September 18, 2002

Wednesday, September 18, 2002

Students boast record average
Three awards for 'research excellence'
New firm promises imaging solutions
Smarter health, and other happenings

Editor:
Chris Redmond
credmond@uwaterloo.ca

[Ariaratnam]
Convocation on October 26 will see the title of Distinguished Professor Emeritus awarded to Sinnathamby (Ari) Ariaratnam, who retired last fall from UW's department of civil engineering.
And there will be honorary degrees for four people: Robert Johnston, former general manager of the National Ballet of Canada; Allan Freeze, considered one of the founders of modern hydrogeology; Frank Clifford, well-known Kitchener-Waterloo educator; and Rudolph Marcus, considered the foremost theoretical physical chemist in the world. Details of their awards were made public in a UW news release and announced at Monday night's senate meeting.

Students boast record average

UW's new first-year students have record high school marks this year, with a campus-wide average of 85.5, the director of admissions reports.

That's up from 84.2 last year and in 2000, and "the highest reported over the last 7 years", says admissions director Peter Burroughs, who issued a summary of marks last week.

The average mark from high school is higher than last year's level in arts, engineering, environmental studies, math, software engineering and science, and down by just two-tenths of a point (from 82.2 to 82.0) in applied health sciences.

Top incoming marks are in software engineering (94.1) followed by engineering (90.8). Other figures: arts 79.3, ES 81.5, math 88.2, science 82.8.

Burroughs notes that the marks are higher even though "we admitted and confirmed considerably more OSS students than were expected this fall," and certainly more than were in the first-year class a year ago. The figures include "the highest 6 OAC final grades including the specific pre-requisite courses for the program".

Burroughs told UW's senate on Monday that first-year admissions ended up 10 per cent over target this fall, with a total of 5,112 students admitted and confirmed, compared to the target of 4,630.

"By our final application deadline," he said, "the university had received 26,646 applications for year one programs. Last year, we received 23,553." He added that 436 of the first-year students this year are from outside Canada, compared to 281 last year.

And as UW finishes counting this year's first-year students, it begins to recruit next year's. Today is the first day of 2002-03 visits to Ontario secondary schools by liaison staff from the province's universities.

Three awards for 'research excellence'

Three winners of UW's "Awards for Excellence in Research" have been announced this year -- one each from accountancy, biology, and systems design engineering.

Paul Guild, UW's vice-president (university research), announced the names to the university senate, noting that a selection committee, which he chaired, had met in June.

Said Guild's report: "The Awards provide a grant for research of $1,500 with recognition to be given at Convocation. Selection criteria include: (1) In assessing excellence, the term 'research' must be interpreted in its broadest sense, referring to any original, productive scholarship in any of the disciplines of investigation and learning in the University; (2) The committee will give cognizance to differences among disciplines in terms of funding levels, time to publish, and nature of the publications or other scholarly works as examples; and (3) In general, the nominees will have achieved a high level of widely recognized research production in their disciplines."

Besides being recognized at convocation, the award recipients each year are expected to be honoured at "an appropriate public forum . . . at which each will make a brief public presentation about his/her research". As of last year, that forum is the annual Graduate Student Research Conference, held in April.

Guild provided brief biographies of this year's three award winners:

[Boyle] Phelim Boyle, school of accountancy: Phelim Boyle is known throughout the world for his pioneering work on options in finance and, 25 years ago, published one of the most important papers in the field of finance, introducing a method still used today. Professor Paul Glassennan of Columbia University cites the 1977 paper and several others and writes, "Few scholars have succeeded in communicating with both [the actuarial and the financial economics] communities; no one has done it more effectively than Professor Boyle." Among several awards, he has received the Redington Award (1999) awarded by the Society of Actuaries for a paper judged one of ten classic papers published in the last 50 years; the Centennial Gold Medal for Outstanding Scientific Achievement Within the Actuarial Profession in 1995; and the INA Award (Italian Academy of Science) for distinguished research in insurance.

