IEEE “Life” status is automatically bestowed based on age and years of membership. IEEE Life membership (LM) is proof of a strong sustained commitment to the profession.
The IEEE Life Members Fund (LMF) of the IEEE Foundation supports IEEE activities of interests to LMs, potential engineers, and engineering students. More Information
The IEEE NCS Life Member Group was formed in 2013
Jim Ellis is the chairman jimellis@ieee.org
Upcoming Event:
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Past Event:
November 16, 2023 – Zoom presentation – Fusion Energy, The Prize, Pathways, Progress & Prospects.
Fusion of nuclei, the source of energy in our sun and stars, can provide the clean, sustainable base load energy required to power our future in electricity, heat, and hydrogen for stationary and mobile applications. Harnessing fusion on earth requires heating fuel to ~100 million degrees and confining it (a difficult task) for sufficient time to realize practical energy gain. Progress in fusion science (achieving fuel confinement & “ignition”) has moved to an engineering phase to demonstrate net energy production. There are a variety of technological approaches being pursued in academic, government and industry labs that offer promise; success will transform energy policy worldwide. This talk will highlight status, approaches & possible timelines for fusion energy demonstration. Recent success in achieving “ignition” will stimulate industrial development of enabling technologies to speed fusion energy development. Possible demonstration systems are likely to emerge in the 2030’s but penetration as a major energy source for utilities & industry will likely take decades.
October 19, 2023 – Pathways Alliance – Pathways to Net Zero.
The Pathways Alliance is a collaboration of Canada’s six largest oil sands producers which comprise 95 per cent of current oil sands production. In June 2021, they announced a comprehensive multi-phased plan to reduce current oil sands GHG emissions by about 22 million tonnes annually by 2030 on a path to net zero by 2050. The proposed foundational project is a carbon capture and storage (CCS) network and C02 pipeline to gather CO2 from more than 20 facilities and transport it to a hub in the Cold Lake area for safe underground storage.
This presentation discusses Pathways’ CCS which also enables other technologies including hydrogen, electrification, renewables, and direct air capture. The innovation arm of Pathways Alliance, COSIA (Canada’s Oil Sands Innovation Alliance), is responsible for this technology development work.
September 20, 2023 – Methane Mitigation.
New Paradigm has been working on methane reduction projects since 1998 (just after the Kyoto protocol was reached in December 1991). The decision to focus on methane was because it was a “low-hanging fruit” for GHG reductions and “no regrets” as these reductions would also provide other benefits beyond GHG reductions. With oil and gas shareholder interest in achieving “net zero” targets in the last few years, there has been considerable progress in reducing emissions, both through improved regulations, volumetric reporting, incentives and collaborative actions by producers, suppliers, and governments. Results from the end of 2021 show a 44% reduction in methane emissions from 2014 levels in Alberta vs. a target of a 45% reduction by 2025. These emissions in Alberta are now ~15 MtCO2e/yr vs. almost 50 MTCO2e/yr in 2006.
This presentation will take a high-level look the wide range of methane sources of methane emissions from oil and gas operations and some of the challenges which have been or are being overcome to further reduce them.
June 15, 2023 – Zoom presentation – Electrical Vehicle Overview.
As an EV owner and utility engineer with a career focus on electric vehicles, William York will be presenting on the environmental impacts of electrified transportation, the utility impacts as well as the personal testimony of his ownership experience.
An electric vehicle owner since 2018, William has travelled more than 90,000 pure electric kilometres.
May 18, 2023 – Zoom presentation –Nanomedicine in Alberta.
The Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Alberta is a joint effort between the Faculty of Engineering and the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry. The University is also the host site for the National Research Council’s National Institute of Nanotechnology. Together these entities create a critical mass for research in nanomedicine.
Nanomedicine involves drug delivery using nanopolymers and aerosols to promote bone and tissue regeneration and the development of improved diagnostic tools including MEMS and NEMS. Wound healing and disease diagnosis are areas of active research.
Silver, and specifically silver ions Ag+, are known to be beneficial in the treatment of wounds. In the mid 1990s, nanotechnology provided an opportunity to develop a new silver delivery system that released biologically active species other than Ag+. Nanocrystalline silver releases multiple species into solution which have different biological properties than Ag+. In vitro, in vivo and clinical studies have clearly demonstrated that this new form of silver has unique anti-inflammatory and anti microbial properties.
Nanotechnology can not only change the chemical properties of a material but also its optical properties. Current work using these modified optical properties is aimed at point of care diagnostics which require no amplification and can be read by eye. Such developments would make it possible to see molecules as small as 2nm on a surface.
