Engineering Conversations

Send us a textDo you pride yourself in how your organize your organics, recycling, and garbage materials for pick-up?  Or do you just throw everything together in one bin?  Clearly, if materials are organized properly it makes it much easier to process them at the relevant facility.In this episode we sit down with Sam Dietrich to learn about his career, which has seen him working in robotics and programming.  Sam has a background in Industrial Systems engineering, and minors in both Electronics and Software Systems engineering.  Sam is the CEO at Prairie Robotics, which uses smart technologies to help clients gather data during the collection of recycling, organics, and garbage materials.  This data can then be used to help educate residents on how to organize their recyclables, organics, and garbage for collection.  Sam talks about his experience at university, his initial work experiences after graduation, and what led to the creation of Prairie Robotics.  Sam also offers advice to young people thinking about a career in engineering.

Send us a textSteel can be found everywhere in our day-to-day lives.  It is in our appliances, our vehicles, our houses, work environments and more.  Steel is used widely in manufacturing countless products.  The production of steel is a complicated process and engineers from several disciplines work in this industry.In this episode we sit down with Kamille Brunwald to learn about her career in the steel industry.  Kamille has a background in Environmental Systems engineering and works at InterPro Pipe and Steel.  In this conversation we learn about the production of steel from recycled metals.  Kamille talks about the work she does to help with environmental compliance, reducing environmental footprints, and more.  Kamille also offers advice to young people thinking about a career in engineering.

Send us a textDid you know that there is an entire field of engineering that studies how structures interact with soil and rock?  The engineering mechanics of these interactions help engineers design infrastructure including, roadways, buildings, lagoons, and much more.  Prior to any construction, geotechnical and environmental engineers are often involved in site assessment and during the lifetime of a project they can be involved in monitoring a site and handling remediation measures.  The opportunities for interesting and meaningful projects are endless.In this episode we sit down with Wayne Clifton to learn about his extensive career in geotechnical and environmental engineering.  Wayne is the CEO and founder of the Clifton Engineering Group.  With close to sixty years of experience working on a countless number of projects, Wayne is recognized as one of the pioneers in geotechnical engineering and has been recognized for his contributions to the field.  In this conversation, Wayne highlights his journey into engineering, his early career, and the creation of his company.  Wayne also offers advice to young people thinking about a career in engineering.

Send us a textHave you ever considered that buildings are more than just a structure?  In fact, buildings have complicated systems that help the building achieve its design goals.  These include systems for heating, ventilation, air conditioning, fire protection, plumbing, electrical, and more!  Engineers design these systems so that buildings can be functional, safe, and energy efficient.In this episode we sit down with Tom Atkins to learn about his career as a mechanical engineer.  Tom spent close to 40 years working in consulting and retired as a Vice-President in the Buildings Group at Stantec.  During his career he worked on a number of large building projects.  In this conversation, he talks about his background in mechanical engineering and some of the projects he worked on.  He also offers advice to young people thinking about a career in engineering.

Send us a textEngineering and athletics might not be two things that people think go together.  It turns out that a lot of engineering students are involved in athletics.  Being a student-athlete is a big commitment as students have to balance both their academic and athletic responsibilities.In this bonus episode we sit down Ryder Varga to hear about his experience as a student-athlete.  Ryder studied Environmental Systems engineering and played for the University of Regina Rams football team while he was a student.  In his final year he was drafted to the Canadian Football League, and for the past three years he has been playing professional football!  In this conversation he talks about his time as a student-athlete and he shares some stories from his professional football career.  Ryder also offers advice to future student-athletes.