Dr. Suzelle Barrington was the first Canadian woman to receive a doctorate in agricultural engineering from Macdonald Campus at McGill University. She grew up on a farm near Moose Creek, a half hour east of Ottawa, and, after a year of science at Carleton University, switched to agricultural engineering at McGill. She was turned down for her first job with the Government of Ontario because she was a woman, but got a job as an agronomist in Howick Quebec. She got a job as an agricultural engineer in 1978 in Huntington, and worked hard to improve the productivity of her team. She returned to Macdonald Campus to do graduate studies, receiving a PhD in 1985, and continued there as a professor. Her doctoral research was on means to seal wastewater in soils. She continued on with odor control, building an Olfactometer to expose individuals to odors in a controlled manner, and so developing standards to quantify acceptable concentrations of odor in waste or factory discharges to the atmosphere. She developed a system for anaerobic digestion of wastewater, sludge, or livestock manure that did not require an expensive digestor. She has also worked extensively to promote engineering to women and generally increase the diversity of engineers, serving as President of the Women in Engineering Committee of the Quebec Order of Engineers. In "retirement", she has just finished writhing the history of subsurface drainage in Quebec, which dates from approximately 1920. She expresses her concerns about the amount of waste, including food waste, generated annually in Canada, and about environmental degradation and its impact on climate change. She closes with advice to a high-school student considering a career in engineering, and to a newly graduated Engineer-in-Training.

Electrical engineer Celia Desmond describes her unusual entry to an engineering career and her subsequent professional achievements. Her first work at Telco involved applying queuing theory to the management of shared data lines and then standardizing equipment that would connect to computer networks. She spent a year in the Human Resources department and then moved into customer support and project management. She then founded her own company, World Class Telecommunications, that primarily trained engineers about telecom network planning and implementation. She briefly describes several projects, including: reclassifying modems as computer accessories to reduce the duty from 17% to 3%; creating secure networks to support government leaders at a T7-type meeting; and, establishing certification for wireless communications engineering companies. She also emphasizes: the need for career transitioning; and the value of business, soft, and communication skills in a technical environment. She describes volunteer roles, primarily with the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (Canada), and offers advice to high school students considering careers in engineering and to new engineering graduates. She also describes a personal hobby, making reproductions of antique porcelain dolls.

Electrical Engineer Guy Van Uytven passed an admission exam, just after the end of World War II, to enter the Royal University of Ghent, the top engineering school in Belgium, specializing in "zwakke stroom" or "weak currents", basically electronics. His first job was with the oil services exploration firm Schlumberger, who gave him a ticket to fly to Lisbon the day he was interviewed. He then studied briefly in Paris before a year in the Sahara Desert, Hassi Messaoud, conducting measurements on oil wells. In 1964, he returned to Belgium and was hired by Union Minière du Haut-Katanga, a copper cobalt mining company with operations in Katanga, one of the provinces in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, during a civil war. In 1966, the government nationalized the company, and he and his family escaped by car to Zambia and, eventually Cape Town. Arriving in Canada in 1967, he joined Acres Canadian Bechtel to assist with the design of the 735 kV substation and transmission lines for the Churchill Falls hydro-electric project in Labrador. At the time he also completed a Master of Engineering program at Sir George Williams University (now Concordia), developing a compute program that optimizes transmission lines that is still in use. He then joined Monenco, and embarked on an MBA program. He subsequently worked internationally in Afghanistan, Brazil, China, Madagascar, the Ivory Coast. At the time of the interview, he was the President of the Canadian Society of Senior Engineers.

Military engineer Bruce McGibbon describes his experiences as an engineer in, and consultant for, the Canadian Armed Forces. After pursuing military studies at College Militaire Royal de St Jean and Royal Military College, he was posted to One Royal Canadian Horse Artillery in Gagetown, NB. He took graduate courses in Computer Science at UNB and used these to develop programs to guide missile systems with Raytheon in El Paso Texas, and then in Shilo MB. His subsequent projects included: a field trial to determine the effect of hearing protection on artillerymen; the development of low-light rifle sights eventually manufactured by Ernst Leitz Canada Ltd; and the creation of Militia Training and Support Centres at Gagetown, Valcartier, Pembroke, Borden, and Edmonton. He led the project to procure (wheeled) Light Armoured Vehicles that were eventually constructed by the General Motors Diesel Division in London, Ontario. He also developed the program whereby officers are trained at the Department of Applied Military Science at Royal Military College, Kingston, instead of in the United Kingdom. He briefly describes his book "Inside DND – Procurements: The Hidden Story".

Mechanical engineer Dr. Martin Fandrich recalls feeling engineering was the right career when he recognized he could readily visualize cross sections of objects in an undergraduate graphics class. He received a prestigious scholarship to earn his PhD from the University of Cambridge, studying vibrations. He returned to work for Rolls-Royce in Montreal, in particular the conversion of gas turbine engines originally designed for aircraft to become stationary plants for power generation. H returned to the UK to work for five years at Frazer-Nash Consultancy, working on projects "as diverse as a child's tire swing and a nuclear power plant." He subsequently created his own consulting company, Bannerman Consultants in British Columbia, where he enjoys the variety of the projects that he works on. These include: a heated press that applies a glue component to turn cleaned chopsticks into a substantial block; a mechanized boat lift for a marina; and failure analysis work. He stresses the importance of effective communication in engineering and encourages new graduate Engineers-in-Training to be humble so that they can learn from all participating in a project.

