PastEvents

Past Events

Saturday July 10, 2010 PEO HOPE Beach Volleyball - "Iron Ringers"

The Iron Ringers had a fun day at the HOPE volleyball tournament at Moony's Bay on Saturday. The weather was perfect for a day on the beach and the music was awesome. Our team of 6 players, consisted of 4 P.Eng. and 2 guests, but no EIT unfortunately! We played 5 games on a sand court; won 4, and lost 1. We all had a great time and good games.

Saturday July 3, Diefenbunker Tour

On July 3rd, we had a successful Diefenbunker tour. A total of 58 people attended the tour. The tour was divided into two groups. Tour guides provided their best services to both groups. Refreshment was provided after the tour. The responses from both the groups was positive.

2010-06-16 Candidates College

PEO Eastern Region Candidate College a huge success

On Wednesday June 16th, with torrential rains descending outside, 54 people attended the PEO Eastern Region Candidate College hosted by the Ottawa Chapter Government Liaison Program (GLP) Committee and held at the University of Ottawa campus. The group peppered the attending politicians with questions that showed a keen interest in the processes and a desire to learn from the experiences of our panel members. Senator Mac Harb, MP Pierre Poilievre, MPP Phil McNeely and Ottawa City Councillor Marianne Wilkinson did not disappoint.

A group photo from the PEO Eastern Region Candidate College, featuring in front from left to right: Senator Mac Harb, MP Pierre Poilievre, Councillor Marianne Wilkinson, MPP Phil McNeely

The evening started with the co-MC’s, Alana Lavoie, Manager of Government Relations with Engineers Canada and Jonathan Risto, Co-Chair of the PEO Ottawa Chapter Government Liaison Program setting the stage for the evening. Outlining what the PEO GLP program and the Engineers Canada Bridging Government and Engineers programs are, and the PEO goals of 11 engineers in 2011, this set the stage for the event that followed.

Starting with MPP Phil McNeely, the Parliamentary Assistant to the Ontario Minister of Energy and Infrastructure and one of only 2 professional engineers in the Ontario Legislature today, the topics of How to Build your Profile and Winning a Nomination were discussed. The importance of volunteer work, not just to build your profile, but rather to give back to your community was stressed. Going out of your comfort zone for some of this work was also important. The Ottawa-Orleans MPP also pointed out that for him, Climate Change was a topic he was passionate about, and that those types of technical topics were reason that all levels of government needed more Engineers.

The evening continued with MP Pierre Poilievre, Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister, providing his insights and thoughts on How to Run a Campaign. Examples of his experiences, notably of moving from house to house for 6 weeks to ensure his nomination impressed the group and stressed how busy and hectic the process can be for candidates. The MP for Nepean-Carleton was quite candid about the personal and financial commitment involved in running for office, providing great food for thought for future candidates.

After a short break, the group returned to hear Senator Mac Harb share his knowledge on How to Build an Election Team, Mobilize Support & Raise Money. The current Liberal Senator and former long time MP for Ottawa-Centre captivated the crowd with his vast knowledge and speaking style. Stressing the importance to saying Thank you, being continually visible within the community and ensuring that everyone that wants to volunteer for your campaign, Senator Harb highlighted the variety items a campaign team needs to run smoothly.

Ottawa City Councillor Marianne Wilkinson, a long time local politician with over 20 years experience followed with the discussion on How to Win on Election Night. The current Ottawa City councillor and the former Mayor of the City of Kanata, outlined numerous strategies and items needed to win, including the tasks of scrutineer and why they are important. She also provided insights of what things are like for the candidate on election day, having been through numerous elections, both successful and not.

The final presentation was made by Howard Brown, PEO’s Government Relations Consultant, stressing the importance of involvement of Engineers at all levels of government. This enthusiastic talk continued the motivation for the crowd to be involved and engaged. During this session it was shown that 10 people in attendance had an interest in seeking public office, and over the course of the evening it was discovered that there were two municipal candidates in the room: Aaron Helleman, P. Eng as a candidate for councillor in Kanata South Ward 23 and Marcel Guibord as a candidate for Rockland Mayor. Both of these individuals were given a quick 2 minutes to state their opinions on being engaged and about their campaign.

