THE NEWSLETTER OF CSBE Spring 2006 Printemps LES … · To date we have a new logo for CSBE/SCGAB – thanks to everyone for his or her input and especially to Shahab Sokhansanj for

John Feddes tel: 780-492-0105 eml: [email protected] The 2005-06 Council is nearing the end of its term. We have accom-plished a number of tasks and have left some work for the next Council! To date we have a new logo for CSBE/SCGAB – thanks to everyone for his or her input and especially to Shahab Sokhansanj for his leadership in this initiative and for his continued work on our new brochure. The Policy Manual/Bylaws are being updated and posted on the website. Bylaw changes have been identified and will hopefully be ratified by the membership. A word of thanks and appreciation to the Council members for taking the time to complete this task. Thanks to Jim Townsend, our Society Man-ager, and Webmaster Wayne Coates for coordinating this effort. Numerous manuscripts have been published in our Canadian Biosystems Engineering Journal. Thanks to our Journal editor Stefan Cenkowski, publisher Don Norum, and the associate editors and reviewers for making sure we have quality research papers.

The progress being made by our CSBE/SCGAB Foundation is exciting. Philippe Sa-voie, Chairperson of the Foundation, reported that we currently have 153 new student members from the Universities of Saskatchewan, Manitoba, McGill, Laval and Guelph. The new student membership increase is largely due to CSBE/SCGAB offering a one time free membership to students. I hope that the CSBE/SCGAB membership will agree to continue to support free membership to students while they are in their BSc, MSc, and PhD bioengineering programs and thereby encourage their continued involvement in CSBE/SCGAB after graduation.

This past winter I was able to meet with three student groups and was encouraged to hear that the majority of the students were reading Perspectives as well as the Resource magazine. Good to see the diversity and interests among our student members. Our stu-dents are now applying engineering principles to animal welfare issues, safety and health issues with farm machinery and animal housing, waste management, renewable energy and bio-fuel production; just to name a few.

Thanks to Yves Choinière’s persistence, we have new Council members for the upcoming year. We welcome Vic-tor Lo (BC Regional Director), Robert Kok (President Elect for 2006-07), Ramanathan Sri Ranjan (Journal Editor), Bonnie Robertson who has agreed to a second term as Atlantic Regional Director, Benoit Lacasse (VP Regional), and Jake DeBruyn (Ontario Regional Director). Thanks go to Sylvio Tessier (VP Regional), Stefan Cenkowski (Journal editor), Ramesh Rudra (Ontario Regional Director) and Stephanie Tam (BC Regional Director) for serving on Coun-cil. (Continued on page 2)

President’s message Un mot du président

1, 2, 3

Foundation Donors 3

Annual Awards 4

Manager’s report News from ASABE

5

GEAPS Announcement 6

News Coast to Coast - BC News

7-16 7

Alberta News 8-9

P2P Project 9

In Memoriam 9

Saskatchewan News 10-11

Manitoba News 11-13

Ontario News 13-15

Nouvelles du Québec 16

Annual Reports 17-24

Notices Coming events

25-26 27

CSBE/SCGAB Council for 2005-2006

28

THE NEWSLETTER OF CSBE Spring 2006 Printemps LES NOUVELLES DE SCGAB

Inside this issue: Dans ce numéro:

PERSPECTIVES Vo lu me 2 8 , No . 3 20 0 6

A Few Words From President John Feddes

PAGE 2 PERS PECT I V ES T H E N EWS LETT ER OF CS B E/LES N OU V ELLES DE S CG AB VOL. 28(3)

(suite de la page 1)

These Council members will be recognized at the Conference in Edmonton. … Speaking of Edmonton, I hope that you have registered for the Conference July 16-19 at the Fantasyland Hotel and Conference Centre in West Edmon-ton Mall. The Local Arrangements Committee has been working hard and promises another great conference. The Conference will feature a trade show, a number of excellent tours, workshops, technical sessions as well as a student paper competition with cash prizes. And of course many opportunities for socializing. See the Conference website for further details [http://www.bioeng.ca/Events/Edm2006/index.htm]. One final thought. Visiting with students and staff during this past year had me wondering and reflecting on the per-ceived or real vulnerability of our university Bioengineering programs. Is the message getting through to the “movers and shakers” of the Universities, governments and the market place that Bioengineering graduates are and will con-tinue to make a difference in our current world? How are we individually and collectively making sure that these programs will flourish?

La fin du terme du Conseil pour 2005-06 approche. Nous avons accomplis plusieurs tâches et puis nous en avons laissé pour le prochain conseil!

À date, nous avons un nouvel emblème/logo pour la CSBE/SCGAB – merci à tous pour leur appui et en particulier à Shahab Sokhansanj pour avoir pris le taureau par les cornes et pour son travail ardu à réactualiser notre nouveau pam-phlet. Notre manuel de règlements et statuts est presque mis à jour et sera posté sur notre site Internet bientôt. Les changements au niveau des statuts sont bien identifiés et ils seront, espérons, adoptés par nos membres. Un mot de remerciement et d’appréciation s’impose pour les membres du Conseil qui ont mis l’épaule à la roue. On souligne le travail de Jim Townsend, notre gérant, et Wayne Coates (Webmestre) qui ont chapeauté cet exercice. Plusieurs arti-cles ont été publiés dans Le génie des biosystèmes au Canada. Les efforts de notre éditeur Stefan Cenkowski et ceux de Don Norum, notre réalisateur du journal, ainsi que ceux des éditeurs associés et évaluateurs externes sont en grande partie responsables du succès du journal à accueillir des articles de recherche de haut calibre.

Les progrès réalisés au niveau de la Fondation CSBE/SCGAB sont enthousiasmants. Phillipe Savoie, qui chaire la Fondation, rapporte que nous avons présentement 153 nouveaux étudiants membres entre l’University of Saskatche-wan, University of Manitoba, University of Guelph, l’Université McGill et l’Université Laval. L’augmentation du nombre d’étudiants membres est en grande partie le résultat de notre offre d’une inscription gratuite d’un an pour les nouveaux étudiants. J’espère que l’assemblée de la CSBE/SCGAB acceptera de continuer à offrir ce programme de première inscription gratuite aux étudiants alors qu’ils sont à entreprendre leurs programmes de B.Sc., M.Sc. et PhD en bioingénierie, les encourageant de cette façon à rester impliqués au sein de notre Société après la fin de leurs étu-des.

L’hiver passé, j’ai pu rencontrer trois groupes d’étudiants et j’en suis ressorti encouragé de constater que la majorité des étudiants lisent notre Perspectives ainsi que la revue Resources. C’est bon de voir la diversité et les intérêts va-riés chez nos étudiants membres. Nos étudiants appliquent les principes d’ingénierie à la problématique du bien-être animal, de la santé et sécurité au travail avec la machinerie agricole et les équipements d’élevages, la gestion des dé-jections animales, l’énergie renouvelable et la production de bio-fuel, pour n’en nommer que quelques uns.

Grâce à la persévérance d’Yves Choinière, nous avons pu combler les postes vacants au Conseil pour la prochaine année. Nous souhaitons la bienvenue à Victor Lo (directeur régional, Colombie Britannique), Robert Kok (président-élu pour 2006-07), Ramanathan Sri Ranjar (éditeur de notre revue), Benoit Lacasse (vice-président, affaires régiona-(à suivre en page3)

Un mot du President


(Continued from page 2)

les) et Jake DeBruyn (directeur régional, Ontario). Bonnie Robertson a accepté un deuxième mandat comme direc-teur régional - Atlantique). Un gros merci à Sylvio Tessier (vice-président, affaires régionales), Stefan Cenkowski (éditeur de notre revue), Ramesh Rudra (directeur régional, Ontario) et Stephanie Tam (directeur régional, Colombie Britannique) pour le tour de service au Conseil.

Le travail des membres du Conseil sera souligné à la conférence d’Edmonton. En parlant d’Edmonton, j’espère que vous vous êtes inscrits à la conférence du 16 au 19 juillet prochain au Fantasyland Hotel et au Centre de conférence du West Edmonton Mall. Le comité organisateur a travaillé très fort et l’événement sera mémorable. La conférence inclus une exhibition commerciale, des visites industrielles d’intérêts, des ateliers de travail, sessions techniques ainsi qu’une compétition de présentation de communication par les étudiants, avec des prix en argent sonnant! Eh bien sûr, il y aura amples opportunités de renouer contact avec vos connaissances et d’en faire d’autres! Jetez un coup d’œil sur le site Internet de la conférence pour de plus amples détails [http://www.bioeng.ca/Events/Edm2006/index.htm].

Une dernière pensée… Mes visites aux universités cette année m’ont laissé sur l’impression que nos programmes de formation en Bioingénierie semblaient ou étaient effectivement très vulnérables. Est-ce que le message du succès passé et futur de nos gradués à faire une différence marquée dans le monde se rends aux plus hauts niveaux de l’ad-ministration des universités? Comment s’y prenons-nous individuellement et collectivement pour assurer l’épanouis-sement de ces programmes?

