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| Parkinson's, suddenly in the news |
Wednesday, December 2, 1998
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According to Environment Canada, normal highs for this time of year are plus 3 and normal lows are minus 3. But the forecast for this week is still reaching into the double digits. It's part of a trend, say prognosticators: above normal temperatures are expected in southern Ontario for the whole winter, according to a seasonal forecast issued yesterday.
Meteorologists don't agree on whether the warmer temperatures are the result of El Niño, La Niña or global warming, but UW adjunct geography professor and director of the Water Network Marie Sanderson believes it's none of the above. "I'm not convinced it's anything more than normal variability," she says, noting similar hot, dry weather patterns occurred in the 1930s and 1960s.
"People like to blame the weather on something," she laughs, and the Niños provide a convenient scapegoat. In reality, the weather of the past three years -- on which the definition of "normal" is based -- was wetter and cooler than the long-term average.
And will we have a white Christmas? "No predictions," insists Sanderson, who points instead to her book Weather and Climate in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario, in which the chances of having at least 2 centimetres of snow on the ground on December 25 in this area are pegged at 80 per cent.
"The goal of the Labs," an announcement says, "is to undertake exploratory and mission oriented research aimed at generating and developing new ideas, concepts and technologies relating to computing, networking and communications and to promote the education of an internationally competitive workforce in this section."
A similar agreement was signed between Bell Emergis and the University of Toronto. A launch celebration is expected in January.
A plan for the labs was first discussed last October, and in February Bell Emergis confirmed that it would "commit $22.5 million" to UW and Toronto "to create a network of research laboratories focused on leading-edge computer engineering and software technology".
Said a news release then: "Through its investment, Bell Emergis will establish Bell Emergis University Labs with U of T receiving $13.5 million and UW receiving $9 million over three years. The laboratories will develop technologies that place Canada at the forefront of the emerging digital communications industry. The partners will collaborate on exploratory research in technologies relating to computing, networking and communications."
UW is to create endowments in support of "a significant increase" in graduate student enrolment in information technology research. In addition, the funding will be used to create an endowed chair and upgrade the computing and research infrastructure.
Besides money from Bell Emergis, the project is getting funding from the provincial government through the Ontario Research and Development Challenge Fund. Federal funds are also being sought.
In the wake of the contract signing, UW's Hansson said yesterday that the Bell Emergis labs will be "a wonderful opportunity to attract the top graduate students and new faculty in computer science, computer engineering and related areas, and it will have broader implications across campus, since Bell is interested in content as well as the technical side of research."
Johnny Wong, director of UW's Institute for Computer Research, has been named coordinator of the Bell Emergis University Labs.
MMO is inviting "grad students, post docs, and other research staff" to join the MMO Network "and become an active participant in Ontario's premier materials and manufacturing network". Like other centres of excellence, MMO exists to make connections between university researchers and the needs of industry in Ontario -- in this case, "the materials and manufacturing community". Launched last February, MMO has more than 800 active industrial and academic members from Ontario and around the world.
"MMO understands," today's invitation says, "that you play a vital role in the R&D scene, and want to encourage you to join the MMO Network and take advantage of the unique programs, services and expertise relevant to you. There is no membership fee for the research community."
Today's session runs from 12 noon to 1:15 in Davis Centre rooms 1301 and 1302.
Strike in CaliforniaIn the biggest strike ever called by teaching assistants in the United States, graduate student TAs went on strike yesterday at the University of California. "The issue," says the Deseret News, "is whether the students can unionize for collective bargaining, a right they have been trying to win for 15 years. Many belong to the Association of Graduate Student Employees, which is affiliated with the United Auto Workers." The UAW has promised strike pay of $150 a week. University officials say the TAs -- some 9,000 of them at Berkeley, UCLA and six other campuses -- are primarily students, not employees. The president of the university said unionization "would disrupt the collegial relationships between students and faculty that are so critical in graduate work". This week is review week at UC, with exams due to start Monday. |
The personal safety advisory committee will meet at 10:30 in Needles Hall room 3001. Major agenda item: the proposals received from across campus about how to spend some of this year's $50,000 safety grant from the Ontario government.
Down the street at Wilfrid Laurier University, "the first Town Hall budget meeting" will be held at 4 p.m. in the Paul Martin Centre, as WLU looks at eliminating a $566,000 deficit that appears in the first draft of the 1999-2000 budget. It may not be as difficult as it looked when the meeting was announced: WLU will benefit from $800,000 in new funding next year from the Ontario government's "fair funding initiative", with more coming in the following year.
A meeting of the women's collective is set for today at 4:30 (Student Life Centre room 2102) to make final plans for Friday's "December 6 memorial" event. That event, marking the 9th anniversary of the Ecole Polytechnique murders of 14 female engineering students, will be held in Siegfried Hall, St. Jerome's College, starting at 4:30. In conjunction with the event, the annual "rose button" campaign is under way, with proceeds going to local women's shelters.
And looking ahead to next week, the calendar shows that classes end Monday, and so on Tuesday at noon hour comes the annual carol sing in the lobby of the Modern Languages building. Jake Willms, now retired but still in fine fettle when I saw him the other day, will be back again this year to lead the singing, which will run from 12:15 to 1 p.m. It'll be the 14th year for this Waterloo tradition.
CAR
Editor of the Daily Bulletin: Chris Redmond
Information
and Public Affairs, University of Waterloo
credmond@uwaterloo.ca | (519) 888-4567 ext. 3004
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