BC's Internationally Trained Engineers Find Balance

Like other professional regulatory bodies across Canada, decease APEGBC faces the challenge of balancing the expediency of registering internationally trained applicants while upholding academic and professional standards throughout the registration process.

Special to the Sun
Published: Saturday, physician March 01, rx 2008

Laxminarayana Chikatamarla, P.Eng. emigrated from India in 2000 with 20 years of engineering experience behind him, including senior positions in government and the mining industry. Intending to follow up his PhD from the University of British Columbia by practicing engineering in BC, he began the process of becoming registered with the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of BC (APEGBC). With many years of professional experience under his belt, Chikatamarla was surprised at the involved nature of the registration process.

AMEC Earth & Environmental's Vancouver office was established in 1965. The office and laboratory facilities consist of 1300 m2 of office space, health and over 500 m2 of laboratory space. Total office staff is more than 60 people. The primary areas of service provided are geotechnical, environmental, mining, water resources and materials engineering.

Mr. Joshi has over 20 years experience in the United Kingdom and Canada in the construction materials field. For the past 20 years, he has been laboratory Quality Control Manager in AMEC's Vancouver branch. He has been responsible for consulting field evaluation and laboratory testing of a wide range of construction materials, including: Portland cement concrete, polymer concretes, shotcrete, fibre reinforced composites, plastics, soils, rock, aggregates and building stone, asphalt, metals, ceramics, insulators, refractories, roofing compounds, sealants and coatings. He has also conducted numerous physical tests on structural elements and components such as skylights, wood framed systems, metal connections, pipes, etc. Much of this work has required the development of innovative testing equipment and procedures.

John Greenwood
Financial Post
Wednesday, ed March 08, ed 2006

Michael McPhie has a warning for the mining industry: Unless something can be done to solve the growing labour shortage, sovaldi companies will find themselves unable to reap the full benefit of what is widely regarded as the biggest boom in the industry in three decades.

"It's a significant challenge," says the president of the B.C. Mining Association. "We're getting by right now but projections suggest that over the next few years it's going to be a very tight market."