Daily Bulletin

Math gets its biggest scholarship

Boring work: A "torpedo" was at work yesterday boring four-inch (ten-centimetre) tunnels under Seagram Drive, to carry wiring for new automated gates on parking lot A. Byron Murdock of the plant operations department said the "trenchless" digging, done by a subcontractor, was delayed during the morning when the pneumatically driven boring device got stuck, and a crew had to dig down through the pavement at one spot in lot C to rescue it. (Photo from plant operations.) Hydro power will be shut off in the Modern Languages building from 7:30 to 8 tomorrow morning, so that wiring for the new Tim Horton's outlet in the ground floor coffee shop can be connected. Work on the doughnut shop counter is expected to start August 30.

"It's the highest scholarship in the math faculty," says Curt Warkentin, development officer in that faculty. He explained that three upper-year scholarships will be awarded this fall, and an entrance scholarship will be offered to a first-year student each year starting in 2000. Over a five-year period, SAS will be giving $150,000 through those scholarships, he said.

The firm says it will also be helping to fund graduate student scholarships, and says its total gift to UW will be $250,000.

A release from the UW news bureau says SAS "is again increasing its commitment to Canadian post-secondary education with the creation of a National Scholarship" at UW.

"The scholarship . . . will be awarded annually to one incoming undergraduate student in UW's faculty of mathematics, who is enrolled in the mathematics/business administration program or the computer science program who has achieved academic excellence in secondary studies."

"This year, SAS Canada has focussed its attention on strengthening our ties with the academic community," said Eric Yau, general manager of SAS. "University graduates play an important role in SAS' future, becoming our customers, users, partners and employees. We are proud to support the University of Waterloo and its students to help ensure they have the right tools to succeed in today's competitive economy."

Applicants will be judged on their secondary school academic record and mathematics and computer-based extra-curricular activities as well as their performance in the Canadian Computing Competition and the Canadian Mathematics Competition. Community involvement and relevant work experience will also play a role in the selection process.

"We are very excited that SAS has established a scholarship for University of Waterloo students," said Alan George, dean of mathematics. "This will benefit our students for years to come and demonstrates SAS' commitment to recognizing the important role university programs play in developing tomorrow's technology leaders."

Says the news release: "SAS currently partners with six Canadian universities through its Headstart Program. The program . . . provides students with access to the new enterprise information technologies free-of-charge. This program, which has so far contributed software with a total value of more than $3 million will expand in the coming months to make more SAS software available free-of-charge to Canadian university students."

'Prime' housing has been rented

"The prime accommodation has been rented by now," she said yesterday, "but there still is accommodation located on bus routes." What constitutes prime housing? "Close proximity to campus, four and eight-month leases."

Clarke said that after an appeal went out last month for more student housing, "The response from UW community and beyond has been excellent."

The centrepiece of the appeal was a letter from UW president David Johnston, asking faculty and staff whether they could find space to rent to new students, since UW is expecting some 500 more first-year students than had been planned for this September. "In order to accommodate such an influx of eager young minds," he wrote, "we are gearing up our housing program by making a special appeal to find comfortable accommodation for these newest members of our UW family. . . . This is an excellent opportunity for members of our UW family to help young students adjust to their new, sometimes daunting surroundings. You can provide not only accommodation, but a friendly presence and a welcoming voice and hand."

The letter got publicity off campus as well, in the Kitchener-Waterloo Record. And on Saturday, Clarke was featured in a follow-up story in the Record which said that "dozens of local people each day" have been calling the housing office (ext. 5725) to offer rentals.

"There were so many calls with offers of rooms that sometimes the housing staff couldn't handle them all," reporter Luisa D'Amato wrote. "And although she never expects to have enough units listed to make every renter happy with the price, size and location of every place, Clarke feels satisfied now with the off-campus listings available."

Clarke said yesterday that 52 extra beds will be available in Village I this fall as some lounge space is temporarily converted to double bedrooms. There will be a major increase in the amount of residence space available at UW starting next year, when part of the UW Apartment complex is converted to single rooms.

Caltech is tops in the US

Caltech, which has just 900 students, came in ahead of Harvard, MIT, Princeton, Yale, Stanford, Duke, Johns Hopkins, Pennsylvania, Columbia, Cornell and Dartmouth, jumping up from fourth place in last year's rankings. Says the magazine: "Caltech's spending on instruction and education-related services works out to far more per student ($192,000) than at any other institution and is more than double that of any of the 'big three'," that is, Harvard, Princeton and Yale.

"In general," the magazine adds, "the changes in the way we rank schools boosted the rankings of a number of universities with strong science and engineering programs."

From its comments about Caltech:

For all its academic firepower, Caltech is not for everyone. Party animals and philosophy lovers who can't stomach quantum mechanics are unlikely to find personal or academic happiness on the beautiful, intense Pasadena campus, which has been home to some of this century's most eminent scientists, from chemist Linus Pauling to physicists Charles Richter and Richard Feynman. But "if you know you're really interested in science," says geneticist and Caltech grad Leroy Hood, who taught there before being lured away to the University of Washington by the chance to establish a new molecular biotechnology department, "I can't imagine a better place to go than Caltech." . . .

A higher proportion of graduates go on to earn science and engineering doctorates than at other schools: 42 percent at Caltech versus 22 percent at the next-closest institution, MIT. . . .

The private, $25,476-a-year school makes no bones about seeking only students who have what one brochure calls "a demonstrated passion for math and science." Every undergrad, regardless of major, must take five terms of math, five terms of physics, two terms of chemistry, a term of biology, and more. The academic diet is not all science: Undergrads must also complete 12 classes in the humanities and social sciences, which comes to a little over 20 percent of their total coursework. But while it's possible in principle to get a nontech degree -- and there are strong programs in economics and political science -- almost nobody does. . . .

Techers don't take kindly to being caricatured as pocket-protector-wearing dweebs. Still, there's no question that a good number of Caltech's students are "introverted" and socially awkward, says astrophysics Prof. Peter Goldreich. "Many faculty members complain students don't look them in the eye when they come to dinner." At the same time, the campus seems refreshingly free of the brutal social pecking orders that characterize some colleges. "These are sweet kids," says political science Prof. Rod Kiewiet. "There's no meanness or maliciousness to them."

A lopsided male/female ratio doesn't help the social life. Last year, just over 28 percent of undergraduates were women.

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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