Daily Bulletin

Progress on the north campus

The statement apparently reflects action during the confidential part of the June 1 board of governors meeting, as it says the UW board "has approved the adoption of a memorandum of agreement/letter of intent which contains an outline of the principal terms to be incorporated in a full 'master development agreement.' Over the next four months, the principals, UW and Watpark, will undertake due diligence on various aspects of the project."

The Consortium, created to develop UW's land, consists principally of Euromart International Bancorp Inc. of Toronto, and Co-operators Development Corp., which is headquartered in Guelph. Five other firms are involved in specialized roles.

The letter of intent draws on the criteria listed in UW's 1992 master plan and the subsequent "Guidance Statement for Development of the North Campus". The guidance statement says development of UW land is "to encourage activity with potential for transfer of knowledge between university research activities and the private sector, and for formal linkages to established enterprises where there are clearly-defined benefits for UW."

Such benefits include "the creation or relocation of research-based companies whose research and development interests are compatible with research and development activities in the university . . . attractive employment opportunities in the high-tech sector for co-op students and graduates . . . long-term financial benefit that will help the university to enhance the quality and relevance of its programs of teaching, research and service; . . . the economic and social enhancement of the surrounding community by facilitating the creation or relocation of companies or agencies employing highly-skilled people."

About 200 acres are targeted for development of a technology park. A hundred acres in the southeast quadrant of the north campus, off Columbia Street West and adjacent to the university and nearby industrial lands, is the site of the first phase of development, yesterday's statement says. The other hundred acres is in the north-west quadrant, facing Fischer-Hallman Road.

Says the statement:"It is anticipated that construction in the first phase of 40 acres may begin as early as November 1999." So far, the 700-acre north campus has only a few buildings, chiefly the Optometry building and the Columbia Recreation Facility. Under the master plan a large swath of the north campus, north-south along Laurel Creek through the middle of it, would be an environmental and recreational reserve.

Because there's no Gazette today

• Duplication and distribution clerk, distance education, grade USG 3.
• Recruitment and promotions coordinator, faculty of environmental studies, grade USG 7.
• Admissions and records assistant, registrar's office.
• Manager, undergraduate recruitment and publications, registrar's office, grade USG 10.
• Statistical consultant, statistics and actuarial science, grade USG 9.
• Disability advisor, human resources, grade USG 7.
• Information specialist, human resources, grade USG 7.
• Undergraduate secretary, English, maternity leave replacement August 4, 1998, to March 29, 1999.
• First-year student life coordinator, one-year contract position.

Here's a reminder, by the way, that the Gazette next Wednesday (June 17) will be the last for the spring term. We'll provide full news coverage of the campus through the Daily Bulletin all summer, of course.

Waterloo's research strengths, #4

Strategic Objectives:

• reinforce Waterloo's position as the premier Canadian University in understanding the performance requirements of materials in their finished form and in developing the processing steps necessary to achieve them;
• establish state-of-the-art materials characterization and processing facilities by strategic additions to complement our existing, extensive techniques;
• further develop the three university interdisciplinary research centres covering materials and manufacturing to provide enhanced collaboration with the user sector: increase the graduate student and postdoctoral component of the research to ensure that the manufacturing sector has the trained personnel necessary to implement the results of the research.

Friday: information technology Monday: environment Tuesday: health Today: materials and manufacturing

"Waterloo has a very broad spectrum of expertise in materials science, engineering and processing. The research ranges from: the design and molecular manipulation of soft materials (such as biomaterials, supramolecular and self assembly materials); through the processing of polymeric materials in useable form (such as thin film for food packaging); to laser surface treatment of metals; the production of state-of-the-art electronic circuitry; metal-, polymer- and ceramic- matrix composites; as well as robotics, construction materials and processes; and machine control and pattern recognition. Moreover, Waterloo boasts the greatest critical mass of researchers in Canada in the fields of fatigue, corrosion, and wear and pipeline integrity. In terms of secondary processing, welding and rolling play a major role in our activities, and the University ranks among the top in North America. An application has been made to the Province for funds for a welding technology centre at Waterloo.

"Following Waterloo's early retirement program of 1996, fourteen new faculty members have been added to the roster of researchers whose primary interests are in materials and manufacturing. An interdisciplinary Materials Research Centre, WatMat, was established in 1995 and now includes the participation of thirty-three faculty members and their research groups. This has fostered an increased level of collaboration, particularly in interdisciplinary research. In addition, the Waterloo Polymer Research Institute with nine faculty members was established in 1984. A number of the interdisciplinary centres and institutes encompass other aspects of materials, manufacturing and productivity."

New students will be welcomed

To help with the comfort level and all the practical matters, UW will hold its second annual "Student Life 101" event on Tuesday, August 4, the day after Civic Holiday. Invitations and programs for the event are included with the offers of admission that should be hitting students' mailboxes today.

"We expect people to begin registering by mail and on-line soon," says Catharine Scott, associate provost (human resources and student services), who heads the committee that's going to make SL101 happen, along with student coordinators Melanie Hazelton and Matt Iley.

She's looking for staff members to volunteer to help for that day. "Staff made a huge difference last year to the day's success," she says, "and we are hoping they will be as interested in participating this year. We will also have as many students as we can muster, but since it is an exam day we will not have as many as we would like." Anybody interested can get in touch with her at cscott@mc1adm.

What's happening today and soon

A brown-bag session on sun safety, sponsored by the Employee Assistance Program, starts at 12:00 in Math and Computer room 4059. The speaker is Carole Hea of UW's health services.

A presentation on "Creating Interactive Courseware Using Matlab", led by Colin Campbell of information systems and technology, runs from 1:30 to 3:30 in Math and Computer room 1078.

Ottawa-area graduates of St. Jerome's University will tour the Parliament buildings this evening, have a group picture taken, and party a little in the West Block. (Coming next at St. Jerome's: the college's fourth annual golf tournament, on July 6.)

A demonstration of new fax machines and software from Pitney Bowes is scheduled for tomorrow from 9:30 to noon in Davis Centre room 1304. "Department heads and other interested customers" are welcome to drop in. Information: 748-0866.

The career development seminar series continues tomorrow with sessions on "Networking" at 1:30 and "Job/Work Search Strategies" at 2:30, both in Needles Hall room 1020.

An information systems and technology open house on "Year 2000 Preparations at UW" will start at 10:00 Friday morning in Davis Centre room 1302.

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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