Awardees

Read more about each of this year's esteemed Ontario Professional Engineers Awards (OPEA) recipients and their contributions to the engineering profession.

Engineering Medal – Engineering Excellence

Goldie Nejat, PhD., P.Eng.
PROFESSOR AND CANADA RESEARCH CHAIR IN ROBOTS FOR SOCIETY, UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO

Dr. Goldie Nejat is an associate professor in the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering at the University of Toronto, founder and director of the Autonomous Systems and Biomechatronics (ASBLab) Laboratory, and an adjunct scientist at the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute. She is an internationally recognized leader in the development of assistive and service robotics for healthcare, eldercare, emergency response, search and rescue, surveillance and manufacturing applications.

Dr. Nejat’s robots were the first to recognize human emotion during interactions and respond with their own emotion-based assistive behaviours. These robots are used to meet the challenges posed by an aging population and designed as a therapeutic tool to engage people suffering from dementia or have suffered a stroke. She has also pioneered the development of light sensors and learning-based controllers for robotic navigation and 3D map building in urban search and rescue environments. This allows the robots to explore cluttered environments and search for trapped victims more effectively. Her work is constantly pushing the capabilities of current robots and is improving the well-being and safety of individuals.

Dr. Nejat’s achievements are published in 185 international journal and conference papers, including the IEEE Transaction on Cybernetics and Journal of Field Robotics, and was awarded with the prestigious NSERC University Faculty Award. She was also nominated as Canada Research Chair (CRC) in Robots for Society.

Charles MICHAEL Southwood, BSc, P.Eng.
Chief Engineering Officer, Eastern Power

Over the course of his 58-year engineering career in the electrical power sector, Charles Michael Southwood has helped expand Ontario’s electrical grid by more than 300 per cent.

In the late 60s, most generation was water or thermal; now the grid is primarily nuclear, with a significant component of renewable energy as well as gas fired generation. Southwood was directly involved in over 8000 MW of capacity being connected to the grid with appropriate protection, control, metering and commissioning. Much of this responsibility was at a senior level, as chief electrical engineer, or as senior protection and control engineer. Notable projects include the Darlington and Pickering nuclear stations, as well as the Cherrywood Transformer Station. Each of these stations are some of the largest of their kind worldwide.

Southwood brought his electrical expertise to all types of power generation: nuclear and thermal projects, as well as renewables including wind, hydro electric, biogas, and research and development projects. In many of these projects, standards for protections and control had to be advanced and modified to suit the ongoing advancement in technology. He helped develop protective relays, new control technologies and communication techniques, including computerization and digitization of protection and control systems and protocols.

Engineering Medal – Management

LAURA CONQUERGOOD, BSC.ENG., P.ENG.
VP OPERATIONS, BAYLI MEDICAL

As an engineering manager, Laura Conquergood has helped transform Baylis Medical from a 30-person organization to more than 400 across three sites.
In her early years at Baylis, Conquergood was instrumental in developing three new pain management devices and filing 19 patent applications, eight of which became granted patents.
As the company grew, its quality systems needed to be ramped up to maintain its accreditation. While continuing her R&D work, Conquergood transformed Baylis’ Quality Management System and ultimately took on the leadership of the Quality team, divesting its primary pain management business to Kimberly-Clark. The move allowed the firm redefine itself as a cardiology company.
When Conquergood moved into the director of operations role, she led company's expansion from one building to three sites, managing the entire project including selection and purchase of property, hiring and managing contractors and sub-contractors, dealing with governmental authorities, and coordinating internally.
One of Conquergood’s greatest achievements is to embed a continuous improvement ethos into the organization; and as a manager, her strength is fostering personal growth in those around her. Her success can be seen in Baylis's leadership team, which is full of her former mentees. In the nineteen years since Conquergood first joined Baylis as a co-op student, her creativity and capacity for innovation have taken her from designing devices, to growing her team's capabilities, to growing the company's capabilities while staying true to the firm’s patient-centric values.

