The Bridge: February/March Edition

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The Bridge

February/March 2018

CONTENTS FEATURES Ask Stacey: Engineering Employment Centre (EEC)

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Opportunities for Aerospace and You: Experience at Canadian Aeronautics and Space Institute (CASI)

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How can we tell new engineering students what they ned to know to be successful in engineering?

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CAMPUS NEWS Q & A with Execs

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ESS Candidate Forum

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Interview with a Professor: Dr. Patricio Mendez

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DIVERSIONS Crossword Sudoku Comics Memes Corner

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AVP Publications Solbee Seo Marianne Rosal Jr. Editors Abby Paul Aishwarya Venkitachalam Derek Shultz Krizelle Mendoza Marianne Rosal Megan Rowbottom

The Bridge

February/March 2018

Ask Stacey: Engineering Employment Centre

by Megan Rowbottom

The Bridge has paired up with Stacey Sayler from the Engineering Employment Centre to answer your pressing questions about resumes, interviews, and more!

Question: How can I make my resume more relevant to field positions if I only have office experience or vice versa?

Answer: When applying to a job that you

don’t have directly related experience,

• What engineering skills and knowledge

it’s important that you identify and

are required to be able to get the work

emphasize your relevant engineering

done?

knowledge, transferable skills,

• What attributes/characteristics are

personal attributes and experiences

required to excel in the role?

that will enable you to get the work done.

• Which of my courses will I most likely

use on this job if I’m hired?

I’d recommend using a combination-

• How and why do I fit with the role and

style resume as it allows you to draw

company culture?

the hiring manager’s attention to your

• Why am I the best candidate and why

strengths versus what you don’t have.

do I want to work for this company?

The EEC’s Resume Basics for Traditional

Students & New Grads handout provides

Once you answer these questions

a sample layout of a combination-style

identify whether it’s your education, prior

resume, and identifies additional best

experience, or extracurricular activities

practices.

that best showcase them – and ensure

To help you identify what information and

the appropriate sections of your resume

details to include on your resume, when

reflect them.

looking at a job posting, ask yourself:

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February/March 2018

Using the example of a field

summary section and cover letter for

engineering role, in general, it could be

each opportunity.

important to emphasize: trouble-shooting

/ analytical experience, communication,

If applying for a design or project

teamwork, knowledge of and/or

engineering role be sure to leverage

experience with equipment and tools,

your capstone project experience, and to

industry knowledge, mechanical

communicate your knowledge and

aptitude, safety (including a CSTS

application of any relevant design codes,

Certificate and First Aid training),

CAD software, etc. Your capstone project

familiarity with construction processes

can be noted in your education section

and stakeholder roles, and driver’s

as it’s a requirement of your degree. Or, if

license and clean abstract.

you have more than one design project to showcase, you may want to consider

Attributes that would be helpful to

having a separate “Design Projects”

mention in your cover letter are: critical

section.

thinking, problem-solving skills, initiative,

attention to detail, accuracy, resilience,

If you’re just starting your degree be sure

work ethic / commitment to getting the

to spend time exploring career path

job done, ability to handle stress / remain

options and learning what employers’

calm and level-headed in stressful

look for when hiring the type(s) of role(s)

situations, willingness to work outside in

you’re most interested in after

all types of weather, and strong

graduation. This will give you an idea of

interpersonal and conflict resolution

the types of activities and skills you

skills. Also, to help them see you as a

should focus on developing during your

“fit”, consider identifying any of your

degree program, and will help you

hobbies that show you’re comfortable

choose electives, extracurricular

being out-of-doors and are a team

activities, etc. that will best align with

player. Of course, the specific

employers’ hiring needs. Getting

requirements for a field engineering

involved with a project club

position will vary by discipline and the

(AlbertaSat, EcoCar, Formula-SAE, etc.)

type of role – so always be sure to

is a fantastic way to gain experience and

carefully read and customize your

develop skills that can help you and your !4

The Bridge

February/March 2018

resume stand out. For a list of

The Conference Board of Canada is

engineering club and group options,

predicting that Alberta will fully recover

check-out the EEC’s Engineering Your

from the last recession and have a 2.8%

Career: Get Involved handout.

growth pace in 2018. Overall,

employment in the Province will be much

Question: Where are the most job

improved when compared to the last

opportunities in industry for new

several years. Some of the largest

grads?

sectors in the Province employing

Answer: Globally, some of the projected

engineers, by percentage distribution of

high growth sectors include: Artificial

GDP, are: Oil & Gas and Mining (17.0%),

Intelligence / Machine Learning, Virtual

Construction (10.7%), Transportation &

Reality, Block Chain, Robotics, Crypto

Utilities (6.2%), and Manufacturing

Currency, Green Energy and Technology,

(6.3%).[2]

and Cybersecurity.

