Former southeast resident Bachynski has had a lasting impact on technology and research and development

Dr. Morrel P. Bachynski's ascent to an award-winning, highly respected scientist began with life on a farm near Bienfait, and with studies at the now-closed Ridge Prairie School.

Bachynski is the president and founder of MPB Technologies in Montreal – a top scientific research and development firms in Canada. He's the former vice-president of research and development at RCA Canada – the electronics company that helped pioneer television technology.

And he remembers growing up in the Bienfait area.

The first 10 years of his schooling were spent at Ridge Prairie, a small rural school near Bienfait. He attended the Bienfait High School for Grades 11 and 12.

His introduction to science came via the engineering of the machinery at his family's farm.

He remembers one favourite teacher from the Ridge Prairie, and another from Bienfait High, strongly encouraged him to further his studies.

“I think one of the things that helped me pursue the direction that I took is I've always gotten along well with my teachers,” said Bachynski.

Science became his chosen career path through a process of elimination, he said. He didn't want to be involved in the arts. He felt that people in law enforcement always dealt with trouble, and he believed that accountants only worked with numbers.

“And growing up on the farm, I knew enough about agriculture that I didn't want to carry on with it,” said Bachynski.

Bachynski graduated from Bienfait High in 1948 and enrolled in the University of Saskatchewan's engineering program. Bachynski was able to select his engineering specialty after his first year, and he selected physics.

“I noticed that the majority of the people that did well that first year went into engineering physics, and I followed suit. And I haven't looked back since.”

Bachynski graduated with a bachelor of engineering in physics. He eventually gained his master's degree and his PhD.

Bachynski joined RCA and he remained with the company until 1977, when RCA decided to close their Montreal laboratories.

Job overtures came in from the U.S., but Bachynski decided to remain in Canada. He and seven other people from RCA founded MPB Technologies.

“We started out by doing research contracts, and now we've evolved into almost a totally product-driven organization,” said Bachynski. “We also started out by being heavily involved in Canadian government business, but currently about 95 per cent of our business are exports outside of Canada. It's totally different than it was initially.

“We've found a role for ourselves in the international markets based on our technological capability.”

MPB Technologies has two specialties. The first is in optical line enhancing transmission equipment for long, unrepeated spans that can extend the range of fiber optic systems without regeneration.

“When I say long, unrepeated spans, it means no repeaters from the two points,” said Bachynski. “We can do spans of up to 500 miles. We could do Toronto to Montreal without any repeaters.”

The other specialty is in the area of fiber lasers, which have biomedical and imaging benefits.

“For example, one company we work with is building a sequencer that does DNA sequencing very rapidly, which means you can do DNA sequencing of an individual in, say, an hour,” said Bachynski.

MPB has also worked in the space, fusion technology, electromagnetic, forestry and robotics industries.

Challenges are numerous, he said, for an organization that's on the forefront of technology. Like any other business, MPB ultimately depends on what their customers are willing to pay for their products.

Meltdowns in the technology sector also pose problems. But MPB has enjoyed two of its best years during the current global recession.

“We're in markets that are not affected,” said Bachynski. “The biophotonics market is growing. And the telecommunications market, with optical fibers, is very important.”

“What you're seeing is a lot of the small countries trying to connect with the main lines between North America and Europe and North America and Asia … and in many cases, the long haul, unrepeated connection is ideal for them.”

A recession in telecommunications following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks had a negative impact on MPB, Bachynski said.

Bachynski will celebrate his 80th birthday this year. He said he will remain in the engineering sector as long as he can, and as long as his health permits. He has no plans of retiring at this point, since he loves his job and there is a great team of about 150 employees at MPB Technologies.

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