Catherine Schmid, M.Sc., P.Eng. (BC, AB, SK, ON), has a passion for rock mechanics, mining, and railway engineering.  Her Master’s research with Queen’s University and INCO took her to the underground mines in Sudbury, where she spent time doing research on boltless shotcrete in sublevel caving excavations.  She developed and built her own instrumentation to monitor shotcrete performance, and carried out two-dimensional and three-dimensional numerical modelling to understand how shotcrete strength could be back-calculated from in-situ pull testing data.  There she developed a love of fieldwork which continues to this day. She has continued to apply her understanding of rock mechanics and support design to mining and transportation projects for the last 18 years. She brings a wealth of experience in both the technical and operational aspects of site characterization, geological model development, stability analyses, and mitigation design. She has a particular interest in bridging the gap between consulting and operations and strives to provide practicable and adaptable solutions to complex problems. Cathy is a member of BGC’s Mining Leadership Team and loves to be a part of developing and operating mining and railway projects.