Within Alberta, Computer and Software

According to the most current census

Engineers will likely have the easiest job

data, over 7,000[1] engineering jobs were

search following graduation. The

added in Canada last year.

provincial Occupational Demand and

Geographically, almost one third of them

Supply Outlook projects labour shortages

were created in Central Canada.

in their field ranging from 222 to 1,426

However, after Toronto and Montreal,

positions each year between now and

Edmonton and Calgary were the next

2025 – meaning there will be more jobs

strongest markets for newly created

available than qualified candidates. The

engineering roles. Unfortunately, the

same report forecasts that there will also

majority of these 7,000 roles would not

be labour shortages for Civil, Mechanical,

have been for new grads. However, it’s

and Chemical engineers over the next

likely that a good portion of them would

five years, but not to the same degree.

have been filled by engineers with 3-7

The Government of Alberta recently

years of experience, thereby freeing up

proposed $43m in funding for an

entry-level opportunities for new grads.

additional 3,000 post-secondary spaces

to train workers for the technology sector.[3] In addition, they announced tax !5

The Bridge

February/March 2018

credits for digital gaming and media

prioritizes health innovation with the

companies to level the playing field with

hope of expanding Edmonton’s current

BC and Ontario and encourage

biotech and pharmaceuticals, and

businesses to set-up in our province.

medical technology and devices

Alberta already has recognized expertise

subsectors.[6]

in interactive content, high-speed

simulation, and user interface

As a rule of thumb, you’ll find the most

technologies. According to Trent Oster,

employment opportunities with

co-founder of BioWare, “The next 20

companies that are growing the fastest,

years is going to be built on these

or where the most money is being spent.

technologies”.[4]

For ideas on companies that may be

hiring check-out sources like:

Furthermore, the Government committed

• Canadian Business: Innovation, Growth

to investing up to $1b over the next eight

500, and 2017 Industry and Regional

years in new partial bitumen upgrading

rankings of fastest growth for 2017

facilities to help spur corporate

(www.canadianbusiness.com).

investment and diversify the Province’s

• Government of Alberta: Alberta Major

energy sector.[5] This investment should

Projects Map

create opportunities for engineers in

(majorprojects.ualberta.ca)

facility design, construction, and

• Top 100: Canada’s Biggest

operations, etc.

Infrastructure Projects

(top100projects.ca)

According to Edmonton Economic

• Profit Guide: Rankings and Awards for

Development, the City’s key sectors are:

Profit 500, StartUp 50 and/or Profit

Information and Communication

W100 (www.profitguide.com)

Technology, Food and Agri-Industrial,

Health and Life Science, Advanced

For specific insight into where the

Manufacturing and Logistics,

opportunities are projected to be by

Construction and Engineering, Energy,

discipline and province, check-out

and Finance, Insurance and Real Estate.

Engineers Canada’s Engineering Labour

In 2016, the City announced its

Market in Canada: Projections to 2025

“Canada’s Health City” initiative which !6

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February/March 2018

report (https://engineerscanada.ca/sites/

media-tax-credit-technology-

default/files/Labour-Market-2015-e.pdf).

training-1.4576678. March 14, 2018.

[4] CBC News, Edmonton: Alberta offers tax

Also, if you’re interested in details about

break to digital gaming, media companies.

a specific industry or a geographic region

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/

– governments (municipal, provincial and

alberta-tax-break-to-digital-gaming-media-

federal) and industry associations (local,

companies-1.4577915. March 15, 2018.

provincial, national and international)

[5] Emma Graney: “Alberta to invest $1

generally provide economic data and

billion over eight years in bitumen upgrading”

reports that can help you identify the

– Edmonton Journal, http://

trends and where the opportunities are

edmontonjournal.com/business/energy/

most likely to be.

government-releasing-proposals-todiversify-alberta-energy-sector. Feb 26,

Look for the Google Form in your

2018.

weekly EnggLink to submit your

[6] Edmonton Economic Development: http://www.eedc.ca/invest-in-edmonton/key-

questions for the EEC. They may be

sectors/ {accessed: March 16, 2018}

answered in the next edition of The Bridge!

