Meet Some
Alumni
Welcome to our Alumni Page, where the echoes of success and inspiration reverberate through the journeys of our esteemed graduates. Discover firsthand accounts of how Mining Engineering at The University of Alberta has shaped careers, ignited passions, and fostered lasting connections.
Brendan Reykdal
"Mining Engineering in Alberta has a stigma of simply being moving big dirt with big yellow metal – admittedly, that is what attracted me to the program, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that it is so much more than that. At the intersection of geotechnical engineering, industrial processing, economics, and environmental stewardship, the MinE program gave me the opportunity to dive down many rabbit holes before finding my niche in heavy civil construction and environmental remediation.
Most of the teaching staff had a combination of academic and industry experience which was a highlight for me – their application of new ideas and technologies while being firmly rooted by empirical knowledge and learnings from the field made the content tangible and engaging. In kind, my classmates and I gained an extensive library of technical aptitudes through the program while keeping true to the fundamental value of practical problem solving.
The MinE was second to none when considering exposure to other engineering disciplines. In my professional career, I have worked at sites across North America in plant construction and commissioning, ground stabilization/liquefaction mitigation, site infrastructure/development, and post closure remediation to name a few and could not have done any of it without the experience gained during undergrad. You’ll never be pigeonholed in a career as a mining engineer and I would highly recommend it for anyone who is excited about the prospect of constantly learning and facing new/unique challenges."
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Aidan Bowe
"I chose mining for the small class sizes with people that know how to have a good time. I wasn’t disappointed! It didn’t take long to get to know my professors on a first name basis and the other students in the program, including other years. I found that less students mean more opportunities for leadership and for my voice to be heard. The best part: more available jobs than there are engineers to work them.
Once I had my first co-op under my belt, I was getting interviewed for almost everything I applied for! My co-op placements gave me endless new experiences from working night shift under the Northern Lights to partying in a town in Labrador so remote that even Covid didn’t make it there, to installing data collecting equipment 1000m below the Saskatchewan prairies. I love how easy it is to move between cities, commodities, and work schedules! As a graduate, I have already had the opportunity to try a variety of positions in search of what I’m passionate about. My days move quickly, and I start every morning with new technical challenges. It never gets old."
Mining engineering has already taken me on adventures across Canada and the money for adventures around the world. It is truly the hidden gem of the engineering disciplines.
Simon Van Thiel
"To me, the most valuable aspect of Mining Engineering at the University of Alberta is the sense of community. There is no other faculty, discipline, or industry which compares. Through my degree I held 3 co-op positions and at each one I was working with E.I.T.s who had graduated from my same program. When it came time to find my first full time position of my own, there were very few postings where I was not in connection with a current employee. This is the experience of a mining graduate.
Throughout your degree, events both competitive and social will introduce you to a tightly knit group of peers that will span the entire industry and your whole career. If you are searching to enroll in a community and not just a discipline, Mining is the right choice."
Kristen Torpe
"I can’t say anything bad about my experience with the mining club at the U of A. Of course there were tears shed but that is expected with any university degree. The mining club is as welcoming as they get for new members and by the end of my degree there were tears shed as I wasn’t ready to leave the close friends I had made. I chose mining because I was looking for career different from most others; I wanted to be involved in the field and with operations on a day to day basis. Mining has given me the opportunity to work in extremely remote locations and is one of the disciplines that is very transferable worldwide should I decide to take my career international. Grad 2020 will always be unique as we were the lucky class who went
online for Covid.
Following convocation, I was lucky enough to be selected to head to Lupin Mine, Nunavut with NCL on a complete mine remediation project and have been with them ever since. The past 3 years have been spent at Giant Mine, NWT. Countless opportunities have come from joining a contracting team including tailings reclamation, water treatment, drillhole design, drill pad design and construction, underground paste backfill, underground barricade design and construction on site as well as the flexibility to transfer to other projects for the opportunity to continue to gain knowledge and work experience in many diverse areas. Mining will always be an industry that has opportunity; the resources mined for may change, but career development will always exist and the continuous changing mining environments will always give new challenges to overcome."
Josh Young
"I chose mining because the scale and diversity of the projects in the industry really appealed to me. But I, of course, must admit how enticing the stories of travel and solid wages were to me. Mining is also an industrial discipline, giving you a window or a branch into many different, more traditional fields with ways to diversify your education and experience.
The highlights of my time in class center around the mining club, diverse courses, and learning outcomes that, in some cases, were directly related to my work on co-ops. It, of course, is not all sunshine and roses, but the high-quality professors and the program's connection to industry ensure that you are well-equipped to build on your knowledge base when you hit the field. And even if you get brutalized on a midterm, there is always a mining club event just around the corner to tip things back onto the bright side. (I couldn't recommend getting involved with the Mining Engineering Student Society more! It's a great way to foster some soft skills for that resume.)
I enjoyed a medley of co-op experiences, from working in the field to more project coordination roles. Some of the best parts of my co-ops were living and working outside Edmonton, from Yellowknife to Fort McMurray. A massive benefit to co-op was drawing on my experience in the field while back in the classroom to add realism to my assignments. My best advice is to not be afraid to find work terms outside the university system!
As a new graduate, I am working to keep the momentum from my classroom and co-op experiences going by continuing to develop my skills in our discipline. Starting out at my full time gig, I have been able to work in diverse scopes on a gold mine reclamation project."