Wrapping up the evening with the presentations and thank you’s to our invited guests, the 3 PEO council members in the room were invited forward to address the crowd. PEO Region Councillors Paul Ballantyne, P.Eng & Christopher Taylor, P.Eng, as well as PEO lieutenant governor appointed Councillor Ishwar Bhatia, P.Eng. A copy of the book “Canada's Isotope Crisis: What Next?” was provided by OCEPP to each member of our political panel, along with a local chapter gift.

With continued interest, after the formal program had ended those in attendance gathered and continued with informal discussions on the evening’s topics with the invited panellists and each other. The Ottawa GLP committee gained an astounding 19 new members from this event, which will assist with running a follow up event sometime this coming fall or early 2011.

Some of the attendees listening intently to the presentations

With the excellent representation of licensed members present, the pointed and probing questions from the attendees and passion for sharing their experiences shown by the panel, it is without a doubt that Eastern Ontario will continue to be well represented in the legislature by professional engineers.

2010 Ontario Volunteer Service Awards

On 2010-06-03, the Province of Ontario recognized 6 long serving Ottawa-area PEO volunteers among others, at a celebration held at Tudor Hall in Ottawa.

Award recipients, were:

• Mr. Colin S. Cantlie, P.Eng. (15 years)
• Mr. William E Jackson, P.Eng. (25 years)
• Mr. David J. Kempster, P.Eng. (15 years)
• Ms. Jeanette Southwood, P.Eng. (15 years)
• Ms. Valerie Todd, P.Eng. (15 years)
• Mr. Gerald S. Webb, P.Eng. (15 years)

Among those present to thank our volunteers, were:

• the Honourable Eric Hoskins, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration
• the Honourable Madeline Meilleur, Minister of Community and Social Service
• Bob Chiarelli, MPP, Ottawa-West-Nepean
• Jean-Marc Lalonde, MPP, Glengarry-Prescott-Russell

as well as the keynote speaker, Adrian Harewood of CBC fame.
Representing PEO was the Ottawa Chapter Chair, Ingrid G. de Buda, P.Eng.

From left to right: Colin S. Cantlie, Jeanette Southwood, David J. Kempster

Certificate Presentation, New Members and Fellows of Engineers Canada, 2010-05-13

The Ottawa Chapter was pleased to welcome our 16 newest members, at a ceremony held at Algonquin College, 2010-05-13.

We were delighted to have PEO Eastern Regional Councillor Chris Taylor, and Ottawa City Councillors Marianne Wilkinson (Kanata North) and Steve Desroches(South Nepean) to make the presentations.

Individual new member photos can be found here.

We were also able to honour two recipients of the Fellows of Engineers Canada Award (FEC), William (Bill) Kerr, and William (Bill) Jackson. Among other service too numberous to list, William (Bill) Kerr served both as president of PEO, and of CCPE, (now called Engineers Canada). William (Bill) Jackson has also served PEO for too many years to count, most recently on the Enforcement committee and Education Standards committee.

Individual photos of FEC recipients can be found here .

From left to right: Ottawa Chapter PEO Executive and official photographer, Pierre Legeault; Ottawa City Councillor Steve Desroches (South Nepean); Ottawa Chapter PEO Executive member Wenqin Shao; FEC recipient William Jackson; FEC recipient William Kerr; Ottawa Chapter PEO GLP committee member Ray Barton; PEO Eastern Regional Councillor Chris Taylor; Ottawa Chapter PEO Executive member and event organizer Amjad Farran; Ottawa City Councillor Marianne Wilkinson (Kanata North); Ottawa Chapter PEO Executive member and former Chair, Sucha Mann; Ottawa Chapter PEO GLP committee Co-Chair,
Guy Boone; Ottawa Chapter PEO GLP committee member Vic Pakalmis.
Also present but not in photo, Ottawa Chapter PEO Chair, Ingrid G. de Buda.

(Larger images can be found by clicking on the photos above.)

Ottawa Regional Science Fair

The 49th edition of the Ottawa Regional Science Fair (ORSF) was held on April 10, 2010 at Hillcrest High School in Ottawa. Our own Sucha Mann and John Hazel from our GLP committee volunteered as judges for the event. The PEO Ottawa Chapter awards recipients were:

- Avatouch: A 3D Comuting-user Interface by Sandro Young of Lisgar Collegiate Institute;
- Keeping Seniors Safe: Better Stairs by Frannie Sobcov of Turnball Public School;
- Improving Airfoil Performance with Whale by Sara Rushforth of Canterbury High School; and
-The Pros and Cons in Earthquakes by Kate Robotham and Hannah Williams of Fisher Park High School.

