Canada: James McFarlane Receives Lifetime Achievement Award for 2011

Dr. James R. McFarlane, founder and president of International Submarine Engineering Ltd received the Diver Certification Board of Canada’s Lifetime Achievement Award for 2011 for his significant contributions to the underwater industry.

The award was presented to Dr. McFarlane by Mr. Jonathan Chappie, DCBC’s incoming Chairman and Senior Manager, Military and Professional with Aqua-Lung Canada Ltd at the Canadian Underwater Conference Awards Banquet on October 24th 2011. Dr. McFarlane was also a keynote speaker at the conference.

“Jim’s underwater-oriented technical contributions to Canada and the world are almost beyond compare.” says David Parkes, Chief Executive Officer, DCBC. “In just one field of underwater work, Jim has been part of engineering teams that have designed and built over 400 robotic manipulators and over 200 vehicles.”

Dr. McFarlane started ISE in 1974 and has been involved with the design, construction, and operation of manned, tethered and untethered Remotely Operated Vehicles as well as subsystems of these vehicles includin manipulators and computer control systems. In 2009, ISE was inducted into the Offshore Energy Center Hall of Fame and was also named as one of Canada’s top 40 defence companies.

Dr. McFarlane is the author of many papers on submarines, manned submersibles, remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) and autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs), including the world’s first automobile refueling system for Shell. He has also made keynote presentations in Europe, India, Japan, China, Korea, USA and Canada. Two notable presentations include the inauguration of the India Chapter of IEEE, Oceanic Engineering Society at the National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) in 2008, and most recently at the Institute of Industrial Science, at The University of Tokyo in 2010.

Dr. McFarlane has served on many committees for international meetings and has been honoured as guest speaker at many conferences around the globe. He has also received numerous awards including the Officer of the Order of Canada, BC Science Council Award for Industrial innovation, the BC Science and Engineering Gold Medal, and the IEEE Vancouver Centennial Award this past August.

About the Diver Certification Board of Canada

The Diver Certification Board of Canada is a federally incorporated not-for-profit body which operates under the authority of a number of agreements with the National Energy Board, the Canada-Newfoundland Offshore Petroleum Board and the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board. Originally set up to replace the offshore diver certification regime of the National Energy Board and the offshore petroleum boards, the Diver Certification Board of Canada is the only national body which certifies offshore and inshore commercial divers in Canada.

International Submarine Engineering Ltd.

During the last 37 years ISE has built Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs), Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs), manned submersibles, robotic manipulators, semi-submersibles and unmanned surface vessels. Based just outside Vancouver, Canada, ISE has delivered more than 240 vehicles and over 400 robotic manipulators to more than 20 countries around the world. ISE has a robotics capability, having built underwater manipulators for a variety of functions and land based robotic systems including an automated car refueling station and the Canadian Space Agency robotic manipulator training system.

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Source: ISE, November 03, 2011