Peter. Flynn@ualberta.ca
RESUME
PUBLICATIONS
The Poole Chair in Management for Engineers is designed to enable an individual with extensive experience in industrial management to return to an academic role with an emphasis on management in the Faculty of Engineering.
Following completion of graduate studies at the University of Alberta in 1974, I began a career in industrial research that quickly diverted into management in Alberta's rapidly expanding resource sector. A full resume of my experience is attached; highlights of my career are:
- Held a variety of research, engineering and operations management roles with Syncrude Canada Ltd.
- For Nova Corporation, directed their oil sands activity until falling oil prices put all new development of oil sands projects on hold in the early 1980's. At that point, I served as an officer in Nova's chemical and corporate offices prior to becoming the president of CNG Fuel Systems, a Nova affiliate that was North America's largest provider of equipment to let vehicles use natural gas as a vehicle fuel.
- After closing CNG Fuel Systems in the face of still further major drops in oil price, served as President of Corod Manufacturing Ltd., a General Electric affiliate that provided both general oil and gas well servicing and specialized products and services across North America and in specialized offshore markets.
- After helping GE complete a strategic sale of Corod, directed Marketing of metal and coinage products for Sherritt Gordon, a nickel and cobalt producer, and directed Human Resources and Business Development (information technology) for Edmonton Telephones, a municipally owned telephone utility.
- While at Sherritt Gordon, was appointed as one of the initial Board members for Edmonton Power, a municipally owned major power company. Edmonton Power has grown into Epcor, a major utility provider offering water, power (in a deregulating market) and other utility and commercial services.
- After Ed Tel merged with another phone company, returned to chemical engineering in the role of process engineer and project manager for Colt Engineering Corporation, most recently directing the Scotford Modifications project for Shell Canada, involving over $200 million of revamp work to a Shell refinery to tailor it to a modified feedstock from a bitumen upgrader.
- In July 1999, returned to the University of Alberta Faculty of Engineering as the Poole Chair in Engineering Management, located in the Department of Mechanical Engineering.
- Teaching
- Develop two new courses at the undergraduate level, ENGG 401 and ENGG 405. ENGG 401 is an advanced course in financial and investment analysis for undergraduate engineers with an interest in the commercial aspect of engineering. ENGG 405 covers a wide variety of areas that undergraduate engineers would benefit from prior to entering the workforce: an overview of social vs. commercial values, marketing, contract law, the anthropology and sociology of work, and people management.
- Develop a graduate level course, ENG M 655, focused on the application of personality theory and social psychology in the management of others.
- Develop two new courses at the undergraduate level, ENGG 401 and ENGG 405. ENGG 401 is an advanced course in financial and investment analysis for undergraduate engineers with an interest in the commercial aspect of engineering. ENGG 405 covers a wide variety of areas that undergraduate engineers would benefit from prior to entering the workforce: an overview of social vs. commercial values, marketing, contract law, the anthropology and sociology of work, and people management.
- Reactivating the Graduate Program in Engineering Management
In 2000 the Graduate Program in Engineering Management at the University of Alberta, offered through the Department of Mechanical Engineering, was reactivated and takes in about 20 students per year. The program confers the M. Eng. and M. Sc. degrees in Engineering Management, with the M. Sc. degree being a research / thesis based program. Participation includes full and part time students.
- Publication
I have published in the area of management practice, with a focus on performance management (performance appraisals), and in the area of alternate transportation fuels, with a focus on the factors that limited acceptance of natural gas as a vehicle fuel in Canada.
- Research
I have an active research program in the areas of:
- Analysis of power price volatility in deregulated markets. Many jurisdictions around the world have deregulated electrical power, and the price of electrical power has become highly volatile because it is not effectively storable and supply must match demand on an instantaneous basis. We are applying wavelet analysis and other statistical techniques to compare volatility patterns within various markets.
- Assessment of the effectiveness of alliances between operating companies and engineering contractors for work in ongoing plants. This kind of alliance is critical to cost effective capital and turnaround projects in operating plants. We are comparing five alliances to assess success factors, problems, and problem resolution techniques.
- Greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation. There is a critical shortage of good data on the cost and impact of GHG mitigation alternatives. One thrust of our research is the evaluation of the cost of offset ($/tonne of CO2) for biomass usage in Alberta, generating electrical power from wood, wood waste, and agricultural residue (straw and corn husks). A second thrust of our research is an early stage assessment of the potential to enhance natural processes for increasing the carbon content of the deep ocean. The deep ocean is a vast reservoir of carbon with the potential to readily mitigate the impact of increases in atmospheric carbon from the use of fossil fuels.
- The feasibility of pumped storage as a price modulator in the Alberta electrical power market. Pumped storage (pumping water into an elevated reservoir during periods of low price / demand, and generating power from that water during periods of high price / demand) has been used to deter the construction of primary generation capacity in regulated markets. Our research will focus on its cost effectiveness in the deregulated Alberta electrical power market.
Future research interests include an assessment of implicit wealth transfers within defined benefit pension plans. Other interests include long-term trends in relative compensation and project management practices on medieval large projects.
- Community and University Service
I serve on a number of boards, including iCORE, a Alberta research funding entity focused on information and communication technology, Capitol Region Housing Corporation, which operates low cost housing in the Edmonton region, and Fort Edmonton Historical Foundation, which raises funds for capital projects at Fort Edmonton Park, a "living history" museum. In addition, I participate in several University governance and administration roles, and I serve on the Board of Epcor, a large integrated electrical power utility, through mid-2002.