[Thompson] John Thompson, department of biology: John Thompson is a truly exceptional scientist who has made his mark internationally in diverse research fields. He is highly productive, highly funded, has supervised successfully a large number of graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, has received many national and international honours, including fellowship in the Royal Society of Canada. He has contributed generously to the advancement of research through membership in and participation of the highest level in national and international professional bodies and granting agencies. Professor Thompson has an international reputation as one of the world's leading plant membrane biochemists and authority on the molecular biology of plant senescence. His research papers are widely quoted and have had major impact on the research directions of many of his colleagues worldwide.

[Hipel] Keith Hipel, systems design engineering: Keith Hipel's many distinguished research contributions and the wide influence that his work in conflict analysis and stochastic hydrological models have provided has clearly established him as a world leader in systems analysis. His excellence in research has been recognized by a large number of prestigious awards nationally and internationally. He currently is the holder of a Canada Council Killam Research Fellowship. He is a Fellow of The Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (1996), Fellow of American Water Resources Association (1993), Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering (1997), and a Fellow of The Royal Society of Canada (1998). His dedication to outstanding research and research initiatives and graduate training are widely recognized through the international research community in his field of expertise; he has clearly helped make UW's Systems Design Engineering program and Department one of the very best in the world.

New firm promises imaging solutions

UW Graphics says a new company is taking over the contract for photocopiers on campus: "We have an agreement with Ricoh Canada Inc. to install and maintain Ricoh equipment."

But hey, it's not just a photocopier, it's an "imaging solution". Says an on-line announcement, "Over the last twelve months, Graphics has spent considerable time investigating a wide range of imaging solutions in the marketplace. We are convinced that the Ricoh solution provides the University with significant benefits at the institutional, departmental and individual desktop level. More people will have access to greater technology to accomplish their printing, copying and faxing needs faster, with better quality, at less cost.

"This newest partnership will help Graphics offer you a competitive service at the forefront of information technology that maintains the leading edge vision of our campus."

The announcement says staff "representing a sample of university departments" will be invited to attend demonstrations by Ricoh. "Participants will have an opportunity to observe the equipment in operation, ask questions and gain some hands-on experience.

"Ricoh will perform individual assessments in order to assist the University in establishing a current and future strategy for the introduction and installation of digital equipment. These include a review of some electronic imaging requirements that extend beyond the original scope of the fleet copier program and a review of the University's existing photocopiers and individually owned laser printers and faxes. This will enable us to identify improvements to capacity and printing speed, while lowering overall printing and maintenance costs. You will find out how your area will benefit financially."

It says people from Ricoh will visit all UW departments "to document what (if any) infrastructure changes would benefit individual areas from the installation of the equipment. Possible changes may include the installation or movement of electrical outlets, fax lines, or in a few cases, network connections. We look to establish a total cost-of-ownership cost reduction with a pathway to get there that is practical and does not exceed any area's capacity for change."

Not just departmental copiers are involved: "Ricoh Canada Inc. will also provide state-of-the-art photocopiers that are user-friendly and environment-friendly for self-service use in libraries and public location ."

Smarter health, and other happenings

"Innovations in Medical Image Management" is the topic for this fall's first Smarter Health Seminar, to be given starting at 3:00 in Davis Centre room 1302. The event, organizers say, "will be of interest to health and information technology executives and professionals, university and college faculty, staff and students". Mitra Inc. of Waterloo, a developer of imaging and information management systems for radiology, will present the seminar, which will deal with sharing and distributing needed information in today's busy healthcare diagnostic departments.

Speaking of busy, have you driven on Columbia Street lately? Waterloo Region and the City of Waterloo are looking for comments on possible "improvements" to Columbia between Westmount Road and Fischer-Hallman Road -- past the Columbia Lake Townhouses, in other words -- and on the planned extension of Westmount Road across the currently empty north campus. Plans date from 1985 and need to be reviewed, it seems, and a "Class Environmental Assessment Review" is under way. A "public information centre" is scheduled for tonight, from 4 to 8 p.m. at Laurel Church Centre, 685 Highpoint Avenue (off Northfield Drive) just north of the north campus. More information: 575-4750.

