Hallowe'en is also Samhain

Daily Bulletin

IBM supercomputer comes to UW-- from the UW news bureau

The centre will facilitate leading-edge research in the area of large scale parallel computing by providing researchers and students alike with access to one of the world's fastest supercomputers, the IBM RS/6000 SP.

IBM is providing more than $1 million in kind contribution in the form of high perfomance hardware and software to the university. The new UW/IBM Facility for Scientific and Deep Computing will be both a leading research site as well as an integral component of the educational environment. The university will use this new Facility to develop parallel applications to conduct advanced research primarily in physics, chemistry, earth science and mechanical engineering. The Facility will also be used to develop computational science curriculum for undergraduate teaching.

"This gift once again underscores the outstanding long-term relationship that UW has had with IBM over the years, going back to the creation of the Institute for Computer Research and before," said UW president David Johnston. "It is our goal to establish a premier site for the use of supercomputing to address problems in scientific computation and for the preparation of highly trained people who will meet the needs of an environment driven by emerging technologies. This facility will greatly enhance the data analysis and computational capabilities of our researchers."

The UW/IBM Facility for Scientific and Deep Computing will explore many aspects of computationally intense research areas. Possible topics currently include: molecular modeling, material sciences, hydrological modeling, superconducting and solid-state materials, atomic and molecular physics, and optical telecommunications components. Expanded and new areas include: automatic parallelization, electric field modeling, computer and communication networks, molecular dynamics modeling, optical field modeling, algorithms for parallel computation, turbulence and fluid modeling, and machine learning and artificial intelligence.

"The University of Waterloo has long enjoyed a reputation as a leading centre for the study of computational science," said John Wetmore, president and CEO, IBM Canada Ltd. IBM is proud to be able to enhance that reputation by providing the university with our world-class and industry-leading technology. From unlocking the secrets of disease and the common cold to enabling breakthroughs in weather forecasting, drug design and geological research, Deep Computing is helping both institutions and industry find the answers to some of life's most perplexing problems."

UW's new SP system joins a long roster of IBM SP supercomputers around the world. According to the TOP500 Supercomputer List, IBM SPs now account for 144 of the world's 500 most powerful high performance computers -- more than any other machine.

Feds plan for federal election

Class sizes have gone up only a little in the past five years, UW provost Jim Kalbfleisch told the university senate in October. He said the average number of students in a "lecture meet" class was 52.1 in the fall of 1994 and 53.6 in the fall of 1999 (a year ago). The figure for first-year classes went up from 72.8 to 77.1 over that period. The graph shows fall 1999 figures.

On the agenda is re-enumeration, which will take place in the Student Life Centre on November 6 and 7. "Student voter participation has traditionally been low but this service will give students an opportunity to leverage their large population in this riding and get involved in enfranchising themselves," says Schaan. "Elections Canada is sending four representatives for both of these days and we hope as many students as possible will get enumerated. Students should bring their Watcard and an official piece of mail with their Waterloo address on it."

As well, the Feds will be working to "make sure students and the community are educated about their voting options and how different party policies will effect them" by sponsoring a candidate's forum and providing information on the party platforms.

To raise awareness of post-secondary education as an election issue, the Feds have ordered two versions of lawn signs which read: "Student Brains, Our Future: Vote Education" and "A University education costs a student $80,000. Ask your candidates why". Students, faculty and staff are being asked to take one of the signs for their lawn. To order a sign, contact Schaan at fedvped@feds.uwaterloo.ca or at extension 2340.

Study puts UW in the middle rank

The report comes from the Observatoire des Sciences et des Technologies, which is funded by government agencies and universities across Canada, including UW. The 2000 edition of Canadian Universities' Performance in Research is now available on the web.

It observes that "The volume of publications per professor is a relative measure of performance between institutions. Three universities are on top of the list for the ratio of publications by professor: McGill, Toronto and Alberta. On average, the professors at each of these universities publish more than 2 papers/year. They are followed by a second group of universities where researchers publish between 1,0 and 2,0 papers. A third group published under one paper/year."

The figure for Waterloo is 1.59, which puts it behind not just McGill, Toronto and Alberta but also (in order) Guelph, Victoria, Simon Fraser, Queen's, McMaster, British Columbia, Ottawa and Carleton. A total of 27 institutions are listed.

Then OST calculates the "Relative Weighed Impact Factor", which it describes as "an indicator that measures the number of citations a journal receives over a given period of time. It is used here as an indicator of the quality of the published papers. . . . Our calculations show that eleven universities have a relative weighted impact factor over 1, that is, over the national average, but only two universities have a significant score: Toronto and McGill." the figure for UW is 0.95, putting it in 18th place among the 27.

Separate figures are provided for "relative weighted impact factor" in each of eight fields of study. UW's highest score is 1.11, good for 7th place, in biology. Other figures: 0.77 in biomedical research, 0.98 in chemistry, 0.70 in clinical medicinee, 0.97 in earth and space, 1.04 in engineering and technology, 0.97 in mathematics, and 0.99 in physics.

Finally, OST rates universities on their level of international collaboration: "Several studies have argued that international collaboration is correlated with the quality of research. On this dimension, the most internationally networked universities are not necessarily the ones that rank first in terms of the volume of papers. On top of the list we find: Carleton, Victoria and York with approximately 50% of their papers written with foreign researchers." UW stands in 9th place with 37.7 per cent -- 263 out of 698 papers had international involvement.

Walter Bean lecturer speaks tomorrow

Singh is principal technical adviser for the Poverty and Sustainable Livelihoods Bureau for Development Policy, United Nations Development Programme.

Barbara Hallett
bhallett@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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