Everyone's a winner with the pro-fessional co-op program taking shape at MIRARCO. Designed to lure engineers in the workforce back to Laurentian University to pursue graduate degrees, the innovative arrangement gives MIRARCO the highly qualified personnel it needs to carry out research and offers the employee/student a higher academic designation.
With the mining industry firing on all cylinders and engineers in short supply, employers participating in a professional co-op program have to put up with some temporary inconvenience. However, in the long run they benefit by having a highly qualified employee with the knowledge gained from two years of immersion in an academic and research environment.
Rob Bewick, a junior engineering consultant with the Golder Asso-ciates branch in Sudbury, is the first to take advantage of the program. A Laurentian University graduate with a Bachelors degree in Mining Engineering, Bewick is on a 60 per cent, reduced workload schedule at Golder and pursuing a Masters of Applied Science in Engineering at the same time.
"It's something I always wanted to do," said Bewick. "I expressed my interest to a professor at Laurentian and he told me about the discussions MIRARCO president Peter Kaiser and Golder's World Mining Group Leader Doug Morrison had about a potential relationship, so I explored it within the company and it all worked out for the best."
Bewick's remuneration has been trimmed to reflect his reduced workload, but he receives funding from MIRARCO to compensate for the loss. His Masters thesis, which will focus on support in weak ground for rapid drift development, will complement one of the many research programs in MIRARCO 's pipeline.
"You see things a bit differently going back to school as a mature student," observed Bewick. " You can see the light at the end of the tunnel, how much effort is required and the benefits you get out of it once you put that extra effort in."
>Bewick juggles his competing obligations by being as flexible as possible. If he's needed at Golder for a project and has to put in some extra time, he's happy to help out. He says he appreciates Golder's co-operation and the sacrifices the company is making to free him up.
"I know I'll be busy for the next two years, but I didn't go into it blindly. I knew it would be a challenge and that I'd have to make sacrifices too."
Bewick grew up in Sudbury and graduated from high school knowing he wanted to pursue an education in engineering, but wasn't sure about the specific engineering discipline to focus on.
"I started in the mining engineering program and really enjoyed it," he said. "Laurentian is a very personable school. The classes are small and that makes it easy to interact with your professors."
Bewick joined Golder Associates in 2005 and has worked on assignments in the Northwest Territories, Nevada, British Columbia and across Northern Ontario.