News from The CSBE/SCGAB Foundation The CSBE/SCGAB Foundation was established in 2003. During the years 2003 and 2004 the Board of Directors worked on plans for fund raising and distribution of funds to worthy projects. The Board of Directors is pleased to announce that to date there has been a sum of $5924 used in support of students through payment of their CSBE/SCGAB and ASABE student membership dues for 2006. The Board of Directors would like to acknowledge and thank all donors who contributed to the CSBE/SCGAB Foun-dation in the years 2003 to 2006. Of special note are the following persons who have made sizable donations since the start of the CSBE/SCGAB Foundation in 2003. Persons or Organizations making donations of greater than $1000: Pierre Jutras Lal Kushwaha Garland Laliberte Shahab Sokhansanj Persons or Organizations making donations between $99 and $999: Agricore United, Chris Watts, James Townsend, Gerald Zoerb, Martin Wrubleski, Jan Jofriet, Gary Mac-Donald, Clement Vigneault, Wayne Coates, Egon Rapp, Vijaya Raghavan, John Oglivie, John Higgins, Frqanklin Kains, Dennis Hodgkinson, Qiang Zhang, Digvir Jayas, Ramanathan Sri Ranjan, Lawrence Man-chur, Myron Britton, Lambert O tten


ANNUAL AWARDS FOR 2006 TO MEMBERS OF CSBE/SCGAB

Major Awards CSBE/SCGAB Fello w David R. Hundeby Jim Beamish Award Robert Bonnell Glenn Downing Award Ying Chen Maple Leaf Award John Feddes Young Engineer of the Year Award Danny Mann John Turnbull Award Alfred Marquis John Clark Award Clément Vigneault Student Awards Department of Biosystems Engineering, University of Manitoba Undergraduate Design Project Award Marcus Nolting, V. Russ Parker, Natalie Wilson and A. Zilinsky for a project entitled “Design of a modular interior-mounted biofilter” Undergraduate Thesis Award Jordan Wyatt for a thesis entitled “The effect of saturated steam pretreatment of instant noodles processed with super-heated steam” (Advisor: S. Cenkowski) Graduate Thesis Award (Ph.D.) Shafiqur Rahman for a thesis entitled “Soil movement and manure placement from liquid manure injection tools” (Advisor: Y. Chen) Department of Bioresource Engineering, McGill University Undergraduate Design Project Award Amélie Turcotte, Bioresource Engineering, Alain Consigny, Mechanical Engineering, Edmund Paulus, Chemical En-gineering for a project entitled "Waste Water Biogas Digester System for a Rural Residence in Barba-dos" (Supervisor: Professor R. Bonnell) Undergraduate Paper Competition Samuel Price for a paper entitled "Estimating Flow of Water to an Interceptor Well" (Supervisor: Professor G.S.V. Raghavan) Graduate Thesis Award (Ph.D.) Jianming Dai for a thesis entitled "Microwave-Assisted Extraction and Synthesis and the Scale-up Study with the Aid of FDTD Simulation" (Supervisor: Professor G.S.V. Raghavan)

PAGE 5 P ER SP ECTIVES TH E N EWSLETTER OF CSB E/ LES N OU VELLES D E SCG AB VOL. 28(3)

James S. Townsend, PEng Tel: 204-233-1881 Fax: 204-231-8282 Email: [email protected] I would like to thank all of the members who responded to my request for assistance in correcting bad email addresses when the Perspectives Newsletter is sent out. There is another list of returned email messages later in this issue of Perspectives. Please scan it quickly and see if you recognize any names on the list . Send me a correction if you have one or contact the person and advise them of the error.

From my point of view the Manager’s office seems to be running smoothly. What do you say? I have responded to several suggestions in connection with the newsletter, i.e., no columns, no continued on page x+15 from page x, etc. Are there other items that need to be subjected to a “fix”? Please let me know of your concerns. I want to serve you better. In connection with the Perspectives Newsletter I want to thank all of the “reporters”. After all what would a newsletter be without news! Special thanks to the Regional Directors and to VP-Regional Sylvio Tessier for their ef-forts on your behalf. The wonders of the internet and email never cease to amaze me. Last fall I was offered a 3-month assignment at Khon Kaen University in Thailand. The assignment involved advising graduate students in their research projects. If there had been no internet and/or email I would not have even considered the opportunity at all! So after getting the OK from President Feddes, alerting ASABE’s membership person, and buying a laptop computer I was off to Thai-land from Oct 16 to Jan 16. It worked for me but I know that there was more work for my wife, Louise, checking the mailbox weekly and for ASABE’s office staff. My thanks to both. Louise did not accompany me because of her fa-ther’s poor health and I did miss her. I hope that most of the members found that it was “business as usual”. One could say that I was always ahead of any business items here in North America since Thailand is 12 or 13 h ahead be-cause of time zones and the International Dateline!

New from ASABE The Meeting’s Messenger: ASABE’s Meetings & Conferences e-Newsletter

The American Society of Agricultural an d Biolo gical En gineer s (ASABE) Meetings Co uncil and staff have introduced the new Meeting’s Messenger. The Meeting’s Messenger is designed to provide the latest confer-ence and meetin g news up dates and educational pro gramming announcements. The Messenger will be “THE” primary source for event timelines, special pro gram announcements, Call for Papers an d excitin g gro wth op-portunities for the membership. You have or will receive this unique commun iqué as a mem ber of ASABE or as a past conference an d/or meeting participant. This special news f lash will be distributed only eight t imes over the course of the upcom-ing year. It is an exciting year of development within our industry and for ASABE as we begin planning to honor the Society’s 100th Anniversary. Plan to be an active participant!

A few words from your CSBE/SCGAB Society Secretary/Manager Un mot du directeur-général/secrétaire de la CSBE/SCGAB


GEAPS ANNOUCES ITS 75TH PRESIDENT Tuesday, February 28 marked a milestone for Tom Price, Manager Engineering and Con-struction of Agricore United. Tom was installed as the 75th International President of GEAPS for a one year term. GEAPS, or the Grain Elevator and Processing Society, is a professional society made up of 2,400 members in grain operations and related fields from throughout the world. GEAPS defines itself as the knowledge resource for the world of grain handling industry opera-tions. It produces educational programs and seminars in various locations around the U.S. and Canada, and provides professional educational materials by various means, including distance-learning or online courses. GEAPS is a volunteer-led organization. Members di-rect the program of activity, determine educational content for professional development programs, and oversee the budgeting process.

In his role as GEAPS’ leader, Tom will lead the International Board in conjunction with other GEAPS’ leadership groups which essentially determine that organization’s courses of activity. The International President is the top elected officer of GEAPS and is responsible for overseeing virtually all of its ongoing and planned activities. Tom will also be responsible for chairing the International Executive Committee, leadership at GEAPS International Board meetings, leading activities at the GEAPS Exchange and other educational conferences and programs. He will be re-quired to travel on behalf of GEAPS to a variety of local chapter events throughout the U.S. and Canada, as well as representing GEAPS at its sister organization’s (APOSGRAN) conference in Argentina.

More information is available on the GEAPS web site www.geaps.com. You are invited to try the 30-day free mem-bership to get full access to this site.

CSBE 2006, 16-19 JULY, WEST EDMONTON MALL, EDMONTON

Be sure to register for and plan your travels to the CSBE National Technical Conference and Annual General Meeting at the Fantasyland Hotel in West Edmonton Mall, Edmonton, Alberta. Early bird registration will close on June 1st – register before then to earn discounted fees and to be eligible to win a draw for family waterpark passes! Remember to reserve your room at the conference hotel – the spectacular Fantasyland Hotel in West Edmonton Mall. The hotel has kindly extended the hold on the block of rooms being held for the conference, but they will be released on June 16th. The Fantasyland is very busy at this t ime of year and rooms will almost certainly not be available if they are not reserved before the release date. Our technical program is fully subscribed with presentations and posters, with additional sessions being considered to accommodate the enthusiastic response from delegates. If you have not already submitted a proposal to present your work, please do so immediately so that you might be included in the program. If you have submitted a proposal but have not already registered for the conference, please do so immediately so that your presentation remains on the busy agenda! Please remember to register for the workshops, tours, and social events that interest you. If the committee knows in advance of the number of participants to expect at each event, they can plan to make the events more enjoyable for everyone. If you have registered already but have decided that you’d like to attend another event or two, drop us a line so that we can add that information to your registration. For more information, please refer to the website at www.bioeng.ca/Events/Edm2000.

Come to Edmonton – We’re waiting to welcome you!


Okanagan Basin Water Management Project Stephanie Tam, E.I.T., Water Management Engineer

Ted van der Gulik, P.Eng., Senior Engineer B.C. Ministry of Agriculture and Lands – Resource Management Branch

The Okanagan Valley is situated in the south central interior region of British Columbia (Figure 1). It is a region of tremendous urban growth, mainly because of the life style offered by the rural landscape and a climate that is warm in the summer and tempered by the large lakes during the winter. The region is also an important agricultural region that generates 25% of British Columbia’s farm income. Therefore, concerns are growing over the future availability of water in the region and the potential of a serious water shortage. The impact on agriculture could get even more serious as the in-dustry currently uses 70% of the water available in the Okanagan basin. Farmland is held in an Agricultural Land Reserve which is under continuing pressure from urban development. For agricul-ture to grow and be sustainable, security of current and future water supply is a big concern. The water supplies in the region are limited and are expected to be fully allocated in the next fif-teen to twenty years. Therefore, it is important to schedule irriga-tion and use water wisely to meet the high future water demand. In addition to population growth, climate change will lead to changes in water supply and demand in the Okanagan. Snow packs start to melt as the climate becomes warmer. There will only have snow packs in areas higher up in the mountain. Higher elevation snow packs will change stream hydrology; thus, there will be more rainfall than snow. The irrigation storage will be used earlier in the season as peak flows may occur ear-lier. Therefore, the annual precipitation might decrease, and the agricultural water demand will increase due to longer growing season. The Okanagan Basin Water Management Project was initiated by Land and Water B.C. initiated in 2004 that a review the water use data needs to be done. The Canadian Water Resource Association (CWRA) supports the development of a water balance approach. Therefore, the B.C. Ministry of Agriculture and Lands and the Pacific Agri-Food Centre are currently developing an agricultural model that is supported by a GIS database. The objective of this project is to develop an agriculture water use model that calculates agriculture’s water needs by purveyor, municipality, district and sub-watershed. The model will include a unified cadastre for the Okanagan. Land use information will be collected on cropping, if irrigation is used or not, and irrigation system type. The end result of this Project is a climate model that determines water use by property for the entire basin. Using the model, districts will be able to come up with planning tools that secure water for current and future agricultural needs. (Continued on page 8)

