engineering success through investment in education

ENGINEERING SUCCESS THROUGH INVESTMENT IN EDUCATION
Inside This Issue:
Steed and Evans
1
Featured Program
2
Faculty Profile
3/4
Alumni Success
5
Awards
6
Events
7
A half-century of Civil Engineering experience has taught us that our
strongest competitive advantage is a knowledgeable and skilled workforce
with the adeptness to apply technology and solve real-world problems.
That's why Steed and Evans chose to invest in the new Construction Materials
Testing Laboratory (CMT) in Conestoga’s School of Engineering and Information
Technology.
Malcolm Matheson, president says, "We're proud of the contribution – the
lab provides an environment where students can learn testing methods and skills
that apply directly to specific engineering needs.” This substantial donation to
support Conestoga’s CMT lab will have significant and positive impact on the
industry and students alike.
It’s our collective responsibility. Students need the opportunity to gain
practical work experience while still in school. Conestoga can empower
them with the tools, the technology and the education, so that what they
do there…. really does count out here.
Issue 6, Volume 1, March 2013
Featured Programs
Civil Engineering Technology
Conestoga’s three year Civil Engineering Technology program prepares our graduates to keep our world working. Core areas of study include Structural Design and Analysis, Municipal Service Design, and Drinking
Water and Wastewater Treatment. The program focuses on integrating critical hands-on skills like Surveying
and Computer Aided Design with theoretical design principles. Whether it is applying Global Positioning
System technology to the layout and construction of a storm sewer, or designing a new subdivision in 3-D, our
Civil Engineering Technology students have the skills to make it work.
Environmental - Civil Engineering Technology
Graduates of Conestoga's Environmental/Civil Engineering Technology program are well prepared to develop
practical solutions for the remediation and redevelopment of contaminated sites. The program integrates core
civil engineering skills such as Surveying, Computer Aided Design, and Municipal Infrastructure Design, with
key environmental skills such as Contaminated Site Assessment, Soil and Groundwater Sampling, Solid
Waste Management, and Hydrogeology.
From the identification of Areas of Potential Environmental Concern, through to remediation and the design
drawings illustrating the final site development, our graduates have the right combination of theoretical and
hands-on skills to deliver practical and effective solutions.
Environmental Engineering Applications
Increased concern regarding the protection and management of the environment has resulted in the environmental field becoming one of the leading growth industries in Canada and abroad. This program meets the demand for trained technologists and environmental scientists in the areas of brownfield redevelopment, environmental monitoring, regulatory compliance and enforcement. It was developed in consultation with representatives from the environmental industry. The program is reviewed and updated by a Program Advisory
Committee comprised of practitioners from the consulting, manufacturing, and public sectors.
Issue 6, Volume 1, March 2013
Faculty Profile
Coby Lamarche / Coordinators
clamarche@conestogac.on.ca
Coby Lamarche is the coordinator of the Civil and Environmental—Civil Engineering Technology programs. Coby is a registered Professional Engineer in the Province
of Ontario with expertise in the areas of contaminated site investigation and management. Coby also teaches in the Environmental Engineering Applications Post
Graduate program and he is involved in consulting work.
Dave Farrish / Coordinators
dfarrish@conestogac.on.ca
David Farrish is the coordinator of the Environmental Engineering Applications
Post Graduate program. He has been a professor in the Environmental Engineering
Post Grad and Environmental - Civil Engineering Technology programs since 1994.
Prior to teaching at the College he worked full time as a consultant with CH2M
HILL Engineering Limited and he continues to work part time as a consultant with
that firm. He has a Civil Engineering Technology diploma from Conestoga and Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Civil Engineering from the University of Waterloo.
Marcel Desmeules/ Faculty
mdesmeules@conestogac.on.ca
Marcel Desmeules is a full time professor in the Civil Engineering Technology
program since August 2008.
Marcel graduated from this program in 1989 and spent 19 years in the industry in
both the private and public sectors before returning to Conestoga College where he
now enjoys sharing his surveying knowledge with the Civil Engineering Technology
students.
Scott Ongarato C.E.T./ Faculty
songarato@conestogac.on.ca
Scott Ongarato is a full time professor in the Civil Engineering Technology program
since 2009. Scott is a Certified Engineering Technologist (C.E.T.) and is a graduate
of the class of 1987 from the Civil Engineering Technology program. Prior to his
teaching career, he worked with two local consulting engineering firms gathering a
total of over 22 years experience in the industry. Having worked in all aspects of the
civil field, he spent the last 17 years mostly on land development. His specialties
include using AutoCAD and other related civil software products to automate the
connection between field, drawing & finished design.
Issue 6, Volume 1, March 2013
Faculty Profile — cont’d
Mitko Mancevski / Faculty
mmancevski@conestogac.on.ca
Mitko Mancevski is a full-time professor in the Civil Engineering Technology
program since August 2005. He holds a PhD degree in Structural Engineering from
the Ruhr-Universitaet in Bochum and MA degree in economics from the FernUniversitaet in Hagen, both located in Germany.
