Electronics

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.