COAST TO COAST/D’UN OCÉAN À L’AUTRE

British Columbia Regional News Stephanie P. Tam tel: 604-437-3033 eml: [email protected]

British Columbia

Okanagan Valley

British Columbia

British Columbia

Okanagan Valley

Figure 1. Location of the Okanagan Valley


(Continued from page 7) Irrigation Scheduling and Metering As part of this water management project, the Okanagan irrigation metering and scheduling project is currently un-derway in six irrigation districts: Glenmore-Ellison, Black Mountain, Summerland, Lake Country, Westbank and Vernon that are installing meters under the Canada–British Columbia Water Supply Expansion Program (CBCWSEP) for Agriculture. The project will run for a period of three years to establish an irrigation scheduling and demonstration project in each district. A key objective of this project is to identify irrigation water use through soil moisture readings, climate data and irrigation practices of landowners. The metered water use data will be compared among co-operators who are under the same scheduling program. The data will also be compared to calculated water requirements from climate station data available on www.farmwest.com. The project goal is to dovetail with the Okanagan Water Balance Model. The project will educate irrigators in scheduling irrigation water use in a manner that is efficient and effective for the farm operation while protecting current and future agricultural water supply in the Okanagan. Irrigation Scheduling Calculator To assist the scheduling project, the Irrigation Scheduling Calculator project, also funded by the CBCWSEP, is cur-rently underway. As of today, the landscape irrigation scheduling calculator is available online at the IIABC website at www.irrigationbc.com. There is also a user’s guide that can be downloaded that provides details on how the infor-mation is used to determine an irrigation schedule. Developing calculators for all other sprinkler and trickle irrigation scheduling will be coming in the next two years, and they will all be available on the IIABC website. The results of this Okanagan Basin Water Management project will be of value to local governments concerned about water allocation and future water demands. The spatial agricultural land use information can also be helpful for wa-tershed planning or updating Official Community Plans of local governments.

Len Ring tel: 403-381-5176; fax: 403-382-4406 eml: [email protected] It seems the Alberta members are so busy getting ready for the 2006 national Conference, that they have litt le else to report on. At least they didn’t send much in this month. Grant Clark didn’t let us down however, and gives us this up-date on the planning for the CSBE Conference and AGM.

CSBE 2006, 16-19 JULY, WEST EDMONTON MALL, EDMONTON, ALBERTA Be sure to register for and plan your travels to the CSBE National Technical Conference and Annual General Meeting at the Fantasyland Hotel in West Edmonton Mall, Edmonton, Alberta, from 16-19 July. Early bird registration will close on June 1st – register before then to earn discounted fees and to be eligible to win a draw for family waterpark passes! Remember to reserve your room at the conference hotel – the spectacular Fantasyland Hotel in West Edmonton Mall. The hotel has kindly extended the hold on the block of rooms being held for the conference, but they will be released after June 16th. The Fantasyland is very busy at this t ime of year and rooms will almost certainly not be available if

(Continued on page 9)

Alberta Regional News


(Continued from page 8) they are not reserved before the release date. Our technical program is fully subscribed with presentations and posters, with additional sessions being considered to accommodate the enthusiastic response from delegates. If you have not already submitted a proposal to present your work, please do so immediately so that you might be included in the program. If you have submitted a proposal but have not already registered for the conference, please do so immediately so that your presentation remains on the busy agenda! Please remember to register for the workshops, tours, and social events that interest you. If the committee knows in advance of the number of participants to expect at each event, they can plan to make the events more enjoyable for everyone. If you have registered already but have decided that you’d like to attend another event or two, drop us a line so that we can add that information to your registration. For more information, please refer to the website at www.bioeng.ca/Events/Edm2000. Come to Edmonton – We’re waiting to welcome you! Potential to Prosperity (P2P) project Thanks to the generous assistance of the Government of Canada, the Canadian Council of Professional Engineers (CCPE) and its member bodies, the Canadian Foundation for Economic Education (CFEE) has produced an online resource designed ultimately to outline the process for foreign trained and internationally educated professionals to earn their respective designations in the regulated professions. The first phase of the Potential to Prosperity (P2P) project features engineers that have successfully earned their professional designation - P.Eng. - in Canada. The goal of this project is to outline the process for credential recognition so that newcomers can more readily find meaningful work in their chosen profession here in Canada. We believe that we now have a vehicle that can assist newcomers with their understanding of the complexity of licensure here in Canada and the processes that exist in each jurisdic-tion. We are currently in the process of introducing the P2P project (and the 23 videos and hundreds of related links that constitute this resource) to settlement agencies, community service organizations, and the general public as we plan for the inclusion of other regulated professions and skilled trades. The video entitled Engineering in Canada: A Regu-lated Profession provides links to CCPE and each of the provincial/territorial bodies. To view the P2P site, go to http://www.cfeep2p.com/ and click on the language of choice. Then click on the profes-sion that you are interested in (currently only Engineering is available). The Engineering profession page provides you with a list of options.

IN MEMORIAM Gordon R. Hjertaas, 55, of Fargo, N.D., an engineer with Phoenix International, died March 17, 2006. Hjertaas, a native of Redvers, Saskatchewan, moved to Fargo in the early 1990s to work for Phoenix. He was an engineering graduate from the University of Saskatchewan and worked at various organizations including PAMI in Humboldt, Saskatchewan, and SED Systems in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Hjertaas spent the last several years as an electronics engineer for John Deere in Fargo. He was a 33-year member of ASABE and CSBE/SCGAB. Survivors include his parents, Ralph and Emelie Hjertaas of Prince Albert, Saskatchewan and two brothers, David of Shellbrook, Saskatchewan and Marty of Canmore, Alberta. Memorials may be made to Abbeyfield House Society, 190 26th Street East, Prince Albert, SK S6V 1Z7.


Saskatchewan Regional News Lope G. Tabil tel.: (306) 966-5317; fax: (306) 966-5332 eml: [email protected] Updates from the Department of Agricultural and Bioresource Engineering MO TO RBLAST 2006: The Agricultural and Bioresource Engineering Student Society (ABESS) held Motorblast 2006 on the last day of classes of Term 2 (April 7, 2006). The car purchased this year was a 1970 Pontiac Catalina. The coolant was drained from the radiator, ran at full throttle and the engine lasted for 2 min 58 s. ABESS sold tickets with purchasers making a guess at how long the car will last before the engine dies, and prizes were distributed to the best guesses. The event took place in The Bowl, a central area on the University of Saskatchewan campus.

Motorblast 2007 (photo courtesy of Graham Baxter, ABESS Vice Presi-dent) Graduates during the Spring 2006 Convocation: The spring convoca-tion for the Colleges of Agriculture, Commerce and Engineering was held on March 23, 2006 at TCU Place (formerly Centennial Audito-rium). There were twelve graduates who received their B.Sc. Engineer-ing degree (Agricultural and Bioresource Engineering), namely: Graham Baxter, Kurtis Doney, Andrew Jansen, Meghan Kolybaba, Peter Rhodes, Helen Sack, Mark Shaw (with Great Distinction), Lucas Sutherland (with Distinction), Kimberley Tang, Chad Taylor, Eric Veikle (with Great Distinction) and Nigel Weber. Also, Balasundaram Ramanadhan

(M.Sc.), Lakshminarayana Reddy N. (M.Sc.), Gang Sun (M.Sc.), Lisa White (M.Sc.) and Subrata Karmakar (Ph.D.) successfully obtained their respective graduate degrees during the convocation. Congratulations to all of you and wishing you for success in your future endeavors! Subrata Karmakar convocating with a Ph.D. degree flanked by Dr. Lal Kushwaha (supervisor) and Dean Claude Lague (photo courtesy of Dr. Subrata Karmakar) ASABE/CSBE North Central Intersectional Conference: Prepa-rations are underway for the holding of the Annual ASABE/CSBE North Central Intersectional Conference which will be held on Octo-ber 5-7, 2006 in Saskatoon, SK. Organization of the said conference is handled by a committee composed of faculty members of the De-partment chaired by Dr. Oon-Doo Baik. The call for presentations and papers has gone out with deadline set for August 4, 2006. The conference will be held at Parktown Hotel, located just across the bridge from the University of Saskatchewan. For more information, visit the conference website at http://www.engr.usask.ca/dept/abe/asae-csae/2006/index.htm. Equipment Funding: Faculty members in the department were successful with NSERC Research Tools and Instru-ments-Category I (<$150,000) in the 2006 competition. These are: 1) A MDSC system for value-added bioprocessing research (O.D. Baik (principal applicant), V. Meda and L. Tabil (co-applicants)) for $95,800; 2) Integrated gas chro-(Continued on page 11)



matograph system for food and bioprocessing research (V. Meda (principal applicant), O.D. Baik, H. Guo, S. Pani-grahi and L. Tabil (co-applicants)) for $49,541; 3) H2S analyzer for swine environment research (H. Guo (principal applicant) and B. Predicala (co-applicant); and 4) Enhanced mechanical properties of high performance agricultural fiber based composite through STXM and WAXR technology at synchrotron (S. Panigrahi (principal applicant), V. Meda, I. Ogoucha, L. Tabil and L. Wegner (co-applicants)) for $16,960. Dean Laguë Ottawa bound: Dr. Claude Laguë, P.Eng., Professor in the Department of Agri-cultural and Bioresource Engineering and Dean of the College of Engineering, will be leaving the University of Saskatchewan to assume the position of Dean, Faculty of Engineering, Uni-versity of Ottawa effective August 21, 2006. Claude came to the UofS in January, 2000 as the holder of the Sask Pork Chair in Environmental Engineering for the Pork Industry and in 2002, he was appointed Dean of the College of Engineering. Claude and his family have greatly ap-preciated the seven years that they have spent in Saskatoon and they will now be looking for new professional and personal opportunities closer to their friends and families in Québec. (Photo - Dr. Claude Laguë). Updates from Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food Congratulations to Gerald Bayne and Ken Mcknight on their recent retirements. Their knowledge, expertise and com-mitment to applying Engineering to improve agriculture and protect the environment will be greatly missed. We ex-tend our best wishes to both in their well-disserved retirement and hope they can dedicate themselves to all the things work interfered with! (contributed Andy Jansen, P.Eng, Manager, Agricultural Operations Inspection & Regulatory Management Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food)