Before joining Conestoga College, he worked in one of the largest structural consulting offices in Toronto ON and taught at the Dalhousie University in Halifax NS and
Ruhr-Universitaet.
Ken Shaffer / Faculty
kshaffer@conestogac.on.ca
Ken Shaffer is a full time professor in the Civil Engineering Technology program
since 1991. Ken has an undergraduate and Master degrees in Civil Engineering from
the University of New Brunswick. He was employed as a Geotechnical Engineer for
Syncrude Canada and as a research engineer for the Province of New Brunswick
prior to coming to the College.
Bing Feng / Faculty
bfeng@conestogac.on.ca
Bing Feng is a full-time professor in the Civil Engineering Technology program
since 2003. He received a Master of Applied Science in Civil Engineering in 1997
from University of Waterloo and worked as a Professional Structural engineer in
consulting industry prior to joining the college
Stan White / Faculty
swhite@conestogac.on.ca
Stan White is a full time professor in the Civil Engineering Technology program for
ten years. Prior to coming to Conestoga, he worked as a municipal engineer for the
City of Sarnia and has 26 years experience working in construction and engineering.
He is a Professional Engineer of Ontario and a graduate of Queen's University in
Kingston Ontario.
Issue 6, Volume 1, March 2013
Alumni Success
Written by: J-P Fleras Environmental-Civil Engineering Technology Graduate
Thinking back, I certainly did not take the most direct path to Conestoga College. After high school, I quickly
rushed off to university, much like the majority of my fellow friends and classmates. I spent four years at the
University of Waterloo and earned an undergraduate degree in economics. I also obtained my arborist certificate
from Sir Sanford Fleming College, then spent a number of years working as an arborist. In 2009 I decided I was
ready for something new so I enrolled in the Environmental-Civil Engineering Technology (co-op) program offered by Conestoga College. I decided on this program for a number of reasons. First, I knew I wanted the technical skills to work in the field, but I also wanted to develop skills that would be transferable and widely applicable. Second, I wanted a program that would allow me flexibility in my career path. Finally, I wanted an engineering technology program with a co-operative education option.
After starting at Conestoga College, I quickly realized I had made the right decision. Before long, I found that I
was especially interested in the water-related courses offered in the program. Courses in hydrogeology, water
quality, waste water treatment, and storm water management were among my favorite's and provided me with
an idea of the direction I wanted my career to go. A benefit of the program is the amount of time that is spent in
the field – whether monitoring landfill gas or installing monitoring wells or collecting soil and water samples.
The Environmental-Civil Engineering Technology program focuses on providing students with a vast arsenal of
technical skills, complemented by a solid foundation in theory. The program expertly balances theory with practical hands-on learning using current technology, equipment, and technique.
With the Environmental-Civil Engineering Technology co-op option I was able to gain invaluable industry experience during the summer months. My co-op positions allowed me to experience the engineering field firsthand
from the perspective of a consultant, a contractor, and a municipality. I had the opportunity to work as site inspector at a consulting engineering firm, as a junior estimator and grade man for a heavy construction company,
and as a student surveyor for a municipality. My advice for current or future students – apply the skills you
have learned by working in the industry over the summer. I cannot stress how much a little industry experience
can facilitate the job search process after graduation.
I have had the opportunity to be taught by many teachers, instructors, and professors, and I can say with certainty that the caliber of teaching in both the Civil and Environmental-Civil Technology programs are top-notch.
The instructors are knowledgeable and passionate about the curriculum, as well as approachable and everwilling to provide assistance. It is not uncommon to find instructors cruising the CAD labs offering guidance and
expertise, or spending a Saturday morning helping students finish a surveying assignment. Excellent instruction coupled with cutting-edge equipment and technology creates graduates that are highly trained and prized by
employers. Graduates commonly find themselves with multiple job offers upon completion of the program - direct evidence of the quality of education provided at Conestoga College.
After graduating from Conestoga College, I was able to land a job at Conestoga-Rovers & Associates, as a Surface
Water Technologist. My position primarily involves the collection of field data for both water quality and quantity. Many of my days are spent collecting data in hip-waders, waist deep in a river or creek. Other days are
spent collecting water samples and storm water flow data at contaminated sites. Days in the office often involve
entering, compiling, and processing the data that I collected and preparing for the next day’s field work. Aside
from wading in the water, I have also had the opportunity to collect water and sediment samples, conduct fish
rescues, survey, and participate in a number of training programs. My position at CRA is a great match for me
because I get to spend a majority of my time outdoors, and more importantly, I get to work in a field that truly
interests me.
Without a doubt, my ability to perform my job effectively and efficiently can be attributed to my education and
experiences at Conestoga College. I am excited about my position at Conestoga-Rovers and Associates and am
both fascinated and intensely interested in my work and my career. The Environmental-Civil Engineering Technology program has provided me with a strong foundation (no pun intended) from which to build my career, and
I look forward to what the future has to offer.