Congratulations to all the winners.

2010 Student Paper Night

The Annual Student Papers Night was held on Wednesday April 7, 2010 at Sala San Marco on Preston Street. Approximately 100 persons attended this friendly 4th-year competition between our two university rivals Carleton U and Ottawa U. The winning categories were as follows:

Best Technical Content: 'Design & Packaging of a Formula SAE Spring-Damper System' by Mike Behring of Carleton U;

Best Overall Presentation: 'Investigation into Alternative Raw Material for Cement Production' by Ben Jardine of Carleton U;

Best Environmental Sustainability: 'Offshore Wind Turbine Farm' by Akram Al-Ashwal, Ali Al-Radhi, Mike Abou-Hamra, Sameer Remtallah, Christian Nesrallah and Adam Choquette of Ottawa U;

Best Innovation and Technical Application: 'Lunar Rover Power Subsystem' by Ante Bulat, Ryan King, Mark Njau and Victor Tatsiankow of Ottawa U.

The winner of the Tom Foulkes Trophy was Carleton University.

Congratulations to all the winners.

The Arctic: Challenges and Opportunities in Canada's Backyard

This presentation by Dr Peter Harrison was originally held on October 28, but due to popular demand, a second session was held on April 7 at the Museum of Science and Technology. Approximately 200 persons attended this event.

Kanata Wave Pool

Our annual Wave Pool event was held on Sunday February 21 at the Kanata Leisure Centre in Kanata. This year was our best turnout with over 50 persons attending.

29th Annual Curling Bonspiel

The 29th Annual Curling Bonspiel was held on February 19 at the Nepean Sportsplex.

50th Annual General Meeting (AGM)

Our 50th Annual AGM was held on Wednesday February 17, 2010 at the Hampton Inn and Convention Centre on Coventry Road.

The 50th AGM.

Special guests included: The Honourable Gordon O'Connor, MPP Carleton-Mississippi Mills, and Ottawa mayoral candidate Jim Watson. The keynote speaker was Franklin Holtforster, P.Eng., President of MHPM Project Managers. He discussed the topic: 'Sustainability is Free’ - a contention that Professional Engineers should establish their relevance by providing knowledgeable leadership in realizing sustainability.

Franklin Holtforster explaining how "Sustainability is Free"

The Ottawa Chapter would like to thank PEO President-Elect Diane Freeman, P.Eng., Vice President John Vieth, P.Eng., eastern Regional Councilor Paul Ballantyne and Chapter Manager Matthew Ng, P.Eng., for attending.

PEO President-Elect Diane Freeman;     MPP Gordon O'Conner, President-Elect Diane Freeman, Regional Councilor Paul Ballantyne

We would also like to congratulate Valerie Todd, P.Eng., A. J. Robinson, P.Eng., and our incoming Chapter Chair Ingrid de Buda, P.Eng. for receiving their Fellowship certificates, as well as all our new members who received certificates that night.

Group shot of new members.

Thumbnails with links to full-sized photos of all the new members can be found here.

Engineers Without Borders Professional Networking Wine and Cheese

PEO Ottawa Chapter presented a Wine and Cheese gathering promoting Engineers Without Borders (EWB) and their theme of the evening: The Global Engineer and what it means to Engineering. The event was held on November 25, 2009 at the Officer's Mess, Gloucester Street. Guest speakers included: EWB Co-Founder and Co-CEO Parker Mitchell, and long-term overseas volunteer Jen Hiscock. Representatives of the Ontario Society of Professional Engineers (OSPE), Engineers Canada and the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers Ottawa Chapter were also present at the event.

PEO Ottawa Chapter & NRC Engineering Challenge – Information Sessions

Two information sessions were held on November 3 and 5 on the NRC Engineering Challenge to be held during National Engineering Week, 2010. If you are interested in volunteering for the Engineering Challenge, please email Chris Taylor for information at christophertaylor@rogers.com

The Arctic: Challenges and Opportunities in Canada's Backyard

This event, co-sponsored by PEO, the Ontario Center of Engineering and Public Policy (OCEPP) and the Institute of Public Administrators of Canada (IPAC), was held on October 28 at the Museum of Science and Technology. Dr Peter Harrison of Queen's University gave a very informative talk outlining some of the issues, challenges and opportunities facing Canada's Arctic. If you missed it, don't worry; a second presentation is being planned tentatively on Tuesday February 9, 2010. Please refer to updates to our 'Upcoming Events' section in January for registration information.

