ISL Young Professionals – Julian Asselstine
Welcome to ISL’s Young Professionals! We feature ISLers who are taking the engineering world by storm. Get to know what led them to their career path, what their day-to-day looks like and what they think sets ISL apart.
Meet Julian Asselstine, a Structural Engineer for the Canmore office. Julian has been with ISL for about 5 year now.
Julian Asselstine
Structural Engineer
M.A.Sc., P.Eng.
What is your role at ISL?
I generally split my time between “Special Structures” and “Mass Timber” which are both under the Buildings group. I do structural design for anything ranging from backcountry suspension bridges, historic mine sites and trestles, new builds focusing on mass timber materials, and delegated mass timber connection design.
What was the path you took to get to where you are today? (School, volunteering, work experience, networking, ect.)
Basketball brought me to UBC Okanagan, where I played for the first 2 years of my engineering studies. I then entered the co-op program and tried out several different engineering fields to see what I liked best, none of which were structural. In my undergrad I continued to focus on structural courses, which led me to pursue a Master’s in Timber Engineering at UBC. After my undergrad, I also did a short stint working as a carpenter in the Okanagan.
What skills have you developed since joining ISL?
Most of the work I do is atypical or specialized, which has led me to develop some “out-of-the-box” design solutions. Splitting my time between bridges and buildings, and working with limited site information and/or difficult project constraints has also provided some unique skills.
What has been your favourite project to work on to-date?
Many of my mass timber projects take the cake for pure aesthetics, but I am having a lot of fun with the Canmore Spurline Engine Bridge Rehabilitation due to it being in my backyard, high level of coordination with other disciplines, and technical design.
What are some of your ISL highlights? (Cool projects, social events, charitable initiatives)
I was involved in a research project in partnership with the National Research Council of Canada where we lit a full-scale mass timber building on fire. I had the opportunity to watch the test in person and feel the intensity of the burn live.
What’s one hobby or interest people might not know about you?
Contradictory to my height, I no longer play basketball much at all. Instead I spend most of my time mountain biking or backcountry skiing.
Any advice for students or new grads entering the industry?
Be curious, there are lots of specialized fields that need interested minds!
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