May 18, 2023 – Zoom presentation –Nanomedicine in Alberta.
The Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Alberta is a joint effort between the Faculty of Engineering and the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry. The University is also the host site for the National Research Council’s National Institute of Nanotechnology. Together these entities create a critical mass for research in nanomedicine.
April 27, 2023 – Zoom presentation – Comparison of LRT to Other Forms of Urban Public Transit.
As a follow up to his February presentation on project management in municipal governance, City of Edmonton Councillor Tim Cartmell P.Eng will present factors both in favour of and against the development of LRT as opposed to other transit modes, and build specifically on past Edmonton City Council decision on LRT development. This presentation will combine the engineering perspective with the political perspective.
March 16, 2023 – Zoom presentation – Challenges in Interconnecting Utility-size Solar Installations to the Grid.
A review of the challenges in connecting three utility-sized solar installations to two different distribution companies.
February 16, 2023 – Zoom presentation – Advantages of an Engineers Experience in being a City Councillor.
The advantages having worked as an engineer can bring to the table when elected as a City Councillor.
January 19, 2023 – Zoom presentation – Principles to Depolarize Energy Discussions.
February 21, 2019 Meeting Notice
Please share this notice with your colleagues.
Date: Thursday February 21, 2019.
Doors open at 11:30 am. Lunch at 12 noon. Speaker following the meal.
Venue: Leland Room at 11727 Kingsway. (The Conference Centre is the building south of the Chateau Louis Hotel. Lots of parking available, usually.)
Registration: $30
Speakers: February 21: Speaker: Dr Warren Finlay, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Alberta. Title: “Prediction of Intersubject Variability of Extrathoracic Deposition in Adults and Children”.
Warren Finlay is the founding Director of the Aerosol Research Laboratory of Alberta (ARLA). After receiving his Ph.D. from Stanford University in 1987, he joined the University of Alberta as an Assistant Professor, was promoted to the rank of Professor in 1993, and awarded the title of Distinguished University Professor in 2017. He has published numerous journal articles on the mechanics of inhaled pharmaceutical aerosols, as well as more traditional engineering fields, and has taught widely at the University of Alberta at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. He works extensively with companies around the world on drug delivery to the lungs and is devoted to the fight against lung disease. His laboratory is the originator of the Alberta Idealized Throat, which is sold worldwide by Copely Scientific (UK) for inhaler testing.
He is Editor in Chief of the journal “Aerosol Science and Technology’, and is the author of a book entitled “The Mechanics of Inhaled Pharmaceuticals Aerosols: An Introduction”. He is the Canada Research Chair in Aerosol Mechanics. His outstanding achievements have been recognized with numerous awards. Some of the most recent and/or significant recognitions include: Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, Fellow of the Engineering Institute of Canada, Fellow of the American Association for Aerosol Research, the International Society for Aerosols in Medicine Career Achievement Award, the Charles G. Thiel Award, the ASTech Outstanding Leadership in Alberta Science Award, a Killam Annual Professorship, and a McCalla Research Professorship.
RSVP: By February 15, 2019 to: Nick Malychuk at nmaly@telus.net (780-435-1045); or
Fred Otto at fotto@interbaun.com; or
Andy Jones at stonyjones@ieee.org (780- 963- 6081)
March 21: Speaker: Mr Neil Camarta, President and CEO, Field Upgrading Ltd. Title: “Scaling-Up the DSU® Process ‹ One Miracle at a Time”
Field Upgrading is a Canadian company, based in Calgary, Alberta dedicated to the development and commercialization of a new bitumen and sour heavy oil sulphur removal and upgrading technology called DSU™. This process, which uses molten sodium, significantly increases the API gravity of the feedstocks while achieving a relatively higher yield compared to conventional upgrading technologies and reducing the levels of sulphur, metals, acid (TAN) and asphaltenes in heavy oil feedstocks, including oil sands bitumen.
Neil Camarta holds a degree in chemical engineering from the University of Alberta. He joined Shell Canada Limited in 1975 and held senior positions in Canada and abroad. Most notably, he led the successful development, construction, and start-up of Shell’s $6 billion Athabasca Oil Sands Project. Mr. Camarta retired from Shell in 2005 and became Senior Vice President of Petro-Canada’s Oil Sands business. He then joined Suncor Energy Inc as Executive Vice-President, Natural Gas. Currently, Mr. Camarta is President and CEO of Field Upgrading and sits on the boards of a number of corporate and not for profit organizations.