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Skilled Trades and Technology Subject Experts Available For Media Interviews

March 01, 2013

Belleville, Ontario, February 28, 2013 – Loyalist College is pleased to provide a list of College professors who can comment on key topics related to skilled trades and technology. Each one of these subject experts is helping to train the next generation of workers to meet growing demands for skilled trades labour in Canada. They teach in Loyalist’s 121,800 square-foot Sustainable Skills, Technology and Life Sciences Centre. Built in 2010-11 with a $16.6 Million investment from the provincial and federal governments, the facility is considered the skills training centre of choice for Southeastern Ontario. 

Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS)

Civil Engineering Professor Perry Peterson is an expert in the field of Engineering Geomatics and the use of Earth Location as a means of organizing information. In the last decade, he has developed a revolutionary new mathematical model of the Earth known as a Discrete Global Grid, which is of high value to the emerging GeoWeb. For the first time, it provides a digital model of the Earth instead of a conventional analog model, limited by latitude and longitude. In November 2012, Professor Peterson participated in the GEO-IX Plenary in Foz do Iguacu, Brazil. As a member of GEO, a voluntary partnership of 88 governments and more than 60 international organizations, he plays a key role in creating the Global Earth Observation System of Systems.

Welding and Fabrication with Computer Numerical Control

Professor John Grieve is a Red Seal Welder and Government Certified Structural Steel Plate Fitter. He leads Loyalist’s new two-year Welding and Fabrication Technician diploma program, which prepares graduates to become welding technicians, fitters, millwrights and inspectors. As a member of the Welder Credit Transfer Pathways Project, Professor Grieve helps to establish welding standards and learning outcomes for Welding programs across Ontario colleges. According to the Government of Canada’s national projection for the 2011-2020 period, job openings for metal forming, shaping and erecting occupations are expected to total 46,725. More than 45 percent of the job openings will arise from retirements. Professor Grieve can speak to the automation of Computer Numerical Control (CNC), which has improved welding results and created new opportunities to use refined techniques in different jobs and industries. 

Construction and Renovation

Professor Tom Falcao is a registered Tarion and Energy Star builder and a registered residential and commercial designer with extensive knowledge of building design, codes, construction, and techniques. He was instrumental in introducing a new two-year Construction Renovation Technician diploma program at Loyalist, which prepares graduates to succeed as project managers, quality surveyors and estimators, building materials specialists, building inspectors, and new home builders and restoration contractors. Graduates will be in high demand, as economists for the Construction Sector Council anticipate 111,000 new construction jobs will be created by 2019 while 208,000 construction workers will have retired. Among the trends that Professor Falcao sees emerging are developments in sustainability, energy efficiency, indoor air quality and low-volatile organic compounds. He anticipates that solar voltaic, geothermal, and wind technologies will continue to advance, allowing the construction industry to maximize natural energy. 

Electrical Automation Systems

Prior to joining Loyalist as Professor of the Electrical Automation programs, Eric Tippelt spent three decades providing corporate training and sales to manufacturing giants such as GM, Labatt, Kellogg, and Siemens. He is an expert in automating multiple aggregate conveyors, including mechanizing the delivery of different types of products. He started his electrical automation career in London as head of his own company.  During his career he has worked all across Canada. He spent three years in Las Vegas, Nevada, where he was responsible for key attractions such as Aladdin’s Lamp in the Aladdin Casino, the Volcano at The Mirage, and Sirens of TI, an outdoor show at Treasure Island Hotel and Casino.  In addition, Professor Tippelt has worked with companies that provided aerial acrobatics equipment, as well as light, sound and motion displays.  In the two-year Ontario College diploma program, Professor Tippelt trains students on industrial automation for installing, configuring, maintaining, servicing and calibrating industrial systems, including industrial robotic systems.

Land Surveyor Technology

A Registered Professional Engineer, Bob Fencott is an Ontario Land Surveyor who has worked extensively with the Ontario Ministry of Transportation. As Coordinator of Loyalist’s Survey Technician diploma program, the only program of its kind in Ontario, Professor Fencott is responsible for training the next generation of land survey technicians, survey engineering technicians, draftspersons and survey assistants. Through a combination of classroom instruction, practical field exercises, and data processing, Professor Fencott is teaching students to work in both a field and office environment. He is training them on everything from the basic surveying methods and field astronomy to the latest Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Global Positioning Systems (GPS). In an effort to offset the current industry labour shortage, many organizations are scrambling to recruit the program’s highly skilled graduates.

Advanced Skin Care Technology

For more than a decade, Esthetics and Spa Management Professor Bridget Ferguson owned and operated an esthetics business in her native Australia. She has studied global industry trends at the International Dermal Institute (IDI) International Congress in Los Angeles and Honolulu, as well as training in New York, and cities in Australia, the United Kingdom, and Canada. The market for spa services is growing rapidly, as people seek to reduce stress and feel younger. In Professor Ferguson’s two-year Esthetics and Spa Management diploma program, students operate The Spa at Loyalist, where they provide a full range of esthetics services. The labs boast state-of-the-art technology, including a microdermabrasion machine, artificial tanning technology, and professional skin and nail care lines.

Loyalist College offers more than 60 full-time programs and 77 university transfer agreements around the world. Loyalist is committed to helping students graduate and find great jobs, as well as supporting and enhancing the economic and social development of individuals in its communities.

Media interviews with a Loyalist College skilled trades and technology subject expert can be arranged through Kerry Lorimer, Manager of Corporate Communications & Media Relations, at klorimer@loyalistc.on.ca or (613) 969-1913, ext. 2536.

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