SOLD OUT - Calgary Lecture Series: Engineering of Coffee

THIS EVENT IS NOW SOLD OUT.

Discover the science behind your morning brew with Dr. William McCaffrey, Professor Emeritus in the Faculty of Engineering, who introduced the Coffee and Chemical Engineering course at the University of Alberta in 2023. 

Join us for a specialty coffee tasting, a lecture by Dr. McCaffrey, and a panel discussion with industry experts from Apex Coffee Imports, Eight Ounce Coffee, and Coanda R&D. Discover how engineering principles shape the perfect cup and how the university’s coffee lab bridges the gap between classroom concepts and real-world brewing.

This event is open to all alumni and their guests.

Additional Info:

The in-person event will include a coffee tasting and short networking reception prior to the lecture at 6 PM with Dr. William McCaffrey. An expert panel discussion will follow with Josh Hockin from Eight Ounce Coffee, Jeff Fleming from Apex Coffee Imports, and Wayne Brown from Coanda R&D.

5-6 PM Coffee Tasting and Networking

6-6:30 PM Lecture from Dr. McCaffrey

6:30-7:30 PM Panel Discussion

7:30-8 PM Networking and Event End

Speaker Info:

William McCaffrey is a Professor Emeritus in Chemical & Materials Engineering, where he was part of the Faculty since 1996. He has a specialty in reaction engineering which is understanding how things transform into something either more desirable or more valuable (often both). With a main focus on energy systems, he has taught and researched a wide range of topics in both renewable and conventional energy. Recently, he expanded his focus onto an energy system used by nearly 80% of the population every day: caffeine. 

William developed a new upper level technical elective on the Chemical Engineering of Coffee and built the coffee lab, a food grade facility devoted to everything coffee located in the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Alberta.

With Guests:

Josh Hockin (‘08 Electrical Engineering) has worked in the specialty coffee industry since 2007 while attending the University of Alberta.  After winning the 2011 Canadian Barista Championship, he began working as the Director of Coffee at Transcend Coffee in Edmonton and spent 10 years in that role. In June 2022, he relocated to Calgary to work with Eight Ounce Coffee as their Head of Special Projects. 

Eight Ounce Coffee specializes in exclusive coffee equipment for Canadian baristas and coffee addicts, and they helped Dr. McCaffrey set up and equip the undergraduate coffee lab in the Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering.

For the past 32 years, Wayne Brown has been involved in moving technology through from inception to commercialization. He has performed this role in academia as an assistant professor at McGill University, in the private sector as a process engineer at Syncrude Canada Ltd., as a research engineer for an operating company at Syncrude Research, as an entrepreneur in the capacity of inventor and CTO at ETX Systems, and finally as a research scientist for an industrial R&D company at Coanda R&D Corp. where he currently holds the position of VP IP & Innovation. Wayne has a PhD from McGill University, and has maintained adjunct status at the University of Alberta for over 10 years.

Jeff Fleming’s career in coffee started in his teenage years as a barista and roaster in his hometown. After graduation from the University of Calgary, he joined a startup wholesale roasted coffee company supplying cafes, restaurants and grocery stores and helped to build the business for 10 years. After an origin trip to Colombia in 2012, the idea of starting a company to foster relationships between smallholder producers and roasters in Canada was born. In 2016, he launched Apex Coffee Imports to do just that and has not looked back.