2022 APEGS Awards

APEGS hosted an awards banquet on May 7 as part of the APEGS 2022 Annual Meeting and Professional Development Conference. The seven APEGS awards recognize professional excellence and showcase exemplary competence and conduct, which fosters professional excellence among members. APEGS congratulates the following award recipients:

Dr. Daniel Brisbin, P.Geo., received the Brian Eckel Distinguished Service Award, which recognizes outstanding contributions to the community, the association and technical and learned societies, as well as honours distinctive and outstanding achievements in professional and technical fields. Dan is an economic geologist with 40 years of experience in project and target generation, project execution, and in leading and developing exploration teams. His experience spans exploration, mine and research geology in gold, base metal, platinum group element and uranium exploration in both mature mining camps and remote greenfield settings. He is a Fellow of the Society of Economic Geologists and the Geological Association of Canada, and a member of the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada. Dan has volunteered with the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum, APEGS and the Mineral Deposits Division of the Geological Association of Canada and served on the board for the recently completed Canadian Mining Innovation Council Footprints exploration research project.

Shauna Lehmann, P.Eng., received the Outstanding Achievement Award, which honours members who show technical excellence and achievement in engineering and/or geoscience in Saskatchewan. Shauna’s career began in Minnesota as an environmental consultant. In her 16 years with the Ministry of Highways, Shauna has served in various positions in operations, transportation planning, preservation planning, construction project management, and environmental engineering. Shauna has contributed to several major projects, including the Regina Bypass, Warman-Martensville Interchanges, Saskatoon Freeway Study, and the Westside Irrigation Project. Shauna is a member of several committees with the Transportation Association of Canada, serves on the Board of Directors of the Saskatchewan Invasive Species Council and, in her personal time, has volunteered with the Christopher Leadership Courses of Canada – Saskatoon Chapter as Vice Chair, Promotions Director, and Public Speaking Instructor.

Frank McDougall, P.Geo., received the McCannel Award, which honours service to the association and to the professions. He worked as an exploration geologist for various mining companies in northern Saskatchewan on industrial mineral, precious and base metal, and uranium projects. He was also a lab instructor for the geology departments at both universities and a palaeontologist on projects for Parks Canada, the Royal Saskatchewan Museum, and heritage impact companies. Frank has volunteered with the Saskatchewan Archaeological Society for most of his 44 years as a member and with the Royal Saskatchewan Museum for more than 30 years. He has participated in outreach to public schools throughout the province. He also develops public education publications for identifying fossil and rock specimens found in Saskatchewan. For this dedication to volunteering, Frank was a recipient of the 2020 Saskatchewan Volunteer Medal.

DEEP Earth Energy Production Corp. received the Exceptional Engineering/Geoscience Project Award, which recognizes accomplishments in engineering and/or geoscience. After more than a decade of preparation, DEEP is positioned to be the first producer of large-scale geothermal power in Canada with the potential for 140 MW. This could offset 385,000 tonnes/year of CO2e, removing the equivalent of 85,000 cars off the road annually. Successful geothermal resource exploration in a hot sedimentary aquifer requires hot fluid in permeable rocks and high well productivity. Modern well design has made sweeping the heat from the reservoir possible. DEEP developed a unique geothermal field design to maximize flow rates and optimize an important regional geothermal resource. DEEP’s “ribcage” geothermal well field design may be a transformative application of modern oil and gas drilling, completions and stimulation design applied for the first time on a renewable energy project.

Wesley Kotyk, P.Eng., received the Environmental Excellence Award, which recognizes exceptional achievements in the application of engineering, geological and/or geophysical methods related to environmental protection and preservation. Wes is the Assistant Deputy Minister of the Environmental Protection Division in the Saskatchewan Ministry of Environment. He has held several progressive positions in his 30 years there. Current areas of responsibility include mining and industrial regulatory compliance, landfills and impacted sites management, air quality, hazmat and spill response, compliance audit, environmental assessment, waste stewardship and the ministry’s business support function. Wes was a significant contributor to the ministry’s results-based regulatory reform initiative leading efforts on development of chapters of the Saskatchewan Environmental Code for Impacted Sites and Discharge Reporting as well as leading the development of the ministry’s compliance framework.

Michele Tuchscherer, P.Eng., received the Promising Member Award, which recognizes exceptional achievements by professional members in the early stages of their careers. In her current role as Operations Manager for Novex, she is evaluating the feasibility of the extraction of critical minerals and rare earth elements from mine waste. Michele worked for Nutrien (Legacy PotashCorp), obtaining extensive experience in operations, R&D, process modeling, metallurgical testing, commissioning, and circuit optimization. She received Nutrien’s Our World Award for Innovation for her project to address two of the largest challenges facing the conventional potash industry: the recovery of ultrafine potash and the high capital cost and environmental impact of fine tailings management. Michele recently completed her M.A.Sc. in Mining Engineering at the University of British Columbia, receiving the GoldCorp #DisruptMining award for her scavenger flotation thesis concept.

Dr. Adam McInnes, M.D., M.Sc., received the Friend of the Professions Award, which recognizes exceptional achievements or unique contributions by a non-member in the promotion of the professions. Adam has established several post secondary educational opportunities that combine engineering and health, including helping to found and volunteer with two companies that provide experiential learning opportunities for engineering students: the Canadian Space Technology Advocacy Group to promote space exploration and a healthcare hackathon called Med.Hack(+) to facilitate the development of technology to solve problems in healthcare through interdisciplinary collaborative efforts. He is a client of engineering students’ capstone projects to develop methods for solving identified global health needs in low- and middle-income countries. He also serves as president of Saskatoon Métis Local 126, supporting Métis post secondary students, staff, and faculty in Saskatoon.

To view the video of each recipient, visit https://www.apegs.ca/members/honours-awards.