At the upcoming May Convocation Ceremony at the University of Manitoba, 8 students will re-ceive their Bachelor of Science in Engineering (Biosystems) degrees. The degree recipients are: Farrah Fernando, Leslie Herstein, Jordan Langrell, Diana Nicholson, Russ Parker, Caroline Shields, Jordan Wyatt, and Stephanie Zubriski. Caroline Shields is the recipient of the Program Medal in Biosystems Engineering. Congratulations to each of you and good luck as you head off into the next chapter of your lives! Research Profile – M.Sc. student Sarah Kelso

Under the supervision of Dr. Danny Mann, M.Sc. student Sarah Kelso is working on a unique project in the area of assistive technologies (technologies designed to remove/reduce barriers faced by people with disabilit ies) for agricul-tural production – a new field of study for the University of Manitoba. Sarah has created a self-assessment worksheet for identifying hazards in tractor cabs with modified controls. This assessment tool is intended to be used by farmers with disabilit ies, to improve safety in modified operator enclosures. Some farmers with disabilit ies design and imple-ment their own machinery modifications to suit their individual abilit ies; this worksheet would assist such farmers in completing a systematic hazard analysis of their tractor cabs. The worksheet could also assist rehabilitation profes-sionals in the assessment of agricultural workplaces for their clients. Once pilot testing is complete, the worksheet will be made available to users of modified tractor cabs, predominantly in cooperation with Manitoba Farmers with (Continued on page 12)

Manitoba Regional News Danny Mann Tel: 204-474-7149 FAX: 204-474-7512 Email: danny_mann @umanitoba.ca


(Continued from page 11) Disabilit ies. If you would like to learn more about this project, please contact [email protected].

Picture: One of the hand controls used in testing. (Design adapted from agrabilityproject.org.) Research Profile – Ph.D. student Donald Petkau, P.Eng. Design is the mainstay of most engineering careers yet the definition of the term is illusive. We have learned to improve our designs but still cannot describe the proc-ess. Design teams work hard in all areas of business to bring forward ideas to meet consumer and corporate goals. These designs must meet technical, economic, and management parameters. The design process is not clearly understood as it relies on individual knowledge and experience. This, along with the speed at which informa-

tion and technology increase each year, has resulted in a more complicated process. While designers are meeting cur-rent goals, concern is for sustaining the process within the changing work environment. The purpose of my research project is to gain a better understanding of the design process within a corporate environment. The research to be conducted will be with actual corporate design process teams. The researcher will conduct inter-views, attend design meetings, and benchmark current design information. The plan is to study a number of diverse teams with respect to size, scope, and type of project. The conclusion of the research will bring a more in-depth un-derstanding of the design process. This will allow us the opportunity to describe the process and therefore enhance communication between design teams and to new entrants. Benefits from the research will be: to improve engineers’ ability to create new designs, to help engineers transfer design knowledge to new designers, to improve ability to hire or promote individuals for design positions, and to enhance design education. Biosystems Engineering Graduate Students’ Association (BEGSA) Upon graduation, the priority of any student, the field of study not withstanding, is to get “that dream job” where he/she can utilize the skills and knowledge gained while in school. Thus, it becomes necessary to equip the student with industry-specific information that could help the student realize this dream. The University of Manitoba Biosystems Engineering Graduate Students’ Association (BEGSA) obtained some funds from the Research and Scholarly Activi-ties Category of the Engineering Endowment Fund for an Invited Industrial Speaker Series. This fund would be used to organize workshops (industry-student interaction sessions) for all the students (and staff) in the department, both graduate and undergraduate. We are hoping to invite Human Resource Personnel and practicing Engineers (in the dif-ferent specialties of Biosystems Engineering) from different industries and institutions to talk to our students on job-related issues and industry specific job requirements from a potential employee. Apart from being an effective infor-mation session, this workshop series will enable students to network with their potential employers given that indus-try speakers have vested interest in potential recruits. The first workshop in this series was delivered on April 27 by Human Resource Personnel and Engineering Staff from MacDon Industries (a Canadian based manufacturer of assorted types of harvesting equipment). The next work-shop will take place in August 2006. Scholarship Received

Ph.D. student, Prabal Ghosh, received an NSERC-CGS scholarship for two years in support of his doctoral studies. Prabal is using magnetic resonance imaging to investigate heat and mass transfer during drying under the supervision of Digvir Jayas. (Continued on page 13)


Ontario Regional News

Ramesh P.Rudra Phone: 519- 824-4120 X 53110; Fax: 519-836-0227 Email: [email protected] O MAFRA is currently in the process of updating the "MSTOR" (manure storage and sizing) com-ponent of its nutrient management planning software referred to as NMAN. The revisions will in-clude findings from a review of the latest livestock manure production numbers from available re-search literature, a component for handling livestock on pasture as well as routines to account for changes to manure characteristics undergoing treatment (e.g. anaerobic digesters, composting). The current software is available by call-ing the Nutrient Management Information Line (1-866-242-4460). Training courses are also available for users of this software and can be arranged by calling the same number. NMAN can be used to prepare nutrient management plans as a voluntary best management practice or to help users meet the regulatory requirements of Ontario's Nutrient Management Act. Upcoming Tour of Anaerobic Digesters – August 2006. Ontario’s Large Herd Operators, in conjunction with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, is organizing a tour of anaerobic digesters (AD) in the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark. The focus of this tour is on farm-based or cooperative agricultural-based AD systems. Tour capacity is limited to 30 participants. The tour will be in late August 2006. For tour details, visit the Large Herd Operators website: www.lho-ontario.ca Ontario Hosts European Biogas Workshop The Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs hosted a one-day workshop with 4 European Biogas Ex-perts on April 6, 2006 in Toronto. : These 4 speakers had spoken previously at the successful Alberta Biogas Con-ference earlier in April. The focus of this one-day workshop was to target decision-makers in a variety of non-



Conferences Attended

Stefan Cenkowski attended the CIGR conference entitled "Future of Food Engineering" in April. The CIGR organi-zation (Commission Internationale du Génie Rural, the International Commission of Agricultural Engineering) was set up by a Constituent Assembly on the occasion of the first International Congress of Agricultural Engineering, held in Liege, Belgium in 1930. In recent years, to better fulfill the mission of CIGR, the 1st international conference on bioprocessing and food safety was held in October 2004 in Beijing and the 2nd was organized in April 2006 in War-saw, Poland. A series of presentations and discussions in plenary, scientific, and poster sections and informal gather-ings took place to highlight the most recent developments in food processing. The conference was attended by 200 researchers from over 40 different countries from five continents. Four Canadians attended the conference represent-ing University of Dalhousie, McGill University and University of Manitoba. Full length proceedings of the confer-ence were published on a CD-ROM. Selected papers presented at this conference will be published in a special issue of the Journal of Food Engineering, and recommended for publication in the CIGR e-journal.

Danny Mann attended the Ergonomics Society Conference in Cambridge, UK (April 2006) and presented two papers. Notice to members from Manitoba: If you have any comments or news items that you would to be included in the next issue of Perspectives, please send it to [email protected].



agricultural government agencies in order to inform them on the status of the biogas sector and anaerobic digestion in Europe. Key take-away messages from the session included:

• In Germany, the biogas sector has boomed in the last 5 years, providing new opportunity in rural areas. • The biogas sector provides significant revenue to rural Germany ($500M/yr in revenue today, with long term

guaranteed contracts, and $900M/yr in construction activity) • This is new revenue, independent of commodity prices, utilizing primarily localized whole plant energy crops • There are 400 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with more than 8000 employees working in the

biogas sector • The introduction of attractive energy pricing drove the adoption of digesters:

o First, lower prices were suitable for manure-based digesters mixing off-farm materials such as food processing wastes.

o Second, new higher pricing brought in energy crops (such as corn silage) resulting in a new boom of construction.

• The growth in biogas has occurred primarily at the farm scale. Austria has also focused on centralized heat-ing facilit ies, with heat coming from biogas, or from pelletized biomass.

• Food-waste based digesters can be operated by municipal/commercial partnerships. The key to top perform-ance is contracts rewarding the operators for optimum biogas production.

• There are lessons to be learned from the technology and experience of the Europeans. Summary of Key Implications for Ontario (and Canada): The following is a summary of implications, including feedback from the round-table discussion session which oc-curred amongst participants at the end of the workshop:

• The recently announced Ontario Standard Offer Program for electricity pricing is good, but may not be at-tractive enough to produce the boom in activity found in Europe. Prices are at least 2-8¢/kWh below what they need to be to match the growth in the German sector.

• When considering the energy per hectare from energy crops in biogas systems versus ethanol, it is evident that biogas has a tremendous opportunity.

• In Ontario, the ability to mix off-farm materials will be a key consideration with the current energy pric-ing. Regulations with the MOE must be completed allowing food-processing materials to be used as “ inputs” into digesters.

