Feature Story: Engineering student seeks to help surveyors

Abstract

Engineering student Nathan Bruce has come up with a method that might make life a little easier for surveyors and for people working at Regina’s City Hall. Bruce’s work has won him this year’s Student Paper Competition, awarded by the Canadian Society of Civil Engineering. Bruce is enrolled in his first year of Master’s of Applied Science in the Faculty of Engineering. He had earned a Bachelor’s of Applied Sciences in Environmental Engineering. “I was shocked and honoured when my name was called. I was happy to represent our school at the competition,” says Bruce, as he reflects on receiving the award in Regina recently. Bruce’s research was inspired while working as a surveyor for a local engineering firm. He observed that some of the city’s benchmark data was either missing or out of date. “What people may not realize is that there are brass disks or plates attached to concrete blocks that are a foot underground at sites throughout the city. Other markers are set on the sides of buildings or light poles,” explains Bruce.