By: President Tara Zrymiak, P.Eng., FEC
We’re all in this together – from welcoming geoscientists into the Association 20 years ago, to working with our sister regulators to optimize our service to the public across the country, to consulting with other self-regulating professions in our province in areas of common interest like continuing professional development. When we work together, everybody wins!
In March of 1997, APES/APEGS President Henry Feldkamp, P.Eng. said, “Professional engineers and geoscientists have joined forces to provide even more value-added services for a safe and prosperous quality of life for all,” and Highways and Transportation Minister Andy Renaud said, “The marriage of these two groups is a logical result of today’s increasingly complex society.”
Since then, APEGS has been proud to include several geoscientists on each council and to work together and share learnings between our closely connected professions. The way I see it, geoscience is the starting point for a lot of what engineers do because engineers use the information and data from geological study of the Earth as the basis for most of our applied science. Geoscientists may comprise less than 10 per cent of our membership but they are important contributors to our overall mandate.
You will see in the APEGS Annual Report each year summaries of the annual activity of a number of geoscience-based groups including Geoscientists Canada, the geology departments and geology student clubs at the U of R and the U of S and the Saskatchewan Geological Society (SGS). All of these groups make impressive contributions to the advancement of geoscience in the province. For example, over the past year the SGS has sponsored 13 technical presentations on topics ranging from rethinking the cretaceous climate to modelling uranium deposits to the NASA mission to Pluto. They also sent a number of students on a field trip to Jasper/Hinton, held a golf tournament, published their popular geological calendar and put on what has been rated as the best open house in the country this year.
I was pleased to be invited to the annual SGS Awards Banquet recently, where their outgoing president, Ryan Morelli, P. Geo., gave an engaging address titled “Some Thoughts on the Link Between Geology and Art.” He first took us all on a pictorial tour with his family of the wonderful architecture and sculptures in Rome. He went on to discuss rock as a medium for art and as an inspiration for art of many forms: paintings of geological features (including Group of Seven depictions of the Gunnar Mine here in Saskatchewan), novels like Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne and even poetry such as “Volcanoes be in Sicily” by Emily Dickinson.
There are also many examples of movies with a geological basis, although sometimes the science in these is questionable to say the least. Ryan even found references to geology on the small screen. Any of you who have seen The Big Bang Theory will be aware of Sheldon Cooper’s claim that “Geology is the Kardashian of science.”
I have recently been on three trips representing APEGS. First I was in Fredericton for the Engineers Geoscientists New Brunswick AGM, where I heard about an intriguing trial being undertaken by NB Power to optimize power usage in the province by implementing a smart grid. I then travelled to Whitehorse for the Engineers Yukon AGM, where they have initiated discussions with the government to consider adding geoscientists to their association. The spring meeting of the Engineers Canada board in Ottawa was very interesting with pending adjustments due to the CEO change and discussions about strategic planning and evolution of the accreditation process. The recurring themes throughout the three days of meetings were focus and transparency. I am looking forward to attending the Annual Meetings of APEGA and PEO in April as well.
As I head into the final few months of my term as APEGS President, this is my last message in The Professional Edge. To say that serving the Association in this role has been an honour and a privilege is a gross understatement, as it has been a tremendous growth experience for me personally as well. Participating in the board meetings of Engineers Canada and Geoscientists Canada, annual meetings of most of our sister associations (apologies to Newfoundland Labrador and Quebec) and PNWER summits has opened my eyes to the multitude of different ways and means that can be employed to achieve the same general needs. I hope that I was able to pass some of these learnings back to our own Association and members through my participation in Council, board and committee meetings as well as many other events.
I would like to thank all the members of Council and especially Executive Committee members Ernie Barber, Stormy Holmes, P. Eng., Margaret Anne Hodges, P. Eng., FEC and Bob McDonald, P. Eng., LL.B, FEC for their support and encouragement throughout the year. I would also like to thank all of the staff in the APEGS office – it’s a cliché, but it’s true that we couldn’t do it without them. I also want to thank my family for their support, specifically my daughter Alexandra for being my proofreader/editor and my mom Doreen for being my travelling companion.
Last, I want to thank the membership for giving me the opportunity to serve you as President. I hope I was able to do justice to the trust you placed in me and I look forward to continuing to be involved in this great organization.
TOP: Leah McDonald, President Zrymiak, Tammy Roney by the USS Klondike in Whitehorse.
ABOVE: President Zrymiak presenting Colton Vessey with the Walter Kupsch Award at the SGS AGM.