• There is a need to get knowledge into the hands of the farmer so that we do not re-invent the wheel. This in-cludes factsheets, training, workshops, etc.

• The ability to connect to the grid is a key consideration. 3-phase power is needed for any medium to large scale system. Most farmers have access to 3-phase power in Germany, whereas in Ontario a minority have access.

• It is critical that society recognize the co-benefits of biogas systems: rural economic development, pathogen and odour reduction, new opportunities for crops and farmers, new hope for rural areas. In Germany, it is through the electricity rate-payer that some of these co-benefits have been supported.

• These are complex systems. Farmers will require support to determine technology suitability, appropriate business models, suitability of off-farm inputs, connections to the grid, and on-going operation and mainte-nance.

Ontario continues to move forward on policies and programs to encourage the biogas sector. For more information, contact CSBE members: Jake DeBruyn, P.Eng. Engineer, New Technology Integration, Ontario Ministry of Agri-culture, Food and Rural Affairs, [email protected], phone (519) 826 4584,and Don Hilborn, P.Eng. Engineer, Byproduct Management Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, ph. (519) 537




7928, [email protected] Source Water Protection In December 2005, the Ontario provincial government introduced the Bill 43, the Clean Water Act 2005. After exten-sive debate, on May 18, 2006, the Clean Water Act passed second reading in the provincial parliament. The Act has been referred to the Standing Committee on Social Policy for review. The new law is the province's response to the recommendations for multi-barrier approach for source water protection contained in the Walkerton Report. The Act, if passed, will ensure protection of present and future sources of drinking water. The Act will allow local communi-ties to identify potential risks to their supply of drinking water, and take necessary actions to reduce or eliminate these risks. Municipalities, conservation authorities, landowners, farmers, industry, community groups and the public would all work together to meet the common objective of safe drinking water supply. The new law will establish source protection areas based on watershed boundaries. The detailed framework and technical guidance for source water protection are being developed. The guidance will help local committees to develop source protection plans within each area. The basic framework for source water protection is based on the semi quantitative risk assessment process. Undergraduate Biological/Agricultural Engineering Activities ay University of Guelph The School of Engineering at the University of Guelph is still fairly involved in biological/agricultural engineering activities at the undergraduate level. During Winter 2006, about 50 percent of the final design projects were directly or indirectly related to Biological/Agricultural engineering. A complete list of final projects related to biological/agricultural engineering is given below.

• Design of Lycopene Extraction Plant from Industrial Tomatoes waste • Design of a Pilot landfill Bioreactor • Compost Biofilter for Sediment Removal • Bovine Collagen Extraction Design • Remediation system for Cooper Cliff Creek • Milk Quality Assurance Indicator • Landfill lLeachate Treatment for Waterloo Landfill • Custom Design of Metabolic Rate Measure and Analysis System • Arsenic Removal from Tailing Water at a Northern Ontario Mine • Decommissioning Walkerton Truax dam • Reduction of Particulate Matter in the Exhaust of Large Diesel Engine • Agro-Well Recovery in Tsumani Affected Regions of Jaffna District Sri Lanka • Feasibility ad Design of Rainwater Harvesting at the Village in the Green • Design of Advanced Drinking Water System for Rural Communities in Bangla Desh • LabVIEW Visual Instrument Program to Simulate the Determination of Exposer T ime to Re-warm Hypother-

mic Animals • Design of a Water Treatment System for Portable Water Supply for a Typical Village in Bangla Desh • Remediation of Soils in India


Stéphane Godbout tel: 418-286-3351; fax: 418-286-3597 eml: [email protected] De février à mai 2006, John Feddes (président SCGAB) était au Québec pour participer à des ac-tivités de recherche à l’IRDA (Deschambault, Québec). Au cours de cette période, en collabora-tion avec Stéphane P.Lemay (membre SCGAB) et Stéphane Godbout (membre SCGAB), il a di-rigé le démarrage d’un tout nouveau olfactomètre à dilution dynamique mobile. Durant la même période, il a rencontré les étudiants en génie agroenvironnemental de l’Université Laval pour les informer sur les activités de la CSBE. Robert Lagacé, dans le cadre d'une sabbatique, était en visite a Guelph du 8 au 28 mai pour participer a des travaux de modélisation des émissions de méthane provenant des fosses a lisier en collaboration avec la professeure Claudia Wagner-Criddle. From February to May 2006, John Feddes (CSBE president) was in Deschambault (Québec) to work on different re-search projects with Stephane P. Lemay (CSBE member) and Stephane Godbout (CSBE member). Also, he super-vised the start up of a new mobile olfactometer. He took the opportunity to meet undergraduate student in agroenvi-ronmental engineering at Laval University to inform them about CSBE. Yves Choinière and Dennis Hodgkinson are actively involved with the design of a new dairy research complex of Agriculture and Agrifood Canada to be built at the Lennoxville research station in Quebec. Yves Choinière and Dennis Hodgkinson have been mandated by the University of Saskatchewan to work on the tech-nical and functional program for dairy research facilit ies. Existing facilit ies have to be renovated and adapted. Yves Choinière is involved with agronomic and agricultural engineering works in relation to the installation of a large capacity ground water well to be drilled in agricultural land. This is an emerging field of work for agricultural and bioengineers in relation with hydrogeologists. "Suite à leur projet de maîtrise en génie agroalimentaire à l'Université Laval, *Hugues Joannis et Luc D'Amours* ont préparé des affiches pour le Forum technologique de Novalait à Bécancour (Québec) le 30 mai 2006. Hugues a pré-senté des résultats sur la mesure électronique, en temps réel, de la teneur en eau dans les ensilages. Il a montré l'im-portance de faire des mesures précises et fréquentes de la teneur en eau dans les ensilages, faute de quoi les produc-teurs laitiers s'exposent à des pertes économiques importantes (de plusieurs milliers de dollars par an) lorsque les ra-tions alimentaires sont mal équilibrées. Luc a présenté des résultats sur le compactage et la couverture des silos hori-zontaux. Un compactage bien fait procure une haute densité tandis qu'une couverture étanche minimise les pertes, deux facteurs importants dans la régie des ensilages pour la production laitière. Luc s'est mérité le 2e prix d'excel-lence de la relève technologique accordé par Novalait et accompagné d'une bourse de 300 $. Leur travaux de maîtrise étaient dirigés par Philippe Savoie d'Agriculture et Agroalimentaire Canada (Sainte-Foy) et supportés en partie par Novalait , un organisme financé par les producteurs laitiers du Québec." *René Morissette*, un étudiant gradué à l'Université Laval travaillant sur le séchage du foin avec le Dr. Philippe Sa-voie, a fait une mission en France du 14 au 19 février 2006. Accompagné d'un producteur laitier de la Beauce, M. Henry Perreault, René a visité sept fermes laitières qui utilisent du foin haché et séché en vrac avec l'apport d'énergie solaire et de ventilation seulement. Ce système pourrait être intéressant pour la production de foin de commerce sans avoir besoin d'énergie de source fossile. Un rapport de mission détaillé est disponible en écrivant à René: [email protected].

Quebec Regional News / Nouvelles régionaux du Québec


ANNUAL REPORTS FROM COUNCIL MEMBERS FOR 2006

The following Annual Reports have been submitted up to press time. The Members of the 2005-2006 Council and their positions on Council are listed on the last page of this newsletter. All Council members will also be reporting at the AGM in Edmonton, 2006 07 17. The summary reports below are in no particular order. Treasurer’s summary (John Morgan)

CSBE/SCGAB Finances January 1, 2005 to December 31, 2005: The CSBE/SCGAB Financial results are reasonably close to the budget submitted at the 2005 Annual General Meeting. Based on the Society Manager’s (James Town-send) cash flow records Gross Revenue was $42,838.01 while Expenses where $32,368.50 leaving a surplus of $10,470. This result is due to the financial success of the 2005 AGM, a slight increase in membership, and a lack of students coming forward for awards. Net assets are $49,000. Detailed financial results and a projected 2006 budget will be made available at the Annual General meeting in Edmonton.

Of note during this period the CSBE/SCGAB forgave the start-up loan issued to the CSBE/SCGAB Foundation. This was discussed during the 2005 AGM and carried out by the 2006 Council. Among the Foundation’s purposes there are provisions to provide scholarships and other awards to deserving students. For 2006 the form of the awards was to provide free CSBE/SCGAB-ASABE student membership to all first-time student members. This activity proved to be very popular on many campuses. VP-Regional Report (Sylvio Tessier)

This summer brings about the end of my two-year term as Vice-President Regional. These two years have been quite rewarding in many aspects, having the privilege of being the first to read about you, the members of CSBE, as being a noteworthy benefit! During times of changes for our Society, I was impressed by the resolve of key members on the Council in making things happen, such as implementing the Society’s name change, updating the vision of our Society, and the desire for us to be a contemporary “profession” choice for new and future engineers, to name a few. So much for my gains, here is my last report to you. A key role of the vice-president regional is the oversight on the publication of Perspectives. Oversight is a bit exag-gerated, as this effort would be impossible without the hands-on participation of the Society manager, Jim Townsend, in doing all of the production (formatting, layout, etc…). Over recent years, I was under the impression that Perspec-tives is better aligned with the needs of our members. I endeavored to provide more consistent content in Perspec-tives over the last two years, which resulted from the extraordinary cooperation with regional directors; I take this op-portunity for expressing my gratitude to them. A common achievement of the long hours devoted by Jim, Bonnie, Stéphane and Daniel, Ramesh, Danny, Rich and Len, and Stephanie, and yours truly was the report from President Feddes (told you that I read news first!) that Perspectives is becoming close to a must read by bioengineering stu-dents. Other fronts were not as fruitful, at least in terms of addressing the full needs of the Society, relate to the role of the vice-president regional in regard to membership issues. In lieu of a report on this topic, I will instead take the oppor-tunity to present my view of these outstanding needs with respect to membership retention and recruitment, and use Perspectives as a vehicle to pass on this view to the brand new vice-president membership. The Society needs to ad-dress both membership recruitment and member exodus from our ranks. Early in my mandate, my browsing through our membership lists left me wondering about the professional whereabouts of my classmates… I could not find al-most half of my buddies in our membership list! I would have like to carry on a survey of “ lost members” to find out their motives for abandoning CSAE (then) and whether a change in services or focus of the Society could bring them back to us. Along the same lines, would today’s CSBE would be a better place for them? Nevertheless, and to finish my report on a positive note, I’ll come back to President Feddes’ report where he mentions that our ranks grew in (Continued on page 18)



leaps and bounds by 153 new members, thanks to the one-year free membership program for news members! If my memory serves me right, Danny (RD-Manitoba) had a lot to do with off the wall suggestions aiming at stirring up in-terest amongst our young and future bioengineers, efforts to which I wholeheartedly subscribe. Well, that’s all folks! Rapport du vice-président - affaires régionales (Sylvio Tessier)

