INNOVATION January-February 2012

n ewsmaker s

With over 220 patents and patent applications,

Dr James McEwen PEng was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada on December 30, 2012. The Order recognizes a lifetime of outstanding achievement, dedication to the community and service to the nation. Currently adjunct professor in the department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Department of Orthopedics at UBC, McEwen is a recognized as a pioneer of Canadian biomedical engineering. He established the biomedical department at Vancouver General Hospital and developed a microprocessor- controlled automatic surgical tourniquet system that is widely used around the world. He was also a leading figure in the creation of the biomedical engineering programs at UBC and SFU.

Biomedical Engineering Pioneer Recognized with order of Canada

McEwen has been a founder and investor in a number of medical technology companies. He is president of Western Clinical Engineering Ltd, and founder and director of the Medical Device Development

Centre (MDDC), a not-for-profit organization that facilitates collaboration among companies, hospitals and universities to develop and evaluate new medical technologies.

Medal inaugurated in APEGBC Member’s Honour The International Society for Structural Health Monitoring of Intelligent Infrastructure (ISHMII) honoured Order of Canada member Dr Aftab Mufti PEng as it inaugurated the Aftab Mufti Medal for high achievement and innovation in civil structural health monitoring at its conference in December 2011. Dr Mufti is known for his contributions and leadership in the field of civil engineering, in particular, his dedication to the development of structural health monitoring. Dr Mufti is a co-founder of ISHMII and was its first president. The initial recipients of the Aftab Mufti Medal are Dr Urs Meier, past-Deputy Director General of EMPA, the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Testing and Research, and Dr Jan-Ming Koh, an emeritus professor of structural engineering at Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

Geoscientists Honoured at Mineral Exploration roundup Three APEGBC geoscientists were honoured with awards from the Association of Mineral Exploration BC (AME BC) during the Mineral Roundup Conference in Vancouver, BC. Chair of Pilot Gold, and founder, chair and CEO of Blue Gold Mining, Mark O’Dea PGeo is the recipient of the Murray Pezim Award, which recognizes perserverance and success in financing mineral exploration. O’Dea led junior exploration company Fronteer Gold from start up to sale for $2.3 billion. He also created Aurora Energy and arranged the sale of its uranium assets to Paladin Energy for $260 million in 2010. Ed Kimura PGeo received the Gold Pan Award for service to AME BC. Prior to retiring, Kimura was an exploration manager for Placer Dome. With decades of experience in production, planning, ore-grade control, exploration, and resource and reserves estimates, he has shared his industry insights through his active participation on a number of the association’s volunteer committees.

Starting with the BCGS in 1986, Lefebure became chief geologist in 2002. His work on the BC Mineral Deposit Profiles, a summary of mineral deposit information is a widely used resource in the exploration industry. A key player in the development and delivery of the BC Mining Plan, he played a major role in developing the BC mineral potential assessment. Correction In the November/December 2011 issue of Innovation , the article “Burnaby Lake Rejuvenation Strikes a Fine Balance” referred to Lambert Chu PEng as “Director of Planning,” for the City of Burnaby, in fact, his title is Director of Engineering. In the same issue, the chart “Legislative Framework – A Spectrum of Potential Models” on page 14 contained an error. An updated version of the chart is available at www.apeg.bc.ca/actmodernization/spectrum.pdf.

AME BC paid special tribute to former chief geologist of the British Columbia Geological Survey, Dr David Lefebure PGeo.

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