We’re proud to congratulate Cameron Franchuk, DIALOG Associate and structural engineer, on being named this year’s recipient of the 2022 Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta (APEGA) Summit Awards Outstanding Mentor Award. This award is presented to members of APEGA in recognition of exceptional achievement as a mentor.
Beyond providing mentorship to DIALOGers, Cam is actively involved in giving back to the community and future engineers. His longest mentoring experience has been with the University of Alberta. Each year, as part of a fourth-year civil engineering capstone project, student teams receive a design project. An industry mentor guides them through the process of creating detailed drawings, preparing a report, and giving a presentation, and the top team wins a cash prize. Franchuk has been one of the industry mentors since 2010, and in that time, six of his teams have won and two have placed as runners-up. “It’s one of my favourite things to do every year,” he says.
Cam models his mentoring approach after the many professionals who have offered him advice along the way. He focuses on building lasting relationships with his mentees and showing them what the wide world of structural engineering has to offer. “There’s a quote that goes, ‘If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there.’ It’s always about finding the thing you want to do first, and then what will get you there,” he explains. “I try to show people the opportunities that are out there so they can decide what they want to do.”