Unique partnership supports UVic engineers

by Chris Thackray

Thanks to an unusual and creative partnership between UVic, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) and a prominent member of the business community, engineering students are getting financial support and an additional boost from on-the-job training.

Three years ago, Dr. Eric Manning, professor and former dean of engineering, and Alan Crawford, UVic honorary degree recipient and a distinguished leader in the Canadian electronics industry, collaborated to create the MacDonell/McGeer Scholarships program. The program, a first for UVic, has helped promising students tap into a pot of scholarship money that often goes unspent at NSERC, and has provided a blend of academic study and practical experience for which UVic is renowned.

This year, Aaron Kaspar, a second-year engineering student who is currently on a work term in Thailand, won the McGeer award and Nainesh Agarwal, a second-year PhD computer engineering candidate, was the recipient of the MacDonell award. The awards were presented at a special ceremony and dinner in Victoria on Jan. 14.

"The awards reflect commitment to the idea of investing in education and hands-on learning," says Manning. "And they're named for two important people who had a formative influence on young talent in the sciences: Dr. MacDonell, a prairie dentist, and Dr. Pat McGeer, a former B.C. cabinet minister, UBC professor and leading medical neurologist."

The story begins with MacDonell, a dentist in Swift Current, Saskatchewan, who offered to teach some local boys Morse code. The boys—young Alan Crawford among them—found it tedious, hard work and wanted to quit. But the good doctor patiently persisted until Crawford mastered the code well enough to get his amateur radio licence. This inspired him to study physics, and was the beginning of his distinguished career as an entrepreneur and leader in Canada's electronics industry.

"I met Alan Crawford when he was a member of council at NSERC in the 1970s," Manning continues. "I told him that when I was a scientist at Bell Telephone Labs the company had a first-rate education program. Newly hired engineers with a bachelor's degree were offered the chance to take a master's degree at full salary, all expenses paid." The two thought it was a great way to develop talent in the industry.

Crawford wondered if NSERC funding might be used to supplement funds from the private sector to achieve the same thing. Crawford and Manning cooked up the idea of a postgraduate NSERC scholarship supported by funds from a Canadian company. The scholarship would also include on-the-job training. "NSERC loved the idea, and the Industrial Postgraduate Scholarship (IPGS) was born."

Ultimately, it proved difficult to find Canadian companies that were willing to put up money for the scheme. "Allan Crawford has been a great friend of UVic for many years, and I explained to him the trouble we were having getting even a modest contribution from industry for the IPGS."

Crawford and Manning then came up with a scholarship funded by one of Crawford's group of companies which would make up the necessary contribution. "We consulted with NSERC who thought is was a really creative and effective way to use the IPGS program—and so the MacDonell Scholarships were created."

Crawford also funds the McGeer undergraduate scholarships coupled with paid co-op work terms at one of his companies.

"We strive to combine excellence in academics with hands-on experience to give students the skills they'll need to succeed," says Manning. "The MacDonell/McGeer awards give us the ability to do that. And thanks to the mentorship and generosity of leaders like Alan Crawford, students are making great advances through our co-op program."