Daily Bulletin

UW third in programming contest

First place went to Charles University of Prague, Czech Republic, which solved the six programming problems in 919 minutes. Russia's St. Petersburg State University took second, solving the six problems in 1,021 minutes. UW solved the six problems in 1,026 minutes for third spot.

This is the sixth consecutive year that a UW team has competed in the World Finals of the Association for Computer Machinery's International Collegiate Programming Contest. In 1994, a UW team won the championship.

UW's team was made up of Derek Kisman, Chris Hendrie, and David Kennedy.

The two other Canadian universities in the finals were Alberta, which placed eighth, and McGill, which placed 17th. The top American team was the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, placing fifth. A total of 54 teams competed in the finals.

The mess in the Physics building

During part of the changeover, all this week, the cooling loop will be shut down and chilled water will be unavailable. The new chiller is expected to arrive the second week in March, and after installation, piping modifications and replacement of pumps, should be up and running by the end of May, says Rick Zalagenas, plant operations manager of utilities and maintenance.

Most of that work is being done in a large hole excavated on the east side of Physics, but a number of other projects are underway inside the building, he added, including modifications to the chilled water system and upsizing of cooling loop piping for the labs, which has required most of the ceilings to be ripped out. As well, a cooling tower on the roof -- the heat sink for the chiller -- is being replaced.

Major disruptions to the building, apart from the chiller work, should be completed by the end of March, said Zalagenas.

Last year, a CFC chiller under the biology greenhouse was replaced. Six more will be phased out "as they break down or as we run out of refrigerant," said Dave Churchill, director of technical services for plant operations.

In the meantime, the chillers have been made as environmentally friendly as possible, he added, by making them leak-tight to avoid CFC pollution. The CFC from decommissioned coolers, which is considered a hazardous chemical, is being disposed of in cooperation with the UW health and safety office.

Engineers triumph; chemist wins fellowship

In another achievement, Peter Bernath of UW's chemistry department is a winner this year of a Killam Research Fellowship, a major national award from the Canada Council. Nine new Killams were awarded for 1998, and seven from last year were renewed, including one for Paul Thagard of UW's philosophy department, the Council has announced.

Killam Research Fellowships "enable Canada's best scientists and scholars to devote up to two years to full-time research and writing," the Canada Council explains. "The recipients are chosen by the Killam Selection Committee, which comprises 15 eminent scientists and scholars." There were 115 applications for the nine Killams awarded this year.

Bernath will do his research on "Astrochemistry of cool stars and the interstellar medium", the announcement said.

Staff association faces a new year

The meeting marks the end of Karen LeDrew's year-and-a-bit as president of the staff association. Taking over from her is Charlene Schumm, who, like LeDrew, works in the registrar's office. President-elect for the next year, and president in 1999-2000, will be Paul McKone of engineering computing.

Today's meeting will be voting on proposed changes to the staff association constitution, including a revision to the way the association's purpose is stated. It will also hear reports on the activities of the past year, from social events to salary negotiations. Rita Cherkewski, who chaired the members' advisory committee, will have something to say about the association's new involvement in the University Conflict Resolution Support Program.

According to the membership committee's annual report, there are 754 UWSA members this year, out of 1,484 eligible staff -- just a hair over 50 per cent of the total. "The more people who become members and who bring their special skills and insight to the Association, the stronger and more representative the Association will be," says membership committee chair Gail Clarke.

Preregistration, and other happenings

Students who are here now but aren't going to be back, because they're finishing their university careers, need to do a different piece of urgent paperwork this week. The last day to file "Intent to Graduate" forms for spring convocation is this Friday, the registrar's office says. (Convocation ceremonies will be held May 27-30.)

Among the many other things keeping the campus pot boiling:

• A special lecture on "Society, Ethics, and Biotechnology", by Victor Daniel, starts at 11:30 today in the great hall of Conrad Grebel College.
• The human resources department will be closed from 11 a.m. until after the lunch break today, for a department meeting.
• The Faculty Computing User Support" group will get together from 1:30 to 3:00 today for a tour of environmental studies computing facilities -- meet in ES1 room 132.
• The executive committee of UW's senate meets at 3:30 in Needles Hall room 3004, to set the agenda for the March 16 meeting of senate itself. Among the items listed: tweaking of the undergraduate admissions requirements for September 1999.
• "Visual and verbal poetry" by two authors will be read in the Bombshelter pub in the Student Life Centre tonight. The writers are Darren Wershler-Henry, author of Nickelodeon, and Damian Lopes, author of Towards the Quiet. The English Society is sponsoring th event, which starts at 7 p.m.
• The career development seminar series continues this week. Tomorrow: "Networking" at 10:30 in in Needles Hall room 1020; "Job/Work Search Strategies" at 11:30 a.m. in the same room.
• International Women's Week is under way. I'll say a little more about it tomorrow, but meanwhile, here's a note that today's events include a 5 p.m. presentation on "issues of women and international development", in the Student Life Centre multipurpose room, and a 7 p.m. showing of the film "The Handmaid's Tale", in SLC room 2102. A display of women's artwork runs all day today, tomorrow and Wednesday in the SLC.

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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