Students in Edmonton are about to receive even more of an opportunity to learn about science and engineering.

Back in July the Minister of State – Science and Technology, Honourable Gary Goodyear announced a new federal investment aimed at making Canada a world leader in the science and engineering fields.

“Our government wants to encourage more young people to explore an education or career in science and engineering,” Mr. Goodyear was quoted as saying in a press release. “This program will give youth in communities across the country an opportunity to discover the benefits of these fields. In the long term, this will keep Canada’s economy growing and create the jobs of the future.”

The Government of Canada will provide $2.9 million over a period of three years to 58 Alberta organizations that promote science and engineering learning to youth. Funding for this initiative will be provided through the PromoScience program of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. Organizations that will benefit from the grant include, but are not limited to: universities, non-profits, museums and science centres.

To view a complete list of the PromoScience grant recipients, click here.

Most Canadian Universities today offer a four-year or five-year engineering degree program. In addition, many community colleges also have full time engineering technology programs. There are various engineering majors that students can choose from depending on their interest including: aerospace engineering, process engineering, architectural engineering, civil engineering, electrical engineering, environmental engineering, mechanical engineering, etc.

Currently, there are 42 higher learning institutions in Canada offering engineering programs. Would-be engineers are encouraged to visit Engineers Canada. It’s an invaluable resource filled with up-to-date information.

Women in Engineering

In 2008, there were 223,536 registered engineers inCanada – and data suggests that the number is rising. However, the number of women in engineering remains low. For example, only 7% of all licensed engineers in Ontario are women.

The enrolment of women in Canadian undergraduate engineering programs was at 17.7%  in 2010, which is slightly higher than the number from 2009. Various studies conducted over the last few years have shown that women in the engineering profession highlight the importance of mentoring and professional development as part of their career development.  Various workshops are continually being held to retain more women in the engineering fields. Companies such as AYVA Educational Solutions offer products that allow an interactive learning experience for all students.

Engineering Educational products

AYVA Educational Solutions distributes products for engineering education at the college and university level. The products allow students to not only grasp the conceptual knowledge but also get an understanding of the industry standards for when they are in the workforce.

For a more basic understanding of engineering concepts, ourPASCOline offers introductory educational products. Visit our PASCO Engineering catalogue for more information. We also carry more extensive engineering lines for undergraduate labs, namely TecQuipment (TQ) and Elettronica Veneta (EV). Our products focus on various subject areas including but not limited to structures, material testing, electrical engineering, electronics, chemical engineering, renewable energy, etc.

Second and third year students at Newfoundland’s College of the North Atlantic (CNA) are lending a hand to Habitat for Humanity.

While this isn’t the first year CNA students have worked with the charity, 2012 marks the first time the students were able to gain practical experience by working on site.

“I started with Habitat for Humanity in 2009 and one of reasons I got involved was because I saw a great potential for our students in the trades and technology programs to learn on the job and apply their skills to help their community so it’s a form of community engagement,” said Craig Greene, the Architectural Engineering Technology instructor at CNA, in a statement.

“I’m an architect and I believe in what Habitat for Humanity does but I also saw an opportunity for our students to benefit from that experience, to learn on site and have a good time.”

The students helped with wood framing, which they had learned about a few months prior.

Construction on the home began on October 9 and is expected to be complete in early December.

Click here to find out how you can get involved with Habitat for Humanity.

AYVA’s Technical Services Manager and Dianne Beveridge travelled to Calgary where Regis Rodriguez, the Chemical Engineer from Pignat in France, and his team had recently installed two training systems.

The new Distillation and Absorption Pilot Plants are now fully commissioned in SAIT’s state-of-the-art Chemical Engineering Technology Lab at the McPhail School of Energy.

Over the past year, Regis has worked closely with the SAIT team to customize the equipment to suit their specific needs. The final step was two 4-day training sessions for SAIT’s instructors and technologists to ensure that everyone was confident using the software and hardware.

This is indeed a world-class installation and we are proud of our association with SAIT.

We kicked off September with a road trip for our Partner from PIGNAT. Regis Rodriguez joined AYVA’s Shanil Vaja to install and commission a broad range of chemical processing equipment in three different provinces.

Carly at The University of Guelph gave us the thumbs up for their new Distillation Unit with a Touch Screen Display and their new Spray Dryer. They are now able to study and operate a controlled distillation process.

Regis also trained the faculty at Sheridan College on their custom designed Chemical Reactor. The REA/2000 provides a small volume reactor of 1 litre for studying chemical reactions with different parameters.

In Western Canada he visited both the University of Saskatchewan and The University of Alberta. In Saskatoon he provided hands-on training on a Dissolved air flotation unit and a custom designed a Hydrocyclone treatment unit.

In Edmonton, Regis was on hand to ensure successful operation of their new Filtration on Sand (FSA/3000) unit and to provide training for all their staff.

AYVA is pleased to be partnered with PIGNAT and offer quality custom built equipment with professionally trained installers and trainers.

Understanding the characteristics and performance of materials, and the effects of different forces on them, is at the very heart of engineering.

To help instructors teach these notions to students, PASCO and TecQuipment both offer a wide range of systems that will provide them with direct hands-on exposure to the principals involved.

TQ also offers an Engineering Science range of products: a system of equipment kits that covers many of the underlying mechanical engineering topics such as Forces and Moments, Vibration, Materials Testing, Mechanisms or Friction.

Pictured above are AYVA’s president Dianne Beveridge, and her colleagues Laureena Ssali and Shanil Vaja. Ashley Fitzgerald of KUKA Robotics was also on hand to demonstrate and answer any questions from students and teachers.

Top student representatives from across Canada competed in their respective fields at the National Skills Competition held in Toronto on June 5 & 6.

AYVA was amongst the 70 employers, associations, labour groups, training institutions and government partners in attendance. AYVA provided a hands-on, interactive experience for students and teachers alike to try both a KUKA robot and our latest product line, SOLDAMATIC, an augmented-reality training program for welding. These activities were met with great success as many students and educators tried their hand at these demonstrations.

PIGNAT’s Technical Specialist, Regis Rodriguez was at University of Windsor at the end of May to install a recently purchased Refrigeration Cycle Unit. He also provided a day-long training session to graduate students, instructors, and professors. Everyone in attendance found it very informative and was excited to start using the equipment. Click here to find out more about this unit.

In the past, several PASCO, Tecquipment and Elettronica Veneta equipment have also been purchased by the University from AYVA.

Laureena Ssali recently hosted a visitor from SAIT (Calgary) who was interested in seeing a Marcraft installation of the Renewable Energy & Sustainability trainers.

Seneca College added Solar, Wind, Hydro Power and Bio Fuels tabletop trainers, some of which are pictured above.

These popular trainers are found at community colleges across Canada.

The AYVA team attended a 1-day training session at the KUKA facilities in Mississauga this summer.

The training focused on KUKA’s robot technologies and also featured an introduction to the use of the robotic controller. The team was able to practice with the KUKA smartPAD operator control unit on a KR6 robot, one of the newest, fastest and most reliable robots in its class.

The KR6 is featured in the KUKA Education Bundle.