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Left to right James Dietrich, Doug McNeil and James White

Faculty Welcomes New Engineers-in-Residence

October 29, 2019 — 

The Faculty of Engineering and the Centre for Engineering Professional Practice and Engineering Education is pleased to welcome three new Engineers-in-residence (EIR).

James Dietrich, P.Eng. is joining the Faculty as Engineer-in-Residence for Electrical & Computer Engineering, on a half-time basis. James is a professional engineer with a B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Electrical Engineering, and brings 25 years of engineering experience in microsystems fabrication and testing. Most recently, he has worked as a RF Test Engineer while managing the Advanced RF Systems Lab, and as a Microsystems Engineer, Integrated Circuit and MEMS Fabrication Engineer with CMC Microsystems Inc. since 2004. James has also taught in the Electrical & Computer Engineering curriculum at the University of Manitoba, and has co-supervised and examined capstone projects for a number of years. In this EIR role, James will provide technical support to our capstone project teams as well as working with instructors in our Electrical Engineering design spine.

Doug McNeil, P.Eng. is joining the Faculty as Engineer-in-Residence in Civil Engineering, on a casual basis. Doug is a professional engineer with a B.Sc. and M.Eng. in Civil Engineering. He brings 36 years of public service to the City of Winnipeg and the Province of Manitoba. Doug has been involved in most aspects of water resources planning, operations and management, including hydraulics, hydrology, stormwater management, and water control structures. Doug had key roles in the 1997 ‘Flood of the Century’ on the Red River and the subsequent Floodway Expansion project, associated reports to the International Joint Commission and other studies. From 2003 to 2009, Doug was VP Hydraulics and later VP Engineering & Construction at the Manitoba Floodway Authority, followed by six years as Deputy Minister of Manitoba Infrastructure and Transportation. Doug retired as Chief Administrative Officer of the City of Winnipeg in May 2019. Since then, Doug started his own consulting firm and was named Ontario’s special advisor on flooding. As an engineer-in-residence, Doug McNeil will participate in guest lectures in undergraduate courses of hydraulics, hydrology, urban water systems and watershed processes.

James White, P.Eng. is joining the Faculty as Engineer-in-Residence for Biosystems Engineering on a quarter-time basis. James is a professional engineer with a B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Electrical Engineering, with a  career focussed on new product development and new product introduction. He spent 29 years at Parker Hannafin (formerly Vansco Electronics), which develops rugged, high tech displays, controllers and sensors targeting the harsh agricultural, construction and truck & bus environments. During the years that the company grew from 40 people to over 1,000 people with operations in five countries, James contributed as manager of various technical teams, advanced manufacturing manager, and most recently as product assurance manager. In this EIR role, James will provide team advising support to the AgBot student design competition team and coach several Biosystems Engineering capstone design teams.

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