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profile Above: Stella Chiu PEng, recipient of the inaugural <strong>APEG</strong>BC Young Professional Award. 18 MARCH/APRIL 2008 INNOVATION Stella Chiu Meeting Challenges Head On But, if there is one characteristic that has propelled Chiu to the forefront that colleagues quickly note, it is her innate ability to take on a new task. “She is always up for a challenge and someone who is always trying to broaden her knowledge,” says Roger Warren PEng, mentor to Chiu at Dayton & Knight Consulting Engineers in North Vancouver. This spirit of rising up to meet new challenges has earned Chiu the 2007 <strong>APEG</strong>BC Young Professional Award, given to acknowledge an outstanding engineer or geoscientist under the age of 35 years who has earned recognition within their profession, place of employment and community. Despite the hefty workload and the fiercely competitive environment to gain access to the University of Hong Kong, Chiu did enroll in civil and environmental engineering, graduating with a Bachelor of Engineering in 1999. Earlier, in 1997, her parents had made the decision to move to Canada and when Chiu arrived, she enrolled at the University of British Columbia environmental program, again following her brother into postgraduate work. Chiu did her master’s degree in environmental engineering with a focus on pollution control and waste management. She graduated in May 2001 and then set Jean Sorensen When Stella Chiu PEng MEng LEED AP fi rst saw the stack of homework her brother carried back daily from the University of Hong Kong where he studied to be an electrical engineer, she thought maybe she ought to run the other way rather than follow his lead into the profession. “Every day he would come home with so much work, his desk was covered with notes and books,” she recalls. “I freaked.” about another daunting challenge, one of looking for a job. “Th ings were really, really slow at that time,” she says, “Not like they are now.” A friend forwarded a job posting for a four-month term at the Greater Vancouver Regional District (GVRD, now Metro Vancouver), for which she applied and was accepted. She spent the time completing sewer-modeling projects. Realizing that she still had gaps in her skills, she enrolled at the British Columbia Institute of Technology and completed several courses in environmental law and GIS before being hired back by the GVRD for another four-month term. “But, all the time I was out there looking for a job,” says ANDREA SUNDERLAND
Stella receives the 2008 Young Professional Award from President Tim Smith PGeo EngL. Chiu, who admits she was getting a bit “desperate.” She began coldcalling engineering fi rms. It was an experience that did help her in more than one way. “I have a very mild personality,” she says, and the idea of cold-calling was daunting. But, the desire to fi nd a job propelled her forward and cold-calling helped cultivate another skill. “It is something you have to do on the job,” she says. It also brought her into contact with Dayton & Knight’s vice-president of operations Jack Lee PEng who at first told her there was no position available, but like others, “send a resume.” When there was the possibility of an opening, Lee called her in for an interview with himself and Gurjit Sangha PEng, a project manager with the company. “She was someone with limited engineering experience, but she had completed a master’s program at UBC,” Lee tells. At the interview, Lee saw traits that would fit Stella into the corporate culture. “We knew she was very intelligent, but she came across as very positive and we were also looking for someone who would be loyal, and who could listen and adapt to the office culture,” he says, adding that a new graduate can be “inflexible” and have problems fitting into the challenging environment of consulting. Today, says Lee, Chiu is a well-respected project engineer and “well on her way” to becoming a project manager. Chiu also remembers that first interview. At the end, Lee told her that consulting work was dependent upon projects, and new work would hopefully come in several weeks’ time. She returned to the GVRD and waited for a call. Lee made that call two weeks later and asked her to come in for a second interview with Harlan Kelly PEng who was CEO of the company at that time. They offered her a job “on the spot” recalls Chiu. But, despite wanting a job and what seemed like a good offer, she didn’t accept immediately. “I went home and thought about it,” she says, adding she discussed it with her family, but also sought guidance from a higher power. “I prayed,” says Chiu, who is a devout Christian, and heavily involved in her community church where she sings and plays the piano for a congregation. “When I have a big decision to make, I pray fi rst. I ask God if this is something He has planned for me.” Th e answer came back in a feeling of peacefulness that Chiu experienced aft erward. She accepted the job off er and never looked back. At first, she focused on water distribution system modeling projects under the supervision of Sangha, but after the first year began to work on wastewater treatment plant design work and contract administration projects. She admits that she didn’t really enjoy it that much in the beginning as contractors can be demanding. But, as with other challenges, she met them head on. When challenged by difficult contractors, she says “I just look them in the eye and tell them this is what I believe to be right.” While Chiu has had to learn to stand her ground with contractors, she has also come to enjoy the project process, which culminates in the creation of something that will serve a community. She credits much of her ability to evolve to mentor Warren. “If I had a problem, I could always go to Roger and he would tell me how to handle it,” she says. Warren said while mentoring Chiu, he was impressed with not only her ability to take on new projects and widen her knowledge, but also her keenness. “It is her enthusiasm which is amazing to me. She is always upbeat, even when doing things that may seem mundane to most engineers,” he says. He added that now as a professional engineer and project engineer she has again “stepped up to the plate” taking on new responsibilities. Lee says that not only has she continued to rise to the firm’s needs with clients and projects as they arise, but he’s impressed with her ability to volunteer and expand her activities outside of work. In the office, she is a force when organizing social functions. She also participates on behalf of the firm at functions such as that held annually at the Vancouver Public Library to promote engineering during National Engineering and Geoscience Week. She has taken the Dale Carnegie course on public speaking, and she has offered to volunteer a few hours a month working with new immigrants through SUCCESS, an organization that helps new arrivals from other countries. She is also presently the editor of Watermark, a quarterly magazine published by the BC Water and Waste Association provided to its members, mayors, councilors, municipalities, native bands and public libraries in BC. Chiu says she feels honored to have been chosen for the inaugural award because it represents three focal points of her life: her profession, her company and her community. The letter came as a pleasant, although not complete surprise. She knew she had been entered for an award as fellow co-workers kept pumping her for information on her career and life outside work. Then a co-worker let it slip that she had been entered by Lee. Says Chiu of the award: “It feels great to be recognized for what I believe in.” v INNOVATION MARCH/APRIL 2008 19
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