UNTD Rendezvous Ottawa 2009

"Old Oars" and "Breakout Educational Network" hosted University Naval Training Division (UNTD) Rendezvous Ottawa 2009 featuring a symposium on "Leadership, Citizenship and Nation Building for our Times" in the Historic West Block, Parliament Hill, Ottawa, on Wednesday, 21 October, 2009. The event was well attended with over 200 attendees.

PEO/OSPE Engineers in Training (EIT) workshop

The Ottawa Chapter PEO in conjunction with OSPE, held a workshop for EITs on Friday, October 9th, 2009 in the morning.

PEO/OSPE Internationally Trained Engineers (ITE) workshop

The Ottawa Chapter PEO in conjunction with OSPE, held a workshop for ITEs on Friday, October 9th, 2009 in the afternoon.

Technical Luncheon – Construction of the new Ottawa Convention Centre(OCC).

The Ottawa Chapter PEO hosted a technical discussion about the OCC at Capones on September 17, 2009. Approximately 30 people attended this event.

Museum of Science and Technology Tour

The Ottawa Chapter PEO hosted a tour of the Museum of Science and Technology on July 18, 2009.

Hope Volleyball Tournament

We had a team of six including one girl instead of the required two. As you may have heard, it was a rainy day on Saturday, July 11th and the games had to be cancelled half way through the day for safety reasons. This is the first time it happens in the last 26 years! We played only 2 games and a half instead of five. We won the first 2 games and were tied when asked to get off the courts during the 3rd game. In many cases we had to run for cover from the rain under trees and other people's tents between the games. But despite all that we all had fun. We kinda anticipated the rain. Players received free white PEO T-shirts.

Diefenbunker Tour

The Ottawa Chapter PEO hosted a tour on the Diefenbunker on July 4, for 26 attendees.

Ottawa Valley Engineers Golf Tournament

The Ottawa Valley Engineers Golf Tournament was held on June 22, 2009.

Ottawa Chapter New Member's Night

The Ottawa Chapter held a new member's night on June 10, 2009 at Restaurant International at the Woodroffe Campus of Algonquin College. A set of thumbnails of the photos, with links to full size images (about 2M per full sized) can be found here.

EWB/PEO Ottawa Chapters Joint Event

We held a joint event with Engineers Without Borders, on Wednesday, May 27, 2009 at the Nepean Sailing Club.

Green Energy - Our Future: Workshop

We held a workshop on Green Energy on Wednesday, May 20, 2009, with over 100 attendees. The presentation is available as a pdf here.

Sugarbush Event!!

The Ottawa chapter sponsored a sugar bush visit on Sunday April 5, 2009. Despite the short notice, approximately 25 persons attended. We will likely hold this event again next March or April.

Ottawa Regional Science Fair (ORSF), Carleton University

The chapter donated $250 to the fair held on Saturday April 4, 2009, and the chapter gave $250 in Special Award prizes to students for our selected five projects.

Wenqin Shao and Sucha Mann attended the fair to judge for Special Awards for projects related to engineering principles.

They went with the intention of awarding only three projects. But, students participation in science and engineering was so good, they had a hard time selecting only three projects. In the end, they awarded five projects (total of 7 students) and distributed $50/project.

The criteria used were:

1. Project display including clear demonstration of project, materials used, conclusions and recommendation;
2. Methodology including the creative ideas, Internet search, latest technologies, hands on and models;
3. Conclusion and recommendations including results from the project, the feasibility to use and clear recommendations;
4. Strong oral presentation including strong knowledge of the project, and concise presentation.

The winners were:

Congratulations to all our winners for a job well done!!
More shots:

Town Hall presentation on National Framework for Engineering membership and Licensure.

On April 1, 2009, David Adams and Kim Allen gave an excellent presentation on the proposed National Framework for Engineering membership and Licensure. An overview of the presentation can be found here. The presentation slides are available in powerpoint format or as pdf.

Student Papers Night.

The student papers night -- a friendly competition held between the Engineering undergraduates from the University of Ottawa and Carleton University -- was held 2009-04-01 at Sala San Marco.

