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Daily Bulletin
University of Waterloo | Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
UW plays role in satellite launch
UW researchers are part of the team behind
yesterday's launch of the
research satellite Odin (below), which will orbit the earth collecting
information about the atmosphere and about distant objects ranging from
giant molecular clouds to comets.
![[Simulated photo of Odin]](http://www.iras.ucalgary.ca/~sat/Odin/launch/odinflight_600x406.jpg)
Odin -- sent off yesterday by rocket from a launch site in Svobodny,
Russia -- is the first astronomy satellite launched with major Canadian
involvement.
According to the Space
Astronomy Laboratory at the University of Calgary, "Odin's primary
scientific objective is to search for
water
and oxygen molecules in space which will give crucial clues to our
understanding of the origin of life in the Universe. Odin, named after the
Norse god, is a collaborative project led by Sweden and involving
Canada, France, and Finland."
Calgary astronomer Sun Kwok is the principal Canadian investigator,
but researchers from several other institutions, including
Waterloo, are also involved.
"I have been working on this project since 1991," says
Michel Fich of UW's
physics department, "and we finally have a working satellite as of today!"
Fich explains: "My primary role is in
co-directing science planning. We have about a dozen science topical
teams (with representatives from all of the countries involved) and I am
on about half of them." But he didn't get to see the actual launch: "I am
(unfortunately) sitting on top of a mountain in Hawaii today
working on an unrelated project," he reported by e-mail.
Charles Curry, a post-doctoral fellow with Fich, is among scientists who
work full-time on the Odin project.
Peter
Bernath of the chemistry department got involved with Odin because
he's a long-time colleague of Calgary's Kwok. They were postdoctoral fellows
together, two decades ago. His particular interest is the results produced by
the sub-millimetre radiometer (SMR), a device that will try to detect
radiation from specific molecules -- such as oxygen and water -- from
stars, "dark clouds" and other astronomical bodies. "The goal is to detect
oxygen in, for example, star-forming regions,"
Bernath explains. "That has never been done." His own role
involves looking at the spectrographic results of that survey: "I'm kind
of the expert when they get things they don't understand."
Data should start arriving sometime in the spring, he said.
The radiometer can also be pointed earthward to collect data about
ozone
depletion in the atmosphere -- a subject of keen interest to Bernath,
although it's not his specialty this time round. He holds hundreds of
thousands of dollars in grants as "mission scientist" for
next year's
scheduled launch of another satellite, the all-Canadian SciSat1, which
will do extensive ozone studies. SciSat1 will have a
more powerful and specialized radiometer that can measure the presence of
methane, carbon dioxide, and other pollutants in the atmosphere.
Odin, meanwhile, "not only represents the first step by Canada in
exploring the high-frequency radio universe, it also pioneers the use of
tunable high-frequency radio technology in space," says Kwok at Calgary.
"This is one of the proudest moments of Canadian astronomy."
Award to nursing home
UW's co-op department will recognize the Village of Winston Park
nursing home today as a long-time and high-quality employer of co-op students.
Winston Park has been using co-op students for both the Functional
Abilities Program and the Murray Alzheimer Research and Education
Program), both based at UW's
Centre for
Applied Health Research.
A presentation will be made at noon today to Winston Park administrator Michael
Schmidt and Shelley Edwards-Dyck, director of care, by
Tony Munro, a coordinator in co-op. Kyle Whitfield
of MAREP and two current Winston Park co-op students will be on hand
at the event at Winston Park, on Block Line Road in south Kitchener.
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Research grants for three projects
Three teams of UW researchers have
received grants totalling more than $1.2 million from the
Canada Foundation for
Innovation and the
Ontario Innovation Trust
and "partners" in the projects, the research office has announced.
The funding will go toward work on preserving vision for
people with diabetes, furthering geological knowledge in Canada, and
testing devices for wireless and satellite communication systems.
In separate announcements, CFI provided a total of $488,456 under
its "New Opportunities" program for young faculty members, while
OIT contributed $488,456. Combined with cash and in-kind
contributions of $271,868 from industry and other sources, the total
will exceed $1.2 million, said Andrew Barker, manager of special programs
in the research office.
"Most of the funding will go to purchase research infrastructure,
renovate labs and cover construction costs," he said.
The job of the CFI, a federal agency, is to strengthen Canadian capability for
research by investing in research infrastructure. The provincial OIT
helps fund the capital costs of research for Ontario's universities and
other institutions.
Under CFI and OIT rules, each agency pays a maximum of 40 per cent
of the costs of a research project. The remaining 20 per cent comes
from industry and other sources (including UW itself).
The three projects:
Chris
Hudson, school of optometry, "The Establishment of a
Multi-Disciplinary Laboratory for the Research of Sight-Threatening
Diabetic Retinopathy." Total budget: $315,065; CFI awarded $125,031;
OIT awarded $125,031; additional partners will cover the rest.
