It was a shock to the University of British Columbia (UBC) Engineering Undergraduate Society that the first-year class of 1974 had 14 women. Up to then, first year was 100 percent male or tainted by one or two females, with their graduation highly speculative. In the quagmire of the upcoming…
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Nattalia Lea’s grandfather emigrated to Canada from China in 1897. Lea became the first woman to graduate from the University of British Columbia with a bio-resources engineering degree in 1978, in an era when less than 0.5 percent of Canadian professional engineers were women. Her memoir captures the essence of being a female, visible minority engineer and how this working-class woman broke into the white, male engineering profession – with no mentors or role models. Photo courtesy of Jana Miko.
Oil and gas operations are commonly found in remote locations far from company headquarters. Now, it's possible to monitor pump operations, collate and analyze seismic data, and track employees around the world from almost anywhere. Whether employees are in the office or in the field, the internet and related applications enable a greater multidirectional flow of information – and control – than ever before.
