My second year as CSBE/SCGAB President is moving along just as rapidly as the first! There have been two Council meetings (September & November) at which we have continued to discuss items of routine business as well as new initiatives. I am happy to report that our 2018 AGM hosted at the University of Guelph earned a profit of approximately $9000 for our Society. Many thanks to the local members whose efforts yielded both an excellent conference and a nice profit! We are now looking ahead to the 2019 AGM which will be hosted by the Chemical and Biological Engineering Department at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver (July 14-17). The Local Organizing Committee has proposed the conference theme of “Biosystems for clean technology and low carbon economy” with abstracts requested in all areas related to biosystems engineering from micro to macro molecules and from machinery to buildings. Abstracts are due by February 28, 2019. Visit the conference website for more details.

Membership Dues for 2019

You will notice a slight increase in your CSBE/SCGAB dues for 2019. The dues that you pay are composed of a portion that goes to ASABE and a portion that stays with CSBE/SCGAB. The CSBE/SCGAB portion of your dues has remained unchanged (i.e., no increase) for 2019; the modest increase is for the portion going to ASABE.

For those of you who have reached the age of 65 and have 35 years of membership or more, the Member Emeritus category is a great option to consider. If you satisfy these criteria, you will no longer pay any membership dues! ASABE has recently notified all CSBE/SCGAB members who fall into this category. If you believe you are eligible for free membership under the Member Emeritus category, but do not remember being contacted by ASABE, please contact Bernard Goyette (VP Membership) at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..  

CSBE/SCGAB John Ogilvie Research Innovation Award

You may recall that a new “Research Innovation Award” was discussed and approved by membership at the AGM in July. I am pleased to announce that Council has voted to officially name this new award the “John Ogilvie Research Innovation Award” in honour of the distinguished engineering career of John Ogilvie. In late September, Franklin Kains and Ron MacDonald visited John at his residence to show him the terms of reference for the award and to explain Council’s rationale for naming the award in his honour. John was both surprised and pleased. The application form for the CSBE/SCGAB John Ogilvie Research Innovation Award is available for download on the Society website. Completed applications forms should be e-mailed to the CSBE/SCGAB Manager at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by March 15, 2019. For your reference, the Terms of Reference are repeated below.

Terms of Reference: 

The CSBE/SCGAB John Ogilvie Research Innovation Award is to acknowledge outstanding contributions to research, in any field of research relevant to CSBE/SCGAB, by an individual or team of researchers (which may include graduate or undergraduate students). The Research Innovation Award is not intended to acknowledge the cumulative impact of a career’s worth of research contributions; rather, it is intended to recognize the innovation or ingenuity of a single research project. The research team (individual or group of researchers) is required to prepare a brief nomination that clearly explains why the research is innovative.

Recipients of the CSBE/SCGAB John Ogilvie Research Innovation Award will be selected by the CSBE/SCGAB Awards Committee. Up to three Research Innovation Awards may be awarded each year. All members of a research team must be members of CSBE/SCGAB in good standing. Individuals may be awarded the Research Innovation Award multiple times throughout their career, however, not in consecutive years.

New Category of Membership – Associate Member

You will recall that the concept of an Associate Member of CSBE/SCGAB was discussed at the AGM in July. CSBE/SCGAB is the technical society of choice for all professionals and students with an interest in the application of scientific principles for the sustainable production of food, bioproducts, and bioenergy. Our members are actively involved in developing complex and practical engineering solutions for problems involving biological systems in the areas of agriculture and bioresources. We rely on numerous products and services to effectively do our jobs. To better serve our members, we have created a new category of membership, the Associate Member, that is intended for individuals who may not be engineers by training or practice, but who provide products or services that are of interest to our members.

Council has now finalized the annual fee for this category of membership and identified the benefits available to Associate Members. The fee for an Associate Member is $200 per year. Council has decided that Associate Members will have affiliation only with CSBE/SCGAB and will not have any form of membership/affiliation with ASABE.  

Associate Members of CSBE/SCGAB will enjoy the following benefits:

• Advertising of company, products, or services on the CSBE/SCGAB website (valued at $500/year for non-members)
• Advertising of company, products, or services in the quarterly “Perspectives” newsletter (valued at $125/issue for non-members)
• Exhibit/booth space at any CSBE/SCGAB conference or event for a fee of $500 (valued at $800/meeting for non-members)
• Ability to provide input to CSBE/SCGAB Council through the VP Industry
• Access to CSBE/SCGAB web resources

Each of us has a role to play in advertising the Associate Member opportunity to suppliers with whom we regularly interact. An application form will soon be available for download from the Society website.

CSBE/SCGAB Expertise Database

Our webmaster, René Morissette, has created a new Expertise Database for CSBE/SCGAB members. There are four categories into which you may fit:  Academics, Private Sector, Public Sector and Students. Visit the Society website for instructions on how to add your expertise to the Database!