L’été 2006 marque la fin de mon mandat de deux ans à titre de vice-président aux affaires régionales. Ces deux an-nées auront été des plus enrichissantes sous plusieurs angles, et non le moindre celui d’être le premier à lire de vos nouvelles, et quatre fois l’an en plus! Durant ces années de changement chez nous, j’ai été des plus impressionné de constater la persévérance chez certains membres clé de la SCGAB à aboutir sur plusieurs enjeux importants tels le changement de nom, la mise à jour de notre vision, et le désir d’actualiser la SCGAB en tant que choix professionnel pour les bioingénieurs en formation et récemment formés. Fini l’étalement de mes gains, mon dernier rapport suit ci-contre. Le mandat majeur du vice-président aux affaires régionales est la réalisation de notre média Perspectives. Réalisation est un bien grand mot, compte tenu que la production en soit de Perspectives serait impossible sans que le gérant de la Société, Jim Townsend, n’y mette la main à la pâte en ce qui a trait à la mise en page, révision, etc… Au cours de mon mandat, j’ai cru constater que Perspectives s’alignait un peu mieux avec les besoins de nos membres. J’ai mis bien des efforts à assurer un contenu uniforme d’une parution à l’autre grâce à la collaboration extraordinaire des di-recteurs régionaux; je profite de cette occasion pour exprimer mon appréciation envers eux. Un des fruits des longues heures mis à travailler sur Perspectives par Jim, Bonnie, Stéphane et Daniel, Ramesh, Danny, Rich et Len, et Stépha-nie, ainsi que votre soussigné, paraît au rapport du président Feddes (je vous disais que je lisais Perspectives avant tout le monde!), où il nous indique que Perspectives est en voie d’être un magasine couru chez les bioingénieurs en formation. D’autres fronts n’ont cependant pas reçu l’attention requise de ma part. En effet, il en revenait au vice-président ré-gional de s’occuper des questions de recrutement et de rétention des membres. Au lieu d’un rapport d’activité à ce sujet, j’opte plutôt pour exposer ma vision de la problématique à la SCGAB auprès du vice-président-membres à ve-nir. La Société doit autant travailler à augmenter la rétention de nos membres qu’au recrutement de nouveaux. Au tout début de mon mandat, j’ai tenté de retrouver mes copains de classe dans notre liste de membres. J’ai été surpris de voir qu’il en manquait beaucoup, sinon la moitié! J’aurais bien aimé avoir le temps et les moyens pour faire une enquête des motifs du départ de nos membres et explorer les conditions requise pour le retour au bercail de la CSAE (à l’époque!) de ces ex-membres. Et de même, est-ce que la SCGAB répondrait maintenant à leurs besoins? Histoire de finir mon rapport sur une bonne note, je reviens sur le rapport du président Feddes qui mentionnait que les rangs de la SCGAB avaient grossis de 153 nouveaux membres, grâce au programme de congés de frais d’inscription pour un an à l’intention des nouveaux membres! Si ma mémoire me sert bien, Danny (DR - Manitoba) était derrière cette idée originale, à laquelle je me suis rapidement rallié. Tourlou! Manitoba Regional Report (Danny Mann)

A Regional Meeting was held on December 1, 2005 in conjunction with the Department of Biosystems Engineering, University of Manitoba. The meeting featured oral presentations of design projects completed by current undergradu-ate Biosystems engineering students. Twelve design teams presented their work. The year 2006 marked the fourth year that awards sponsored by the CSBE/SCGAB Manitoba Region were awarded (Continued on page 19)



at the Manitoba Science Schools Symposium held on the last weekend of April at the University of Winnipeg cam-pus. In the Junior category, the award went to Adam Nowicki for his project entitled “Construction woods under tor-sional stress.” In the Senior category, the award went to Kara Nadeau for her project entitled “Antioxidants”. A special thanks to Derek Inglis, Matthew Gervais, Sarah Kelso, and Russ Parker for serving as judges on behalf of CSBE/SCGAB. Approximately 20 undergraduate students entered the Department of Biosystems Engineering, University of Mani-toba in September 2005. Over the past year, 10 undergraduate students graduated with B.Sc. (BE) degrees from the University of Manitoba. BC Regional Report (Stephanie Tam) In my efforts to promote membership, I discussed with Shahab Sokhansanj and Anthony Lau, professors in Chemical and Biological Engineering at the University of British Columbia (UBC), the possibility of holding an information session at UBC to promote the Society to new students. The best t ime would be in September 2006 when school starts. Details will be worked out when it gets closer to the session. On the news hunt, I contacted members from universities, industries and the government for contributions to the Newsletter. Some contributions came from UBC professors, others from the B.C. Ministry of Agriculture and Lands. Saskatchewan Regional Report (Lope Tabil) Membership: The membership has regularly been solicited of their contributions to the CSBE Perspectives Newslet-ter by e-mail or by phone. Regular contributions from colleagues in the department have been received. Updates were also received from SPARC (Mark Stumborg), PAMI (Jim Wasserman), Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food (Andy Jansen). University of Saskatchewan Updates: The student enrolment in the undergraduate engineering program the past year was approximately 60 students. This number has increased this year owing to the increase in enrolment in the College of Engineering. There were 30 2nd year students who entered the program this year. There were 38 graduate students in the past year, 12 of which were Ph.D. students. The number of graduate students is also stabilizing at around the 30 level. There were 12 students who obtained their B.Sc. Eng. degree in the spring convocation this year (May 2006). Two graduated with great distinction and 1 with distinction. In the graduate level, 8 M.Sc. and 2 Ph.D. students officially convocated in October 2005 and May 2006. The quarter-scale tractor team again participated in the ASABE International ¼ Scale Tractor Student Design Compe-tition in Peoria, IL on June 1-4, 2006. They ranked 6th in the pulls and 4th in maneuverability. The team ranked 11th overall this year compared to 17th overall last year. Team advisor is Dr. Terry Fonstad. Preparations are underway for the 2006 ASABE/CSBE North Central Intersectional Meeting to be held in Saskatoon on October 5-7, 2006 at Parktown Hotel. This meeting will be attended by ASABE/CSBE members from Saskatche-wan, Manitoba, North Dakota and South Dakota. (Continued on page 20)


(Continued from page 19) Quebec Annual Report (Stephane Godbout) This coming June will be the end of my first year term. Over this term, I tried to put in place a network to follow the news highlights in Quebec. Also, I had been mandated to attend the AIC Annual Meeting in Quebec to represent CSBE and, after that, to give an opinion about the possibility of joining AIC as an Association member. The meeting was very interesting and particularly the workshop about the future of agriculture in Canada. This work-shop showed the complexity of the agriculture and the importance of working in multidisplinary teams to solve prob-lems or to implement new techniques. I believe that an engineer has to participate every year in the AIC Annual Meeting for our profession and for the future of the agriculture in Canada. However, we have to decide if the CSBE should be an associate member. Or should individuals (on a voluntary basis) participate as engineers in solving the problems in the future of the agriculture in Canada? In the next year of my term, I will try to put in place a better link (permanent) with the Quebec Ag. Engineering asso-ciation and the “Centre de Référence en Agriculture et en Agroalimentaire du Quebec (CRAAQ) ». Furthermore, I would like to repeat the activity done by Dr. Feddes with the students from Université Laval in the winter of 2006. By these actions, I would like increase the CSBE membership in Quebec. Canadian Biosystems Engineering Journal Report (Editor: Stefan Cenkowski) This is my third and the last year as the Editor of the Canadian Biosystems Engineering journal. I had three very in-teresting years that added substantially to my experience as an academic and a researcher. Normally, appointments of associate editors (AEs) are for three years and two areas (Biological Systems Engineering and Building Systems Engineering) will require new appointments or reappointments The current associate editors (AE) are: 1. Michael Ngadi (2002), Biological Systems Engineering 2. Lope G. Tabil (2005), Bioprocessing Systems Engineering 3. Jan Jofriet (2001), Building Systems Engineering 4. Jitendra Paliwal (2005), Information Systems Engineering 5. Steven Symons (2003), Information Systems Engineering 6. Ying Chen (2005), Machinery Systems Engineering 7. Sri R. Ranjan (2004), Soil and Water Systems Engineering 8. Abdirashid Elmi (2005), Soil and Water Systems Engineering 9. Abdel Ghaly (2004), Waste Management Engineering In the year 2005 I received 59 manuscripts out of which 9 were rejected, 19 forwarded to our publisher, and 31 re-viewed and forwarded to associate editors. Between January 2006 and June 2006, I received additional 18 manu-scripts out of which 10 have already been forwarded to associate editors together with the comments of the peer evaluation and the remaining 8 manuscripts are with reviewers. Besides the manuscripts submitted between July 2004 and May 2005, we also processed manuscripts submitted in 2004. Volume 47 (2005) of the journal has a total of 30 papers published, and volume 48 as of the beginning of June, 2006 already has 16 postings on the web. As of October 2004, I introduced an Assistant to Editor who helped me arrange potential reviewers. The feedback from reviewers was received within 2-3 months and the average time from submitting to publishing in the year 2005 was 6.5 months. The 31 manuscripts submitted in 2005 and listed as under revision have gone through peer reviewers (Continued on page 21)



and have already been forwarded to associate editors for assembling summary comments and corresponding with the authors. In February 2006, the CSBE Council assigned two tasks to the Editor:

1) To form a study committee (chaired by the Editor and assisted by the Associate Editors and the Publisher) and evaluate the current format of our journal.