Sources:

[1] Randstad: Best Engineering Jobs in 2018. https://www.randstad.ca/best-jobs/bestengineering-jobs/

[2] Alberta Economic and Development Trade: Highlights of the Alberta Economy 2017: http://www.albertacanada.com/files/ albertacanada/SPEH_highlightsABEconomyPresentation.pdf

[3] CBC News: Alberta government bill proposes $43M to create 3,000 tech training spaces over 5 years. http://www.cbc.ca/ news/canada/edmonton/alberta-digital-

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The Bridge

February/March 2018

Opportunities for Aerospace and You: Experience at Canadian Aeronautics and Space Institute (CASI) AERO’17 conference

by Solbee Seo From May 16th to 18th, 2017, two undergraduate engineering students from University of Alberta attended the annual CASI conference in Toronto. The conference that year was AERO’17 with the main theme of “Canada’s North: Roles and Opportunities for Aerospace”.

During the conference, participants had opportunity to attend seminars on ongoing projects within Canada and research on various topics including aircraft manufacturing technologies and materials, and to connect with industries like Bombardier, Lockheed Martin, and Pratt & Whitney Canada as well as representatives from University of Toronto. Karina Sapelnikova, a participant, said, “I found it very interesting to see a presentation from a company [Solarship] which built an electric airship prototype; they hope to use it to transport large machinery, for example mining equipment for remote sites. Bombardier also did an in-depth

presentation about the entire testing and certification process of the C-series jet.”Karina also added, “I always have been interested in this field. When I attended the conference, I was absolutely blown away by the amount of work that is going on in the field, within Canada! After attending the conference, I felt really happy that this is what I want to in my career going forward.” Motivated by the conference, Karina wanted to connect students like herself with aerospace industry to share progress and research in Canada. She then launched a student branch of CASI at University of Alberta in 2017 and held an event called Aero Day in October 2017.

Upcoming CASI’s conference is an astronautics conference ASTRO’18, held from May 15th to 17th, 2018 in Quebec City. Four University of Alberta students will be attending the conference for this year with supported by the the ESAF.

“I really want to encourage each and one of you to enrich university experiences by attending conferences, attending competitions, or find an event that you can go and learn about the industry that you are interested in.”

- Karina Sapelnikova, AERO ’17 !8

The Bridge

February/March 2018

How can we tell new engineering students what they need to know to be successful in engineering?

by Raymond Matthias

brutally honest, sharing that first year is all about "personal accountability" and that "you either suffer the pain of discipline or the pain of regret". Overall, the most common theme was ‘increased workload’, and the need to efficiently manage time.

The Bridge has paired up with the Engineering Faculty's Strategic Advisor to Associate Dean to discuss ways to help students succeed in Engineering.

"Doing my best in high school put me in the top academic tier of students, while doing my best in university put me at class average", "In high school, I could get over 90% by studying a night or two before the test". "First year midterms were my biggest wake up call. I realized that I had to actually keep up with lecture material each day and study weeks ahead of an exam in order to do well".

"The hardest part of the first year engineering program was having less structure than in high school. In university you have to make your own study schedule and make your own versions of 'homework' in order to succeed and really know the material".

"There is nothing worse than having to learn how to study and do homework in University when the pace is much faster and the material is a lot harder".

When you think of the transition into university, what kinds of ideas come to mind? If I asked you to identify a strategy that could be shared with High School students entering the faculty, what would it be?

Over the course of the coming 2018/2019 academic year, my goal is to curate the collective wisdom of the faculty on this topic, and put it into a multimedia project that can be shared with incoming students. Would you like to contribute or participate?

To get a sense of your initial thoughts, I recently sent out a survey, entitled "What do you wish someone would have told you before first year engineering?”

