Author: Procurement Engineer

Mailing Address: Box 186, 7305 Woodbine Ave. Markham, ON L3R 3V7
www.peoyork.com

Annual Chapter Newsletter
Fall 2020

Chair’s Message
Suffice to say that 2020 has presented many challenges. Despite the ups and downs, York Chapter continues to support PEO's mission and to serve and support our members.
York Chapter held a COVID-19 Virtual Town Hall where we learned how our members have been resilient and have been adopting and innovating during these tough times. PEO has improved its operations to online systems to better serve its members. Engineering firms of various sizes had changed manufacturing processes to accommodate the production of ventilators and design wearable contact-tracing device to protect us against the virus.
Individual members have stepped up to innovate against COVID-19 as well and answered our call to design a face covering for children in the Design Challenge. $2,000 worth of children's masks will be donated to local hospitals and childcare centers in the winter. Thanks to your generous donations, the Chapter was able to raise over $3,420 for those in need at the Richmond Hill Community Food Bank.
York Chapter has moved to online platforms to continue to reach out and engage our membership via extensive amount of technical and soft skill seminars. Professional engineers guiding and supporting engineering interns in the Licensure Assistance Program (LAP) are also conducted virtually.
York Chapter is a champion of the 30 by 30 initiative. This initiative by Engineers Canada has a goal of raising the percentage of newly licensed engineers who are women to 30% by the year 2030. Currently only 18% of newly licensed engineers in Ontario are women. We are proud to have an executive board that is made up of 50% women. We also have outreach programs to work with elementary and high school students in York Region to educate them on engineering and mentor engineering students from Ryerson University and York University in hope to increase the number of students that will become licensed engineers.
I would like to thank our team of executives and volunteers for working tirelessly through the challenging times of COVID-19. Even though they are also affected by the pandemic, I greatly appreciate their dedication to the success of the Chapter and its members.
Annabelle Lee, P.Eng. Chair, PEO York Chapter chair@peoyork.com

2020-2021 Executives

Back: Tommy Sin, P.Eng., Oliver Xiao, P.Eng., Marcia Lim, P.Eng., David Yin, P.Eng., Daniel Cho, EIT, Tian You Si Tu, P.Eng., Darren Verasammy, P.Eng. Front: Jennifer Lu, P.Eng., Lui Tai, P.Eng., Hannah Ehtemam, P.Eng., Annabelle Lee, P.Eng., Anita Eisakhani, P.Eng., Sharon Chen, EIT, Vera Zhang, EIT.

2021 Annual General Meeting and 2021-2022 Chapter Executive Elections
The Chapter's Annual General Meeting (AGM) and election for the 2021-2022 Executive Board will be held on Thursday, February 25, 2021, in the evening.
For more details on the AGM and elections, please visit: www.peoyork.com/agm
Who is eligible to run for election?
Be a member of good standing with PEO and have no criminal record;
Recommendations via email by two professional engineers (P. Eng.s) and a short write-up on how you can contribute, including the position you are interested in, needs to be submitted to nominations@peoyork.com
On election day at the AGM:
Each candidate will provide a short, 1-minute speech on why they are running and if elected how they will serve the Chapter.
Deadline:
Please note that the nomination deadline is 2 weeks before the AGM. To be eligible to run for the election, nomination needs to be submitted to nominations@peoyork.com by February 11, 2021.

Vice Chair’s Message
This year presented many challenges to our society and within York Chapter. As a community, PEO York was able to come together and help support one-another in these difficult times. The Executive Board worked hard throughout the pandemic to organize events in line with our memberships’ needs and requests. We organized several events such as a resume writing workshop, a virtual site visit seminar, a virtual interview workshop, and many more events.
One of the key events held surrounded challenging the province of Ontario to step in and provide face covering solutions for some of our most vulnerable: children. This event received well-funded sponsorships totalling $3,000, allowing us to donate masks for children to our local communities and help support businesses in Ontario. The winner was announced on November 2, 2020.
I would like to thank all members of our Board of Directors for going above and beyond the call of duty. We were able to break through boundaries and coordinate several events across the chapter borders with our neighboring chapters.
In 2021, we look forward to our members’ participation to increase in helping organize larger and relevant virtual events.
I wish you and yours happy and healthy holidays.
Shahandeh Hannah Ehtemam, P.Eng.
Vice Chair
vicechair@peoyork.com

Important Dates!
Jan. 20, 2021 - Application deadline for Engineering Project of the Year Awards
Feb. 11, 2021 - Last day to stand as a candidate for executive election
Feb. 25, 2021 - Annual General Meeting

Program News
This year the Program Committee organized events including various technical and interpersonal development sessions. The committee held events to help EITs understand the process and requirements to work towards their P.Eng designation. We also facilitated events to help our members pivot their workflows during the COVID-19 era. For example, we had the privilege to work with Jose Vera to provide a webinar to cover an overview of various methods, technologies, and tools to support remote site visits to allow engineering professionals to continue conducting site visits during COVID-19.
The committee hopes to collaborate with more organizations and other professionals in the future to host more interesting and engaging discussion and presentations.
Jennifer Lu, P.Eng. Program Director program@peoyork.com

