contributed to the Space Life Science Program, studying means to mitigate bone loss problems in space, and worked on the Space Station Advisory Committee. When government funding to NRC was cut, he moved to the NRC Industrial Research Assistance Program (IRAP) in Calgary. Now retired, he volunteers with the Vancouver Island branch of the Canadian Society of Senior Engineers, co-ordinating webinars for the Vancouver Island Engineering Society that attract several hundred attendees. Finally, he offers advice to high-school students interested in careers in engineering and newly graduated Engineers-in-Training.

Paul Thompson's father and brother are engineers, so it is not surprising that he studied Engineering Mathematics with the Nuclear Science Option at Queen's. His first job was with the Mississauga office of Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd (AECL), in the Safety Analysis Branch, starting roughly at the time of the Three Mile Island accident. At the time, Pickering B, Gentilly-2 and Point Lapreau were being constructed and Bruce B was being designed. was under construction. He realized the importance of teamwork in achieving safety by eliminating cracks between disciplines and strove to be successful co-ordinating teams. An early mentor helped him become "street smart", to have his ideas and initiatives accepted by management – to become an "influencer". He tried to emulate the good aspects of his bosses and stay clear of the less successful aspects – and to develop skill in verbal and written communication, and listening. In 1986 he joined New Brunswick Power, where he managed nuclear safety before becoming involved with the refurbishment of the Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station. He was pleased that, at the time of the accident at Fukushima, NB Power had already developed a response to the unit losing all power for several days. His future interests and projects may include exploring the "potential merging and applications between nuclear and hydrogen." . Finally, heHis first job offers advice to high-school students interested in careers in engineering and newly graduated Engineers-in-Training.

Dr. Monique Frize took two years of pure science and mathematics at the University of Ottawa before being given a tour of an electrical engineering lab with monitors and oscilloscopes that inspired her to switch to electrical engineering. She received an Athlone Fellowship to support a Master's Degree in Biomedical Engineering at Imperial College in London. She worked for seven years at the Notre Dame Hospital in Montreal and then, based in Moncton, was appointed Chief of Biomedical Engineering for seven New Brunswick hospitals. While working, she completed a PhD as a distance student from a university in the Netherlands and in 1990 was appointed Chair for Women in Engineering, and Professor of Electrical Engineering, at the University of New Brunswick. She considers her mentors to include Professor Philip Thompson at the University of Ottawa, Nandor Richter, and Ursula Franklin of the University of Toronto. She collaborated on a system to interpret Electrocardiograms (ECGs), a camera to identify pain, and a Physician Parent Decision Assist System to support the intensive care of infants in hospitals. She has written books about the history of women in science and engineering, three textbooks related to engineering ethics, the story of Laura Bassi, and, finally, her own memoirs. She created the Canadian Institute of Women in Engineering and Science to persuade women to donate their papers to the University of Ottawa archives

Madiha Kotb's fifth grade teacher noted her "talent in math" and that, plus marking her 16th birthday with Niel Armstrong's moon walk, led to her decision to choose a career in engineering. She started the materials engineering program at the American University in Cairo, but with the unexpected passing of her father, she and her husband moved to Canada, and she completed her degree at Loyola in Montreal in 1976. After a couple of years in Nigeria, she returned to Canada to do a Masters Degree in Mechanical Engineering, and took a job with the Quebec Department of Labour to develop regulations and standards for boilers and pressure vessels. She became a member of the National Board of Boiler and Pressure Vessel Inspectors and related technical committees of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). Eventually she became Chief Boiler Inspector for Quebec. She became Vice President of Conformity Assessment for ASME, then a member of the ASME Board of Governors, and, finally, served as the 132nd President of ASME. She was also aligned with nuclear power initiatives, seeing the construction, commissioning, and eventual decommissioning of the Gentilly 2 nuclear power plant. In retirement, she has worked as a consultant and written a chapter of the book "Daughters of the Nile, Egyptian Women Changing Their World", intended to inspire female students.

