August 13, 2002

Tuesday, August 13, 2002

Research funds past $100 million
Schools keep the Flex Lab busy
Microsoft event tomorrow, and more

Editor:
Chris Redmond
credmond@uwaterloo.ca

Results of Ontario government survey on education

[Buffet under an awning]
Lunch was served outside South Campus Hall yesterday, as thousands of future students and members of their families hit campus for Student Life 101. And a beautiful day they had for it, too. Photo by Barbara Elve.

Research funds past $100 million

Research funding at UW went up by more than a third in the past year, with the total rising from $83.9 million in 2000-01 to $115.7 million in 2001-02.

That's even a bigger jump than Paul Guild, the vice-president (university research), had been predicting. He said last September that the figure "could easily poke through $100 million" in the year that was then under way. Research is now the third largest component of UW's finances, behind government operating grants and tuition fees.

An annual report on "sponsored research funds", issued by Guild's office, gives credit to hefty grants from federal and provincial programs for much of the increase. For example, UW received more than $23 million from the Canada Foundation for Innovation in the past year, up from $7 million the year before.

That puts CFI in first place as a source of research funding for UW, displacing the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, which has ranked first every year as long as figures have been kept. NSERC grants to UW in the past year totalled $22.5 million.

In third place as a funding source was the Ontario Innovation Trust, which matches many CFI grants to universities, and gave Waterloo a total of $9.9 million in 2001-02.

[Graph of funding for each faculty] Among other large sums arriving in the past year was $6.1 million from the federal government by way of "overhead" funding for the indirect costs of federally sponsored research. (That's the biggest share of some $10 million in "miscellaneous" research revenue not listed under any of the six faculties.)

The annual report shows total grants of $88.5 million, research contracts of $22.1 million, $681,000 in licence fees and royalties, and $4.4 million in miscellaneous research-related funds.

The faculty of engineering accounted for $30.7 million of the grants, closely followed by science with $29.5 million. But science had more contract funding than engineering -- $8.2 million compared to $7.3 million.

Across the campus, electrical and computer engineering had the most grant funding ($12.5 million) and earth sciences had the most contract funding ($3.3 million).

Schools keep the Flex Lab busy

From urban sprawl to the Plains of Abraham, teams of teachers and students are working this week on high-tech ways of teaching issues in Canadian studies.

They're here from eight high schools across Canada, two teachers and two students from each school, as Clarica Scholars, hosted by the Centre for Learning and Teaching Through Technology.

Jill Porter, manager of the program for LT3, explains that each team arrived with a big idea, which they submitted as a "project idea" that got them selected for the week-long program. It's the second round for Clarica Scholars at UW this summer -- a first group were here for five hectic days in July, working on projects in various branches of science.

Says Porter: "The week begins with teams planning to create the universe. we hammer away at design principles and pedagogy ahead of bells and whistles, and then we see what is created as a prototype by the end of the week."

Things are busy in the Flex Lab in the Dana Porter Library: "We have the benefit of visiting lecturers -- John Mitterer of Brock University and Deborah Maskens from UW, who join the LT3 team -- and we work everyone for about 12 hours a day!"

At 4:00 this afternoon it'll be time for "Trading Spaces", when the teams take their first look at what other teams are doing, and give each other feedback. Less than a day later, on Wednesday afternoon, a group of local high school students will arrive as volunteer guinea pigs for whatever the teams have developed by that time. "On Friday," says Porter, "we have the final Showcase of Projects, starting at 8:45 a.m."

Three of the teams are from Manitoba, two from Ontario, and one each from Saskatchewan, Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. Balmoral Hall School in Winnipeg is working on a teaching module about "Aboriginal Rights"; Central Collegiate Institute in Moose Jaw, "Famous Canadian Women"; Jakeman All Grade School in Trout River, Newfoundland, "Appreciation of Fragile Ecosystems"; Sherwood Park Education Centre in Sydney, "Municipal Government in Canada"; St. Augustine High in Markham, "Economic and Social Value of Natural Resources"; Tagwi Secondary School, Avonmore, Ontario, "Battle of the Plains of Abraham"; Transcona Collegiate, Winnipeg, "Urban Sprawl"; and William Morton Collegiate, Gladstone, Manitoba, "A Bilingual Experiential Tutorial for an Exchange Program".

Peter Goldsworthy of the LT3 staff says the centre "holds great hope that the Clarica Scholars Program can continue". This is the second year of Clarica's announced two-year sponsorship. Two sessions were held at UW, last year, and Clarica is also supporting sessions at Acadia University in Nova Scotia.

Says Goldsworthy: "It has offered great opportunities for secondary students and their teachers to fast-track through a course of study, not unlike Arts 303, UW's 'Designing Learning Activities with Interactive Multimedia' course."

[Screen shot of page]
'Information space' -- that's the subtitle on the UW library's new web site, which went live yesterday. Library staff say the new design "fixes some problems, eliminates some Library jargon, makes use of new technology and complies with the UW web design guidelines". The home page includes a box for a quick search of the Trellis catalogue, along with quick buttons for electronic journals, course reserves, indexes and databases and "your library account". Pull-down menus include "books, articles, etc." and electronic reference. "This," says the home page, "is your gateway to the Library, the items on our shelves, and our expanding electronic holdings." It was created with the help of faculty and students who took part in usability testing of various designs, including a group from Systems Design 348 last year and this year who tackled it as a class project.

Microsoft event tomorrow, and more

Microsoft Canada Co. says it will announce "a national innovation initiative with Canadian universities" at a news conference at UW tomorrow.

A news release from the company -- the Canadian branch of the world's biggest software firm -- didn't explain the initiative, but said Waterloo will be "the first academic partner".

There will be a news conference at 10:00 tomorrow morning in the Davis Centre, which will also be webcast. Visitors for the occasion will include Frank Clegg, president of Microsoft Canada.

Reminder: the student awards office will be closed all day tomorrow, Wednesday, "to meet critical deadlines".

Surprise, surprise: there's a smog advisory in effect for Waterloo Region again today. "During the smog episode, individuals may experience eye irritation. Heavy outdoor exercise may cause respiratory symptoms such as coughing or shortness of breath. People with heart or lung disease including asthma may experience a worsening of their condition."

CAR

TODAY IN UW HISTORY
August 13, 1962: Bob Mudie joins UW's staff as manager of food services.