Roy Brander,P.Eng

In 2008:

Education:
B.Sc. Civil Engineering, University of Calgary, 1980
B.Sc. Computer Science, University of Calgary, 1985

Experience:
Structural Design (concrete and steel) - Fluor Engineers and Constructors, 1980-1982
Computer Systems Management, Programming - RE/SPEC Consultants 1985-1986
Microcomputer User Support - City of Calgary Data Processing Dept 1986-1989
Information Systems Coordinator - Calgary Waterworks 1989-1997
Sr. Infrastructure Engineer - Calgary Waterworks 1997-2005
Sr. Infrastructure Engineer -- Calgary Water Resources 2005-2017

I managed projects to determine the actual state of our mains through non-destructive testing, did forensic analyses of pieces of mains and valves removed for replacement, and combed through the databases we developed to decide where to best spend the millions of dollars budgeted each year. With the amalgamation of Engineering groups from Waterworks and Sewer into "Water Resources" in 2005, it became my job to do this for all three pipe systems, and eventually help the "AM" strategy for the plants, as well...a total infrastructure with a replacement value of $30B.

Home:

Web Contributions

• Raw files directory of the slides for my presentation on FreeGIS at CUUG, April, 2014
• Some work I did to examine the claims in Dr. Helen Caldicott's book, "Nuclear Power is Not the Answer", to the effect that nuclear power plants have nearly as large a carbon footprint as fossil-fuel power plants. She was, in brief, wrong.
• Our vacation in Hawaii, 2009. Click on the "kt" link for our three-day trip up the Kalalau Trail with over 60 photos
• We went back in 2011. No huge hike this time, but even more stunning photos of Kauai, and a few of a luxurious golf-resort on Maui. (We didn't play golf. Too much snorkeling to do.)
• The eeePC and the Threat to Microsoft ... a presentation for CUUG about my then-new "eeepc", the first netbook. I correctly predicted some pressure on MS-Windows from the new platforms that didn't need it - albeit that netbooks were not that platform. (Windows did push Unix from the netbook space in 2008). The predicted pressure actually happened in smartphones and tablets.
• "Poor Man's Computer: Cheap Information Appliances for the Whole World" ... a presentation for the City of Calgary Society of Professional Engineers, January 31, 2008. Highly-time-sensitive material, it will be laughably dated by late 2010. If you are reading this after that, enjoy it as a nostalgia piece. It tackles the Eee PC, the XO laptop and how Intel has tried to sink it, and a general review of global development and the debunking of myths about it. Has considerable content overlap with the eeepc presentation above, but a much larger focus on sales in the developing world.
• The Titanic and Risk Management (vs. Cost Management)
  Index to all material including the 1995 Web essay and the 1998 lecture developed from it, then the 2000 address to the National Defense Industrial Association, including links to the Challenger Disaster.
• Velazquez paintings I have scanned
• Speech on "The Internet and Civil Engineering" for Canadian Society of Civil Engineers (November, 1995)
• Essay for "24 Hours of Democracy" February 22nd, 1996
• May, 1996: "The End of Moore's Law. Thank God!"
  Describing the expected end of steady improvement in silicon circuits - and claiming that this has a silver lining.
• January, 2000: No Pane of Glass
  The Web search that ended a long, long personal search and reminded me how great the Web is...but found more than I bargained for.