Ken Putt's father was in the Royal Canadian Electrical & Mechanical Engineers during the Second World War and, with Ken's strength in math and science, he wanted to go into engineering. After completing a degree in metallurgical engineering at the University of British Colombia, he joined Imperial Oil to work as a shift engineer on a large-scale R&D project, Fluidized Iron Ore Reduction (FIOR-RD) in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. He quickly learned to "do whatever it takes to get the job done", and within three years was a group leader. Later, taking an executive training program as Secretary to Imperial Oil's Executive Committee, he recalls the CEO saying "no one will ever get ahead in this company if they don't exceed their level of authority." From Dartmouth, he spent 18 months working in New Jersey on a coal gasification project, becoming an expert in materials handling. He was then selected to be the company's representative of the Strathcona Refinery in Edmonton, then Imperial's biggest-ever project. He learned chemical engineering "by doing" during the preliminary design, went to the contractor's office in California for the detailed (mechanical) design, and was then sent to Edmonton to do the start up planning and oversee the start up. Eventually, he became Planning and Administration Manager for Esso Materials, then Production Operations Manager for Northern Canada at Esso Resources, then Production Research Manager, then head of the Information Systems Department, and the Director of Imperial and Esso Resources' Upstream Research Centre. He created the Canadian Oilsands Network for Research and Development, now the Canadian Oil Sands Innovation Alliance, for the University of Calgary in 1996, and saw its annual budget grow from $200,000 then to $20 million in 2023. He also served as President of the Canadian Society of Engineering Management, the Canadian Society of Senior Engineers, and the Engineering Institute of Canada, and a Director of the Canadian Academy of Engineering. After taking early retirement, he became a consultant for the National Research Council's Industrial Research Assistance Program offering business and technical advice to private ventures in the program.

John Plant worked for Frost and Woods, a farm equipment manufacturing company in his hometown, Smiths Falls, planning to become a chartered accountant. He applied to be a pilot in the Canadian Air Force but problems with his left eye led him to the Regular Officer Training Program at Royal Military College (RMC) in Kingston. After two years, in 1954, he left to train in Royal Navy ships and studied Marine Engineering at the Royal Navy and Naval Engineering College in Plymouth, England. He took a World War II anti-submarine frigate through a refit in Saint John and was then offered an opportunity to do graduate studies at MIT, where he eventually earned a PhD in Electrical Engineering. He arrived with his family at RMC as a professor of electrical engineering in 1965, became department head in 1967, and resigned his commission to become Dean of Graduate Studies and Research in 1970, a position he held for 12 years. In 1983, he became Principal of RMC, and after he retired became President of the RMC Foundation. He was instrumental in merging Region 7 of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) with the Canadian Society of Electrical and Computer Engineering to for IEEE (Canada) and also served as President of the Engineering Institute of Canada. He briefly describes the Camp of Seven Wardens that co-ordinates Iron Ring Ceremonies across Canada and the basis of Kipling's poem "The Sons of Martha".

Fred Dermarkar was inspired to become an engineer by his father, a civil engineer, his uncle, a mechanical engineer and by a love of math, physics, and chemistry and math and physics puzzles. He graduated as a mechanical engineer from the University of Toronto at a time when the Pickering B, Bruce B and Darlington nuclear power plants were under construction. His first job involved developing the sequence of channels to successfully refuel a reactor. He describes subsequent experiences: commissioning a reactor that almost went very badly; resolving an acoustics-created problem that was causing fuel rods at the Darlington reactor to break; developing contingency plans after the 2011 accident at Fukushima Daiichi in Japan. He described his current role, leading Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. (AECL), developer of the CANDU reactor and the National Research Universal reactor that produced molybdenum 99 for medical diagnostics around the world. AECL, is now busy developing small nuclear reactors for factory settings and developing new technologies to manage nuclear waste. He describes the characteristics of a good mentor: their confidence in the mentee, their ability to stand back and let the mentee proceed; and that they never settle for mediocrity. Finally, he offers advice to a high-school student considering a career in engineering, and a newly graduated Engineer-in-Training.