Hudson said the new lab, based at the Toronto Western Hospital and
in UW's optometry school, will help in improving the clinical
monitoring of retinal disease, particularly macular edema, a
sight-threatening complication of diabetes.
"It is anticipated that the research will lead to a new
classification of early macular edema in people with diabetes and an
improved understanding of the natural history of early
sight-threatening diabetic retinopathy," he said. "This information
will be utilized to assess new treatments to preserve the vision of
people with diabetes."
Shoufa
Lin, department of earth sciences, "Equipment for
field-based geological research." Total budget: $284,325; CFI awarded
$113,730; OIT awarded $113,730; additional partners will cover the
rest.
"The research to be supported by the infrastructure will
contribute to the geological knowledge in general, especially that of
Canada's land mass, and help assessment and sustainable development
of Canada's resources, especially mineral resources," Lin said.
He said that, in geological research, fieldwork is of key
importance and the new infrastructure will allow for field-based
geological research. It includes equipment required for fieldwork and
facilities needed in the labs to process data and samples collected
in the field.
Raafat Mansour and former PhD student Vien Van, department of
electrical and computer engineering, "Laboratory for Characterization of
Advanced RF/Microwave
Devices." Total budget: $749,390; CFI
awarded $299,695; OIT awarded $299,695; additional partners will
cover the rest.
"The funding will establish an advanced research laboratory for
the characterization and testing of novel miniaturized Radio
Frequencies (RF) devices for wireless and satellite communication
systems," Mansour said.
And other notes
It's the last day of classes for engineering and math students, who
head off for a couple of days' study break. In those faculties,
and the four faculties where classes have been cancelled all this
week, it's back to routine on Monday morning.
Rita Wiebe in the math coffee-and-doughnut shop sends word
that hours of operation there this week are 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
The Potato People bring a children's show to the Humanities
Theatre today, with school performances at 10:00 and 1:15.
The twice-a-month surplus sale at central stores (East Campus Hall,
off Phillip Street) is scheduled for today, from 11:30 to 1:30.
Today brings a noontime session on "Collaborative Research: The Perils of
Joint Ownership", in the intellectual property seminar series (12
noon, Needles Hall room 3001).
While things are fairly quiet on campus, the computer store and UW Shop
will both be closed tomorrow for pre-inventory inventory.
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Hockey playoffs start tonight
"The Warriors' march to the CIAU hockey championships begins this
week," says Chris Gilbert of the UW athletics department, announcing
a playoff game tonight in which Waterloo hosts the Wilfrid Laurier University
Golden Hawks.
It's the first game of the semifinals in the Far West Division of
the Ontario Universities Athletics (OUA) league. The
Warriors
(15-7-2 overall this season) were 2-1-1 against Laurier (9-11-4) in
regular season games. The winner of the playoff series
will advance to take on the Western Mustangs in the division final.
Tonight's game starts at 7:30 in the Columbia Icefield Arena -- a
rink considered one of the best playing surfaces in the province,
although Record columnist Christine Rivet grumbled the other
day that the place is freezing, the lights are dim, the sound system
is muffled and the safety glass isn't any too safe.
![[Warrior logo]](http://www.warriormensbasketball.uwaterloo.ca/images/warlogo.gif)
"Until they move into a new facility," Rivet said of the Warriors, "they will
remain the best team you'll never see," meaning that nobody goes to
games at the Icefield. Fans who ignore her advice tonight will pay
$8 apiece to get in (students $5), because the event is under league
management and isn't covered by a UW season ticket.
Game two in the series will be played at the Clarica Arena in the
Waterloo Recreation Complex -- Laurier's home ice -- on Friday night.
And game three, if necessary, will be back in the Icefield on Sunday
afternoon.
Warriors and Hawks are both hoping to perform before much bigger crowds
next month. The national university hockey
championships are being held
March 22-25 at Kitchener Memorial Auditorium, and UW or WLU will be
in the tournament as host team -- unless they're knocked off by the
Guelph Gryphons in a preliminary tournament in mid-March.
At their game Sunday afternoon -- in which they beat Windsor 10-7
-- the Warriors took a moment to recognize the players who will be
graduating and leaving the team as this season ends.
"The solid core of players
who began as wide eyed freshmen in 1997 are seasoned veterans in
2001," their web site notes. "Captain Rob Maric #7 , assistant captains
Mike Johnson
#22 and Sean Fitzgearld #17 and Mike Murphy #10 have all
played over 90 regular season games in their four years wearing the
black and gold. Other graduating seniors are Jay Henry #21, Pete
Stefanuto #11 and Guy Lane #25."
The basketball Warriors wind up the
regular season tonight, hosting the McMaster Marauders in the Physical
Activities Complex main gym. The women's game starts at 6:00, the
men's game at 8:00.
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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