Diversity and Inclusion News
This year’s focus for the Diversity and Inclusion Committee is on PEO’s 30 by 30 Initiative, to increase the number of newly licensed engineers that identify as women to 30% by 2030. In Ontario, 17.9% of newly licensed engineers were women in 2018, and nationally the percentage is 18.1%. This percentage has stagnated for over the past five years. Studies show that greater innovation and ingenuity is achieved with diversity in organizations. Equity is important to ensure the outcome of engineering is beneficial for all. Women are not a diversity group but instead comprise over 50% of the population. We need to start tapping into the full talent pool in servicing the public’s best interest.
The committee hosted one major event this year: a collaborative event between the East Central Region Chapters to engage PEO membership. The interactive PEO East Central Region Chapters 30 by 30 Member Engagement Webinar was held on September 16, 2020 and included a message of support from MPP Daisy Wai of Richmond Hill. PEO President, Marisa Sterling, P.Eng., FEC, provided an opening address, followed by Helen Wojcinski, P.Eng., FEC, FCAE, MBA, CMC and Bob Dony, PhD, P.Eng., CEng, FIEE, FEC of PEO’s 30 by 30 Task Force with 30 by 30 presentations. These addresses were followed by keynote guest speaker Cassondra Fonseca, P.Eng. who is the founder and president of Camp Engies, an engineering camp for girls in grades 5-8 that is run by women in engineering. The recorded webinar is available here: https://youtu.be/J9_3RHIJerc
The committee will continue to collaborate with other PEO York Chapter committees, and hopes to collaborate with more organizations including hosting an East Central Region Chapters 30 by 30 Employer Engagement webinar, and diversity and inclusion events focusing on internationally trained engineers and women-in-engineering.
The Diversity & Inclusion Committee would like to extend our appreciation to all volunteers for their time, efforts and contributions, and encourage future volunteers to participate in our events. We will continue with hosting online events until such time where we can meet in person again. We can do great things together! Help each other and stay safe.
Marcia Lim, P.Eng. Diversity and Inclusion Director diversity@peoyork.com

Collage of active York Chapter volunteers who identify as female for International Women in Engineering Day

Awards and Recognition News
The Awards Committee has launched the annual PEO York Chapter Engineering Project of the Year Award and the brand-new Engineering Research Project of the Year Award competition for 2020. We’re looking for your project submissions. Projects from ALL engineering disciplines are welcome! The awards aim to promote the practice of the engineering profession by recognizing outstanding projects of a technical nature within York Region and the surrounding GTA. Please check peoyork.com/potya and peoyork.com/rpotya for awards details and form. The deadline for the application form is January 20, 2021.
On behalf of the Awards Committee, I would like to congratulate the 2019 winners and thank all the applicants for their engineering successes and contributions to their local communities. The 2019 winners were:
Alectra Utilities
Crossey Engineering Ltd.
Peytec Inc.
To kick off the 2020 Engineering Project of the Year Award competition, we invited back our 2019 winners for a series of virtual events. The first was Canadian Miners Leading the Way in Material Tracking Innovation Presented by Peytec, 2019 Engineering Project of the Year Award Winner on Nov. 10, 2020.
The Awards and Recognition Committee is also accepting nominations for Distinguished Volunteers who has contributed exceptionally to York Chapter's success. The committee has submitted our 2020 Chapter Volunteer List to PEO Headquarters to recognize our volunteers for their active contributions to York Chapter. I would like to encourage more York Chapter members to participate and volunteer in York Chapter activities and serve our fellow York Chapter members.
Sharon Chen, EIT Awards & Recognition Director awards@peoyork.com

Mentorship and EIT News
2020 was a challenging year for everyone. Many events initially planned for this year were cancelled due to COVID-19. Even with these challenges, the Mentorship & EIT Committee (MEC) held a number of meaningful, virtual events to help EITs in their licensure journey.
On June 11, 2020, we held our first-ever virtual Licensure Assistance Program (LAP) orientation workshop. 90 people registered for the orientation workshop, including P. Eng. guides and EITs. The workshop was a great success. Attendees chatted and asked each other questions during the workshop. This workshop would not have been possible without the support from our engineers and PEO head office. We appreciate their valuable time and effort to make this program successful again this year despite the current circumstances. I am looking forward to the LAP 2021 program.
The committee held two consecutive job interview webinars in August and September to assist our PEO members to be in a better shape for the engineering job market during COVID-19. We want to thank our special guest speaker, Cheryl Crumb, who provided our members with excellent virtual interview skills and tips.
We understood the importance of stress-balancing during this challenging time. In November, the Committee held a special wellness session to demonstrate professional techniques and exercises that could reduce stress physically and mentally. A special thanks to our instructors, Zachary Reyes and Mark Vilela, who thoughtfully taught our members and shared their knowledge and exercise techniques to keep us healthy and happy.
Once again, we would like to sincerely thank all volunteers who contributed their time and effort to organize all the events. We encourage more volunteers to join our team. Together, we lead to a brighter future!
Tian You Si Tu, P.Eng. Mentorship & EIT Director mentorship@peoyork.com

