Moving Image

Civil transportation engineer Dr. Chan Wirasinghe describes the basis of his analytical models to optimize the geometric design of airports. In particular, selecting the number of "pier fingers" and the number of departure/arrival gates at each finger, defines the average time it will take a passenger to walk to the gates. Other airports have "satellites", so the analysis can determine the optimal number, size and location of the satellites. He has worked with airport authorities in Hong Kong, Soeul, and Pittsburgh.

Agricultural engineer and public servant Christine MacKinnon describes her first engineering job, designing farm buildings in Nova Scotia. She and her boss travelled to a lot of farms, where she was frequently told "you don't look like the last engineer that we had out here!" She quickly recognized techniques necessary to earn the trust of farmers. She also recalls, as a woman starting in the profession, "a lot of old attitudes". There were incidents that would be described today as "extremely sexist", that she would resolve with humour. She attributes the reluctance of individuals to work with her to her inexperience and not her gender – but she has also worked to encourage young women to pursue engineering careers.

Civil engineer Emily Cheung describes changes to her field of engineering since she started practice. She highlights the more holistic approach to designing structures like bridges – now the designer has to think about the environmental aspects, the fluid mechanics and impact on fish if it is a river crossing, the consideration of cultural aspects and social impacts. It is no longer just about getting the structure right or getting the hydraulics right – or what is the cheapest structure!

Civil and environmental engineer Sarah Devereaux describes one of her projects, the "Million Dollar Hole". Her company was retained to work on the decommissioning of the United States naval base in Argentia, Newfoundland. A number of environmental "situations" were left, including the "Million Dollar Hole", a large repository for "everything you can think of, like tanks, trucks". She oversaw digging up the hole, recycling material whenever possible, over a two-year period.

Aeronautical engineer Dr. Karl Doetsch describes his involvement in the Canadarm project. The timeline to build the Canadian government and industry (Spar Aerospace) teams was tight and there were challenges – the prototype could not be tested on earth because the force of gravity was too strong. But it was worth it: the first image from space, of the arm emblazoned with the word "Canada" with the earth as a backdrop, became iconic. And it put Canada on the map in a field that was quite new for Canada.

Dr. David Weaver describes his 16 years of retirement as "travelling around the world solving big problems". Always an avid modeler, one of his first initiatives as a new professor at McMaster University was to build a model of Cape Breton Island control structures for the hydro-electric power stations. He used the model to identify and resolve potential problems converting Megawatts of water power into electricity, and as a tool to design the various components. The work, when published, was used globally to design these control structures.

Dr. Denise Leahy describes her first job, working in a geotechnical laboratory at the massive La Grande hydroelectric project at Baie James. She was very excited to start field work, but was devastated to learn that, due to security issues, women could not work outside the laboratory. She describes being on a work site with 1000 guys and 100 women as "a learning experience". Eventually she and her supervisor realized that, after putting on the required Personal Protective Equipment, no one could determine her gender and she got out on site.

Celia Desmond describes her unusual early career journey – although she loved mathematics as a high-school student, she was counselled to consider a career in nursing or teaching. She became a kindergarten teacher, earning a degree in mathematics by taking night courses. The neighbours in her apartment building were undergraduate engineering students – and she found their homework interesting. When she married and moved, there were no teaching opportunities, so she took a masters degree in systems engineering.

Electrical Engineer Guy Van Uytven describes leaving university at Ghent, Belgium, to start his first job with Schlumberger, an oil services exploration firm. He was given a ticket to fly to Lisbon the same day he was interviewed! He found his way to a hotel and, not knowing Portuguese, managed to order a chicken meal for supper. He was surprised to be served a soup that contained a chicken leg sticking up out of it – but ate it. While in Portugal, he learned to play the classical guitar, and to speak Portuguese – his fourth language.

Bruce McGibbon describes a field trial he conducted with the Canadian Armed Forces in Shilo, Manitoba. One morning, three teams of fifteen men were given hearing tests. One group was given ear muffs and ear plugs, the second only ear plugs, and the third was given no protection and ordered not to cover their ears – the standard protocol of the day. After a four-hour barrage, the men were retested: the first group had no change but two of the fifteen in the third group had permanent hearing loss. The CAF subsequently changed their protocol!