Daily Bulletin

UW celebrates links with India

Sponsored by the Waterloo-India Linkage Group at UW, the day will feature a symposium on "Canada/India Relations after the Nuclear Tests in 1998". Speakers at the event -- from 2 to 5:30 p.m. in Davis Centre room 1302 -- will be Rajanikanta Verma, high commissioner for India in Ottawa; Louis Delvoie, senior fellow and adjunct professor at the Centre for International Relations, Queen's University, and former Canadian high commissioner to Pakistan; and Cecile Latour, director of the South Asia division in the Canadian department of foreign affairs and international trade.

An Indian-style buffet will follow, from 6 to 7 p.m., in the foyer of Environmental Studies I. The cost is $5, students and seniors; $10, others. A family (up to four people) of a UW student will be charged $10; $20 for families of non-UW students. Rounding out the evening will be an Indian cultural program, beginning at 7:30 p.m. in Arts Lecture Hall room 116 with a local singer and Kathak dancers from Toronto. Admission is free.

The goals of the day are threefold, according to associate vice-president (academic) Bruce Mitchell, who is one of the organizers of the events. "We hope to provide a profile for and to celebrate the connections that do exist, to offer a forum for discussion of important issues as part of a contribution to the liberal education of people on this campus, and to continue to build bridges and linkages."

Mitchell and the late systems design engineering professor Muthu Chandrashekar initiated the Waterloo-India Linkage Group at UW some five years ago "to conduct research, to facilitate student exchanges and technology transfer," he explained. Since then, the group "has helped create opportunities and build connections," one of which will be a memorandum of agreement to facilitate collaborate work between the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras and UW. Expected to be signed by the end of the year, the agreement linking the two institutions was encouraged by IIT Madras director Ramamurthy Natarajan, who did his master's and PhD in mechanical engineering at UW.

Three officially join Royal Society

Elected Fellows in the Royal Society in 1998, as announced earlier this year, are Mohamed (Abe) Elmasry, electrical and computer engineering; Keith Hipel, chair of the systems design engineering department; and Scott Vanstone, combinatorics and optimization, a faculty member at St. Jerome's University.

Considered Canada's "senior academic accolade to which scholars aspire", membership is awarded to those "deeply committed to excellence within their chosen fields". "Their exceptional accomplishments are evidence of the Canadian standard of excellence in the social sciences, humanities and sciences," noted Royal Society president Jean-Pierre Wallot.

For Elmasry, being named a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada is an honour which represents "a prestigious recognition of my contribution to my field of expertise by my peers, as well as recognition from Fellows in other disciplines". His Royal Society citation reads: "Professor Mohamed Elmasry has been well known for his world class leadership in the area of digital integrated microchip design for the last 30 years. His pioneering original research in the design, computer-aided design, fabrication and testing of new microchip circuits for telecommunications is influential. His research results have been applied in the design of microelectronics systems by the industry leader, in Canada and abroad."

Hipel sees the award as both a personal honour and an accolade for his department. "It means a lot in the sense that it's the first time someone in the systems design area has received the honour. It's nice to see the expansion of recognition into interdisciplinary areas, which is significant for my colleagues and grad students, as well." In granting him membership, the Royal Society noted that Hipel "has gained national and international recognition for his research on the development and application of conflict resolution and time series analysis techniques. His interdisciplinary research in systems management has had significant influence for handling strategic and uncertainty components of decision making in water resources, environmental engineering and elsewhere."

Vanstone currently holds the NSERC/Pitney Bowes senior industrial-research chair of cryptography at UW, and is described in his citation as "a world authority in cryptology and its applications and . . . a driving force in the development of the theory and practice of elliptic curve cryptosystems. These systems are now recognized worldwide as vital to the deployment of wide scale electronic commerce, in great part due to his efforts. A number of Vanstone's research initiatives are being adapted as international standards. His internationally acclaimed sixth book is the definitive text on applied cryptography: no serious researcher or practitioner in the art would be without it."

Financial system will shut down

"During this period Central Stores, Finance, Purchasing Services and Office of Research will operate without the financial system and some services will be disrupted," says a web page announcing details of the shutdown. So there are some deadlines for anything that has to be done before the shutdown:

• November 26 by 4:30 p.m. -- Office of Research: Submit any Accounts Payable documents (see below) that are charged to a research grant or contract (fund 105) or to a research center (org unit 8NNN and fund 102) to the Office of Research.
• November 27 by 4:30 p.m. -- Accounts Payable: Submit any Travel Advances/Claims/Settlements, Request for Payments, Petty Cash Reimbursements, Change Funds and Student Emergency Loans to Accounts Payable in order to be reimbursed prior to shutdown.
• November 30 by 4:30 p.m. -- Purchasing Services: Requisitioners are encouraged to submit any requisitions by this date to facilitate processing before system shutdown.
• December 2 by 4:30 p.m. -- Finance: Payroll transactions may be affected if salary accounts are being used for the first time. Therefore, if new accounting flexfield combinations are required, please e-mail coa-adm@mc4adm.

