2012 Engineering Alumni Network Awards Recipients

P. William Buckley, MechE 7T1

Bill’s professional legacy is that of a designer and business builder of two Canadian companies serving global markets.

Bill began his career with Burndy Canada Inc., the Canadian subsidiary of Burndy Corp., an international electrical/electronics connector company. At Burndy, Bill served initially as a product engineer and became General Manager of the Electronics Division in 1979. He became VP and General Manager in 1985 and then President in 1989. As President, he was responsible for all of Burndy’s operations in Canada and Australia. During Bill’s tenure, Burndy developed a proprietary process for manufacturing integrated circuit sockets and printed circuit edge connectors that were distributed across North America and Asia. Burndy also provided connectors used on the International Space Station. While with Burndy, Bill was the co-inventor of two novel electronic connectors that were subsequently patented.

Bill joined ShawCor Ltd. in 1994 as Senior VP, Energy Products, ultimately rising to President & CEO and a Director of the Company in 2005. Today, ShawCor is the world’s largest provider of advanced pipeline coatings, particularly in offshore deepwater locations, with more than 70 manufacturing and service facilities that employ over 5,000 people worldwide. A large part of ShawCor’s success has been due to Bill’s strong desire to achieve a global presence and his unwavering focus on technological leadership, superior execution and organizational excellence.

Through it all, Bill has not forgotten his engineering roots, as he provides strong support for ShawCor’s engineering and management development programs, including U of T’s Professional Experience Year internship program.

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Norman B. Keevil, GeoE 5T9

Seeing an opportunity to create a major mining company through new mine development and strategic acquisitions, Norman has helped to grow Teck Corporation into a world-class mining entity that now employs more than 12,000 people worldwide. It’s the most visible part of his legacy of economic growth, job creation and community leadership.

He joined Teck in the early 1960s, becoming President and CEO in 1981, then Chairman nine years after that. Throughout that time, Norman has been an outspoken advocate of safer working conditions, sustainable practices, and inclusion of northern and native communities. He is a Life Director of the Mining Association of Canada — apt recognition for his significant role in the creation of the association’s environmental policy during his term as Chairman of MAC.

The Institute of Mining Engineering at the University of British Columbia is named in his honour. He has also helped secure funding for several research chairs at UBC as part of his efforts to ensure Canada continues to produce entrepreneurial and talented mining engineers and geoscientists.

Perhaps the greatest symbol of his strong commitment to Canada was encouraging Teck’s involvement with the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in Vancouver. The corporation provided the gold, silver and bronze used to make the medals. Norman’s contributions to organizations and causes are numerous, including support of Vancouver General Hospital and providing an earth science scholarship at the University of Western Ontario.

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Arthur S. Slutsky, EngSci 7T0, IndE MASc 7T2

Throughout his illustrious career, Arthur has championed collaborations between engineering and medicine. In particular, he catalyzed research that teamed up U of T’s MIE students with St. Michael’s Hospital, where he is Vice-President, Research.

As a U of T Engineering student, Arthur was fascinated by the human body’s complex system of chemical, biomechanical and other networks. Following his Engineering training, he completed medical school, and subsequently developed expertise in critical care medicine. After serving on faculty at Harvard Medical School, he returned to Canada in 1984, becoming a clinician scientist at Mount Sinai Hospital and U of T. Within four years, he was a full professor of medicine, with cross-appointments in biomedical engineering and surgery.

In 2000, Arthur became St. Michael’s first research executive, transforming it into a world-class research centre. He played a key role in creating the Keenan Research Centre, the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, and the Centre for Research on Inner City Health, a global leader that addresses the health needs of disadvantaged populations — the homeless, those with mental illness and those living with HIV.

Arthur was U of T’s first director of the Interdepartmental Division of Critical Care Medicine, recently reviewed as one of the top two centres globally in critical care research. An acknowledged leader in mechanical ventilation, he chaired an international consensus committee that laid the foundation for how patients with respiratory failure are treated today.

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Christopher F.M. Twigge-Molecey, MechE MASc 6T9, PhD 7T2

In four decades working with Hatch Ltd. engineering consultants, Chris has been both a leader and a technical innovator in the minerals and metallurgical field. In the early 1970s, he launched two specialized consulting units for the firm: Industrial Acoustics, and Fluid Mechanics and Heat Transfer. Twenty years later, he expanded Hatch’s profile by establishing its presence in Russia and Kazahkstan, then Chile and Peru, and finally, China.

An advocate for sustainable development, he has contributed widely to the profession through his involvement in and leadership of the Canadian Institute of Mining Metallurgy and Petroleum, the Metallurgical Society, the Canadian Mining Innovation Council, and the China-Canada Business Council. His extensive publications on Capital Project Risks and Success Factors have been internationally recognized, and he wrote the chapter about Canadian engineering companies for the Metallurgical Society’s 50^th anniversary publication.

As an Adjunct Professor of Mechanical Engineering at U of T in the early 1980s and lecturer-presenter of technical papers all over the world, Chris has demonstrated a constant drive to teach, coach and explore new approaches and ideas in minerals and metallurgical engineering. His innovations have included developing a new way to maximize arsenic elimination when processing gold ores and creating a novel approach to ventilating large complex industrial buildings.