Report on Engineering Schools 2

Students savour green content

More engineering courses and extracurricular activities are catering to a growing interest in environmental issues among engineering students

PAUL LIMA

Special to The Globe and Mail

May 5, 2008

Peter Topalovic is working as an intern with the city of Hamilton, Ont., on sustainability infrastructure programs. One might expect to find a civil engineering graduate helping a city go green, rather than a computer engineer. But Mr. Topalovic spent an extra year at McMaster University so he could graduate from "computer engineering and society," a combined program that allowed him to develop technical skills and explore the social aspects of engineering.

"We looked at the implications of technology at the design stage, including how design affects the environment, and how engineering can be used to prevent environmental problems," says Mr. Topalovic, 29, who will complete his master's of engineering and public policy in September.

Among other things, the master's program makes engineers aware of the lifecycle of products - design, use, discard -and how waste can be reduced by using less material or by maximizing reuse and recycling. He is also studying how government policies, voluntary corporate governance and private-public partnerships can help foster a greener approach to design, manufacturing, ecosystems and waste reduction.

"Technology development, too, often goes along unchecked, without looking at the consequences," Mr. Topalovic says.

"As engineers, we have to ask how to mitigate negative consequences. We have to think about the future now, which can be difficult," as his course of study demonstrated. For example, nanotechnology might revolutionize the production of solar panels but a great deal of uncertainty surrounds the effect nanoparticles may have on health and the environment. "There is a lot of promise in the technology, but will short-term gain lead to long-term pain?" he wonders.

Mr. Topalovic may not be a typical engineering graduate, but he thinks he is starting to represent a change in attitude in engineering. "There is a trend towards more responsible engineering. It's not large, but is definitely growing."

McMaster statistics support that view. About 10 per cent, or 200 students, of the school's engineering students are enrolled in five-year programs that include environmental courses and components, says David Wilkinson, dean of engineering.

Students in five-year programs can take courses in psychology, drama or language, as well as courses that help them see where engineering "fits into the context of societal events," says Brian Baetz, director of the five-year Engineering and Society program. He says the school is training "the renaissance engineer" with technical, critical thinking, analytical, research and writing skills. "They can do the nitty-gritty but they can also step back and ask if there are solutions that use fewer resources, or even ask if a project is needed."

McMaster has been offering five-year programs for 15 years and green studies are becoming more important to the university and its students, Mr. Wilkinson says.

However, students don't have be part of a five-year program to take courses that address green issues. "Sustainable manufacturing process" is a popular elective that four-year engineering students in a variety of disciplines take. Chemical engineering students take courses dealing with biotechnology; the civil engineering program includes water resource management courses; and engineering physics has a number of courses related to nuclear technology. In addition, McMaster, like many other universities, offers graduate engineering programs that target environmental issues.

Undergrad engineering programs are starting to include environmental courses, "but the more pervasive invasion is green topics in many existing courses and in extracurricular activities," says Bruce Dunwoody, associate dean, engineering programs at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.

For example, UBC students in a first-year course complete four case studies dealing with how to approach problems.

One professor is passionate about sustainability and her case studies focus on how to develop more sustainable projects.

Engineering student clubs and extracurricular activities often focus on green initiatives, such as the international Supermileage competition in which engineering and technology students design and build a single-person, fuel-efficient vehicle.

Last year, UBC's Supermileage Team placed first (for the fourth year in a row), beating 40 teams from Canada, the United States and India. The 36-kilogram, carbon-fibre vehicle with a 54cc engine set a course record of 3,145 miles per gallon, beating the closest rival by more than 1,300 miles per gallon.

As well, the UBC chapter of Engineers Without Borders has designed an irrigation pump for use in developing countries; the club looked at simplifying the design and using materials that might be available in remote villages. Leather was used to create gaskets because it is more likely to be available and is easier to repair so the pump does not have to be fixed by a plumber, Dr. Dunwoody notes.

Not all university administrators are gung-ho about having green courses as part of undergrad engineering programs, however.

"Environmental issues are extremely complex and should be examined at the post-graduate level," says Dr. René Tinawi, acting dean of engineering at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology in Oshawa.

