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| The Iron Curtain Speech |
Friday, March 5, 1999
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Making the announcement today will be UW president James Downey, Ontario minister of education and training Dave Johnson, and Keith Powell, senior vice-president, information services, and chief information officer, Nortel Networks.
The infusion of funds, designed to dovetail with the Ontario government's ATOP initiative, means more scholarships for all levels of students in computer science and in electrical and computer engineering, new research chairs for both departments, as well as money to update and establish new undergraduate laboratories.
Dean of engineering Sujeet Chaudhuri sees the contribution by Nortel as "a very important model of how universities, government and the private sectors have to work together in the future. It's a model of how to improve postsecondary education without burdening the taxpayers."
Funding for scholarships will be available for the Fall 1999 term, and the university will take the Nortel contribution and approach NSERC, the Ontario Research and Development Challenge Fund and the Canadian Foundation for Innovation for matching funds to provide adequate resources for the two new senior faculty research chairs and the two junior faculty associated research chairs in computer science and electrical and computer engineering. Faculty could be appointed to the chairs in about a year, Chaudhuri predicted.
An "obviously delighted" dean of mathematics, Alan George, praised the "exquisite timing" of the Nortel announcement to coincide with the need of the university to find resources to match ATOP start-up funding. As well, he said, the 10-year investment by Nortel will benefit the departments of computer science and electrical and computer engineering in a number of ways.
"The commitment to scholarships helps us recruit the very best students, at a time when ATOP expansion is occurring at a number of institutions across the province," said George. Improvements to labs and the increase in research funding "will create the kind of environment which will aid in attracting the best faculty" to UW. As well, he said, the announcement by Nortel will draw attention to the high quality of Waterloo's computer science and electrical and computer engineering programs, which are "among the best in the province and in the country."
"The reason for this is simple," he added. "The Internet and World Wide Web has evolved from a great way to access information around the world to a communication juggernaut that is rapidly changing the way business is conducted around the world."
Powell, who will serve as co-chair of the UW Nortel Networks Institute for Advanced Information Technology advisory board, pointed to the well-established link between UW and Nortel as an example of a mutually beneficial relationship.
"This is not the first time that Nortel Networks and the University of Waterloo have collaborated," he said. "We currently support 13 research and development projects at the University of Waterloo, including design patterns for software design and implementation, management of technological change, omnilingual speech recognition, and others.
"Last year we hired 45 Bachelor of Science, Master of Science and PhD graduates from business, computer science, engineering and math programs at the University of Waterloo alone." The company also provided jobs for some 280 UW co-op students from computer engineering, computer science, electrical engineering, math and other programs, he noted. "We currently have 78 co-op students from the University of Waterloo working for us."
Parks, Tourism and Tourism Research is the subject of recreation and leisure studies professor Paul Eagles' talk at 9:30 a.m. today as part of the Contemporary Perspectives on Tourism lecture series. The event will be held in the Mutual Auditorium, Burt Matthews Hall.
Today is the deadline for anyone wishing to register for the TRACE TA brown bag workshop, Learner Profiles and Scenario-Based Design Using the TLC Design Kit. The workshop will be held on Monday, March 8 from noon to 1:30 p.m. in Math and Computer room 5158. Interested graduate students can register at trace@watserv1.uwaterloo.ca, or phone ext. 3132 with questions.
Canadian Education Centre director Robert Lynn and assistant director of marketing Charmain Leung will speak today at 2 p.m. in Needles Hall room 3004 on "Student Recruitment and Training Opportunities with the Canadian Education Centre Network." CEC promotes and markets Canadian universities as a destination for international students and for group training opportunities.
The Literary and Artistic Fall of Icarus will be explored in an anthropology and classical studies illustrated seminar by classical studies professor Riemer Faber today at 3:30 p.m. in Modern Languages room 349. Everyone is welcome.
Culture, Spirituality, and Economic Development: Opening a Dialogue will be addressed by Harvard trained economist William F. Ryan, S.J., in the 1998-99 Ignatian Lecture at 7:30 this evening in Siegfried Hall, St. Jerome's University. Ryan will speak of his experiences as part of the International Development Research Centre, which explores ways of humanizing Third World development, and of his conviction that spiritual values and economic growth are not mutually exclusive.