Aeronautical engineer Dr. Gary Lindberg demonstrated strong skills in math and science during his childhood in rural Alberta and entered first-year engineering at the University of Alberta at age 15. He then received an Athlone Fellowship to earn his PhD at the University of Cambridge, researching the application of digital computers – then a fledgling technology – to dynamic analysis using the finite element method. He returned to Canada and joined the National Research Council in Ottawa, initially for an 18-month contract in the NRC Structures and Materials laboratory. One of his first projects involved the design and construction of a facility to generate diffuse noise with extremely high intensity of 120 to 130 decibels. In 1974, he became Project Manager for the development of the "Shuttle attached remote manipulator system", now widely known as the Canadarm. Development challenges included: designing the man-machine control aspects; the snare end-effector concept for the gripping mechanism; and lubrication for gears. He was promoted to be Director of the National Aeronautical Establishment and then founding Vice-President of the Canadian Space Agency.

Wind engineer Dr. Nicholas Isyumov chose to study engineering at Western in London, his home town, and became interested – in the days before computers – in the use of physical models. His first job, in 1960, was with the Timber Mechanics Section of the Forest Products Laborator in Ottawa. While testing roof trusses, he had many technical discussions with Bill Schriever, a snow engineering expert with the Division of Building Research at the National Research Council. He took a paid leave of absence to return to Western to start a Masters degree, supervised by Alan G. Davenport, researching snow loads on roofs. After a busy year conducting model tests in a water flume to simulate the effect of wind on snow drifting, he returned to Ottawa to resume full-time work. In 1965, Davenport invited him back to Western to work at the new Boundary Layer Wind Tunnel Laboratory (BLWTL), and complete his snow research to earn a PhD degree. The BLWTL became a world-renowned facility, developing the science of testing models in turbulent winds to detect potential structural instabilities and dynamic responses. The wind tunnel projects included Toronto's CN Tower, CIBC Commerce Court, the Bank of Montreal, Scotia Bank, Canada Trust Centre. International projects included the Sears Building – now the Willis Tower – and McCormick Place in Chicago, the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, and the Canary Wharf structures in London, England. Their clients included Skidmore Owings and Merrill in Chicago, Carruthers and Wallace in Toronto.

Civil engineer Dr. Susan Tighe was named one of Canada's Top 40 Under 40 for her leadership and vision supporting Canada's transportation community. Although her undergraduate degree was chemical engineering, she worked summers for the Ontario Ministry of Transportation and developed an interest in civil engineering materials, particularly pavements. She completed Masters and PhD degrees at the University of Waterloo and then carried on as a professor there. One of her major achievements was the publication of the Pavement Asset Design and Management Guide for the Transportation Association of Canada. Her other research has investigated polymer-modified asphalt, the use of nano materials in concrete and asphalt, the design of safe airfield runways, safety in construction work zones, and many other transportation-related topics. In her current role as Vice President, Academic and Provost of McMaster University, she continues to rely on her skills at project management, strategic thinking, and budgeting. She also describes some of her volunteer roles with the Transportation Association of Canada, the Canadian Technical Asphalt Association, and the Canadian Society of Civil Engineering, where she served as President.

Agricultural engineer Yves Choinière describes his work – he considers himself generalist who applies technology from many engineering disciplines to the creation of food. Over the past two decades, farming has been transformed by automation – for example: monitoring animal well being, milking robots, feeding robots in milk production; GPS-controlled tractors that optimize seeding, fertilizer or pesticide spraying. He works with specialists from civil engineering, mechanical engineers, electrical engineers, food, chemical and food processing engineers. He selected a career in agricultural engineering because, he wanted to be an engineer and grew up on a farm – he still owns and operates a farm. He recalls the small, not very efficient, farms of the '80s and the re-engineering of farm production that was necessary to reduce workloads and enhance quality of life and productivity. At the time there was a deficit in Canadian food projection – Canada was not producing enough beef, chicken, vegetables and fruits to satisfy its own needs. He describes the development of natural ventilation systems for livestock housing, returning to the University of Ottawa to earn a Masters degree, supervised by Professor Tanaka, using wind engineering to develop systems for farm buildings. After a decade with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food, he returned to Quebec to assume control of the family farm near Granby from his father. He started a private consulting company that rapidly grew - largely in response to the need for modern agricultural enterprises to be efficient – prices have not really changed over the past 40 years but costs have markedly increased.

Geotechnical engineer Kwan Yee Lo decided upon graduation in 1957 to do graduate research in soil mechanics at Imperial College London. His Masters of Science work was supervised by Professor Skempton, with Dr. Robert Gibson and visiting Professor Davis from the University of Sydney contributing significantly. In October 1959, he started at the Norwegian Geotechnical Institute, where he essentially was an assistant to Dr. Bjerrum there. He was encouraged by Cam Kenny, later Chair of the University of Toronto Civil Engineering Department, to emigrate to Canada, where he started working for Acres in 1961. His work there included design of the inlet and outlet structures of the Winnipeg Floodway. He then moved to the Ontario Department of Highways, where he tested a full-scale embankment to failure. He joined the University of Laval in 1965 and subsequently, in 1970, Western, where he worked in the areas of tunnels in soil and rock. His many projects included investigating distress at the Thorold Tunnel below the Welland Canal, which led to major changes in the approach to tunnel design in rock. He designed the intake and discharge tunnels at the Darlington Nuclear Plant – the in-situ stresses and time-dependent deformations predictions for the construction of the intake tunnel were sufficiently accurate that it was deemed unnecessary to drill boreholes in the lake or install extensive instrumentation for the discharge tunnel, realizing significant cost savings. He also worked on the Niagara Tunnel from Niagara Falls to Queenston and the Billy Bishop Airport Tunnel in Toronto. He and his graduate students developed means to strengthen clays using electrokinetic forces. He also contributed significantly to the Ontario Hydro (now Ontario Power Generation) Dam Safety Program, developing innovative methods to quantify the safety of 151 dams constructed before the Second World War.