2) To form a committee (Editor, incoming new Editor, AEs, Webmaster) to review roles, resources and proce-dures for editing and preparing material for the journal.

With respect to task No. 1, a couple of specific questions regarding the appearance of the journal pages were asked by the Publisher: (i) whether the pages of the journal look like a professional journal, and (ii) should different software be used to produce the journal to make it appear more professional. The general comment from the committee was that the format is alright. A suggestion was made to change the infor-mation on the front page. Instead of listing only the major 7 areas covered by the journal, t it les of publications should be listed as well. If there is not enough space on the cover front page the last cover page could be used. This would give a reader a quick glance at the content of the journal without flipping through the pages. We used to have it this way until 2000 (vol. 42). Also, we may include our Society logo on the front page and the same logo could go on the shelfback (ridge) of the hard copy. Currently, our publisher uses WordPerfect. Unfortunately, all equations need to be re-typed and tables re-done as there is a lack of appropriate conversion software for equations and tables between MicrosoftWord and WordPerfect. In the committee’s opinion, our journal has the same professional appearance as Transactions of the ASAE. With regards to question No. 2, a diagram below indicates the flow pattern for a manuscript from the moment it is submitted to the editor to the moment it is submitted to our publisher (Fig. 1). Detailed information on processing manuscripts is as follows:

1. Manuscripts are submitted electronically to the editor with names of three potential reviewers. The editor screens the new submissions for suitability, and assigns a manuscript number if acceptable. A copy of the manuscript is placed on our website in pdf format and a copy in Word format is sent electronically to an As-sistant to Editor for further processing.

2. Assistant to Editor records the new submission in the electronic data base and also creates a folder for a hard copy of the submitted manuscript. The names of potential reviewers are selected. Normally, one name is se-lected from the suggested list by the authors and two other names are selected from Editor’s data bank.

3. Assistant to Editor contacts the potential reviewers by e-mail and sends them an abstract of a manuscript for information. If a reviewer agrees to review the manuscript, a full text document or the website address of that manuscript is sent to the reviewer. Typically, we request that the comments be sent back to us within 4 to 6 weeks.

4. Assistant to Editor keeps track of the deadlines assigned to reviewers and if needed sends friendly reminders. 5. After the reviewers’ comments are completed, the Assistant to Editor sends to the Editor an electronic file on

the manuscript that also includes a flowsheet. The flowsheet contains information on the authors and review-ers. The flowsheet is confidential and is only viewed by the Editor and the Associate Editors. Also, a hard copy is forwarded to the Editor where information regarding the progress on processing the manuscript is also recorded by the Editor.

6. Editor forwards reviewers’ comments, the flowsheet and the manuscript to an appropriate Associate Editor (AE) commenting on the manuscript or reviewers’ evaluation if needed.

7. Associate Editor evaluates the obtained package, summarizes the comments, looks after the grammar, and (Continued on page 22)



directly contacts the corresponding author (listed in the flowsheet) by e-mail. Normally, 3 to 4 weeks are as-signed to that task. Authors should be able to respond to reviewers comments within three months. Such cor-respondence takes place at the level of the Associate Editor. If there is a problem, the Editor gets involved.

8. The revised manuscript is sent back from the corresponding author to the Associate Editor and, if acceptable, forwarded by the Associate Editor to the Editor.

9. The Editor looks through the manuscript for the last t ime and if there are no problems, the manuscript is for-warded to our publisher – Dr. Don Norm.

10. The publisher corresponds directly with the authors regarding additional changes or clarifications and regard-ing the galley proof.

The processing time from submission of the manuscript to Editor to forwarding it to Associate Editor (this includes time needed for peer revision by external reviewers) is kept under 3 months. Occasionally we see manuscripts being processed though that stage within 2 months. It is very difficult to do better without a substantial financial and per-sonal effort. The bottle neck seems to be at the second stage (reviewing materials by AEs, interaction with authors, and a prompt response of authors back to the Associate Editor). Also, we need to add another category in which the reviewers indicate whether the paper has publishable material but is rejected due to poor writing/analysis. This cate-gory will require re-submission as a new manuscript. Frequently, we see problems associated with incorrect grammar that have a substantial impact on delays as it is done at the AE level. Currently, Bonnie Roberston, representative of the Atlantic Provinces ([email protected]) agreed to help us with the language issue on some manuscripts. Also, manuscripts could be handled electronically through ManuscriptCentral. This software is designed to handle the flow of manuscripts between authors, editors, and peer reviewers. This software is used by many journals (Cereal Chemistry, Journal of Food Science, Transactions of the ASAE, etc). But there is a substantial price tag attached to it and I do not see justification for going that avenue. The basic pricing for the journal if we were to adopt Manuscript-Central is: (Continued on page 23)

Figure 1 Flow patterns for submitted manuscripts


(Continued from page 22) 1. One-time Configuration: $2,000 for the QuickStart model. 2. Training: $500 estimated 3. Subscription: $3,000 per year 4. User Support: $427.50 per year In the first year it would cost us approximately $6,000 and then afterwards about $3,500 a year. For the size of our journal (approximately 60 submissions per year) I do not see this as an effective way of using the CSBE/journal money. I would rather suggest to tune-up our existing electronic system and the website that the flow of every proc-essed manuscript moves at speed acceptable to authors submitting it and to volunteers processing it . President-Elect Report (Shahab Sokhansanj) New logo for ASABE: On behalf of President John Feddes I participated in the selection of the logo. The selection was methodological and the final design was selected in a de-mocratic way. ASABE Board of trustees voted on a process of elimination until a final logo was the winner.

New Logo for CSBE/SCGAB: A new logo was devel-oped for our Society to reflect the name change. Initially, we developed the following design criteria: (1) the logo contains CSBE and SCGAB acronyms, (2) it has a global/international message, (3) includes a maple leaf in the design, (4) be readable and scaleable, and (5) green color (green leaf). A professional designer artist at the University of British Columbia designed several options for the logo. The Councilors reviewed the designs and voted for their choice. A design simi-lar to the one shown here received the largest number of votes. Several councilors suggested that the ring could represent a gear to signify engineering. Some councilors also wanted more colors in the design. The final result is shown here. A single green and a black on white versions of the logo are also available from CSBE office.

Promotional Brochure A new promotional brochure highlighting the vision, mission, and areas of interest of the CSBE/SCGAB is under preparation. The UBC graphics artist who designed the logo is also involved in designing the brochure. We hope the brochure will be available for distribution at the Annual General Meeting in Edmonton. VP-Technical Report (Qiang Zhang) I attended the ASABE Meetings Council meeting on June 5, 2006. The agenda item that was relevant to CSBE/SCGAB was the updating of the ASABE Meetings Council Bylaws, Policies, and Operating Procedures, specifically joint meetings between CSBE/SCGAB and ASABE. The wording in the current document is as follows: “Every 5th year the AIM will be a joint meeting with the Canadian Society for Bioengineering (CSBE/SCGAB), with ASABE hosting the meeting in the United States and CSBE/SCGAB hosting the AIM every 10th year. The meeting hosted by CSBE/SCGAB has historically been held in Canada”. (Note: AIM – Annual International Meeting). The Local Arrangement Committee has done an exceptional job in preparing for the 2006 CSBE annual meeting, which will be held in Edmonton, July 16-19. A total of 101 technical papers will be presented in 21 technical ses-sions. In addition, twenty-three (23) posters will be presented in a poster session. Three technical tours have been ar-ranged and one workshop on modeling material and energy flows through agro-ecosystems will be conducted.


Secretary/Manager Report (James Townsend)

Treasurer John Morgan has reported on the financial end of the Society’s affairs based on the 2005 audit report. At the mid-year Council meeting I was appointed for a 3-year term after my initial 2-year term of office. I guess that I must be doing some things correctly.

I have included a balance sheet below showing a summary of income and expenses since I assumed this position in 2004 01 01. Additional spread sheets will be available at the AGM for more detailed income and expenses as well as a budget sheet for 2007. The ending balance is higher than normal due to the good earnings at the 2005 Annual Con-ference and AGM. The income was not received until Jan 2006.

CSBE/SCGAB Society Balance sheet by year to present (2006 05 31)

Year Start Date O pening Revenues Expenditures Ending Balance Balance 2004 01 01 (actual) 35000.00 23618.28 33916.69 24701.59 2005 01 01 (actual) 24701.59 42838.01 31368.50 35171.10 2006 01 01 (current) 35171.10 49071.58 13817.63 70425.05

This space was left available for additional Annual Reports or news from members. Nothing was received at press time.