Some of the responses were humorous: "It's not as fun as on TV"; others were !9

The Bridge Of course, there is no "one way" to succeed, and this conversation is probably as old as the faculty itself. As one student shared, "to a certain extent I feel like there is nothing else I could have been told, I just had to come experience it for myself". The image at the top of this article comes from a document that was drafted in 1954, and further revised in 1967 by then Associate Dean, L.E. Gads. Through a series of articles, he set out to seriously and sometimes playfully communicate some strategies for success. Although the language is somewhat dated, we could probably share his words of wisdom as-is today (Professor Gads was born in Russian Turkestan in 1907, and lived in Harbin before coming to Canada to initially work as a farm-hand near Wetaskiwin; he ultimately began his engineering studies at the U of A at the age of 28).

February/March 2018

#Feb-March Throwbacks

I think that current students, especially those currently finishing first year, are uniquely positioned as experts that 21st century high school students will see as legitimate. Would you like to lend your voice to this project? For the next stage, I'd like to focus on the question of time management--would you be willing to share a screenshot of a typical 'weekly schedule’ (i.e. google calendar or wall calendar) in your life as an engineering student?

Interested in sharing your thoughts?

Send an e-mail to Raymond in the Office of the Dean raymond.matthias@ualberta.ca]

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The Bridge

February/March 2018

Q&A with the Execs

by Krizelle Mendoza In the beginning of March, the ESS held its executive elections. We thought we’d get to know our new executive team by asking them a couple of questions. Here’s what they answered:

Andrea Schmitz (VP Academic) Favorite class: Fluid mechanics

Worst class: MATE 202!

Favorite procrastination activity: Doing ESS work

Favorite study spot: the Agriculture building

Favorite meme: Tag urself

Favorite prof: Glaucia Carvalho do Prado (the nicest person ever)

Best study tip: Use colourful pens to brighten up your day

Iryna Roever (VP External) (Answered by Andrea)

Favorite class: next question please

Worst class: Math 102

Favorite procrastination activity: chatting with my friends

Favorite study spot: ESS office

Favorite meme: What are memes?

Favorite prof: Dominic Sauvageau (3 chilis on rate my prof)

Best study tip: Don’t join the ESS

Joanna Bibangco (VP Communications) Favorite class: ENGG130

Worst class: PHYS130

Favorite procrastination activity: planning and doing photoshoots

Favorite study spot: it shall not be shared

Favorite meme: no

Favorite prof: to be determined

Best study tip: start assignments before the day its due

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February/March 2018

Tyler Veldhuist (VP Operations and Finances)

Favorite class: My favorite class so far is Math 101. Being a first year, I hope to change that in the coming years.

Worst class: In my opinion, the worst class for first year is Chem 105. But then again, I didn’t really enjoy chemistry in the first place.

Favorite procrastination activity: My favorite procrastination activity is playing video games while sitting in DICE 8th floor.

Favorite study spot: Just like many Engineers, my favorite study spot is 8th floor of DICE, however i also enjoy going up into the Education building, and the second floor of CCIS is nice after everyone has left.

Favorite prof: My favorite prof would have to be Dragos for Math 101. He is just so random sometimes, but he is also such a great teacher.

Best study tip: Since i am in first year, I still haven’t really gotten any good ideas for studying, except for memorization, you should get flash cards. And do not consider writing the flash cards as the studying! You need to actually use them!

Aline Ljubichich (VP Operations and Finances)

Favorite class: the one not abusing me at the moment, they change

Worst class: all of them

Favorite procrastination activity: crying

Favorite study spot: if I tell everyone it won’t be my favourite anymore

Favorite meme: Dragos

Favorite prof: Dragos

Best study tip: drop out

ESS Executive Candidates 2018/2019

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February/March 2018

ESS Candidate Forum

By Abby Paul/Marianne Rosal This month’s excitement comes in the form of the ESS Elections. Although far less scandalous and gripping than say, U.S. Elections, the future of the University of Alberta engineering student body rests on the (somewhat) capable hands of the selected representatives.

To find out how capable these representatives are, the Engineering Student Society held a candidate forum last March 6, where candidates and their platforms are formally, politely, and verbally criticized and stripped, making these engineering students learn what most engineering programs lack— learning to have quick, witty, public speaking skills.

candidates’ qualifications and how they viewed their fellow competitors, were juxtaposed with pragmatic problems such as, "how does the ESS intend to make events more attractive to international students?" and, “What are the standards for volunteer reimbursement and responsible spending?” And finally, the most profound question, “how does [the VP Student Life] intend to make ESS Events accessible to the busy students?” Rest assured, all along the board, the candidates echoed a similar tune—that there is an increase in inclusivity, and partnering with other clubs, organizations, and even interdisciplinary associations, in order to encourage attendance to events and promote camaraderie amongst the engineering student body.

