On Wednesday, February 26, researchers from across campus gathered for the launch of Waterloo’s Network for Aging Research (NAR). The new network, led by Applied Health Sciences professor Steven Mock (pictured above) is designed to bring together UWaterloo researchers conducting research in aging and inspire new cross-disciplinary projects. An Emerging Scholar Mentorship Grant — the first of several new seed funding opportunities — was announced during the afternoon event.

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Tax slips are now available on myHRinfo

2014 T4/T4A slips and staff and faculty association dues letters are now available on-line through myHRinfo, according to an announcement from Human Resources.

Paper copies of the T4/T4A slips were mailed out last week to those employees who did not give consent to view their forms on-line.

For instructions on how to check your consent status, give consent, and access year-end slips on-line, please visit the Human Resources website.

If you require further assistance please contact HR Administration at 519-888-4567
ext. 35935 or HR Help.

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Food Services wins agricultural award

“UW Food Services is proud to be Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Grower’s winner of the first OGVG Celebrating Ontario Agriculture promotion and display competition," writes Micaela Buchnea-Chew. "Many Universities and Colleges engaged; including Guelph, Western and Queen’s to name a few. Waterloo came out victorious with several promotions, menu specials and displays."

Food Services' video submission is available on Facebook.

"Please come and celebrate UW Food Services and the University of Waterloo at the award reception on Friday, March 6 from 2:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the University Club.”

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Remembering Ronald Aziz

Human Resources is reporting that retired physics professor Ronald Aziz died on February 14.

Aziz joined the University in September 1958 as an assistant professor, becoming an associate professor in 1960 and full professor in 1967. His area of research was low-temperature physics and intermolecular potentials.

He served as associate dean, graduate studies in the Faculty of Science from 1978 to 1981 and was a member of several university committees as well as Senate and the Board of Governors.

In 1983, Aziz joined the second cohort of employees who were named to the 25-Year Club.

Aziz retired in November 1991 after a 34-year career at Waterloo and was named Distinguished Professor Emeritus in February 1993.

He was a Fellow of the American Physical Society and the Canadian Association of Physicists.

Aziz was 86.

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NSERC consultation on campus next week

As part of a cross-Canada tour, the president of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), B. Mario Pinto will be on campus on Thursday, March 12 to discuss NSERC's vision for the future.

"This is an opportunity for researchers, students, administrators, and stakeholders to learn more about the NSERC 2020 Strategic Plan, and provide views and feedback," says an announcement from the Office of Research.

Join the event to provide your views on the following two questions:

"NSERC’s vision is for Canada “to be a global leader in strengthening the discovery-innovation continuum for the societal and economic benefit of Canada.”"

1. Going forward, will the NSERC 2020 Strategy help the Canadian research community achieve this vision?
2. How can we work together to ensure success?

The event will take place from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. in Federation Hall's main hall.

Seating is limited – please RSVP via the Connect with NSERC’s President on a Vision for 2020 page by Friday, March 6.

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Tuesday's notes

"The Arts Undergraduate Office (PAS 2439) will be closed Wednesday, March 4 from 8:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. due to a staff meeting," writes Student Services Assistant Emily Mininger. "We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. Please go to the Arts Undergraduate Office webpage for our regular office hours."

“The Science Undergrad Office (ESC 253) will be closed from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 4," writes Undergraduate Services Co-ordinator Kate Andrey. "We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. Check the Science current undergraduate students page for our regular hours.”

The Department of Italian and French Studies at St. Jerome's University and the Department of Women's Studies have organized a public lecture featuring Professor Manuela Scarci of the University of Toronto entitled "Sex and the City: The Single Woman in 16th-Century Venice."

"The sixteenth century saw a proliferation of works on women as the debate on gender equality intensified," says the talk's abstract. "This lecture analyzes two such texts - In Defense of Women, first published in Florence in 1552 by Domenico Bruni, and The Worth of Women, first published in Venice in 1600 by Moderata Fonte - in order to highlight the different strategies employed and the different conclusions reached by each."

The event will take place on Wednesday, March 4, from 5:00 p.m. to 6:15 p.m. in Room 3012 of St. Jerome's University.

The latest entry in the Winter 2015 Arriscraft Lecture Series will feature Marc Fornes, principal and founder of THEVERYMANY, a New York-based design studio and research firm that "engages the intersection of architecture and art with computer science, emphasizing building and fabrication as a testing ground for digital design."

His geometrically complex and algorithmically-produced prototypes have been exhibited worldwide and are part of the permanent collections of the Centre Pompidou, the FRAC Centre, and the Centre National des Arts Plastiques (CNAP). His pop up store for Louis Vuitton and Yayoi Kusama is the very first carbon fiber self-supported shell structure applied to architecture and was awarded an A+ Jury Award as well as the 40th Annual Interior Design Award by the IIDA. THEVERYMANY also received the AIA New Practices New York award (2012), the Architectural League Prize (2013), and Architectural Record's Design Vanguard Award (2013).

Fornes is also an educator, having developed the (n)Certainties graduate studios at Columbia University with Francois Roche, in addition to having taught at the University of Southern California and Die Angewandte in Vienna. He is currently teaching at Princeton University as well as with Patrik Schumacher at the Harvard Graduate School of Design.

The lecture will take place on Thursday, March 5 at 7:00 p.m. in the Lawrence Cummings Lecture Theatre in the School of Architecture.

Neil Randall, director of the Games Institute, was recently featured in a CBC Spark podcast on the subject of "escape room games." These real-life gaming experiences (there's one in Kitchener called Adventure Rooms) encourage collaboration, problem solving, and a healthy suspension of disbelief.

Here's today's Nutrition Month "myth vs. fact" provided by Health Service Dietician Sandra Ace:

Myth: The Paleo Diet duplicates the way our ancestors ate and is advantageous to both health and weight loss.

Fact: This trendy diet advocates eating meat, fish, vegetables, fruit, nuts, seeds and plants oils, but forbids grains, legumes, dairy, sugar and refined foods. While we don’t know exactly what foods were eaten by our Paleolithic ancestors, anthropological research has found that they ate some grains and legumes. Even if the premise that grains, legumes and dairy were not consumed by our ancestors was evidence-based, evolutionary changes have occurred which have altered our ability digest these foods.

 
The Paleo Diet is not a miracle diet and several of its premises are not supported by evidence. Nor have long term clinical studies examined the Paleo Diet’s benefits and risks. There is a multitude of research that supports the benefits of getting enough exercise and eating appropriate portions of a balanced, healthy diet that includes grains, legumes and lower fat milk products in addition to meat, fish, vegetables, fruit, nuts, seeds and plants oils. Limiting added sugars and highly processed foods, however, is one thing that Paleo proponents and Registered Dietitians can agree on!

If you would like a detailed “evidence clip” about the Paleo diet recently published by Dietitians of Canada, email Sandy Ace at Health Services.

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