Truro engineer Oliver Browning will be honoured by his peers later this month.
Browning, who founded PDI Engineering Group Inc. in Truro six years ago, will receive the Engineers Nova Scotia JD Fraser Award. It honours a professional engineer for excellence and achievement within the profession, active participation in engineering associations and community organizations as well as for serving as a role model. The presentation is to be made Sept. 14 in Halifax.
“You don’t want to go too hog-wild crazy," said Browning, who remained modest about his achievement. “It's also a recognition that there are a lot of very successful professionals and business people right here within our own community.”
As a civil engineer, Browning is responsible for projects included with industrial and municipal infrastructure.
He is Truro-born and raised and left only to complete his studies. He says he enjoys taking in creations he’s had a hand in, like downtown’s Civic Square, calling his line of work “a rewarding profession.”
Browning received his Bachelor’s of Science in Civil Engineering from the University of New Brunswick in 2001, and Masters Certificate in Project Management from St. Mary’s University, in 2008.
PDI Engineering Group Inc. in Truro previously received an honourable mention for the 2018 Lieutenant Governor's Award for Excellence in Engineering for their New Colchester-East Hants Public Library and Truro Civic Square project.
“I think it was a fantastic vision by the town to go down that path, come up with that project and we were extremely fortunate to be able to work with them and execute it,” said Browning. “Each town has their own unique aspects to them.”
Today, he still contributes to the Department of Engineering at the Dalhousie Agricultural Campus in Bible Hill, having served as a part-time professor and sessional lecturer for a first-year engineering degree course.
Since 2006, Browning has served as the Colchester zone representative for Engineers Nova Scotia.
When asked why he chose engineering, Browning quipped that “it seemed to be a good thing to do at the time, eh?”
Previous local recipients of Engineers Nova Scotia’s JD Fraser Award since it was introduced in 1981 were the late Newton Sobey in 1989 and Glenn Ross in 2003.