Speaking personally, he says he believes students should obtain classical technical skills at the undergrad level and then specialize in post-graduate programs. "Some universities are touching on [environmental programs] because it is fashionable or to attract more students. You become a doctor first, before you become a heart surgeon. We need to do major surgery on the environment and it's complicated."

Having said that, Dr. Tinawi points out that undergrad engineering students complete a thesis project in their final year and some chose to examine green issues, such as making air conditioners or heat pumps more efficient.

Many engineering students are interested in green initiatives, even if green concepts are not part of their course of study, says James Goh, a computer engineering student at the University of Waterloo.

He's also director of the Waterloo Alternative Fuel Team, an environmental club that integrates alternate fuels with existing automobiles, such as converting a gas-powered vehicle into a propane-powered one, or replacing an internal combustion engine with one that runs on hydrogen. Computer engineering plays a part in such vehicles because they use computerized signal controls, rather than gears and shafts, to ensure the alternative fuels propel the vehicle.

Mr. Goh says that while the "green content is quite low" in many of his engineering courses, students can get involved in going green - if they want to.

Report on Engineering Schools

'The demand is enormous' in energy and mining

Retiring workers and the rocketing need for resources mean graduates with technical skills will be scooped up, experts say

TERRENCE BELFORD

Special to The Globe and Mail

May 5, 2008

Aaron White has suddenly found his services in as much demand as the latest version of Grand Theft Auto. The 29-year-old is about to graduate with a certificate as a petroleum engineering technologist from the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology in Calgary and already has several job offers.

Two years ago he was an underemployed University of Calgary graduate working as a server in a restaurant. Today he can command a starting salary of between $60,000 and $65,000 a year.

"A couple of years ago I looked around this city and realized the future was in energy," Mr. White says. "But energy companies don't want people with basic bachelor of science degrees; they want people with technical skills, so I went back to school.

"The demand is enormous."

Enormous indeed, say researchers, educators and the industry itself. Canada's wealth of natural resources puts it centre stage on world markets. The question is, can we supply all the engineers, scientists and technologists that will be needed to get those resources out of the ground and into the hands of eager consumers?

In Alberta, provincial forecasts suggest there will be a shortage of 6,000 energy industry engineers within 10 years, says Elizabeth Cannon, dean of the Schulich School of Engineering at the University of Calgary.

The mining industry will need 92,000 more workers by 2017 and a significant chunk will be engineers and engineering technologists, says Ryan Montpellier, executive director of the Mining Industry Human Resources Council in Ottawa.

The fact is, universities alone can not cope with the huge surge in demand, says Anis Farah, director of the school of engineering at Laurentian University in Sudbury. His school will graduate just 15 to 17 mining, chemical and mechanical engineers this year, although Laurentian is now gearing up to significantly increase its class sizes.

Currently only nine universities offer mining engineering, Dr. Farah says. And those nine graduate only between 120 and 150 new mining engineers a year, says Mr. Montpellier.

"Three years ago, our first-year class for all engineering courses was just 20, last year it was 80 and this fall we will have 110 students," Dr. Farah says. "Meeting the enormous demand for engineers in this sector is a major challenge. I am not at all certain if industry has any solutions."

University administrators say a number of factors are lining up to create a wave that may overwhelm Canada's ability to capitalize on the huge global demand for its resources.

As Mary MacDonald, dean of the MacPhail School of Energy at SAIT, points out, global appetite for oil and gas seems certain to continue well beyond the next decade. With world oil prices predicted to hit the $200 a barrel mark, and with Canada sitting on what many suggest is the second-largest oil reserves in the world, this country is well positioned to benefit.

Alberta alone has between $100-billion and $150-billion in new oil projects on the drawing board right now, says Dr. Cannon.

At the same time, however, demographics are working against us, Ms. MacDonald says. The huge bulge of baby boomers is now nearing retirement and the next generation is significantly leaner in numbers.

"About 25 per cent of all petroleum technicians are now in their 50s," she notes.

In the mining industry a third of all university-trained engineers are over 50, adds Mr. Montpellier.

