INNOVATION July-August 2012

n ewsmaker s

Two outstanding members of APEGBC were recognized by Engineers Canada at an awards ceremony held in Niagara Falls, Ontario, in June—Catherine Roome PEng and Paul Blanchard PEng FEC. Electrical engineer Paul Blanchard PEng FEC was named 2012 recipient of the Meritorious Service Award for Professional Service for his dedicated and tireless volunteer work for the profession of engineering. Through his mentorship of young engineers and participa- tion on numerous committees, boards and task forces in leadership roles, he has demonstrated exemplary commitment to his profession. A past president of APEGBC, Blanchard served on Council for eight years and currently sits on the APEGBC Fair- ness Panel, Discipline Committee, and Benevolent Fund. At the national level, he has served on the Canadian Engineering Qualifications Board for the last seven years. Last year, he was recognized by APEGBC with the DC Lambert Professional Award. For her dedication to service, public safety and the advance-

Blanchard and Roome Honoured by Engineers Canada

ment of women in the engineering profession, President and CEO of the BC Safety Authority, Catherine Roome PEng received the Award for the Support of Women in the Engineering Profession. An electri- cal engineer with expertise in safety and risk management, Roome is recognized as a leader, role model and mentor. Actively promoting the value of engineering and gender diversity in the workplace through her support of organizations such as Westcoast Women in Engineer- ing, Science and Technology, and the Minerva Foundation for BC Women, she has encouraged young women to pursue engineering as a career. In October of last year, Roome was named the recipient of the RA McLachlan Memorial Award, APEGBC’s highest honour for a professional engineer.

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Paul Blanchard PEng FEC

Intellectual Property Lawyers O YEN W IGGS G REEN & M UTALA LLP

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Catherine Roome PEng

Mentoring Program Participants Share Successes APEGBC’s first mentoring spring mix and mingle event was held on April 19, 2012 at The Delta Hotel in Vancouver, BC. The event brought together partic- ipants of the APEGBC mentoring program, allowing them to meet other mentor-mentee pairs and learn new skills and techniques to take away and apply to their own mentoring relationships. The evening began with a short presentation on the new competency-based system for the evalu- ation of work experience. This new system pro- vides better guidance to applicants, reviewers and interviewers. It is currently an option for experience reporting for those applying through three areas of practice: structural, civil (municipal, infrastructure), and electrical (power, industrial). Additional disci- pline-specific indicators are also being developed.

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