'We're going to have to grow'

In a briefing on how the university is doing, largely repeated from what he told the university senate two weeks earlier, he noted that enrolment "grew quite significantly" this year, and he didn't leave much doubt that the number of students will continue to increase.

Primate's eye view: Anthropology professor Anne Zeller (with Cercopithecus l'hoesti in Eastern Zaire) will speak today under the down-to-earth title "Monkey in the Middle". Says a flyer: "This will be a discussion of ongoing research in primate communication and socialization of the young. It will also include some aspects of new research into ape art and areas of cognitive complexity such as pretence and deceit." Her talk, part of the "Arts Talks Back" lecture series, starts at 3:30, and has been moved from the originally scheduled room (which I mentioned in yesterday's Bulletin) to a larger space, Arts Lecture Hall 211. Everybody is welcome.

Employers arriving in Needles Hall yesterday were greeted by the co-op department's Sandra Shantz and Scott Davis in a variation on normal business attire. It may have been an interview day, but it was also Hallowe'en, after all. (And in spite of what I said in the Bulletin, interviews do continue today and tomorrow. Ranking day for winter term jobs is Tuesday.)

"We're going to have to grow," added president David Johnston -- though he admitted, in answer to a question, that quality does go down when enrolment goes up. The ratio of students to professors in Ontario universities was 17 to 1 a few years ago, Johnston said, and now it's about 23 to 1.

"We don't see any short-term relief," Chakma told the board, repeating what he had told the senate -- that UW faces budget cuts of 4 per cent a year over the next several years if the enrolment stays at its current level and no other steps are taken.

At the same time, he said, "universities are faced with unprecedented opportunities. We must take bold initiatives to seize these opportunities and build Waterloo into a world-class university.

"We need to reduce our dependency on government funding. We need the ability to set our own tuition fees."

With the latest revisions to UW's 2001-02 budget that Chakma presented later in the meeting, government grants are providing 50 per cent of UW's operating income, and student fees 43 per cent.

A key phrase in the next while is going to be "income diversification" -- finding other sources of operating money. Chakma mentioned a few such projects during Tuesday's meeting, notably the international program in the faculty of mathematics, which is bringing $4.6 million a year into the university for the training of overseas students.

There's also an urgency to increasing the amount UW collects in gifts from alumni and others, he said. Last year's figure was $22 million; the goal is $50 million a year by 2004, including some money that can help support the operating budget, although most outside gifts go for scholarship funds, buildings and other long-term purposes.

Chakma also noted that while UW needs to streamline some activities programs are trying to do too many things"), there are also new departures "driven by the strategic position of the university", such as the software engineering and math-and-business programs that began this year.

As funding continues tight, it's hard to hire and keep good faculty and staff members, the provost said. "Our deans are being proactive," he said, "finding interesting ways of recruiting people."

These issues are undoubtedly among the things Chakma and Johnston will talk about at today's meeting for department heads and other key people. The event starts at 4:00 this afternoon in the Festival Room, South Campus Hall, and will be followed by a reception.

Directory links environment researchers -- from this week's Gazette

The WatGreen Environmental Research Directory -- to be launched today -- is part of the growing movement to disseminate environmental information.

"It's a way to share environmental knowledge with the campus and the public," says Patti Cook, UW's waste management co-ordinator.

"The WatGreen Environmental Research Directory is designed to help highlight cutting edge research projects at the University of Waterloo and allow researchers from UW or other institutions to network and advance environmental research projects."

The idea for the research directory came from members of the WatGreen Advisory Committee, a university committee mandated to showcase environmental responsibility at UW and provide an opportunity for students, staff, and faculty to improve the quality of their environment while boosting the institution's financial and environmental efficiency.

The research directory was initiated by Rex Turgano, founder of thegreenpages.ca and a recent environmental studies graduate, with support from Cook and Jeremy Steffler, members of the WatGreen Advisory Committee.

The research directory combines development aspects from other popular directory web sites such as Yahoo and thegreenpages that makes managing and searching for information easier.

Cook encourages faculty, staff and students to join and search the directory, and there are draw prizes for those who join during the month of November. The directory is not only an effective method to promote environmental projects but also an avenue to collaborate and network with other researchers who have similar projects or research interests.