Howard Goodfellow, PhD., P.Eng., FCAE, FEC
President and CEO, Goodfellow Business Enterprises

Over the course of Howard Goodfellow's long engineering management career, he has led companies providing engineering consulting and design services to over 1000 clients.
Following a 16-year tenure with Hatch Associates, where he developed and grew the company’s Environment, Health and Safety Division, he founded Goodfellow Consultants Inc., a niche engineering company focused on ventilation, industrial hygiene and healthy buildings.
In 1996, he became president of Goodfellow Technologies Ltd., and in 1998 as vice president of Stantec Global Technologies Ltd., was responsible for developing the Goodfellow Electric Furnace System Optimization Program (EFSOP). He commercialized this technology, designed to optimize the steelmaking process and reduce contaminant emissions from electric arc furnaces. In 2005, Tenova acquired the EFSOP technology group and Tenova Goodfellow Inc. (TGI), was formed. Under his management, TGI became a global leader and established longstanding collaborations with engineers at the University of Toronto's Combustion Research Laboratory. Technology developed through the collaboration has been integrated into TGl systems, resulting in a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions of more than 200,000 tonnes and electricity consumption by over 300 gigawatt-hours, as well as reduced operating costs in the electric arc furnace market by as much as $90 million.
Dr. Goodfellow has trained generations of young Canadian engineers in leading-edge technology, preparing them to effectively compete in the global marketplace.

Engineering Medal – Research and Development

PASCALE CHAMPAGNE, PhD, P.Eng., D.WRE, F.ASCE, F.EWRI, F.CAE
PROFESSOR & CANADA RESEARCH CHAIR IN BIORESOURCES ENGINEERING, QUEENS UNIVERSITY

A professor in civil and chemical engineering and Tier II Canada Research Chair in bioresources engineering at Queen’s University, Dr. Pascale Champagne has earned international renown for her research on the development of alternate water and waste management strategies and environmentally sustainable approaches on integrated bioresource management.

She has made a substantial impact on the improvement of wastewater treatment by optimizing passive wastewater treatment systems as low energy technologies for Canadian climate applications. This technology provides effective, low-maintenance, and low-cost treatment of domestic wastewaters, agricultural runoff, landfill leachate, and acid mine drainage. Her work on the assessment of urban water systems incorporated important health and operational factors, defining best practices for management and control of disinfection by-products in drinking water.

Dr. Champagne’s contributions to bioresource engineering are equally impactful. Two projects have established her as a world leader in this field: the conversion of micro- and macroalgal biomass to fuel using CO2 switchable solvents, and the replacement of petroleum-based materials with renewal natural resources. In 2017, she was nominated for the International ENI Award for Advanced Environmental Solutions.

Jing Jiang, BESc., MESc., Ph.D., P.Eng., F. CAE, F.EIC, F.IET, F.ISA, F.IEEE, F.ANS
Professor and NSERC/UNENE Senior Industry Research Chair, University of Western Ontario

Over 30+ years as a professional engineer, Dr. Jing Jiang has made outstanding contributions in research, development and education in nuclear engineering. A NSERC/UNENE Senior Industrial Research Chair since 2003, he spearheaded several research projects that have resulted in significant technological advancements, including work on wireless sensor networks for nuclear power applications and the development of a real-time nuclear power plant simulator to support instrumentation and control research.
Dr. Jiang has established two research laboratories, one dedicated to nuclear power plant instrumentation and control, and the other to distributed generation and microgrid systems. The laboratories house state-of-the-art research facilities so students are trained with advanced skills meeting the needs of industries. He has secured over $17M to support the R&D activities and training for future engineers. He has personally trained over 17 Post-Doctoral Fellows, 30 Doctoral, 40 Master's, and over 100 Bachelor's students so far.
He has published over 170 peer-reviewed journal and 180 conference papers, in addition 8 book/monographs. The academic impact of his research can be measured with over 12,500 citations. He has also written one chapter in the Essential CANDU book, which is a favorite reference among engineers working in CANDU industries.

Engineering Medal – Entrepreneurship

Jeff Westeinde, BESc., P.Eng.
President, Zibi Canada

Following graduation in engineering studies at Western University in 1989, Jeff Westeinde, immediately started building his career as an engineering entrepreneur, co-founding the Quantum Environmental Group, a national environmental remediation and hazardous waste materials management company. The firm eventually merged 2007 with Murray Demolition, Canada's largest demolition contractor, to form Quantum Murray LP. Quantum Murray achieved revenues of $250 million and employed over 800 professionals from offices throughout British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Ontario under Westeinde’s leadership.
In 2003, Westeinde co-founded Windmill Development Group, a company focused on bringing green building practices into commercial application. His role involved providing expertise in remediating and developing brownfield sites in urban areas. Windmill built Canada's first LEED Platinum Community, the 'Dockside Green' in Victoria, BC, which was recognized as one of only 16 'Climate Positive' developments in the world by the Clinton Climate initiative.
Currently president of Zibi Canada, Westeinde is partnering with Ottawa-area First Nations to develop Zibi, an ambitious $1.7 billion real estate development project between Ottawa and Gatineau on the Ottawa River. Deemed undevelopable due to heavy contamination and land claim issues, Jeff has worked with all levels of government, engaged the Algonquin Anishinabe people and found ways to break down the barriers. He worked closely with Decontie Construction (an Algonquin Anishinabe general contractor) on this project: leveraging his networks; spreading their message; acting as their Page 6 of 7

