CSIEA-Ottawa

CSIEA-Ottawa stands for the Canadian Society of Iranian Engineers and Architects-Ottawa (Persian: کانون کانادايی مهندسين وآرشيتكت هاى ايرانی - مركز اتاوا‎, French: Société canadienne des ingénieurs et des architectes iraniens - Ottawa). As a volunteer base organization, CSIEA has been founded by a group of interested individuals in 2004 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The Society has a non-religious, non-political agenda, and is registered in Ontario.

So far CSIEA has had four annual general meetings (October 2004, May 2005, May 2006, and May 2007). CSIEA's website is .

Since its early days, CSIEA-Ottawa has maintained close relationship with Mohandes which is a similar organizations, with similar agenda, serving Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

  • One of the first meetings with Mr. Khodabandeh (from Mohandes, Toronto), July 13, 2004, in Ottawa
  • First Annual General Meeting, October 8, 2004
  • Seminar on 9/11 terrorist attacks & Bam reconstruction, on April 9, 2005
  • Cancer Awareness Session, on April 20, 2006

CSIEA organizes different events to facilitate its members' networking, and to promote knowledge, technology and science. It has also been involved in some community work, such as holding information session on cancer awareness for Persian speaking community in Ottawa, in collaboration with the Canadian Cancer Society.

The pre-CSIEA era

The need for a professional association for Iranian engineers and architects was felt over the years, as many engineers and architects with Iranian background or ties with Iranian culture chose Ottawa as their permanent residence. This movement started in the 1980s and was intensified in the 1990s as Ottawa blossomed with private companies, universities and government institutions.

Before the inception of the CSIEA, Iranian engineers and architects met in different ways, mostly during private parties. Other events were organized by different groups, such as a slideshow on Bam and Kerman's architectural oeuvres in July 2002 and a group visit of the Canadian Museum of Science and Technology in November 2003.

A common characteristic of these pre-CSIEA events was that they were organized and managed by a relatively small number of people (in some instances only one person) and as a result, they lacked the generality in purpose and the continuity that a real association should demonstrate. Another weakness was the relatively small target audience of these events, which were mostly limited to friends and acquaintances.

With these shortfalls in mind, different groups of people were talking about the possibility of organizing these individual efforts into a more systematic form. In summer of 2004 some of these networking pioneers finally got together and undertook a full-fledged feasibility study on the eventual establishment of a society for Iranian engineers and architects in Ottawa. One of the greatest assets of this founding group was the great diversity of its members' background, in terms of age, expertise, and number of years spent in Canada. Although it seemed at the beginning that it might be quite a challenge to build consensus among such a varied group, CSIEA has so far clearly demonstrated that this diversity enriched the group by providing complementary skills, and viewpoints.

Few Milestones

So far, CSIEA has organized several seasonal events; annual general meetings; workshops; talks; and a number of outdoor events, helping many people to extend their networks of friends and colleagues.

Below is a table of CSIEA's major events:

Event Guest speaker(s) Date Attendance
Introduction to the IEEE
Better constructions against earthquake
World without engineers!		 Mr. Amir Ghavam, University of Ottawa
Mr. Behnam Shadravan , University of Ottawa
Dr. Bahram Zahir, University of Ottawa		 November 20, 2004 80
Two presentations on artificial organs Dr. Toffy Mussivand, Ottawa Heart Institute February 12, 2005 120
Civil engineering aspects of the 9/11 terrorist attacks
Bam reconstruction		 Dr. Abolhassan Astaneh , University of California, Berkeley April 19, 2005 140
Workshop and a slideshow on Iranian architecture (Minaret) Mrs. Alma Rahmani
Mrs. Houri Mashayekh		 September 21, 2005 25
Lecture on the subject Beyond Biology Dr. Parham Aarabi, University of Toronto January 28, 2006 50
The Architectural Characteristics of North Dome in Isfahan's Jami Mosque
From Hormuz to Venice & Vice Versa		 Mrs. Neda Ghannad, Carleton University
Dr. Frascari, Carleton University		 March 18, 2006 150
Exercise for Cancer Prevention Dr. Neda Amani-Golshani April 20, 2006 50
Mining, Challenges and Sustainability Dr. Faramarz Hasani , McGill University September 16, 2006 40
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See also

References
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