The web page says shipments in and out of UW through Central Stores will continue as usual. Receiving reports will accompany goods ordered on a purchase order. As for the purchasing department, "during the shutdown period verbal purchase orders will be issued where possible. Written confirmation of the purchase order will follow. Systems contracting will not be affected."

And for users of the financial system, sitting in front of their terminals across campus, they'll see the usual "inquiry screens", but data will continue to be as it was on December 4. "Impromptu reports can be run" based on that data, the web page says.

"It is expected that services in all areas will return to normal by the Christmas holidays." The web page will announce changes to the plans as they happen between now and the December 4 shutdown.

From dementia to big band

Also running all day today is a workshop on "Women in Family Business", sponsored by the Centre for Family Business at Conrad Grebel College.

The Touring Players bring Franklin the Turtle to the Humanities Theatre for three shows today (10:00, 11:45, 1:30) -- watch for school buses on the ring road.

Who cheers for the cheerleaders? Everybody who goes to Warrior games, that's who. "We couldn't be happier with the level of enthusiasm," says Andrew Cashman, one of the squad -- 18 women, four men, two coaches -- who, now that the Warrior football season is over, will be concentrating their efforts on basketball,both men's and women's. "Some of the fan cheers are directed towards the cheerleaders, which lets us know we're doing a good job," he reports. Fourteen of the team members are new this year. "In the winter term," Cashman adds, "we expect the team size to grow with veterans returning from co-op work term." Besides sports, the team turns out for some special events, including the Jump Rope competition tomorrow and a dinner in December sponsored by Big Sisters. And tonight they'll be in Toronto, for the University National Cheerleading Championships, held at York University.

The philosophy department presents a talk by Robert Scott Stewart of the University College of Cape Breton at 3:30 today (Humanities room 373). Topic: "Virtual (Art)Worlds: Travel, the Picturesque, and English Gardens".

At 8 tonight, the audience can "Take a Sentimental Journey" with the UW Stage Band, which presents its fall concert ("featuring the big band sounds of Woody Herman and the Latin styles of Brazil and Cuba") in the great hall of Conrad Grebel College. Tickets are $8, students $5.

Also at 8, the Kiwanis Travelogue series brings "Switzerland" to the Humanities Theatre.

And the Graduate House is holding "the event of the semester" tonight, the second annual Grad Mixer, with dancing ("and a DJ taking requests"), get-to-know-you games, prizes, and free food. "Put on your finest," the organizers say, "and enjoy a night of festivities." Better check with the Grad House ahead of time to make sure tickets ($5) are still available.

Tomorrow from noon to 3, high-energy people from various clubs and groups will be bouncing up and down in the great hall of the Student Life Centre. It's Jump Rope for Heart, a fund-raiser for the Heart and Stroke Foundation. Pledge forms are available and there are "tons of door prizes". Patty Mah at ext. 2259 should have last-minute information.

From Dave Switzer in the computer science department, who apparently gets away from the keyboard occasionally: "The Da Capo Chamber Choir is having its first ever concert this Saturday at 8 p.m. at St John the Evangelist Anglican Church in Kitchener. This choir isn't a UW choir, but the director is Leonard Enns, professor in the music faculty at Grebel, and almost all of the 13 singers are former or current students at UW. Cost is $5 students/$8 general admission. The concert is titled 'My Spirit Sang All Day' and we're singing works by Arvo Pärt, Murray Schafer, Benjamin Britten, Paul Hindemith, and Maurice Duruflé."

Off campus, the Waterloo Potters' Workshop has its annual sale tonight (6 to 9), Saturday (10 to 5) and Sunday (noon to 4) at the Waterloo Recreation Complex.

Sports this weekend: home games include women's basketball at 4:00 Saturday afternoon (vs. Western), men's basketball at 6:00 Saturday night (vs. Mohawk), and a Warrior swimming dual meet starting at 2:30 Saturday afternoon. Out of town, the hockey team is at Western tonight and at Windsor on Sunday afternoon.

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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