ASET Technology Alberta Summer 2021 - 8

MESSAGE FROM THE CEO
Intelligence. Ingenuity. Innovation.
Barry Cavanaugh
THOSE THREE WORDS, which you will have seen
ASET using a lot in the past year or so, summarize the applied
science and engineering technology professions. They
accurately mesh with the variety and range of disciplines we
represent, and they certainly speak to the knowledge and
critical thinking provided by the educational programs of the
polytechnics and colleges in this province.
This is a time in the life of Alberta when we've reached an
unprecedented level of excellence in industry, technology,
invention and education. This excellence perhaps leads the
nation, and these groups of occupations share a level of
common education and a high standard of specialized and
unique knowledge. The people working in these fields have
come to be known as science and engineering technology
professionals. That descriptor says it all.
This profession, across its 21 disciplines in perhaps a hundred
different professional occupations, breathes life into the
infrastructure and daily operations of almost everything in
this province. From engineering design and drafting, through
civil, mechanical, electrical, to architectural, chemistry, biomedical,
instrumentation and many more disciplines, in the
work of technology professionals, they give meaning to the
words: intelligence, ingenuity, innovation.
What do those words mean? Why would we use them?
We understand, naturally, what intelligence means, but it's
generally defined as intellect, the quickness of understanding,
the faculty of reason, of knowing, of thinking... mental powers.
Ingenuity refers to a skill in devising or contriving - clever at
inventing, constructing, organizing, skillful and resourceful.
Innovation means bringing in new methods, ideas and the
like. In its origin, the word means to make new.
I carefully choose these words to describe the science
and engineering technology professionals who make up
this organization.
The professionals who have undertaken and accomplished
a rigorous and comprehensive technical education sufficient
to meet ASET's standards more than adequately
measure up to the expectation inherent in the three words
above. The education centres at which these professionals
learn meet ASET's standards through strict adherence to
the requirements of Technology Accreditation Canada.
Intelligence, ingenuity, innovation. Employers, clients, colleague
professional engineers, and the public daily experience
and recognize the capability and the depth of the contribution
our technology professionals bring to this province.
It seems fitting to consider these things given the topic
of this edition of Technology Alberta. As our society ventures
into a novel and potentially revolutionary science,
that of nanotechnology, our technology professionals are
equipped to contribute, and to bring concepts, designs, and
innovations into reality. In virtually all of our disciplines, that
is the place and role of the professional technologist - the
" practical engineering " that characterizes what ASET members
are equipped to do, and which they do every day in the
real world.
As with so many other novel
and innovative technologies and
developments in their conception
and promulgation, our certified
members are at the forefront
of making real and giving
meaningful life to ideas.
8 | SUMMER 2021 | TECHNOLOGY ALBERTA
ASET Technology Alberta Summer 2021

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