The UW Womyn's Centre will celebrate the beginning of International Women's Week and the 1999 edition of Voices of Women today with an official launch at 1 p.m. with readings in the Student Life Centre great hall, and at 8 p.m. with a benefit concert in the Bombshelter. Corduroy Leda, Squirm and Tamara Gibson will perform in the event to benefit St. Monica's House, a Waterloo centre for pregnant teens. Tickets are $5 in advance (from the Feds office, the Turnkey desk, the WPIRG office or the Womyn's Centre) or $7 at the door.
The Association of Baha'i Studies is sponsoring a talk tonight at 7:30 in Davis Centre room 1350. Will C. van den Hoonaard, a professor of sociology at the University of New Brunswick, will speak on "Exploring Near to the Heart Issues: The Equality of Women and Men".
Human rights, community mediation and non-violence theory are among the topics to be discussed at the first Peace and Conflict Studies conference, Sub(Versions) of Peace, today and tomorrow in the great hall at Conrad Grebel College. The event begins tonight at 7 with a keynote address by Project Ploughshares director Ernie Regehr, and runs Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. On Saturday evening at 8, the Peace Society will host a coffee house, with proceeds to the Global Community Centre. For more information, contact Karin Kliewer, 885-0220 ext. 254.
The Bernoulli Trials Competition gets underway Saturday at 9 a.m. in Math and Computer room 4059. All full-time undergraduaate students at UW are eligible to register, and can do so by sending an email to cgsmall@uwaterloo.ca containing full name and student ID number. "If you are good at mathematics problem solving (or just average and very lucky) then maybe the Bernoulli Trials is for you," says statistics and actuarial science professor Christopher Small. It's a knockout competition in which mathematical statements are posed, to which the answer is TRUE or FALSE. "After two mistakes you drop out, but can continue to play informally or eat free food," adds Small. Winners are awarded prizes that have "served as laundry money for a considerable stretch of time."
WatSFiC (Waterloo Science Fiction Club) will hold its second Games Day of the term on Saturday beginning at 10 a.m. and continuing "till late in the night" in the Math and Computer Comfy Lounge. Games will include Civilization, El Cabellero, Xanth and Robo Rally.
From noon to 9 p.m. on Saturday, the Waterloo Quiz Bowl is hosting WatBowl III: Trivia Strikes Back. The event takes place in the Student Life Centre multipurpose room with "cool prizes".
A location correction from the Gazette's Cecilia column: the performance of the St. Matthew Passion by the Elora Festival Singers will be held at the Church of Our Lady in Guelph at 3:30 p.m. on Sunday.
An ecumenical worship service based on the Taize style is being held at Resurrection College, 265 Westmount Road North, at 7:30 p.m. on Sunday. Everyone is welcome.
Looking ahead to Monday, the Centre for Advanced Studies in Finance will present a Financial Econometrics Workshop starting at 9 a.m. in Davis Centre room 1304. Anyone interested in attending is asked to contact the Centre at ext. 5728. or aaldous@uwaterloo.ca.
Volunteers who can read blueprints are among those needed to join the Barrier Free Assessment Committee and work toward better accessibility. The Volunteer Action Centre is also seeking people with fundraising or fund development experience to assist a local cancer agency, and respite providers to work with people who have a developmental disability. For information on these or other volunteer options, contact the VAC at 742-8610.
And just in from last night, in the first game of the OUA Wild West Shootout held at the University of Western Ontario, the Waterloo Warriors defeated the McMaster Marauders 80-51. With the victory, the Warriors advance to the conference final on Saturday afternoon. Mano Watsa led all scorers with 22 points, in addition to his 10 rebounds, and 7 assists. Mike Stroeder added 20 points, while Mike Zavershnik scored 15. Mark Eys had 13 points and 10 rebounds. Waterloo now advances to a league championship game against the Western Mustangs. Game time is 2 p.m. in London.
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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