Executive Director, Petroleum Technology Research Centre
Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada
Dr. Preston is an accomplished scientist and researcher. Working at the Canadian federal department, Natural Resources Canada, from 1990 until mid‐2007, she progressed from a research scientist to a manager of multi‐stakeholder public‐private research programs in energy efficiency, sustainable development, and climate change mitigation technology development and demonstration.
From 2002 to 2005, she managed NRCan’s participation in, and funding of, the Petroleum Technology Research Centre, and both phases of the IEA GHG Weyburn‐Midale CO2 Monitoring and Storage Project. From January 2006 until mid‐2007, she undertook the role of Project Integrator for the final phase of the Weyburn‐Midale Project.
Dr. Preston has a bachelor’s degree in engineering chemistry from Queen’s University and master’s and doctoral degrees in physical chemistry from the University of Toronto. She became a professional engineer registered in Alberta in 1998. Dr. Preston has some 60 peer‐reviewed publications and presentations to her credit, and 14 awards and scholarships. In early 2007, she was one of 13 professionals from 11 countries awarded a prestigious UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office Chevening Fellowship in the Economics of Energy at the University of Reading, England. In February, 2008, she was named one of Saskatchewan’s Ten Women of Influence by Sask Business Magazine. Dr. Preston became the PTRC Executive Director in the summer of 2007.
Since then, the PTRC has doubled its research budget under her stewardship, and was identified as a Network of Centres of Excellence in 2009 by the Government of Canada to conduct expanded research in enhanced oil recovery.
