Daily Bulletin

Warm winter, talking weather

According to David Churchill, director of technical services for plant operations, the savings as of the end of January amount to $36,000. "Since November, fuel consumption has been about 92 per cent of the forecast," he said, with November fuel use about average, December running at 93 per cent, and January only 85 per cent of average.

"It'll be lower than normal, too, in February," he predicted.

More weather information than ever is going to be available starting today, with the opening of a weather and climate station near the greenhouses on UW's north campus. The engineering and environmental studies faculties are partners in it, along with Environment Canada and Campbell-Scientific (Canada) Corp.

VIPs will be on hand for an opening ceremony at 1:00 this afternoon.

"The station will be for research and student instruction in weather analysis and studies of climate variability and change," says Ellsworth LeDrew of the geography department:

This station will follow the same observation standards and procedures for automatic climate stations currently in use throughout Canada. Engineering has added on-line functionality to bring the data to the Web for real-time and archived analysis by students. Environmental Studies has added two micrometeorological towers and instrumentation for studies in boundary layer processes, such as those that drive weather and long term climate models.

Both faculties are involved in the project named CRYSYS (Use of the Cryospheric System to Monitor Global Change in Canada). CRYSYS is a Canadian contribution to NASA's Earth Observing System (EOS) program, hosted and funded by Canadian agencies and universities. At Waterloo, this builds upon our expertise in climate modelling, Arctic research and digital remote sensing. Waterloo will be the host for the annual science meeting from February 25 to 27 which will culminate in a lecture on Friday afternoon by Dr. Barry Goodison, principal scientist, on "Role of the Cryosphere in the Climate System".

Another large project that will use the data is the Mackenzie GEWEX Study (MAGS). This is part of the WCRP Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment (GEWEX) aimed at measuring and modelling the rainfall, snowfall and evaporation rates in both present and future climates for climate change studies. The Canadian focus is on northern phenomenon, such as permafrost evolution, snow cover measurement from satellites and snow melt, as well as developing the techniques for modelling the water and energy balance for large areas. MAGS is using the Mackenzie River basin as a test area but much of the preliminary model development is being carried out over southwestern Ontario. This involves combining WatFlood, a hydrologic model developed by Dr. Nick Kouwen of Civil Engineering and CLASS, an atmosphere land-surface interaction model developed by Dr. Diana Verseghy of AES. The weather station data will help determine the performance of the new model before it is used in the weather forecast or climate change systems.

English upgrading program launched

The program is designed for students seeking admission to UW whose language skills might not be strong enough to meet the demands of post-secondary studies. Some are Canadians, while others are international students who wish to study here.

Students in the program will be admitted to UW and take one undergraduate course. They will spend the first one or two terms at Conestoga College gaining a solid foundation in English language. Acquiring language skills is meant to prepare them for success in their chosen program of study at the university.

The UW-Conestoga partnership to provide a preparatory English-language program began in 1991 when Ronald Dunkley, then associate dean of mathematics at UW, observed that many students whose first language was other than English were struggling in their first year in math studies. The students had been admitted to UW on the basis of their strong performance in high school math, but difficulties with English were holding them back. Dunkley's insight and Conestoga's experience with English instruction led to the development of a 16-week pilot project that focused on intensive language training. During the last five years, more than 250 students have successfully completed the joint language program, ending up equipped to pursue their studies in math and a broad range of electives. Many of these students have gone on to win awards and scholarships at UW.

"This agreement reflects the growing relationship being developed by Conestoga College and the University of Waterloo," says Kevin Mullan, a vice-president of the college. "Such partnerships show a willingness for institutional co-operation which results in innovative, effective educational activities to help students achieve their goals."

Programmers compete tomorrow

To qualify, the UW team finished in first place at a regional qualifying round held last November. Two other Canadian universities, University of Alberta and McGill University, also reached the finals. A total of 54 college and university teams were selected from 1,250 around the world to advance to this Saturday's ACM finals.

"Our team is very strong, as evidenced by its domination at the regional contest, and the team members have a good chance to do well at the finals," said team coach Gordon Cormack, a computer science professor. UW's team is made up of Derek Kisman (second-year pure math and computer science), Chris Hendrie (fourth-year computer science), and David Kennedy (fourth-year applied math).

In the competition tomorrow at the Atlanta Marriott Marquis Hotel, the student teams from Canada, the U.S., Asia, Europe, Australia and South America are allowed five hours to solve at least six programming problems. The top ten teams at the finals will be awarded scholarships.

A whole lot of announcements

There's a vacancy on the university senate for a representative of undergraduate students in environmental studies. The person elected will serve from May 1, 1998, to April 30, 2000. Nominations are due at the university secretariat by 3 p.m. Wednesday, March 4.

A preview of Trellis, the library's new computer system, and an open house about the project (which links UW, Wilfrid Laurier University and the University of Guelph), will be held next Friday, March 6, at 10 a.m. in Davis Centre room 1302.

There are still some spots available in on-campus retirement information sessions that will be held starting next week. March 2 or March 5, the session is about the UW pension plan and government benefits; March 12, a financial consultant will speak. Sessions run from 7 to 9 p.m., and there's no charge. For preregistration, call Wanda Speek in human resources, ext. 3573.

The FACCUS group -- that's Faculty Computing User Support Group -- will get together Monday from 1:30 to 3 p.m. for a tour of the environmental studies computing facilities. The tour begins in ES I room 132. All are welcome, says Bob Hicks, who helps coordinate FACCUS.

The rest of the story

• Two different bus trips to the Niagara wineries are being run over the weekend -- the Math Grad Committee has an expedition today, and applied health sciences students are on the road tomorrow (taking "a coach bus, the nice ones with the washrooms", an organizer stresses).
• The philosophy department has Adele Mercier of Queen's University visiting today; she'll give a colloquium on "What Is a Word?" at 3:30 in Humanities room 334.
• The Club That Really Likes Anime runs its second show of the term today, starting at 4:30, in Engineering Lecture room 101. Films to be shown include "Patlabor", "Final Fantasy", and "Neon Genesis Evangelion".
• A job search workshop sponsored by the St. Jerome's College Graduates Association runs from 9 a.m. to lunchtime tomorrow at the college. Information: 884-8110.
• The Curling Club holds its winter bonspiel tomorrow at the Elmira Curling Club, and I hear a big crowd is expected.
• The hockey Warriors host the Western Mustangs at the Icefield at 7:30 tonight, in a game that could give them the semi-final championship. That's the only home sports event, unless you count the lifeguarding competition today and tomorrow in the PAC pool.

Finally, I learn from the Conrad Grebel College bulletin that music professor Len Enns "will be in Winnipeg on March 1 for the premiere of his new Te Deum, commissioned by the Winnipeg Singers with support from the Canada Council. The work has also been chosen by the Vancouver Chamber Choir for its Interplay program."

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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