Canadian Engineering Leadership Conference, by Eamon Quill

The Canadian Engineering Leadership Conference is a week-long conference run by the Canadian Federation of Engineering Students (CFES). The conference gathers some of the most ambitious engineering student leaders from across the country for a week of development, networking, and fun. It also doubles as the election period for CFES, where the national executive team and national ambassadors are voted in for the year. Wednesday was a long day, with delegates arriving in Fredericton even late into the night. It ended with an Amazing Race around UNB’s labyrinthian Head Hall; the main engineering building on campus. The following day was when the conference reached its full intensity – a pace which it maintained throughout the week. After the opening ceremonies and diversity, equity, and inclusion training, sessions began. The sessions throughout the week focused mostly on leadership techniques and lessons in the engineering field, as well as industry professionals coming in to give presentations. There was a lot of talk about the incoming development of the nuclear energy industry in New Brunswick. Speakers were drawn from the CFES staff, various industries, and UNB faculty. They include: Trevor Hanson – UNB professor and head of the UNB transport research group who pushes for more active learning in the engineering faculty, William Cook – the chair of the Centre for Nuclear Energy Research and entrepreneur based from UNB Fredericton, and Tim Veldhuis – member of the UofM Symonized Harmony Band and esteemed student leader in both western and national level organisations, who delivered a wonderful session about his family’s apiary business and beekeeping in Canada! Notable sessions included one on the “Lean & Six Sigma Methodologies”, which is a certification in project management offered by CFES that aims to increase efficiency. Others included, “The Impacts of International Trade Law on Engineering”, “Transferring Leadership Skills to the Job Market”, and “Developments in Advanced Corrosion Monitoring Technologies”. There are too many to list out completely, and no delegate could attend all of them. Each student would choose between sessions which could be found in “streams” labelled as “The Engineer”, “The Leader” and “The Professional”, based roughly around technical skills and discussions, team management and leadership, and professional self-development, respectively. Alongside the talks and presentations, the conference also featured tours of notable engineering related buildings in the Fredericton area, and “case competitions”; fast-paced design proposal competitions between pre-assigned teams. There were three tours, including Mactaquac Dam, the UNB engineering commons renovation, and the UNB central heating plant. Mactaquac is the foremost hydroelectric dam in New Brunswick, running for over 50 years and generating 20% of the province’s electricity. It also has what is considered the worst case of “aggregate-alkali reactions” in the world, which means that the staff needs to cut lines and breathing holes into the dam to prevent it from collapsing. There is a huge renovation project which is currently being

proposed. The University of New Brunswick’s Fredericton engineering campus is getting a major update, with the installation of a new engineering commons. The design is similar to Dal’s own design commons; and open-concept space for students to gather, study, relax and meet one another. The new space will be framed with local lumber to honour the province’s forestry history. The final tour was of the UNB central heating plant – which, coincidentally, is also undergoing renovations. The plant heats the UNB campus, the Fredericton hospital, and the Research and Productivity Council. There are over 6km of underground pipes, and several heating boilers, including bunker oil, natural gas, and the primary fuel source: biomass. The plant has an agreement with local paper mills and uses the wood offcuts and “waste” as fuel to provide clean and efficient central heating to the major infrastructure in the region. Of course, CELC isn’t all sessions. There are plenty of social events and parties, as well as the perpetual option of taking some time for yourself to go explore the beautiful city of Fredericton. Events like the Fredericton restaurant crawl, live band, and the CELC charity auction (where an ACES Atlantic scarf was sold for a whopping $580!) help take some of the pressure off from a day packed full of lessons and bring together the delegates as a community of friends; people bonded over an unforgettable experience.