NSERC funding for researchers on the brink

The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) selected nine researchers from the University of Waterloo for increased funds to support their research deemed to be novel or potentially transformative, and likely to contribute to groundbreaking advances.

The recipients of the Discovery Accelerator Supplements are among more than 100 researchers at Waterloo who have received more than $20 million to further their research through programs such as Discovery grants and grants for equipment.

“This funding provides a valuable boost to researchers entering a critical phase of their work and supports it at the next level. The results will, in turn, advance technology around the world and the Canadian economy,” said Professor D. George Dixon, vice-president, university research at Waterloo.

One of the nine to receive a supplement, Professor Hany Aziz from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (pictured above) hopes his research will change the future of electronic devices and solar panels. He and his research team are studying organic semiconductors – the next generation of materials that will convert electrical power into light in devices such as laptops and cell phones, and harvest light from the sun and convert it into energy in solar cells.

The supplement worth $120,000, in addition to a Discovery grant worth $300,000, will allow Professor Aziz to assist in making products such as laptops and cell phones cheaper and flexible. Users will be able to fold them or roll them up and down like a screen.

Although harvesting light from the sun and converting it into energy isn’t new, using organic material instead of silicon in solar cells is innovative, yet limiting.

“Understanding and adapting the way light is emitted is critical to the functionality of these new devices,” said Professor Aziz. “Use of organic material decreases reliability and performance over time in solar cells, which isn’t acceptable for practical use.”

Research like his will address some of the challenges affecting the future of environmentally friendly energy resources.

The other researchers from Waterloo that NSERC selected for supplemental funding in addition to a Discovery grant are:

• Professor Ihab Ilyas (David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science): Improving data cleansing and restoration, including scalable and holistic data cleaning, to produce real solutions for business needs.
• Professor Ondrej Lhotak (David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science): Developing the underlying techniques that are used in software development tools that enable programmers to work more efficiently, and specifically to find bugs in programs.
• Professor M. Tamer Özsu (David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science): Studying techniques for efficient storage and querying of large graphs, such as social networks, and methods for analyzing such graphs, such as finding relationships between people in a social network.
• Professor John Watrous (David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science, Institute for Quantum Computing): Investigating the potential of quantum computers, as well as interactions among multiple quantum computers, leading to a better understanding of quantum information and how it can be used in our society.
• Professor Sherry Schiff (Earth and Environmental Sciences): Studying dissolved organic matter in aquatic ecosystems, specifically how the type of organic matter governs water quality and the loss of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere.
• Professor John Wen (Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering): Development of new nano-aluminum based energetic materials for use in civil and defence applications, such as powering nanosatellites and fabricating micro-electronic devices.
• Professor John T.W. Yeow (Systems Design Engineering): Development of micro/nanotechnology-based imaging instruments, such as x-ray and ultrasound machines.
• Professor William Cook (Combinatorics and Optimization): Extending the reach of discrete optimization and mixed-integer programming to guide industries through complex design procedures.

 

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Notes-sharing sites: opportunity or scam?

by Jill Storey. Please note that for legal reasons, the Secretariat & Office of General Counsel has advised the writer not to mention the company featured in this article by name.

What if you were selected as an intern for a company that offered professional training, a decent wage, and the opportunity to help students around the world? On top of that, your only responsibility was to donate your old stacks of notes, and to convince your peers to do the same. As a student, it sounds like a dream job. You are essentially being paid for what you already do best; take notes and network.

I was recently offered such an opportunity, and at first I was thrilled. My contributions alone would help send 12 books to Gambia. With the help of my friends we would have been able to donate well over 300 books. The offer seemed legitimate because the company had used the University of Waterloo’s address in their advertisements. I assumed that because they had tied themselves to the university, they must be a part of the university. It did not occur to me that they had used the address without the university’s permission.  

To my surprise, that company was not a real education technology company. The company was making money by selling student contributions. Most of these contributions did not belong to the students and were copyrighted material. The company claimed to only take student materials, I was being asked to contribute old exams, essays, and homework assignments that were not mine.

I was unsure of how to handle my situation, so I found someone who could answer my questions.  I contacted my academic advisor, who connected me with the Office of Academic Integrity. With the new information that I learned about copyright and ownership, I rejected the company’s offer. Although I had rejected the internship position, I found that when one door closes, another opens, because I was offered a promotional position with the Academic Integrity Office.

I could have overlooked the flaws in the company’s internship program and it would have been easy to upload my course materials. However, I was able to make the right decision by following my core values. It is important to me to make good choices, and by accepting the internship I would have supported a business that encourages stealing and cheating. When you are put in a situation that you do not understand, always speak up and most importantly, ask questions!

The University of Waterloo offers many resources that will point you in the right direction. Ignorance is never an excuse for your actions, and the difference between a scam and a good opportunity often lies in the fine print.

 

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Tuesday's notes

Quest will be down tomorrow for some required maintenance to the system's hardware. The downtime will begin at 7:00 a.m. on Wednesday, July 16 and will be completed by 9:00 a.m. Wednesday. During the downtime, users will be unable to access Quest.

 

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