After graduating from the University of British Columbia with a B.S. in Civil Engineering in 1980, Dennis Dupasquier went to work for Canron Inc.'s Western Bridge Division in Vancouver. He praises the company for its excellent training program for engineers. "I got to work in the drawing, estimating, design, and construction departments for several months," he recalls. "It gave me an appreciation for all aspects of the operation." He stayed with Canron for 10 years, working on design and erection schemes for a variety of projects.
Most of Dennis's experience has applied to bridges, but he has worked on such interesting projects as an erection scheme for a 30-ton capacity, log-handling, gantry crane. He also designed support sleds for eight, 115-ton capacity stiffleg derricks used to erect the superstructure of the cable-stayed, Tsing-Ma Bridge in Hong Kong. Currently, he is project manager of the Port Mann Project near Vancouver.
In 1991, Dennis joined KWH, and although he has worked in a variety of places, he has always maintained a home base in Vancouver. His wife Julia is a dentist, who works four days a week. Their young sons are Warren (5) and Scott (3). Dennis might very well encourage them to become engineers if they have an aptitude for the profession. "This is an interesting business," he says. Dennis wishes more young people would get into construction. He'd like to change the image of our industry, explaining "Young people still see hard hats and muddy boots. We need to show them how high tech it is, and how we use computers, new materials and techniques."
Youthful looking himself, Dennis enjoys running, biking (often the 10 miles to work), and playing squash. He is a firm believer in the theory that exercise is a great way to alleviate stress from our hectic life styles.