"We just can't meet demand," says Dr. Cannon. "There is not enough money to expand university classes to that level - even if we could find the students. This year we will graduate 450 engineers in total with half of them going to the energy industry. We have plans to increase enrolment to about 600 but that still will not be enough."

Meeting future needs will depend on a mix of expanding university and technical college graduates, providing Canadian credentials for foreign-educated newcomers, and recruiting from overseas, she adds.

"About 95 per cent of our students are now new Canadians who may be qualified in their own country but don't have Canadian qualifications," says SAIT's Ms. MacDonald.

"At the same time in Alberta, only between 30 per cent and 40 per cent of high school students are going on to higher education. The salaries offered by the energy industry are just too great a draw," she says.

Those salaries start at $60,000 a year for technologists like Mr. White and can range as high as $80,000 for a newly minted mining engineer, says Laurentian's Dr. Farah. He adds that even his school's co-op program students are drawing between $3,500 and $4,000 a month while on work programs.

"We are even losing graduate students who drop out of their courses to take advantage of the money being offered by mining companies," he says. "The industry has given us grants to do research but we can't do it because we can't find the researchers to take on projects."

For new graduates like Mr. White, however, the resource industry's problems virtually guarantee a glowing future. His two-year SAIT course boosted his annual salary by about $25,000 a year and that will be just the starting point.

"There is enormous demand for people like me right now," he says, "and I can't see that changing."

WHERE THE JOBS WILL BE

Within four years, Canada's oil and gas industry will need thousands of new engineers and technologists, says the Calgary-based Petroleum Human Resources Council.

Northern Alberta's oil sands alone will demand more than 1,000 college- and university-trained professionals. The council estimates the oil sands will need about 5,250 new people by 2012, in addition to the 2,780 now working there. Here are some of the jobs the council predicts will be in significant demand in Alberta:

Process engineers

Mechanical engineers

Chemical engineers

Power engineers

Instrument technicians.

In the East Coast oil and gas fields, only about 25 per cent of the current work force is aged 45 or older, compared with about 40 per cent in Alberta, the council says. As a result, Alberta will need more new professionals to replace older ones leaving the field.

In Newfoundland and Labrador, the expected areas of demand include:

Engineering technicians and technologists

Production technicians

Instrumentation and electronics technicians

Surveyor technologists.

In Nova Scotia, the need will be for geologists and engineers, the council says, such as:

Well engineers

Marine engineers

Drilling engineers

Structural engineers

Mechanical engineers

Electrical engineers.

Terrence Belford

Highly educated but poorly paid

Source: www.globeandmail.com

COLIN PERKEL

Canadian Press

May 1, 2008 at 8:59 AM EDT

TORONTO — Piloting his cab through the congested streets of Toronto, Ifzal Ahmad is looking forward to the day when he can come up with $35,000 for a course that should allow him to again become a mechanical engineer.

Despite 15 years in his profession in India, the 47-year-old married father of three — like so many other new arrivals to Canada — has found himself in a relatively low-skilled job because his qualifications aren't recognized here.

The latest data on income and earnings from the 2006 census released Thursday by Statistics Canada shows that highly skilled immigrants — the country's preferred newcomer — have a long row to hoe once they arrive, and it shows in the amount of money they earn.

The past quarter century has seen the earnings gap between recent immigrant workers and Canadian-born ones widen dramatically.

In 1980, recent immigrant men earned 85 cents for every dollar of their Canadian-born counterparts. In 2005, that number plummeted to 63 cents. The drop was even more pronounced for immigrant women, who went from earning 85 cents by comparison in 1980 to only 56 cents in 2005.

Having a university degree didn't help either.

Recent immigrant men holding a degree earned only 48 cents for each dollar their university educated, Canadian-born counterparts did. Some 30 per cent of male immigrants with a university degree worked in jobs that required no more than a high-school education — more than twice the rate of those born in Canada.

The gap was actually less for non-university educated immigrants, who earned 61 cents to every dollar earned by their Canadian-born counterparts.

“That's not right because when you apply for immigration, they check all your degrees and send all your degrees to Canada for verification,” Mr. Ahmad said after dropping off his latest fare.

The lack of recognition of his qualifications or experience in a textiles factory managing 2,000 people, he said, came as a huge blow, as did the dilemma of trying to get Canadian experience when no one will give him work.

