Daily Bulletin

University of Waterloo | Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

Monday, June 15, 1998

Three from UW join Royal Society
Out, out, brief candle!
Senate holds its monthly meeting
Just a few other notes

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Three from UW join Royal Society

Three Waterloo faculty members are among 57 Canadian professors who have been named Fellows this year by the Royal Society of Canada, the 116-year old national academy. Their new title, FRSC, is considered the senior academic honour in Canada.

"In keeping with the motto of the Society, Different paths, one vision, these newly elected Fellows come from diverse backgrounds and disciplines, and are deeply committed to excellence within their chosen fields," a news release says. They are to be inducted in the Royal Society in November.

The three from Waterloo:

Mohamed (Abe) Elmasry of electrical and computer engineering, a specialist in very-large scale integrated circuit design. He heads a major project in wireless communications at UW.
Keith Hipel of systems design engineering, a specialist in conflict resolution and water resources management. His work has included active involvement in UW's exchange program with Japan.
Scott Vanstone of St. Jerome's University and the combinatorics and optimization department, who holds one of UW's two research chairs in cryptography and is a key figure in the cryptography research centre that will be launched later this month.

"Since its inception 116 years ago," the RSC news release explains, "the Royal Society of Canada has been regarded as a force for the enrichment, interpretation, and strengthening of Canada's intellectual heritage. It differs from most scholarly and scientific societies in that it encompasses a broad range of disciplines -- natural and applied sciences, medicine, social sciences and humanities. Its mandate is the promotion and development of learning and research in the arts and sciences."

Out, out, brief candle -- reported by Barbara Elve

There was nothing romantic about a candle in the wind that started a fire in Ron Eydt Village on April 21. The candle, left unattended in a student's room near an open window, caused some $10,000 worth of smoke, fire and water damage to the room and forced the evacuation of 85 students from the north quad.

Result: The Waterloo fire department, which extinguished the blaze, has issued a ban on candles in campus residences. While the candle incident was the only one at UW in recent memory, the fire department had responded to 18 other fires involving candles in the city during the past year.

Effective immediately, candles are banned from all UW residences, including Columbia Lake Townhouses. The ban does not include the Married Student Apartments, which are governed under the Landlord and Tenant Act, said UW safety director Kevin Stewart.

The fire department ban simply speeded up a process that was already underway by UW housing which would have banned candles starting in September. The ban had been planned because of concerns about the potential risk, he said, not in response to the April blaze.

Starting in September, the housing department will also ban halogen lamps from residences. Students who wish to create a non-fluorescent light ambience in their rooms could use night lights, Christmas tree lights or other festive strings of bulbs, said Chris Dodd, residence life coordinator for Ron Eydt Village. Some students even hook up strobe lights to their stereo systems, he added.

[CSA] The use of incense sticks is also discouraged, said Stewart, and students are encouraged to make sure any electrical items used in residences have CSA certification.

The damage from the candle fire has been repaired, but UW has been left to pick up the tab. The damages fall below the deductible for the university's insurance policy.

Senate holds its monthly meeting

The UW senate will meet tonight at 7:30 (Needles Hall room 3001) to deal with the usual range of reports, proposals, trivia and controversies. A few of the agenda items:

Possible by-law changes to allow the senate's executive committee to cancel a senate meeting when there's little or nothing on the agenda.
A report from the provost, doubtless touching on whether the provincial government might after all be willing to give UW some special funding to increase enrolment in computer science and high-tech engineering.
An annual report on the senate scholarship fund (total gifts $75,236.53 from staff, faculty and retirees in 1997-98).
A presentation by Ric Haldenby, director of the school of architecture.
A report on two recent meetings of the Council of Ontario Universities.
Appointments to the University Tenure Appeal Committee.
Renaming of the "school of urban and regional planning" to just "school of planning", as already approved by UW's board of governors.

Just a few other notes

The Canadian Industrial Innovation Centre, a UW spinoff that's based on the edge of campus, is going to become just the Canadian Innovation Centre. The centre is shifting is emphasis from helping inventors -- its basis when it was created was the UW-operated Inventors Assistance Program -- to supporting "innovative companies". "We would like to be known," says its vice-president, Gary Svoboda, "as the organization that helps innovative companies commercialize their inventions". The centre expects to lose the last of its government financial support by next spring.

A reception at the Imperial Room of Toronto's Royal York Hotel tonight will honour John Sweeney, former cabinet minister and now chancellor of St. Jerome's University. Former Ontario premiers and leaders of all political parties are expected to help in paying tribute to Sweeney's lifetime of public service. The proceeds from the reception will go to the fund-raising campaign at St. Jerome's, where 142 women are housed in Sweeney Hall, the women's residence that was formerly Notre Dame College.

Would you like your T-shirt 20 per cent off? (In price, that is.) To provide a gift opportunity for Fathers' Day next Sunday, Graphics Express in South Campus Hall has announced a T-shirt special all this week, and 20 per cent is the discount.

The career development seminar series resumes tomorrow with "Choose Your Own Adventure: The Entrepreneurial Advantage", at 2:30 p.m. in Needles Hall room 1020.

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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