Plenary Keynote Talks

Tuesday, May 26

  • 11:30 AM – Morning Plenary – Artificial Intelligence – Dr. Richard Frank
  • 1:15 PM – Afternoon Plenary – EGBC – David Slade & NSERC – Felix Moore

Wednesday, May 27

  • 11:30 AM – Morning Plenary – SenseNet
  • 1:15 PM – Afternoon Plenary – The First Laser

Thursday, May 28

  • 11:30 AM – Morning Plenary – BC Hydro and EV Charging
  • 1:15 PM – Afternoon Plenary – Intelligent Transportation – Ministry of Transportation & Transit

Talk & Speaker Info

Dr. Richard Frank (Simon Fraser University)

Dr. Richard Frank is a Professor in the School of Criminology at Simon Fraser University (SFU), Canada, and Director of the International CyberCrime Research Centre (ICCRC). Richard completed a PhD in Computing Science (2010) and another PhD in Criminology (2013) at SFU. His main research interest is Cybercrime, specifically focusing on hackers, security issues, the dark web, online terrorism and warfare, eLaundering and cryptocurrencies, and online child exploitation.

Dr. Frank is the creator of The Dark Crawler, a tool for collecting and analyzing data from the open Internet, dark web, and online discussion forums. Through this tool, the ICCRC has collected approximately 150 million posts from various right-wing, left-wing, gender-based, and religiously-motivated extremist communities, leading to a number of significant projects and publications.

Talk Title: Empowering Professionals: Registration Benefits, Processes, and Industry Support

This presentation will delve into the significance of professional registration and its multifaceted benefits. We will explore how registration elevates the profession, enhances credibility, and opens doors to exclusive job opportunities and contracts for both individuals and firms. Attendees will gain insights into eligibility criteria, registration processes, and various registration opportunities for both graduates of accredited engineering programs and those with educations outside of engineering.

Additionally, we will cover relevant guidelines, advisories, and upcoming webinars that help registrants stay current with the latest professional practice standards. We will also discuss how Engineers and Geoscientists BC is committed to providing support and guidance within the industry, and how you can contribute by offering feedback, requesting guidance, or volunteering with us.

David Slade (Engineers and Geoscientists British Columbia)

David Slade is a registered professional engineer and Practice Advisor with Engineers and Geoscientists British Columbia. In this role, David is responsible for managing the development of the organization’s professional practice guidelines and advisories, engaging with various government and industry groups to address professional practice concerns, and providing advice to registrants regarding practice inquiries.

David is a manufacturing engineer with over 10 years of combined experience in high-volume manufacturing, continuous improvement, and product development. David currently provides staff support to the High Technology Advisory Group, which has recently published EGBC’s first practice advisory on the use of Artificial Intelligence in Professional Practice. He holds a Bachelor of Applied Science (Materials Engineering) from the University of British Columbia.

Title: NSERC News and Updates

Felix Moore (Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council)

Felix Moore has been a part of NSERC since 2019. He is Program Officer for the Electrical and Computer Engineering committee for Discovery Grants.

Talk Title: The Inventions that Shaped Telecom: Signal Propagation and Heterodyning

Two foundational inventions continue to shape telecommunications today: characteristic impedance and heterodyning. Oliver Heaviside introduced characteristic impedance in 1860, crucial for distortion-free signal transmission over long distances. His insights, initially ignored, were later exploited by AT&T, which paid Michael Pupin to patent Heaviside’s ideas, leading to the misattributed “Pupin Coil”—a major fraud that inspired Norbert Wiener’s The Tempter. Heterodyning, invented in 1901 by Reginald Fessenden, underpins all wireless and multi-channel systems, including those using optical fiber. Though limited initially by unstable oscillators, it became viable with vacuum tubes. Heterodyning allows for selective, tunable, and high-gain receivers, enabling practical wireless communication. Edwin Armstrong refined it with the superheterodyne receiver, introducing intermediate frequencies for better performance. Despite their monumental contributions, both Fessenden and other pioneers like Harold Black (negative feedback) are largely forgotten today. Artifacts related to these innovations will be on display during and after the lecture.

Dan Gelbart (Engineers and Geoscientists British Columbia)

Dan Gelbart is a Canadian inventor and entrepreneur. He has over 150 US patents and is a cofounder or founder of several successful high-tech companies with cumulative revenues exceeding 20 billion $. Dan is the founder of Rapidia (metal AM) and the co-founder of Creo (laser technology for printing), Kardium (medical) and Ikomed (medical). Other successful companies based on Dan’s patents were MDI (telecom) and Cymbolic Sciences (imaging). Creo was sold in 2005 for one billion $. It had 4500 employees and revenues of 1 billion per year. Dan has a basket full of medals and awards he collected over the years. His hobbies are restoring old scientific instruments, teaching and metrology. He has a popular YouTube course on building prototypes. He has an MSc and BSc in Electrical Engineering from the Technion.

BC Hydro and EV Charging

Kees Jansen, BC Hydro