Retired fine arts professor Tony Urquhart will be in the spotlight tonight for "Portraits of the Artist #1" -- a public "conversation" with UW writer-in-residence Robert Reid, starting at 7:30 in the Theatre of the Arts, Modern Languages building. Admission is free and there will be a reception after the hour-long event. The conversation will be "abetted by sculpture and selected slides", a flyer explains. "Reid and Urquhart will explore stages of Tony's work, the difficulties of living an artist's life, and what makes life as an artist possible." The event is part of a festival of Urquhart this fall; an exhibition of his work in UW's art gallery, also in Modern Languages, opens tomorrow.

More briefly:

Registration for instructional programs in campus recreation continues today at the Physical Activities Complex.
The career development workshop series is under way again. Today at 4:30, it's "Letter Writing", and at 5:30, "Resumé Writing". The career information centre in Needles Hall accepts preregistrations.
A volunteer recruitment meeting for the Midnight Sun solar car project is scheduled for 4:30 in the great hall of the Student Life Centre; "students in all years and programs" are welcome. After the presentation, there will be an open house for Midnight Sun in Engineering III room 2103D, from 6 to 8 p.m.
Keen mathematics alumni will be out on the greens of the Grey Silos Golf Course today for the annual Math Classic.
A group of students and staff interested in the Debian GNU/Linux operating system will hold an organizing meeting tonight at 6:00 in Math and Computer room 4061. The meeting promises food, "free Debian 3.0 CDs while supplies last", and "a chance to get your GnuPG/PGP key signed by plenty of people", which is probably important to the kind of folks who know what it means.
A meeting for volunteers to assist the Federation of Students Food Bank will be held at 4:30 in Student Life Centre room 2125. Religious studies student Anne Pathammavong, one of the organizers, adds that "Meal Exchange has finally come to UW," and I think we'll be hearing more about that program.
The weekly gay and lesbian discussion group is scheduled for 7:00 tonight in Humanities room 373. Topic of the week: "Coming Out".

However, in spite of what I said yesterday, there will not be a concert of "forbidden music" today, although not because it's forbidden. It just isn't happening, and the listing was apparently the result of some confusion in publicity from the music department. A major recital is, however, scheduled for Sunday: "Forbidden Music of Nazi Germany -- Music by Jewish Composers". Time, 3 p.m.; place, the Grebel chapel. I'll say more about it later in the week.

Several Warrior teams are in competition tonight. The women's field hockey team plays Laurier in an exhibition game at 3:30 at RIM Park; the baseball team will face Laurier at 7 p.m.; field hockey faces Guelph, also at 7:00; the men's rugby team will be over in Guelph for an evening game.

Tomorrow, as I was saying, brings two rather extended "coffee breaks" in support of the Alzheimer Society of Canada. One is in the Lyle Hallman Institute, which is the home of UW's own Alzheimer research program. Munchies will be available there, and donations accepted, from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. tomorrow. Second, people in UW Graphics will be serving goodies all day tomorrow at the main graphics location, which I've been asked to point out is in the "Commissary", the wing of the General Services Complex that faces the ring road. Donations will be accepted there and at other graphics outlets across campus.

Coming later this week:

The auditor-general of Canada, Sheila Fraser, will speak Thursday at 4 p.m. in Davis Centre room 1351, on "accounting and accountability".
Joe Clark, leader of the federal Progressive Conservative Party, will speak Friday at 7:30 at Siegfried Hall, St. Jerome's University.

CAR

TODAY IN UW HISTORY
September 18, 1962: Some 500 volunteers from the business world begin collecting for the Canadian Fund to Expand the University of Waterloo, with a goal of $3 million. On the same day, a charter is granted to Camp 15 Waterloo by the Corporation of the Seven Wardens, responsible for the engineers' Iron Ring ritual.