Here’s how it works. The candidates are allotted a time to introduce themselves and their platform. Then, each candidate passes through the first round of questions from the public voters themselves. Fellow candidates are then given a chance to ask their questions, followed by another round of voter questions. At this point, perhaps the faculty should consider doing oral exams, no?

In all seriousness, the questions posed during the election forum were relevant.

From questions concerning the !13

The Bridge

Interview with a Professor: Dr. Patricio Mendez

By Marianne Rosal

This edition, The Bridge interviews Dr. Patricio Mendez from the Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering.

While having a BSc. Mechanical engineering, his passion for designing mechanical machines has led him to the materials’ engineering, eventually obtaining his PhD in that field from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Dr. Mendez is the Director of the Canadian Centre of Welding and Joining.

What motivated you to go into engineering?

Ever since I was little, I wanted to invent machines and I was very excited about the ability to make machines. To give you an example, I remember I was washing dishes for a FORMULA 2 race car team just to be there. But I didn’t care about being the driver, I wanted to design the car. Same with airplanes. Like all boys, I liked airplanes. I wanted to design them.

I never cared much about being a pilot.

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February/March 2018

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February/March 2018

Having a mechanical engineering

welder. I enjoy welding, and welding has

background, how did you enter the

been amazing for me and the guys in the

field of materials engineering?

lab, but what we do about welding is we are learning to design welding machines,

So I wanted to make machines and I

we are learning to design welding

started doing research working on wind

procedures. So I’m doing what I wanted

turbines. And then, the same people on

to do.

[my] team, moved to work in a steel making company. I went there to design

Can you shed some light on what is

testing machines. So I designed some

the differences on academia and

fatigue testers and some tribological

industry?

testers for machine friction. And I’m very proud one of those that I did in the year

The most important difference is that in

2000 and 1993 is still working. They have

industry, the goals are very well-defined

used it recently to test a product…So

and the path to obtain the goals are

that was a steel making company and

typically well-known. So, if you’re smart

from then, I had good connections with

and you invest effort, almost always

the people doing steel research. I got a

you’re gonna get to where you want to

fellowship to study abroad it was

get. In academics, it’s the opposite—the

connected with these people who were

goals are not so clearly defined, and the

doing steel. Now the funny thing is that

path is unknown by definition because

although my PhD is from materials

you’re learning, you’re researching, the

engineering, my approach is very much

students are learning. So that’s the most

that of a mechanical engineer because

important difference that requires a very

it’s about the heat transfer, it’s about

different type of skillset. In industry, you

quantitative, deterministic, calculations

must accomplish. You get the job done.

and an approach to designing materials

In academics, it’s how you get there

processes. And eventually, I got into

more important than what you got. Also

welding. But for example, I’m not a

in industry, you are responsible for the

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The Bridge

February/March 2018

product of your work. Maybe you have a

them, and they’re not perfect but why

team. But in academics, the product of

that person and not another is not so

my work is the education of future

clear. [Perhaps] there’s this excitement

engineers, at all levels: from the

about [learning about] the fundamentals

bachelors in the classes I teach to more

and why we do the things we do…If

advanced in students doing their masters

anybody wanted to follow my path, the only thing I would suggest is to follow

and PhD’s.

what they love. And then they might follow a different path. The real challenge

Do you have any advice for students

is knowing what you love. And I think

who want to follow your path?

that’s the biggest challenge.

Well you realize, that advise is imparted

"I didn’t choose my path, as much as my path chose me."

by wise people. I’m not to sure if I’m in that crowd. But I can tell you my story. I didn’t choose my path, as much as my path chose me. To give you a little bit of my story, when I finished my PhD, I found myself unemployed, because I didn’t want to go back to industry, but I thought academics were working too hard for too little a reward. So my adviser thought I wasn’t interested in academics. So I finished [my PhD], and then I realized that’s what I wanted to do. And I didn’t plan an academic path. Regardless the things I said or I thought, that’s where my heart took me. And my choice of doing a PhD was not a cost-benefit. My choice of PhD was is because...it’s the way you marry a person. It’s because you like

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