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Guy Van Uytven Full Interview

Type: Moving Image

Member of: EIC Full Interviews

Abstract: 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… more

Celia Desmond Full Interview

Type: Moving Image

Member of: EIC Full Interviews

Abstract: 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… more

Denise Leahy Full Interview

Type: Moving Image

Member of: EIC Full Interviews

Abstract: Geotechnical engineer Dr. Denise Leahy describes her post-secondary education at Laval and the Institute for Geotechnique in Trondheim, Norway. Her first engineering job was as a technician at the La Grande hydro-electric dam at Baie James, where, sue to security issues, women could not work outside the laboratory. After completing her PhD, she took a job at Geocon, an affiliate of Lavalin, where… more

Karl Doetsch Full Interview

Type: Moving Image

Member of: EIC Full Interviews

Abstract: Aeronautical engineer Dr. Karl Doetsch did an apprenticeship with English Electric, an aeronautic company in the UK, before starting his university studies at Imperial College in London. Within months of starting there he worked on the development of the TSR2 aircraft, which was similar to the Avro Arrow, particularly wind tunnel testing to assess its behaviour at low speeds. He completed his PhD… more

David S. Weaver Full Interview

Type: Moving Image

Member of: EIC Full Interviews

Abstract: Dr. David Weaver describes his youthful interest in gasoline-engine powered go-karts, home-built radios, servicing cars, and how this led him to study mechanical engineering. He left his first job with the Ford Motor Company in Oakville to return to university for a Master's degree on satellites for Spar Aerospace and then a PhD in mathematics and physics. He found a university position and began… more

Sarah Devereaux Full Interview

Type: Moving Image

Member of: EIC Full Interviews

Abstract: Friends of Sarah Devereaux's family were civil engineers, so she knew from an early age that this would likely be her calling. While an undergraduate student at the Technical University of Nova Scotia, her interests transitioned from structural to environmental engineering, and she stayed to earn a Master's degree in Water Resources. She then joined Halifax office of Dillon Consulting, initially… more

Christine Mackinnon Full Interview

Type: Moving Image

Member of: EIC Full Interviews

Abstract: Christine MacKinnon recalls loving math and biology when she finished high school, and so took agricultural engineering, two years at Nova Scotia Agricultural College and then finishing at Macdonald College at McGill. Her first job after graduation was designing farm buildings in Nova Scotia, but she soon moved to Saskatoon to do a Masters degree at the University of Saskatchewan studying… more

Emily Cheung Full Interview

Type: Moving Image

Member of: EIC Full Interviews

Abstract: Emily Cheung took civil engineering at the University of British Columbia because "dams and bridges, that's where I want to be." Her interests evolved from structural engineering to hydrotechnical engineering, and she earned a Master's degree in environmental fluid mechanics. She and her husband decided to leave Vancouver, where the housing market was "unreachable" and the work opportunities "not… more

Fred Dermarkar Full Interview

Type: Moving Image

Member of: EIC Full Interviews

Abstract: 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… more

John Plant Full Interview

Type: Moving Image

Member of: EIC Full Interviews

Abstract: 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… more

Ken Putt Full Interview

Type: Moving Image

Member of: EIC Full Interviews

Abstract: 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 (… more

Paul Thompson Full Interview

Type: Moving Image

Member of: EIC Full Interviews

Abstract: 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… more

Robin Black Full Interview

Type: Moving Image

Member of: EIC Full Interviews

Abstract: 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… more

Tracy Primeau Full Interview

Type: Moving Image

Member of: EIC Full Interviews

Abstract: 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… more

Willy Kotinga Full Interview

Type: Moving Image

Member of: EIC Full Interviews

Abstract: 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… more

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