Spring / Printemps 2017, No. 78

Most of what we do as electrical and computer engineers is hidden from the public view. The design process is hidden in labs and it is full of abstract concepts. Furthermore, when we build a physical prototype, what may be exciting to us, like a blinking LED indicating a system booted or reading some numbers on a screen, is not always exciting to the general public. The idea of the photo shoot came from discussions on how we could help demystify what engineers do by bringing the activities to public places. If the general public and pre-university audiences can visualize what engineers do, they may envision themselves in those roles in the future.

The authors would like to thank Bruce Van-Lane and the IEEE Canadian Review for embracing the idea and helping us make the "Cafe of 2025" photo shoot a reality. Thank-you to our photographer, David Lipnowski, who helped us compose the pictures to get our message across. Special thank-you to Degrees Restaurant for allowing us to take over their space for an afternoon, and to all those volunteers who gave up a Saturday afternoon, brought their prototypes, and shared their enthusiasm for electronics with us in the pictures.

Back row (L-R): Dario Schor, Frank Yu, Troy Denton, David Stewart
Front row (L-R): Chelsea Taylor, Martin Rickey, Kevin Lamothe, Mark Rabena, Greg Linton                                                         Photo credit: David Lipnowski