Fraser Smith and Frank Hendriksen organized this excellent event. Sucha Mann also participated as a judge. Wayne Bennett was thanked for his years of long service organizing this event. The event was well attended by over 80 people.

There were four student papers (two from Carleton University and two from Ottawa University. The overall best paper award went to Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) by Sean Clifford and Matt Holmes from Carleton. The other three excellent papers on Environmental Sciences also received awards.

This year the team Trophy was awarded to the team University of Ottawa.

The Engineering and Technology Labour Market Study, Nepean Sailing Club

The Ottawa PEO chapter hosted a presentation entitled "Engineering and Technology Labour Market Study" by John O'Grady of Prism Economics & Analysis, on Tuesday March 17, 2009 in the evening, at the Nepean Sailing Club. There were approximately 44 attendees, including many of our Chapter's professional engineers, EIT's, and others including representatives from Algonquin College. A special recognition should be made of Donald Wallace, the "Ontario Centre for Engineering & Public Policy" Executive Director who was immensely helpful with planning and organizing the availability of the speaker. John O'Grady gave a very good presentation with time for Q&A. He stated that "The ground has shifted" in Ontario for Engineering & Technology Labour.

Some highlights of the presentation includes:

• Who is doing Engineering work... 20% Domestic Engineering Grads, 20% International Engineering Grads, 20% Other professionals, 9% Domestic Tech. Grads & 5% International Technology Grads
• Women in Engineering... Female share of various engineering occupations, by discipline; Female undergraduate enrolment in engineering... Trends from 1991 to 2005, with the highest enrolment around 2002 & 2003, when it peaked at close to 23%
• Demographic Trends
• Immigration trends & their effect on engineering
• Ontario's share of engineering graduates - 57% International Grads, 40% Domestic Grads
• Types of occupations undertaken by engineering graduates
• Types of education pursued beyond the Bachelors Degree in Engineering => MBA, Grad Degree in Engineering, Trade qualification, College qualification
• Employer dissatisfaction with skills
• General communications => interpersonal, team working, working with non-tech staff, report writing
• Distribution of Engineering and Technology functions between Engineers and Technologists
• Canada's share of international market
• Key fields & Key skills in International market

You can view the slides as powerpoint or pdf.

Ottawa Chapter 49th AGM February 11, 2009, Travelodge Hotel

The 49th Annual General Meeting of the Ottawa Chapter of Professional Engineers Ontario was held 2009-02-11 at the Talisman Hotel in Ottawa. Here are a few shots from the event.

Our outgoing Chair, Jeff Waara giving his Chair's report, and handing off to our incoming chair, David Grant.
  

David thanking our departing executives Fairouz Wahab, and Jeff Waara.
  

Dr. Gerald Oakham gave an excellent, informative and fascinating talk about the Atlas detector in the Large Hadron Collider at CERN in Switzerland/France.
His slides can be found here.

Our incoming Chair, David Grant, and a shot of the room.
  

We also welcomed several new members to our Chapter!
A set of thumbnails of the certificate presentation photos, with links to full size images can be found here. .

Ottawa Chapter New Member's night November 26, 2008

We held a New Member's night on November 26, 2008. A set of thumbnails of the photos, with links to full size images can be found here. Congratulations to our newest Professional Engineers!

Hope Volleyball Tournament, July 2008

The HOPE volley ball tournament was great fun for all!!

Ottawa Chapter New Member's night June 16, 2008

We held a New Member's night on June 16, 2008. A set of thumbnails of the photos, with links to full size images can be found here.

Ottawa Senators Hockey, Saturday February 16, 2008

We held our annual PEO Senators Hockey Night on Saturday February 16, 2008. A good time was had by all!!

Ottawa Chapter 2007 AGM February 13, 2008, Sala San Marco

We held our AGM wrapping up 2007, on February 13, 2008, combined with a new members night, at a new location, Sala San Marco. We had a good turn out.

We welcomed many new members at our 2008-02-13 AGM; thumbnails of their presentations, with links to the full-size shots can be found here. The 2008 executive looks forward to serving our chapter this year!

Ottawa Chapter New member's night October 23, 2007

We held a new member's night on October 23, 2007. A set of thumbnails of the photos, with links to full size images can be found here.

Ottawa Chapter New member's night May 29, 2007

We previously held a new member's night on May 29, 2007. A 2M set of thumbnails of the photos, with links to full size images can be found here.