MORE RETURNED EMAIL MESSAGES! The appeal to help find “ lost” CSBE/SCGAB members was responded to by many members who read the last news-letter. Many thanks from Society Secretary Jim Townsend at [email protected] for helping to “find” members. Here are some more “ lost” members! Please scan the list below for names that you recognize and notifying the Secretary of the new email address for the “ lost” member. Your assistance will be appreciated both by your Society and by the “found” member. Thank you. [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Special notice Macdonald College will be celebrating its 100th Anniversary in 2006. Watch for further announcements for this special occasion. And more news from Macdonald College The Master's in Integrated Water Resources Management offered by the Department of Bioresource Engineering of McGill University gives students the unique opportunity to study the biophysical, legal, institutional, and socioeco-nomic aspects of water use and management, in an integrated context. For more information: http://www.mcgill.ca/agreng/programs/iwrm Le département de Génie des bio-ressources de l’Université McGill offre un nouveau programme de maîtrise en ges-tion intégrée des ressources hydriques. Ce programme fournit une opportunité unique d’étudier, dans un contexte in-tégré, les aspects autant biophysiques qu’institutionnels, légaux et socio-économiques de l’utilisation et de la gestion de l’eau. Pour de plus amples renseignements : http://www.mcgill.ca/agreng/programs/iwrm Canadian Subsidy Directory 2006 /American Grants & Loans Directory (USA) The most complete and affordable reference for anyone looking for financing. It is the perfect tool for new and exist-ing businesses, individuals, foundations and associations. Complete guide containing thousands of programs. New 2006 editions. Legal Deposit-National Library of Canada Business.................$ 69.95 CD-Rom Academic printed....$ 149.95 (430 pages) Toll free: 866-322-3376 C a n a d i a n P u b l i c a t i o n s 4 8 6 5 HWY 1 3 8, RR #1 St-Andrews West ON K0C 2A0


NOTICES TO MEMBERS

From time to time various agencies request that the CSBE/SCGAB office supply the list of members for the distribu-tion of certain products. Your Secretary, James Townsend, is reluctant to do so since we all have too much spam as it is. My approach will be to list the agencies, and their products, in each Perspectives Newsletter so that members can make personal contact with the agencies if they so wish. • Journal of Free Radical Research. Contact http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/tit les/10715762.asp/ for this journal

or http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/ for other journals. • Urban Water Journal. Contact http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/tit les/1573062x.asp/ for this journal or http://

www.tandf.co.uk/journals/ for other journals. • Evergreen Project Registry. This is an online database of naturalization projects across Canada. For more infor-

mation contact http://www.evergreen.ca/en/resources/registry.html/ • Canadian Subsidy Directory. A publication of over 2600 listings of grants and loans offered by government de-

partments, $69.95. For more information contact mailto:[email protected] • The Second International Virtual Agricultural Exhibition. You can visit the exhibition by signing on to the

internet at: www.agriahead.com. Have a nice tour! • UNESCO -EO LSS Reference Encyclopedia. This virtual dynamic library has been posted to the web at the on-

set of the 60th Anniversary of the UN and UNESCO and to lead off the Decade of Education for Sustainable De-velopment. Visit at: www.eolss.net

Notes of Interest from ASABE ASABE is in the final stages of setting up a Professional Liability Insurance program through Marsh Affinity Group Services--the administrator of ASABE's Group Insurance Program. Further details will be announced in the near fu-ture. If you have immediate questions, please contact Mark Crossley at [email protected]. Additionally, ASABE has partnered with LifeLock, a service that prevents identity theft; locks out personal identity thieves with a reliable, certified process; stops pre-approved credit offers and drastically reduces junk mail; and offers free credit reports and a streamlined credit application process. LifeLock membership benefits ASABE too with a shared revenue program. This is a unique and ideal opportunity to protect yourself and family members and benefit ASABE at the same time. Visit www.lifelock.com for further information. Enter the following member code to re-ceive your discount - ASABE. And 42 institutions in six developing countries now have access to the full-text in the ASABE online Technical Li-brary. Rwanda, Malawi, Bolivia, Sri Lanka and Tanzania, and Bangladesh have paid ASABE a modest fee for access to the site via the PERI project sponsored by the International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications. Other developing countries are considering proposals for access. Notice for the latest CIGR Newsletter You can view the latest CIGR Newsletter at: www.cigr.org/newslett/nl70.htm


Coming Events

• 2006 • ASAE Annual International Meeting, 2006 07 09-12, Portland, Oregon. Contact http://www.asabe.

org/meetings or www.asabe.org/meetings/aim2006/index.htm for presentation forms. • 4th World Congress of Computers in Agriculture, 2006 07 24-26, Orlando, FL. More information at:

www.asabe.org/meetings/index.htm • NABEC Meeting, 2006 07 31 to 08 03, McGill University, Macdonald Campus, Ste. Anne de Bellevue

QC. More information from Paul Heinemann [email protected]. • National Conference on Sustainable Agriculture, 2006 08 15-17, Oconomowoc WI. More informa-

tion at www.sare.org/ncrsare. • 17th Triennial Conference on the International Soil Tillage Research Organization (ISTRO), Sus-

tainability—Its Impact on Soil Management and Environment, 2006 08 28 to 09 03, Kiel Germany. Contact www.istro.org or www.soils.uni-kiel.de/istro.htm.

• 3rd International Conference on Automation Technology for Off-road Equipment (ATOE 2006), 2006 09 01-02, Bonn, Germany. More information at www.atoe2006.org.

• CIGR Congress 2006. 2006 09 03-07, Bonn, Germany. See www.2006cigr.org or [email protected] for more information

• 5th International Conference of the Asian Federation for Information Technology in Agriculture (AFITA-2006), 2006 11 09-11, Bangalore India. Contact [email protected] or www.insait.org.

• 2007 • ASAE Annual International Meeting (Centenial), 2007 06 17-20, Minneapolis, MN. Contact http://

www.asabe.org/meetings. • International Symposium on Air Quality and Waste Management for Agriculture, 2007 09 15-19,

Broomfield, Colorado. More information at www.asabe.org/resource/asabevents.html. • 11th National Symposium on Individual and Small Community Sewage Systems, 2007 10 20-24,

Warwick RI. More information at www.asabe.org/resource/asabevents.html. • Agriculture, Food and Biological Engineering and Post Production Technology, TBD • Sensors and Nanotechnology Conference, TBD, Minneapolis MN • Sixth International Dairy Housing Conference, TBD

Directory of Published Proceedings (DoPP) (database is now available free of charge)

If you recently contributed a paper to a conference or symposium, it is likely to have been referenced by one of the many sponsors and publishers who list their events and proceedings with DoPP. Currently, DoPP maintains over 50,000 records. To search DoPP, go to: http://www.interdok.com If you agree this is a useful service, please advise your colleagues or facility/university library.


Volume 28, No. 3 2006 CSBE-SCGAB PO BOX 23101 RPO MCGILLIVRAY WINNIPEG MB R3T 5S3 CANADA Phone: 204-233-1881; Fax: 204-231-8282 Email: [email protected] Web: www.bioeng.ca

Coming Events

CSBE/SCGAB Council 2005-2006

President: John Feddes 4-10 AGFOR Center, University of Alberta Edmonton AB T6G 2P5 tel: 780-492-0105 eml: [email protected]

Vice-President (Regional): Sylvio Tessier Manitoba Conservation. Box 46/200 Saulteax Crescent Winnipeg Mb R3J 3W3 tel: 204-945-8473; fax: 204-948-2420 eml: [email protected]

Past-President: Yves Choiniere 84, rue Roy, Ange-Gardien, QC J0E 1E0 tel: 450-293-8960: fax: 450-293-8963 eml: [email protected]

Vice-President (Technical): Qiang Zhang Biosystems Engineering, University of Manitoba Winnipeg MB R3T 5V6 tel: 204-474-9819; fax: 204-474-7512 eml: [email protected]

President-elect: Shahab Sokhansanj 245 E 17th St North Vancouver, BC V7L 2V8 tel: 604-904-4272: fax: 604-822-6003 eml: [email protected]

Vice-President (Industry): Dennis Hodgkinson DGH Engineering, 12 Aviation Blvd St Andrew MB R1A 3N5 tel: 204-334-8846; fax: 204-334-6965 eml: [email protected]

Secretary: James S. Townsend 446 Kingston Crescent, Winnipeg MB R2M 0T9 tel: 204-233-1881; fax: 204-231-8282 eml: [email protected]

Treasurer: John Morgan 979 Shavington Street, North Vancouver BC V7L 1K6 tel: 604-987-5142; fax: 604-987-5143 eml: john_morgan@telus,net

Webmaster: Wayne E. Coates Office of Arid Land Studies, University of Arizona, 250 E. Valencia Rd Tucson AZ 85706 tel: 520-741-0840; fax: 520-740-1468 eml: [email protected]

Editor and Regional Directors

Journal Editor: Stefan Cenkowski tel: 204-474-6293; fax: 204-474-7512 eml: [email protected]

Manitoba: Daniel D. Mann tel: 204-474-7149; fax: 204-474-7512 eml: [email protected]

Atlantic: Bonnie J. Robertson tel: 506-453-3018; fax: 506-453-7406 eml: [email protected]

Saskatchewan: Lope G. Tabil tel: 306-966-5317; fax: 306-966-5334 eml: [email protected]

Québec: Stéphane Godbout tel: 418-286-3351; fax: 418-286-3597 eml: [email protected]

Alberta: Len Ring tel: 403-381-5176; fax: 403-382-4406 eml: [email protected]

Ontario: Ramesh P. Rudra tel: 519-824-4120; fax: 519-836-0227 eml: [email protected]

British Columbia: Stephanie P. Tam tel: 604-437-3033 eml: [email protected]

Documents

THE NEWSLETTER OF CSBE Spring 2006 Printemps LES … · To date we have a new logo for CSBE/SCGAB – thanks to everyone for his or her input and especially to Shahab Sokhansanj for