Issue 6, Volume 1, March 2013
Awards
Engineers Canada Fellowship Award
Engineers Canada, a national licensing body that represents 180,000 professional engineers,
created the Engineers Canada Fellowship in 2007 to honor individuals who have given outstanding service to the engineering profession. One of the most recent individuals selected to
receive this honor is Conestoga’s College mechanical engineering professor Stelian George-Cosh.
Professor Stelian George-Cosh has dedicated over 43 years of service to the engineering profession on three continents and has been teaching mechanical engineering at Conestoga since 1984 with a three
years interruption when he was Chair of Mechatronics and Quality Engineering at Temasek Polytechnic, Singapore. Among his many engineering projects is the Heavy Water Recovery system of Darlington Nuclear Plant
and the helicopter refueling unit for Kulluk, the deep drilling island that was in the news recently for grounding
in the Arctic recently.
He was elected by the College academic community as member of the Conestoga Board of Governors in 2011.
Most recently, professor George-Cosh has been appointed as Vice Chair of the Academic Committee of Professional Engineers Ontario, the committee reviewing annually about 5000 applications of Canadian and foreigneducated engineers for the PEng license in Ontario
Student app impresses RIM
When Conestoga student Sumeet Gill won a hackathon hosted by Research in Motion in November 2012,
no one was more surprised than him.
“I knew people from the industry would be competing,
so my expectations were quite low in terms of winning,” said the third-year computer programmer/analyst student. “I just wanted to go to the event
to get a different perspective on how to change and
improve my app by people in the industry.”
The objective of the KWBBDev BB10 Mini-Hackathon,
which took place at the Communitech Hub in downtown Kitchener, was to design a mobile app to be used
for the BlackBerry 10, which RIM will release Jan. 30.
Competitors were given several hours to build and fine-tune their app, which they then presented to a panel of three judges, including two from RIM. Scoring
was based on the originality of the idea, the technical
difficulty of coding the app and the overall presentation. More information at
http://blogs1.conestogac.on.ca/news/2013/01/student_a
pp_impresses_rim.php
Issue 6, Volume 1, March 2013
Conestoga student tops
polytechnic showcase
David Bell, a third-year student in the B.A. Tech,
Integrated Telecommunication and Computer
Technologies program, was awarded first prize at
the Student Showcase event held at Polytechnics
Canada’s Applied Research Showcase on November
14 at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology
in Edmonton.
The event provides each member school with the
opportunity to showcase one applied research project conducted by students working to solve an industry problem. Students are connected with companies who are willing to engage in collaborative
applied research projects.
Bell was part of a student research team working
with Professor Jack Cole and Kendall Technology
to develop a portable geological sensor device for
use in the mining and mineral exploration industry. See more information
at:http://blogs1.conestogac.on.ca/news/2012/12/cone
stoga_student_tops_polytec.php
Events
Students build racing robots
Students at Conestoga's Engineering and Information Technology campus recently put their line-following
robots to the test.
Mechanical engineering technology - robotics and automation students built their robots with a purpose: follow a line around a circular course and do it faster than any of the other robots. The robots came in all shapes
and sizes. Some were built for speed and others for accuracy. Each robot used complex circuitry and sensors,
put together with skills learned throughout the semester. For more information check out this website
http://blogs1.conestogac.on.ca/news/2012/12/students_build_racing_robots.php
Students engineer a good cup of
Coffee
For most of us, pouring a cup of coffee is a routine task. But for a
group of second-year students at Conestoga’s Engineering and Information Technology campus, getting their morning coffee is anything but routine.
Students in the Mechanical Engineering Technology Robotics &
Automation program recently unveiled their coffee-pouring ‘Rube
Goldberg’ machines. Based on machines popularized in the 1940s
and 50s by Rueben Lucius ‘Rube’ Goldberg, a Rube Goldberg machine is a highly complex device created to perform a simple task. In this case, a simple roll of a marble set
off a complex chain reaction that ended with coffee being poured into a cup. For more information check out
this websitehttp://blogs1.conestogac.on.ca/news/2012/11/students_engineer_a_good_cup_o.php
Teachers and Guidance Counselors
Introduced to the Food Processing
Industry
On February 1, the Institute of Food Processing Technology
(IFPT) in collaboration with Ontario Agri-Food Education Inc. offered an exciting opportunity for Ontario educators.
Fourteen teachers and guidance counselors from across Ontario
engaged in a hands one workshop, toured the IFPT pilot plant,
and were introduced to the largest manufacturing industry in
Canada. Career opportunities in the food and beverage manufacturing sector and training options offered at Conestoga were highlighted.
Feedback from the day was very positive and many attendees say
they are excited to share their knowledge with their colleagues
and students.
Issue 6, Volume 1, March 2013