Edward Futterer was a mining engineer who became interested in the establishment of a post-graduate mining course at McGill in 1964 and he was the first secretary of the project. When CMIEF was formally organized, he became a Director in 1965 and Chairman in 1970.
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During these seven years Ted Futterer made an outstanding contribution to the advancement of mining education in Canada. He was largely responsible for the success of the post-graduate program (which was subsequently discontinued) and the start of the present undergraduate program. In 1979 CMIEF established the Futterer Award in memory of Edward Futterer, who died in 1971.
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The award is presented to an outstanding undergraduate student in his/her final year in Mining Engineering from all universities across Canada. The award brings recognition and honour to the student and mining school.