Geotechnical News • March 2019
29
From the CGS Board
CGS Young Professionals Icebreaker at GeoEdmonton, 2018
Rebecca Stevenson
This is the first contribution from the Canadian Geotechnical Society’s Young Professionals,
and was facilitated by Maraika DeGroot, CGS Young Professional Representative.
Students, early-career professionals,
and senior engineers and geoscientists
came together at the 71
st
CGS Annual
Conference, GeoEdmonton 2018, for
a Young Professionals Icebreaker. The
event was attended by approximately
100 conference delegates who were
keen to make new connections and
learn from more experienced Canadian
geotechnical professionals.
The event came together from a desire
to encourage more students and early-
career engineers and geoscientists to
become engaged in the geotechnical
community. National conferences
can often be overwhelming and it
helps to see some friendly faces in the
crowd. Young delegates networked
among their peers and with mentors
and, because the event was held on
the opening night of the conference, it
allowed the delegates to meet early in
the week and continue conversations
throughout the conference.
A short panel presentation was held
where panel members shared career
lessons learned and highlighted
important ways in which industry and
academia are changing. The panelists
included:
Diana Allen
, Professor in
the Department of Earth Sciences at
Simon Fraser University;
Kent
Bannister
, Vice President of Engi-
neering at Trek Geotechnical Inc.
and CGS Vice President Finance;
and
Suzanne Powell
, Associate and
Branch Manager at Thurber Engi-
neering Ltd. and CGS Vice President
Technical.
The panel discussion was facilitated
by
Emily Rowe
, BGC Engineering,
who guided the panel members to
share their experiences. The panel
commented on the things they wished
they knew when starting out, such as:
ask lots of questions; extend outside
of your comfort zone; take advantage
of opportunities that come your way;
be open to feedback; and the impor-
tance of doing technically strong work
and publishing it. The panel members
also shared some of their challenges,
including: the skill of really listen-
ing to clients; being adaptable; and
standing up for yourself when you
need to. When asked how the industry
has changed over time, the prevail-
ing comment was the increased use
of technology and amount of data
collected, as well as improved safety
standards.
The audience was certainly engaged
as many were eager to ask ques-
tions of the panel members and talk
with them afterwards. The audience
wanted pointers for learning the busi-
ness side of consulting and the panel
commented that communication and
building relationships are essential.
When asked how companies hire, the
panel agreed that attitude and a good
fit with the company or research team
are necessary, because technical skills
can be learned. The panel members
were also prompted to share their
thoughts on addressing climate change
and discussed the need for multidis-
ciplinary teams, suggesting that these
are areas where future generations of
young professionals can excel.
On the whole, the Young Professionals
Icebreaker was a great success. Mak-
ing connections and sharing ideas is
what conferences are all about and the
young professionals were excited to
have one more way to make this hap-
pen. We hope to continue this event in
future years! A big thank you to
Emily
Rowe
and
Rebecca Stevenson
of
BGC Engineering, and
Olenka Forde
of the University of British Columbia
for organizing this event!
Rebecca Stevenson,
M.Eng., P.Eng. (BC)
Hydrogeological Engineer,
BGC Engineering Inc.
234 St. Paul Street
Kamloops, BC
V2C6G4
250-374-8600
Panel members from l. to r. Suzanne
Powell, Kent Bannister and Diana
Allen, with facilitator Emily Rowe
(photo credit Leroy Schulz).
