Interview with Dr. Amyotte from the Chemical Engineering Department, by Kaitlyn Dalton

Dr. Amyotte is a well-known professor within the chemical engineering department. Whether you have taken Fundamentals of Chemical Engineering class or Process safety with Dr. Amyotte, it is evident that he loves his students as much as he loves his work. It was a pleasure to interview Dr. Amyotte, I hope everyone enjoys getting to know him as much as I did.

On why he chose to study at the Royal Military College (RMC):

I was born in Halifax and raised in Dartmouth. In grade 12 I played football; our coaches were all military guys from Shearwater. One of them was friends with a football coach from RMC, he happened to be in town at our football party in grade 12 and said I should join. My dad was in the military as well, so I looked into it and next thing I know I’m on a service flight to RMC, one of the best decisions I’ve ever made in my life.

On why he chose to study chemical engineering:

I had a great chemistry teacher in grade 12, so it all goes back to high school. It was the first time I ever heard of the mole as a concept, I struggled a bit at first but then I got it and it all made sense. So, I really credit him, his name was Mr. Moore.

On why he chose to pursue a master’s degree and a PhD:

I was at RMC, and I had finished, so I was ready to go into the navy. I realized that I really wasn’t ready and that I wanted to do more chemical engineering. We had a four-year commitment to the armed forces after graduation, but I deferred mine by two years to do a masters. I applied for a scholarship and got one, and then I went to Queens University because I liked Kingston. By the time I was finished in Kingston I had gotten married, my wife was from here (Nova Scotia). I was getting out of the forces, and I was like “okay what next?” I looked in industry a bit, a couple of potential job offers in the nuclear industry in Ontario, but we both wanted to come back to Nova Scotia since it was home. I applied and got accepted to the PhD program at the Technical College of Nova Scotia (TUNS).

On why he wanted to pursue teaching:

I hope it shows through in the classroom that I love teaching. After I finished my master’s and went back to the armed forces, I went into the navy. I realized there wasn’t a lot of room for chemical engineers in the navy, so I decided I didn’t want to pursue an entire career with them. I was posted back to RMC to teach. I taught at RMC between my master’s and PhD for three years. Came back here, and I had a full-time teaching assistantship, so I was able to teach while doing my PhD and I just really liked it.

On his interests and hobbies outside of work:

If you asked my wife she would say my work, and if you asked me, I would also say my work, I just really love it. I love sports, I played sports growing up, football, wrestling, paddling. I also love watching sports, especially NFL football. I like to read, I sort of alternate between fiction, Jack Reacher, and technical type novels and books. I also like historical fiction. I love to travel, one of the great things about my job is that I get to travel quite a bit.

On his advice to students:

I sort of have three things that I like in my life if I’m going to do something. I want it to be fun, I want it to be something that I would enjoy. I guess I would say to undergrads and master’s students is that as you’re going forward and looking into different careers, I would want it to be fun and enjoy what it is. The other thing is to try and be good at what you’re doing, try and be competent. Always try to be good at what you’re doing and look for ways to improve. The third is to have a reason for what you’re doing. To me, there’s this generation of wealth in engineering, and sometimes it’s financial wealth, if you want to have a family or travel, engineering is a great career to do those things. If you can have fun, be good at what you’re doing and find some way to make the world a better place you’ll have a good career.