In the opening address of the conference, the CCEMP President Oliver Shi emphasized CCEMP's efforts and achievements in establishing a network for Chinese Canadian environmental and municipal engineers: providing community service, knowledge sharing, technical exchange, and career development, and promoting professional activities through social and municipal engineering industries.
Vice President of CCEMP, Shuyang Wang, presented a review of CCEMP's achievements in 2023 to the attendees. Over the past year, CCEMP successfully held three outdoor team-building events and three professional knowledge seminars, providing members with ample opportunities for networking and professional development. These activities not only enhanced teamwork and mutual understanding among members but also improved their knowledge and skills in their professional fields. Additionally, CCEMP gradually restored and enhanced the activity and content richness of the association's website, WeChat public account, and LinkedIn platform, further increasing CCEMP's online influence and the quality of membership services.
During this luncheon, the keynote speech by Dr. Ted Mao was the highlight. As a renowned Chinese-Canadian environmental engineering expert and a distinguished fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering, Mao currently serves as the Chief Technology Officer of Evercloak Inc. and the founder of MW technologies.
Dr. Mao elaborated on the importance of drinking water innovation and the circular economy, and their decisive role in future sustainability. Mao's speech focused on the climate change crisis, the close connection between greenhouse gas emissions and the cycles of water, energy, and food, and how innovative water resource management and promoting the circular economy can effectively reduce greenhouse gas emissions and enhance sustainability. Additionally, Mao also shared insights from his career journey and deep understanding of environmental management, inspiring the young engineers present to bravely face challenges, take responsibility, and strive to create a better future.
In addition to professional exchanges, this luncheon also included a series of activities such as a lucky spin wheel, fun interactions, and roundtable discussions.
During the roundtable discussions, attendees engaged in deep conversations on two themes: "Life in Canada: I got a story to tell" and "Mentorship: Let’s thrive together." These sessions not only deepened participants' understanding of each other but also provided an opportunity to share valuable experiences and insights about studying and job-hunting in Canada, facilitating communication and mutual support among members from diverse backgrounds and fields. This multidimensional exchange allowed each participant to understand their current predicaments or opportunities from various perspectives.
Finally, Shuyang Wang, the Vice President of CCEMP, delivered the closing speech at the 2024 CCEMP Appreciation Luncheon. In 2024, the association will continue to strive to support and cultivate Chinese Canadian engineers, making greater contributions to the exchange and cooperation in the field of Chinese environmental management. At the same time, it also hopes that Chinese Canadians will be happy and healthy in the new year, continuously gather the strength of unity and cooperation, jointly face challenges, and create a better future together