“Wherever you apply for a job, they say, 'Do you have Canadian education? Do you have Canadian experience?”'

The reason for the dramatic divide, Statistics Canada reported Thursday, was the decline in the information and communication technologies sector between 2000 and 2004. A disproportionately high share of those workers were trained in computer sciences and engineering, the agency said.

René Morissette, lead analyst with Statistics Canada, said it is well documented that foreign experience has been increasingly undervalued.

The trend started in 1980, when immigrants began to see their earnings level fall even though their educational levels “grew remarkably” compared to those of Canadian-born workers.

“The group of people that were hit the most were the older recent immigrants,” the analyst said.

“This amount of experience in your (home) country is no longer rewarded the way it used to be, if it has any rewards at all.”

Analysts have put forward several explanations for the disparity. Employers may simply not appreciate or trust the quality of higher education in a country with which they are unfamiliar.

It can also be challenging for employers faced with the usual issue of orienting new employees to deal with the added problem of taking on someone with different language skills or cultural values. Others wonder if there aren't simply too many newcomers for the labour market to absorb.

Then, there is perhaps the most sensitive issue.

“There might also simply be discrimination,” said Morissette. “But this is awfully hard to test empirically.”

The new census data do show the earnings gap for recent arrivals aged between 25 and 34 who completed the final phase of their higher education in Canada also fare worse than their Canadian-born counterparts, suggesting something beyond credential recognition is an issue.

Ernie Lightman, an economist at the University Toronto, is convinced employer discrimination is the real reason many immigrants struggle.

Mr. Lightman did a study in 2006 of former welfare recipients in Toronto that found the foreign-born, despite having relatively superior education levels, fared worse than their Canadian-born cohort, even when moving onto a second post-welfare job.

The study also found immigrants were actually worse off financially after leaving welfare.

“Clearly, their education was not useful or usable in Canada,” Mr. Lightman said.

“The only explanation I can come up with is discrimination or racism or barriers in the workforce.”

Mr. Lightman does concede that other issues, such as language skills may explain at least some of the discrepancy, but notes the earnings gap widened at the same time as immigrants became increasingly non-white.

“I cannot prove racism or discrimination, but I have no problem believing that's what's going on here for lack of a better explanation,” Mr. Lightman said.

Politicians across the country have recognized the significant barriers skilled foreigners face in landing on their feet in the workplace once they arrive in Canada.

Ontario, for example, legislated an independent agency a year ago to ensure skilled newcomers have fair access to 34 self-regulating professions with penalties of up to $100,000 for mistreatment.

Across the country, some self-regulating bodies have made a concerted effort to streamline their recognition procedures. For others, the process remains slow and painful.

“This is a Goliath and we're nibbling at its toes,” Timothy Welsh, of the Canadian Immigrant Settlement Sector Alliance, said from Vancouver.

“What we're seeing is a lot more collective will (but) whether that's making a difference for everybody right now is less clear because it's such a complex issue.”

Part of the problem relates to Canada's devolved federal system itself in which rules differ from province to province and, within that system, self-regulating bodies set their own rules for qualifications and standards of practice.

In all, there are about 400 licensing bodies in Canada — just for the various professions.

Last year, the federal government committed $30 million over five years to the new Foreign Credentials Referral Office, which is designed to help those trained abroad get their credentials assessed and recognized more quickly.

“Too many newcomers can't get jobs they have been trained for,” Immigration Minister Diane Finley said at the time. “That's a terrible waste, for them — and for the country.”

But Mr. Welsh, whose organization represents 450 immigrant and refugee service agencies across Canada, said while the office can provide information and general leadership, its scope remains limited as a federal body dealing with various provincial governments and provincially mandated agencies.

One area that needs to be looked at, he said, is whether Ottawa's focus on recruiting skilled professionals abroad even makes sense given, for example, the need for trades and unskilled labour in provinces such as B.C.

In the interim, Mr. Ahmad plans to apply soon for a provincial loan that will help him pay for a course he hopes will lead him back to the kind of career he believes he should be pursuing.

“If we get the opportunities, we can prove our worth,” Mr. Ahmad said.