INNOVATION March-April 2016

c ommun i t y Branch Tours College’s Oil and Gas Training Facility In northeastern British Columbia, multiple industries, including agriculture, forestry, renewable energy, and oil and gas, flourish. APEGBC’s Peace River Branch had received requests from members to tour the region’s oil and gas facilities. However, the dangers and safety requirements of the oil and gas industry made arranging tours in this industry difficult. Fortunately, an alternative was available. Branch members connected with Northern Lights College, BC’s energy college, to tour its simulated well-site and drilling-rig facility in Fort St. John. Over the years, the college has received donations of equipment used in oil and gas exploration, extraction, and transportation processes from industry partners and stakeholders. The equipment includes a drilling rig, service rig, flare stack, pumpjack, pigging station, and gas processing, separation units, dehydration, and sweetening. The units are retrofitted to operate at lower pressures, making for a safe training environment. Fourteen APEGBC members toured the facility. Northern Lights College President and CEO Bryn Kylmatycki and Associate Dean of Trades and Apprenticeships Robert McAleney provided two hours of knowledge sharing, and students demonstrated their knowledge of the energy industry. The safe training environment meant members could enter simulated processing facilities and operate valves that moved compressed air. Imagine the Possibilities: National Engineering and Geoscience Month 2016 March is National Engineering and Geoscience Month (NEGM). This year, the NEGM theme is Imagine the Possibilities . By looking

is one of the ways APEGBC is promoting the professions within the community and working to ensure there are enough future engineers and geoscientists. Other activities to promote the professions within the community include Science Games, NEGM Challenge, and branch and career- awareness events. The association also promoted the professions through: Videos: In each video, APEGBC followed two of our members around their job sites to see what they do as a professional engineer or professional geoscientist. Online Ads: To reach residents throughout BC, APEGBC ran two 15-second online video ads on the Vancouver Sun and Post Media webpages, and one ad on the Victoria Times Colonist online newspaper. Print Ads: Throughout March, APEGBC placed advertisements in the following newspapers: Alaska Highway News, Kelowna Daily Courier, Kamloops This Week, Prince George Citizen, Vancouver Sun and Victoria Times Colonist.

through the eyes of a professional engineer or professional geoscientist, we can view the world differently and better appreciate the work that goes into engineering and geoscience projects. To demonstrate this, APEGBC used various media and NEGM events and activities to promote the professions and the roles of engineers and geoscientists in our communities. “The work of professional engineers and professional geoscientists lives all around us,” says Ann English, P.Eng., APEGBC CEO and Registrar. “They see the world through a different lens—they are explorers, problem solvers, and inventors.” Captivating kids with science and encouraging today’s students to consider careers in engineering and geoscience

Posters: To reach the younger generation of engineers and geoscientists, APEGBC placed posters in select, high-traffic areas at Simon Fraser University, University of British Columbia, and the British Columbia Institute of Technology. To view the ads and videos, visit apeg.bc.ca/NEGM.

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