Engineering your life!
I’d like to start off with a transcript form a Dilbert cartoon (Adams, 1999; excerpt; watch the clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8vHhgh6oM0):
Doctor:"It's worse than I feared."
Mother:"What is it?"
Doctor:"I'm afraid your son has ... the Knack."
Mother:"The knack?"
Doctor:"The Knack. It's a rare condition characterized by an extreme intuition about all things mechanical and electrical ... and uttersocial ineptitude."
Mother:"Can he lead a normal life?"
Doctor:"No. He'll be an engineer."
Mother:"Oh, no! [crying]"
Doctor:"There, there. Don't blame yourself."
Yes, I’m a nerd.
But, despite the teasing and derogatory remarks (dork, geek, dweeb, book worm, etc.), engineers are very well regarded. Engineers are among the most trusted professions, along with fire fighters, farmers, nurses, doctors and teachers (Léger Marketing, 2005).
Engineering for me is a passion. My family would probably say it’s an obsession.
So far, I’ve had a most rewarding career, and I would wish the same for everyone.
Engineering is a great life.
I want to fix everything! And not just toys, machines, and things… If you come to me for advice, I will try to find a solution to help fix whatever it is that is bugging you too!
As a child, I took apart anything I could get my hands into. My toys were always broken.
That caricature (Mathieu, 2007) is very much like me (unfortunately).
Translation: When I grow up, I’ll be an engineer
As a young girl, I was curious about everything. I still am!
I need to know how things work. That is what drives me.
To figure out the “how’s” and the “why’s”, I needed to learn, train, study, and work.
That’s me, with the goofy grin (Meunier, 1975) at the top of the gigantic Daniel-Johnson hydro-at the top of the gigantic Daniel-Johnson hydro-electric dam on the Manicouagan River in northern Quebec. I was completely bowled over by this amazing engineering realization.This dam is humongous: you can fit a 44-story building inside the central arch.Can you imagine the size of the turbines at the base of this dam?
I knew from that moment on that engineering was going to be my life.
I worked hard through school, participated in all extra-curricular activities available, and also completed a music degree before finishing high school. I was sixteen years old when I joined the Canadian Forces as an Officer Cadet. I attended the Royal Military College of Canada (RMC), which is a great engineering school. I felt that the best kind of learning environment for engineers is one that incorporates theory and practice. What drew me particularly to the military is the opportunity to serve my community (remember, I want to fix everything!), and also to work with motivated people and to have access to all sorts of unique equipment. I graduated in mechanical engineering in 1989, then specialized in aerospace engineering, and completed a master’s degree in aerospace propulsion in 1995.
That’s me on the tail of a Hercules aircraft while in training at CFB Edmonton (Saulnier, 1986). At
RMC, undergraduates study toward a degree while learning a military trade. It’s a busy program; I made great friends, and enjoyed every moment of my training.
Engineers never work alone. Solutions invariably come from the team, a combination of many brains. I trained to be a useful team member.
As I progressed in my military career, I realised that, in addition to my addiction to aircraft, my interests always included our environment. In 2004, after 20 years of service, I retired and went back to school to complete a PhD in environmental engineering. My research is focused on evaluating the toxicity and health effects of pollutants in soil and water and to implement effective remediation. I worked as an engineering consultant for a few years, then accepted a position as Assistant Professor in Chemical Engineering at Queen’s.
My research group evaluates effects of exposure to existing contaminants (after they are released in the environment) and to potential contaminants (before the damage is done – and to prevent such damage).
Our research themes include:
· biodegradable flocculants (to clean up the oil sands tailings and wastewater);
· hexavalent chromium (may result from processing chromite ores);
· microplastics (in freshwater systems and sensitive species);
· bioreactor method development (artificial cells for medical applications);
· computational fluid dynamics (to model various physiological effects);
· nanomaterials (silver, graphene, uptake in humans);
· mercury aerosols (dental practice exposure); and
· arsenic (in mine waste).
Here’s a graphical abstract for a paper recently published by students in my group. We studied the effects of long-term exposure to silver nanoparticles, which may be released from textiles such as sports clothing and medical bandages. These particles can accumulate in the lungs and then be slowly dissolved and released through the lung alveola and into the blood stream (Jalink et al. 2020).
The day-to-day activities of a prof include both individual and group work, whether supervising students, hands-on laboratory activities, classroom lectures, seminars, and tutorials, committee membership, expert and peer review, evaluating theses and research proposals, writing and editing manuscripts, grant proposals, and participating in various outreach activities, including this blog. Life is never dull, and work is never done. In pandemic mode since March 2019, I work mostly from home, and I’m busier than ever. I’m closely supervised by two cats, who enthusiastically contribute their comments to student theses and course material:
Everything is complicated by our remoteness. I communicate with students and colleagues almost exclusively through phone calls, video conferences, and e-mails. I feel like a hermit.
Adapting course material for online delivery has taken up a lot of my time these past few
months, and I anticipate that the coming academic year will be gruelling. It’ll be weird for undergraduate students to take their classes online, and for me to teach to a screen rather than interacting with real people in a classroom. Even marking exams is strange. Here’s an example of my setup, including the micromanaging supervisor:
Research has been affected greatly because all laboratory activities were halted for several weeks when the university was initially shut down; then, we gradually and only partially reopened. Some graduate students either delayed their planned start date or abandoned their studied for various reasons (difficulty obtaining visas, travelling, concern for family health, etc.). We’re all adapting. Some research funding has also been delayed. The pandemic makes it difficult for students to find work and to obtain co-op placements or apprenticeship. I’m fortunate that my research includes both laboratory work and computational studies. I was able to keep all the students in my group who wanted to continue their research because we shifted our energies to mathematical models and computational fluid dynamics studies.
Students who recently graduated find it very difficult to find work. The “normal” networking is bogged down because many employers have delayed hiring, many human resource services are run from home, which means no one is answering the phone in places of business, and all hires are handled remotely. My advice for students and recent grads looking for work is to start early and to develop their network from existing relationships. Work on video interview techniques and professional written communications skills: these are your tools and it’s important to put your best foot forward in the virtual world.
Engineers are problem solvers. With these skills, we end up working in all sorts of jobs, and not only in technical, science, and engineering fields. Engineers work on design and analysis, process optimization, regulations and policies, but also in finance, economics, statistics, marketing, project management, and various industries. Many engineers are also run businesses, or branch out in other professions, from law and politics to medicine. Regardless of your interests, an engineering undergraduate degree is a solid foundation.
This is my first-ever blog! Perhaps I didn’t address what you are curious to know: please ask me!
Louise Meunier
Major (retired) L. Meunier, Lau.II, BEng, rmc, MASc, PEng, CD, PhD
Assistant Professor and CHE2 Program Advisor
Department of Chemical Engineering
Queen’s University
211 Dupuis Hall
19 Division Street
Kingston Ontario K7L3N6