Students At Work

The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) is the national body in Canada that strategically invests in the country’s scientific and technological capabilities. To stimulate student interest in research in the natural sciences and engineering, and to encourage graduate studies and research careers, NSERC offers Undergraduate Student Research Awards (USRA).

Chris Doan, now entering his 3rd year as an undergraduate at the University of Toronto, won one of these awards to work at Rocscience this past summer.
Chris Doan, a 2nd year Electrical Engineering student from the University of Toronto, completed his USRA at Rocscience this past summer. During his tenure at Rocscience, Chris worked on several major projects: an end-user assessment and a recommendation report for Rocscience’s software line; designing introductory booklets for Rocscience software; creating supplementary problem sets for Slide 5.0 and preparing presentation materials for Rocscience’s Phase2 6.0 software course.

Chris’s product assessment was very thorough and his recommendation report gave our company valuable information from a consumer’s perspective. His report meticulously analyzed every aspect of Rocscience’s software products, from aesthetics to functionality to supplementary resources. Using this information, we were able to strategically plan the development of our products to further enhance the end-user experience.

The results of the assessment were also used to develop a new set of introductory booklets to accompany Rocscience’s software. Chris demonstrated his writing and design skills by researching, compiling and producing a set of booklets, which will be the basis of our new "Getting Started" materials, included with our software packages.

Though an Electrical Engineering student, Chris quickly adapted to the geotechnical environment at Rocscience and gained a solid foundation of slope stability and stress analysis theory. Using this knowledge, Chris produced sample problem sets for Slide 5.0, which will become an additional teaching resource to professors in the Rocscience Education Program. He also played an important role in Rocscience’s Phase2 6.0 course this summer, preparing the tutorial and presentation materials.

Chris was a dedicated and enthusiastic member of our team this summer. He is continuing his studies at the University of Toronto and plans to specialize in Communication Systems. We believe that Chris’s experiences at Rocscience have helped him on his way to becoming a well rounded and versatile engineer.