Past Chair’s Message
The key role of the Past Chair is to oversee a smooth transition and provide support to the new Board. In this regard, the Past Chairs Advisory Committee successfully organized the inaugural East Central Regional Leadership Development Workshop, where the executives of the 6 chapters of the East Central Region took part in the virtual workshop. We shared success stories, experiences and provided answers to some challenging questions on governance and volunteers engagement. This is the first step in promoting collaboration amongst the chapters and provide succession planning.
The Past Chair is also responsible for the annual election which takes place at the AGM. The purpose of the election is to provide an opportunity for our members to serve in the executive board for a period of 1 year. If you have any questions, please contact me at pastchair@peoyork.com
Lui Tai, P.Eng. Past Chair pastchair@peoyork.com

Certificate News
The Certificate Committee had a very successful Winter 2020 Licence Presentation Ceremony (LPC) to ensure our new licensees were given a special night to commemorate their dedication to the engineering profession. The Winter LPC was held on Feb. 22, 2020 and totaled over 200 licensees and their guests. Our PEO president Marisa Sterling, PEO East Central Region Councillors Keivan Torabi and Arthur Sinclair, and MPP Billy Pang joined us to honour the recipients and liven up the mood with some jokes. We also introduced our first ever social media challenge and interactive quizzes to engage our members during the event. As always, the Winter LPC is special because we use the opportunity to include the Engineering Project of the Year Award presentation ceremony. This year, the ceremony included special keynote presentations from the winners of the awards.
With COVID-19 causing major disruptions to PEO Head Office and provincial size limits on social gatherings, we have opted to combine the Fall 2020 and Winter 2021 LPCs and host a larger ceremony in Winter 2021. This proved to be the right choice as the second wave is currently hitting Ontario and safety is our first priority. With that said, the certificate committee will continue to monitor the situation and periodically update our licensees on that status of their ceremony dates.
This committee also organized the Augmented Reality (AR) virtual workshop series to bring to our membership the usage of technology such as AR how it’s changing the landscape of engineering.
David Yin, P.Eng. Certificate Director certifcate@peoyork.com

Education News
Scholarship: PEO York Chapter received 39 scholarship applications from students who completed Grade 12 studies with honours and are attending the first-year engineering studies at an accredited engineering school in Canada.
The Chapter reviewed the scholarship applications, and the result was announced in November 2020. Each scholarship is valued at $1,000 to help students with their first-year education costs. PEO York Chapter would like to thank all students who applied for the award.
AMD Engineering Mathletics Competition: Our Mathletics Competition is about having fun by applying math skills to solve engineering problems. The event had two levels. The junior level is for grades 7 and 8, and the senior level for grades 9 and 10. Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) continued to be our title sponsor in 2020. The design challenge was held on Oct. 24, 2020 using Zoom and Quizizz, and the top three students in each competition received prizes valued up to $100.
Daniel Cho, EIT Education Director education@peoyork.com

Business and Community Outreach News
This year, York Chapter restructured the Business Committee by expanding its scope to cover community outreach activities. Therefore, it was renamed to Business and Community Outreach Committee. This change widened the committee’s goal to include raising engineering awareness, the enhancement of profession’s image and the improvement of relationships with engineering businesses, professional associations, and academic institutions in the York Region and the surrounding communities.
The committee’s major activities this year included establishing a strong relationship with Ryerson University through the NEXT Program collaboration. York Chapter facilitated the call for industry professionals as volunteer mentors to support new engineering graduates who are experiencing extreme challenges during the pandemic.
The committee co-organized and invited engineering businesses, academic representative and economic consultant as panelists for the PEO York Chapter COVID-19 Town Hall. The event provided a high-level overview of the challenges and how the engineering community contributed to the fight against COVID-19. Guest speakers included PEO President Marisa Sterling, Hadis Zarrin of Ryerson University, Peyman Moeini of Peytec, Trefor Armstrong of Innovative Automation, Dennis Woo of KPMG, and MPP Daisy Wai.
The Business and Community Outreach Committee is also actively looking for volunteers to support and participate in committee activities such as consolidating and promoting relationships between the engineering community and the local businesses, institutions and organizations. If you are interested, please contact us at business@peoyork.com.
Oliver Xiao, P.Eng. Business and Community Outreach Director business@peoyork.com

Licensees at the 2020 Winter LPC along with special guests

2019 Award Committee Co-chairs (Sharon Chen and Oliver Xiao), Chapter Chair (Annabelle Lee) and PEO President Marisa Sterling present the 2019 Engineering Project of the Year Award to Alectra Utilities for the large company category.