Daily Bulletin

Nortel funds IT Institute at UW

Keith Powell, senior vice-president, information services, and chief information officer, Nortel Networks, will announce funding for the Institute, student scholarships and faculty research chairs. The investment over a 10-year period will include:

• A $1.8 million fund for computer science (CS) and electrical and computer engineering (E&CE) scholarships. The UW Nortel Networks Institute Scholarship program becomes $3.6 million through matching contributions from the university and the Ontario government. The fund will provide 90 annual $3,500 undergraduate scholarships and 12 annual $7,000 graduate scholarships per year for 10 years.
• An $800,000 endowment to support the UW Nortel Networks Institute Endowed Scholarship program for first and second year CS and E&CE students. Matched by the university, the $1.6 million fund will generate up to 24 first and second year CS and E&CE scholarships of $3,500 in perpetuity.
• $1.6 million to create two CS and E&CE senior faculty research chairs and two CS and E&CE junior faculty associated research chairs. Matching federal and provincial funding will be sought to create a total annual fund of $640,000.
• $1.8 million for Nortel Networks to provide student programs and an on-site manager for the Institute who will serve as the co-ordination point for Nortel Networks' ongoing relationship with the university and for student interaction and recruiting activity at the university.
• $360,000 to update and establish new undergraduate laboratories known as the Nortel Networks Undergraduate Laboratories.

Downey predicts the support of Nortel Networks "will materially assist Waterloo to become an even stronger magnet for Canada's brightest and best students and faculty."

Nortel Networks will provide $20-million in support for high-tech education at several universities under the Ontario government's Access to Opportunities Program (ATOP) -- "part of the company's long-term commitment to supporting post-secondary education, training, research and development."

Dave Johnson, Ontario minister of education and training, will outline at Friday's annnouncement the Ontario government's support through matching funds under ATOP. A $150-million Ontario government initiative, ATOP is designed to dramatically increase enrolment in advanced technology disciplines through the collaboration of business, education and government.

For UW, participation in ATOP will mean an increase of about 1,360 undergraduate places (68 per cent) over 1995-96 levels. To achieve that target, Waterloo will increase next year's first-year enrolment in computer science to 600, up from the target of 435 this year. First-year enrolment in electrical and computer engineering will rise to 355, up from 255 over the last several years.

Board seat open to staff

Nomination forms are available from the secretariat, and must be returned to the chief returning officer at the secretariat, Needles Hall room 3060, no later than 3 p.m. on Wednesday, March 17. An election will follow if necessary.

Stress, spectroscopy, skeptics, etc.

Before the stress gets overwhelming, students can still sign up for the Exam Stress Workshop which starts today and runs for three weeks. Offered by counselling services, the sessions are held on Thursdays from 10 a.m. to noon, and deal with managing the physical aspects of anxiety, reducing and controlling disruptive thoughts, enhancing positive thoughts, and inducing and maintaining a relaxed state under stress. Phone ext. 2655 for more information.

Civil engineering professor Don Burn will speak at 11:30 a.m. on the Red River Flood of 1997, from his perspective as a member of the Manitoba Water Commission which spent a year investigating the disaster. The civil and environmental engineering talk takes place in Carl Pollock Hall room 3374.

The Native Students Association is holding an organizational meeting today at 2:30 p.m. in the Student Life Centre room 2134.

Lev T. Perelman of the Laser Biomedical Research Centre at MIT, and a candidate for a biophysics faculty position, will speak today at 3:30 p.m. on Light Scattering Spectroscopy for Early Cancer Detection. The lecture will be held in Physics room P308.

"A Comparative Study of Titanium-Containing Aluminophosphate Molecular Sieves Tapo-5, -11, -31 and -36" is the topic of a seminar conducted by Serge Kaliaguine of the department of genie chimique, Universite Laval, and recipient of the 1998 Canadian Catalysis Lectureship Award. Sponsored by the Canadian Catalysis Foundation, the seminar will be held at 3:30 p.m. in Douglas Wright Engineering room 2517.

At 4 p.m. today, anthropology and classical studies professor Maria Liston will speak on Osteology of a late prehistoric site near Peterborough, Ontario. Everyone is welcome to attend the talk held in Chemistry 2 room 170 and sponsored by the UW Quaternary Sciences Institute.

Parts of a World, an exhibition of works by David Urban, opens today at 5 p.m. in ArtSpace, East Campus Hall. The exhibit continues through April 4. The artist will be present at the opening and will speak on March 11 at 1:30 p.m. in East Campus Hall room 1219.

The Arriscraft lecture series continues with a talk by Rick Hopkins, Toronto, on Obsession and Means at 7 p.m. in the Green Room of Environmental Studies 2.

Computer science professor Jeffrey Shallit will present a Freethought Waterloo talk, A Skeptic Looks at Christian Science, at 7 p.m. in the Student Life Centre multipurpose room.

An alert for people with allergies: plant operations will be painting in the grad office in Needles Hall, rooms 3021 and 3026, sometime today. The painting has been cleared through the safety office.

Just in time for March break vacations, the Graphics Pixel Pub. is offering a special on passport photos. Until March 17, the photos are $8 per set, $2 off the regular price.

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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