The highest distinction of the OIQ - Engineer Pierre-Claude Aïtcin receives the 2013 Grand Prix d'excellence from the Ordre des ingénieurs du Québec

MONTREAL, April 9, 2013 /CNW Telbec/ - Pierre-Claude Aïtcin, Professor Emeritus of the Université de Sherbrooke, has won the 2013 Grand Prix d'excellence, the highest distinction given by the Ordre des ingénieurs du Québec to its members. This prize has been awarded every year since 1991 in tribute to outstanding professional practice by a Québec engineer. The winning engineer serves as a model for the profession and is known and recognized for his or her visionary qualities, ability to innovate and social commitment.

"Pierre-Claude Aïtcin is a builder at heart and a model of excellence for engineers and engineering students. We are proud to have engineers like the recipient of the 2013 Grand Prix d'excellence as members," stated Daniel Lebel, Eng., PMP, President of the Ordre des ingénieurs du Québec, at the award presentation ceremony held last night in Montreal.

Mr. Aïtcin has had a brilliant career as a research professor in the Civil Engineering Department of the Université de Sherbrooke. He obtained his engineering degree in 1962 and his doctorate in 1965 from the Laboratoire de Minéralogie of the Faculté des Sciences de Toulouse. He studied what would become his life's passion: concrete. As a result, he has participated in large-scale civil engineering projects in Canada, such as the Confederation Bridge between Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick and the Hibernia platform. But he has also taken an interest in smaller projects, such as the design of concrete statues, artificial granite sinks, new kinds of weights and dumbbells, and even the construction of a cyclist and pedestrian bridge in Sherbrooke.

In 1989, Mr. Aïtcin created the Research Centre on Concrete Infrastructures (CRIB). From 1989 to 1998, he headed the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council's (NSERC) Industrial Chair on Concrete. He was the Scientific Director of Concrete Canada for 10 years. Appointed Professor Emeritus in 2002, he has supervised some 70 students and postdoctoral researchers and the Université de Sherbrooke has become one of the largest research centres for concrete in the world.

Mr. Aïtcin's achievements have been rewarded with a large number of awards and distinctions, such as the Lionel-Boulet Award of the Québec government in 2002; the Medal of the French Civil Engineering Association in 1999; the Joseph-Armand-Bombardier Award of the Association canadienne-française pour l'avancement des sciences in 1993; the Arthur R. Anderson Award of the American Concrete Institute in 1995.

Through its policy on rewarding professional excellence, the OIQ seeks to recognize the achievements of engineers whose careers offer an example of how the values of the profession can be fulfilled: competence, responsibility, ethics, and social commitment. This award also takes into account the recipient's leadership, know-how and self-management skills.

About the Ordre des ingénieurs du Québec

Founded in 1920, the Ordre des ingénieurs du Québec has a membership of nearly 63,000 engineering professionals in all fields, except forest engineering. The mission of the OIQ is to ensure the protection of the public by supervising the practice of the profession within the framework of its constituent laws and ensure that the profession serves the public interest. For more information, go to http://www.oiq.qc.ca.

APPENDIX

RECIPIENTS OF THE GRAND PRIX D'EXCELLENCE
The highest distinction awarded by the Ordre des ingénieurs du Québec

Year	Recipient	Title (when the file was submitted)
1991	M. Camille A. Dagenais, Eng.	Former President, SNC Group
1992	Mr. Roger Nicolet, Eng.	President, Nicolet Chartrand Knoll
1993	Mr. Roland Doré, Eng.	President, Canadian Space Agency
1994	Mr. Roger Blais, Eng.	Professor Emeritus École Polytechnique
1995	Ms. Michèle Thibodeau DeGuire, Eng.	CEO, Centraide
1996	Mr. Guy Saint-Pierre, Eng.	President, SNC-Lavalin
1997	Mr. Claude Chamberland, Eng.	Executive Vice President, Alcan
1998	Mr. Jean-Guy Paquet, Eng.	CEO, National Optics Institute
1999 Tie	Mr. Frank A. Dottori, Eng. ------------------------ Ms. Danielle W. Zaïkoff, Eng.	President - Tembec ----------------- Expert Engineer - Hydro-Québec
2000	Mr. Jean-Guy René, Eng.	CEO (Peru) Hydro-Québec International
2001	Mr. Fassi Kafyeke, Eng.	Department Manager, Advanced Aerodynamics Department, Bombardier Aerospace
2002	Mr. Élie Saheb, Eng.	CEO, James Bay Energy Corporation
2003	Mr. René Dufour, Eng.	Chair of the Board, Niocan inc.
2004	Mr. Pierre Bouchard, Eng.	President, STAS-UNIGEC
2005	Mr. André Harvey, Eng.	Former President, Bureau d'audiences publiques sur l'environnement (BAPE)
2006	Mr. Bernard Lamarre, Eng.	Consultant, SNC-Lavalin
2007	Mr. Martin Roy, Eng. (bioclimatic)	President, Martin Roy and Associates
2008	Mr. Pierre Desjardins, Eng.	President, Les produits N.C. ltée
2009	Mr. André Bazergui, Eng.	CEO of CRIAQ Professor Emeritus, École Polytechnique
2010	Mr. Wilfrid Morin, Eng.	President and CEO of Teknika HBA
2011	Mr. Robert Louis Papineau, Eng.	CEO of École Polytechnique de Montréal
2012	Mr. Serge Gendron, Eng.	President, AGF Steel
2013	Mr. Pierre-Claude Aïtcin, Eng.	Professor Emeritus Université de Sherbrooke

SOURCE: ORDRE DES INGENIEURS DU QUEBEC

Patrick Leblanc
Communications Advisor
Communications and Public Affairs Department
Ordre des ingénieurs du Québec
514 845-6141 or 1 800 461-6141, extension 3253