champion with federal and provincial governments; and assisting them to employ dozens of Algonquin Anishinabe women and men in meaningful work on this project.

Engineering Medal – Young Engineer

Yin YU Rachel Zhang, P.Eng., CCE
Clinical Engineer, Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario

Rachel Zhang is a clinical engineer at Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario with a focus on developing specifications of clinical equipment. She is a key contributor in the development of the Ontario Neonatal Transport Incubator, a mobile intensive care unit specifically developed to transport newborns safely to the nearest acute care facility. Collaborating with multiple Ontario hospitals, the design and development of the transport system is equipped with the latest medical technology that meets Canadian air and ground ambulance transportation regulations. This project is viewed by professionals as the route to take when implementing this technology at their facilities.

Zhang also managed a hospital-wide patient monitor system upgrade and provided clinical training of nursing and physicians with an 80 per cent completion rate, and co-lead multiple teams on hardware and software installation and conversion. This has made a significant impact on the improvement of communication, collaboration and streamlined processes within departments, which resulted in improved patient care. Her achievements are internationally known in the clinical engineering field. She presented her approach at the European Medical and Biological Engineering Conference and won the Outstanding Teamwork Award by the IFMBE-CED for her Clinical Engineering Department.

Understanding the importance of encouraging young professionals in the STEM field, she participates in conferences, gives guided tours to students at her workplace and mentors young interns into the field of clinical engineering. Zhang was also featured in an Engineering Dimensions article, “Reaching 30 by 30”, as an example of women working in engineering.

Award for Engineering Project or Achievement

National Arts Centre Rejuvenation
Ian Boyle, P.Eng.
Principal Engineer, Fast + Epp

A Canada 150 project, the National Arts Centre Architectural Rejuvenation and Production Renewal project represents the first significant capital investment in the National Arts Centre since its opening in 1969. As one of Canada's Centennial projects the National Arts Centre provides a national venue for Canada's arts and culture sector, specifically in the realm of the performing arts.
Led by structural engineers Fast + Epp, the scope for the project included three new connected wings, two new floors of lobby, cultural programming enclosed by a custom glass curtain wall, a grand staircase, and a hexagonal tower overlooking the Rideau Canal. It sought to re-orient the entry of the building to connect the centre to the flow of downtown Ottawa. It also recaptured significant exterior terrace space and brought it inside to make it available year round. The new space offers spectacular views of the Parliamentary Precinct and makes the Centre a welcoming public space.
Fast + Epp’s experiences with similarly high-profile projects meant the team was well prepared to take on a project of such scope, despite its challenging schedule. Working in close collaboration with the design-builder, StructureCraft, Fast + Epp developed a heavy timber structure and a glass-and-steel curtain wall to wrap the structure’s north side, as well as triangular glulam coffers that would be prefabricated off-site with integrated mechanical, electrical and sprinkler systems. Integration significantly sped-up construction times and protected the timber from harsh weather – the roof was installed in just three weeks. They provided site engineering services at key stages of the project and helped to develop a seamless collaboration between the NAC, general contractors and structural trade contractors.
All this work was done within the context of maintaining one of the busiest production schedules in North America. The National Arts Centre stages approximately 1300 shows, performances and events annually. The two projects represented an opportunity for artists, theatre production teams, specialized technical trades, engineers and architects to work together on a project of national significance and in an atmosphere of true collaboration and connection. Fast+ Epp's structural design embodies function and beauty. The engineers' finesse of the coffer and column system brought to life the architectural homage to the original building plan geometry, enabled concurrent M&E system fit-up during pre-assembly and was the key factor in achieving an aggressive construction schedule.
Fast+ Epp have made a significant contribution to an important Canadian institution and to an important and vibrant part of Canada's built heritage.

Awardees

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