Through Infra-red Goggles Darkly – an engineer’s view of climate change!

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Victoria Centre’s monthly meeting, held on Wednesday March 12, 2014 in room A104 of the Bob Wright Centre, UVic, at 19:30.

Arctic sea-ice thickness Jan-Feb 2011A Short Bio of Dr. Parvez Kumar, P.Eng., FCASI (this latter is Fellow of the Canadian Aeronautics & Space Institute)

Dr. Kumar is an Aerospace Engineer whose career has spanned over forty years working in the Aviation and Space sectors in Government, Industry and Academia. His twenty years of experience with the Canadian Space Programme covers establishing Canada’s role in the International Space Station (ISS) in the early 1980’s, to establishing the Canadian scientific research programme for enabling scientists to do research in microgravity onboard the ISS, to setting up the first training programme for Canadian Astronauts and being their Deputy Director General.

In his chequered career he was seconded to Aerospatiale in the early 1970’s to be Hawker Siddeley Aviation’s man in France for the development of the first Airbus A300; he then joined the UK Civil Aviation Authority in their Flight Test Department for the certification of civil aircraft; he moved to Canada in the late 1970’s to help design and set up the Flight Test Programme for the Canadair Challenger Business Jet; moved onto Transport Canada in their Airworthiness Branch; Industry Canada as the Manager of the international Airborne Surveillance Systems Programme spearheaded by Canada; in 1982 he was hired by the National Research Council in Ottawa to help establish the Canadian Space Station Programme. Amongst other assignments he was the Space Technology Advisor to Atlantic Canada; Director of the European Space Agency’s Harsh Environments Initiative under contract while he was at C-CORE, Memorial University of Newfoundland; Assistant Research Professor at Carleton University in Ottawa where he set up the first Advanced Space Studies Course and taught Mechanical Systems Design to Final Year Engineering Students; he has lectured to Universities and High Schools all across Canada as well as for Continuing Education Programmes at Carleton University and the University of Victoria. He brings a wealth of hands-on experience to his lectures.

He graduated with an Honours BSc in Aeronautical Engineering from Imperial College in London, UK, and obtained his PhD in Aeronautics and Astronautics from Southampton University, UK. He has lived and worked in seven countries and, now retired, lives with his wife in Sooke.

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