Daily Bulletin

Student wins lubrication award

Only one of the scholarships is awarded each year to encourage an undergraduate student to pursue a graduate degree or a career in tribology -- "the study of friction, lubrication and wear".

For Brown, finding herself in the ranks of tribologists is still something of a surprise. "As a child I always liked math and science, playing with Lego," she recalls, crediting her parents with encouraging her curiosity. The engineering program at UW was an ideal way of combining those interests.

But it wasn't until she embarked on work terms at GE Hydro, performing experimental research on spring-supported thrust bearings, that she discovered the field of tribology. "I worked there, it was interesting, the project presented itself," she says of the serendipitous experience.

Currently enrolled in the combined BASc/MASc program in mechanical engineering, Brown is spending the summer "using finite element analysis to model thrust bearing deflection". For non-tribologists, that means using a computer model to predict how a bearing will deform when it supports the weight of a generator. In addition to the STLE scholarship, funding for the research is provided by GE Hydro and Materials and Manufacturing Ontario.

"I'm excited by hydro generators and dams," says Brown, listing the major ones she's visited. But tribology's applications go beyond the power industry. "You can always save by reducing wear, improving lubrication." Tribologists are employed in the automotive and aeronautics industries, and have even worked on hip implants and other biomedical developments.

After completing her master's in the summer of 2001, Brown wants to "do something practical, something useful -- and see the world." She's off to a good start, traveling to Leeds in September to present a paper on thrust bearings.

Memorial for former student

Wang drowned August 15 while on a trip to New York state. His wife, Jing Hu, Toronto, is a graduate student in accounting at UW.

"He was an outstanding student," says accounting professor, Phelim Boyle, his advisor, "an independent thinker, who showed a lot of leadership qualities."

The service will be conducted at Wesley Chapel, St. Paul's College, by chaplain Paul Ellingham at 8 p.m. on Tuesday.

Prepaid tuition fees in the US

In response to growing demand, CollegeNOW, the first nationwide prepaid tuition plan, will begin accepting enrollments come fall.

Marketing director Bernie Drury says the company wants to meet the needs of those schools in states without prepaid plans as well as parents of the projected 2 million students to be enrolled by 2002. . . .

"With state plans now in existence, the colleges that participate don't get any of the money until the student actually enrolls. So the colleges don't see any benefit today," Drury says. "With our plan, we are purchasing the education today from the schools."

Likewise, parents will appreciate CollegeNOW's prices. "The families are purchasing an education discounted off today's rate. Let's say a year at the University of Miami costs $10,000 for an out-of-state student," he says. "A typical (CollegeNOW) discount that the family would be able to purchase it at is $7,500." . . .

When Nirvi Shah was in the 10th grade, her family planned her educational future. "That year, my sister started college (at the University of Miami), and they were like, 'Oh my God! College is so expensive.'"

The financial reality-check made Shah's parents enroll their youngest daughter in the Florida Prepaid Tuition Program -- a decision that didn't thrill the teen. "My original thought was that they totally pigeon-holed me into going to a state school," she recalls. "But then they told me we could get the money back if I decided to go anywhere else." Shah graduated in May from the University of Florida debt-free. . . .

Increasingly, more students like Shah, whose college tuition was taken care of before she graduated high school, are entering the nation's university system. This means older programs like Florida's are seeing the ends of their pro-education efforts, while states with newer programs and a soon-to-be-launched national plan are striving to make theirs work.

For instance, the Web site for Maryland's program estimates future in-state tuition costs for a child born today at about $67,000. If parents pay the program a lump sum when the child is an infant, they can save approximately $50,000.

Ohio-based marketing director Maureen O'Brien says the Buckeye State's planners don't like to make such tuition predictions for the approximately 82,000 program participants. "We like people to keep current costs as a frame of reference," she says. "That's one of our main educational goals."

Tuition now rises about 5 percent each year, O'Brien says. Within this decade, though, tuition has risen as much as 90 percent in some states. So Ohio's program has focused on paying today's costs for a child's diploma tomorrow. . . .

Most pre-paid tuition plans refund parents' money plus interest in the event of a child's death. Many allow the investment to be transferred to another child in the same family. Students usually have several years after graduating high school before they must begin college, as well.

Barbara Elve
bmelve@uwaterloo.ca

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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