The directory has identified four objectives: To identify researchers in the environmental field at UW; To advertise UW's expertise in environmental research to both the on-campus and off-campus academic communities; To help attract prospective students in the field of environmental research to UW; To facilitate the formation of interdisciplinary research teams at UW.

Nobel physicist speaks today

Phillips, a researcher at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Gaithersburg, Maryland, was co-winner of the 1997 Nobel in physics with Steven Chu of Stanford University and Claude Cohen-Tannoudji of the Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris, for the development of methods to cool and trap atoms with laser light.

An explanation of the methodology and application of the research is taken from the Nobel web site:

"Steven Chu, Claude Cohen-Tannoudji, and William D. Phillips have developed methods of using laser light to cool gases to the 5K temperature range and keeping the chilled atoms floating or captured in different kinds of 'atom traps'. The laser light functions as a thick liquid, dubbed optical molasses, in which the atoms are slowed down. Individual atoms can be studied there with very great accuracy and their inner structure can be determined.

"As more and more atoms are captured in the same volume a thin gas forms, and its properties can be studied in detail. The new methods of investigation that the Nobel Laureates have developed have contributed greatly to increasing our knowledge of the interplay between radiation and matter. . . . The methods may lead to the design of more precise atomic clocks for use in, e.g., space navigation and accurate determination of position. A start has also been made on the design of atomic interferometers with which, e.g., very precise measurements of gravitational forces can be made, and atomic lasers, which may be used in the future to manufacture very small electronic components."

Water Network will set sail

Launch ceremonies are scheduled for Friday at 11 a.m. in Davis Centre room 1301, followed by a laboratory tour.

Among those expected are Tom Brzustowski, president of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, and Elizabeth Witmer, Ontario environment minister. UW president David Johnston and earth sciences professor Robert Gillham, the scientific director of the Network, will speak.

Creation of the federally-funded CWN was announced earlier this year. One of four newly funded Networks of Centres of Excellence, the CWN/RCE has received $14.9 million over four years to fund work by researchers from all ten provinces on a broad range of water issues considered critical to Canada. Its administrative centre is located at UW on the ground floor of the "BFG" building on Columbia Street.

The Networks of Centres of Excellence program is supported by the federal industry ministry and administered jointly by NSERC, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

Suddenly it's November: more notes

Today is also the day on which university enrolment is officially counted, to be reported to the government for statistical and funding purposes. I'm told that it'll be at least next week before UW's November 1 calculations are announced.

A flu shot clinic and a blood donor clinic both continue today in the Student Life Centre.

Alan Bernstein, president of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, will be on campus today, as I was saying at some length in yesterday's Bulletin. He'll meet with officials for the first part of the morning, then from 10:30 to 12 noon will hold an open session in Needles Hall room 3001. Faculty members interested in health research are invited to be there. After lunch with a few VIPs, Bernstein will head down the road to meet with researchers at Wilfrid Laurier University this afternoon.

You can lug a mug and get a deal today. Buy a coffee, tea or hot chocolate from a food services outlet, and you can get a Lug-a-Mug for $1. Not only does it keep your drinks from draining out through your fingers, but it guarantees discounts on refills: get a large for the price of a medium, every time. Food services has been a partner in the Lug-a-Mug promotion for ten years now. The $1 sale today will be repeated November 6 and 8, and other mug promotions are planned for various days in November.

And more:

• The cancer control seminar series continues today with "Academia's Contribution to the Tobacco Epidemic", at 12:30 in the Clarica Auditorium of the Lyle Hallman Institute. The speaker is Joanna Cohen of the University of Toronto.
• Down the street at Wilfrid Laurier University, a "Law and MBA fair" will run from 4:30 to 7:00 tonight in the Paul Martin Centre. It's an opportunity for students to find out more about possible professional study, from representatives of some 15 different programs (including UW's own Master of Accounting stream).
• The Fine Arts Film Society showing of "The Foul King", first film in this fall's series of Korean productions, starts at 7:00 tonight in East Campus Hall room 1220.
• A PBS-produced video titled "Islam: Empire of Faith" will be shown at 7:00 this evening in Davis Centre room 1351, sponsored by the Muslim Study Group. Everyone is welcome.
• The architecture school's weekly series, "24 Academic Positions", continues tonight with a talk by Paul Dowling, "Architecture and Context" (7:00, Environmental Studies II room 280).

CAR