September 20, 2002

Friday, September 20, 2002

Research chair in optometry
Art brings power to the people
A memo from human resources
Charity run aids local agencies
UW Place celebrates; other events

Editor:
Chris Redmond
credmond@uwaterloo.ca

Royal Medieval Faire in Waterloo Park

Joe Clark speaks tonight
"We recommend you show up early for this one!" writes Doug Letson, this year's director of the St. Jerome's University lecture series.
[Clark] He's talking about this evening's speech by Joe Clark, leader of the federal Progressive Conservatives, under the title "Public Life and Faith in Canada". It's this year's Wintermeyer Lecture in Christianity and Public Policy, and part of a year-long series on "Spirituality for the World".
The lecture starts at 7:30 tonight at Siegfried Hall, St. Jerome's.
A native of High River, Alberta, Joe Clark was elected to the House of Commons at the age of 32. Four years later, the young Member of Parliament was elected leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada. In 1979, the 39-year-old Clark became the youngest prime minister in Canadian history.
"Speaking out of decades of experience," says Letson, "Mr. Clark will look at faith and public life in Canada." Admission is free.

Research chair in optometry

As the National Post put it yesterday: "The controversial Draize eye test, in which chemical irritants are splashed into the eyes of live rabbits to gauge the potential risk to humans, is set to be replaced by a more humane version."

[Sivak] The work is led by UW optometry professor Jake Sivak (left), whose new "industrial chair in in-vitro ophthalmic toxicology" will be launched with celebrations at 10:30 this morning in the Davis Centre. The chair is sponsored by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council and the eye care company Bausch & Lomb.

According to a news release, the research program will focus on validation of the concept for an alternative method for safe product testing. "It is aimed at helping -- along with other technologies being tested around the world -- to replace the Draize eye irritancy test, which is one of the most reviled toxicology animal tests using large numbers of rabbits that are often subjected to extreme discomfort. While the Draize test has been in use since 1944, concerns have been raised that the results do not always correlate well to the human eye and there is unacceptable variation between results in different laboratories."

Sivak has been working for a number of years on tests based on cow lenses acquired from dead animals at abattoirs. There has been some confirmation that at least in some cases, the proposed bovine lens test is a more accurate reflection of the toxicological effect on the human eye than is the Draize test.

The results of this research program, the news release explains, are expected to be applicable around the world and will allow cosmetic and pharmaceutical producers to streamline their in-house product development while improving customer safety and satisfaction.

Art brings power to the people -- by Barbara Elve, from this week's Gazette

Taking centre stage at Kitchener's Contemporary Art Forum next week will be an installation by UW electrical and computer engineering professor Rob Gorbet.

Working in the Gorbet Artists Collective with Matt Gorbet and Susan Gorbet, his brother and sister-in-law, Rob is stepping out of the classroom and into the public arena, using art to stimulate a dialogue about technology.

In its design proposal, the collective describes its installation -- on display at Kitchener City Hall from September 21 to 29 -- as "a panel of familiar household light switches (occupying) a platform on the west side of the fountain in front of Kitchener City Hall. A 35-foot long, 125 bulb marquee of light bulbs transforms the façade of the building. Passers-by can flip a few switches and instantly see that each switch controls a corresponding light. They are in control of the display and can create any patterns they choose in the hanging web of lights."

[Rob at left, Matt at right] The installation, entitled P2P, reflects the theme of this year's art forum, "Power to the People", which marks the 100th anniversary of the plan for public ownership of what became Ontario Hydro, conceived in Berlin/Kitchener in 1902. As well, "the work's title, P2P, addresses the much-publicized recent development of peer-to-peer (P-2-P) technologies, which enable members of a community to communicate and share information without the mediation of any centralized authority.

"The installation itself is also the most basic hardwired instantiation of a point-to-point network, where communication follows a direct link from one node to another."

This isn't the first time the Gorbet brothers (left) have created a synthesis of art and technology. In 1999 they worked with a colleague at Stanford University to design a kinetic sculpture they hope someday will be installed on Mars. The Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) sculpture is slotted for a NASA payload in 2007. "I've always had a creative streak," says Rob, who earned his PhD in electrical engineering at UW. Matt did an undergraduate degree in architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, following with a master's at the MIT Media Lab, where he worked "on the razor's edge between art and technology." Susan, who has degrees in psychology and computer science, runs Gorbet Design Inc. in Toronto with Matt.

"The artist plays an important role in highlighting issues society will be facing," says Matt, in town to complete the work on P2P in Rob's garage last week. "It's about getting the audience to ask questions about the role of technology" -- with the P2P installation, about such issues as freedom of speech and how technology is used to communicate, he says.

In their design proposal, the collective describes the marquee as "a now ubiquitous feature of our communities and an iconic tool of corporate communication." P2P subverts that function by allowing "citizens to communicate directly, without the oversight of a centralized authority. P2P is a medium for public expression and connection, literally and figuratively bringing Power to the People." Individuals can install a word or short phrase, or even collaborate to make designs or play games on the marquee. "It's meant to spur discussion among people," adds Rob.

P2P will be among 20 works from Canada, the United Kingdom, the United States and Mexico appearing in the Contemporary Art Forum. An opening reception will be held on Saturday at 7 p.m. in the Kitchener City Hall rotunda.

A memo from human resources

Sandie Hurlburt, assistant director of human resources, sent out a memo this week that contains, by my count, four separate things departments (and faculty and staff) might want to know.

Here's the text, and I've taken the liberty of highlighting key phrases:

During the week of November 4, the PeopleSoft HRMS system will be unavailable due to installation of a major software upgrade. The University is upgrading to a Web-based version which will allow some self-service for employees to view some of their own information on line. (More information on self-service capabilities will be provided later.)
To comply with government regulations and to ensure proper authentication of employees, it is mandatory that we have correct birthdates and Social Insurance Numbers for all UW employees, including graduate students, temporary employees and casual staff. Please ensure that this information is complete for new employees before submission to Human Resources.
This upgrade will affect the pay schedule for casual employees, who would normally be paid on November 8, 2002. The pay period currently scheduled for the period October 20 to November 2, 2002 will be changed to a one-week pay period (from October 20 to 26, 2002) with a paydate of November 1, 2002. Then the next casual paydate will be November 15, 2002 and the casual paydates will then continue on a biweekly basis.

She sent along a revised schedule of casual payroll dates for the rest of 2002. A schedule for 2003 is also available on the HR web site.

Says the memo: "We thank you for your patience during this process. Please contact me at hurlburt@uwaterloo.ca if you have any questions."

Charity run aids local agencies -- a news release from St. Jerome's University

The 27th St. Jerome's Charity Run will launch a marathon 48-hour run around the Ring Road today at noon. Money raised through sponsorship of runners and other events will be directed to support the Working Centre and St. John's Kitchen in Kitchener.

The annual run has been organized by students at St. Jerome's University since 1976. Academic dean Kieran Bonner stated that "Charity Run demonstrates, in practical terms, our students' commitment to issues of community, charity and social justice."

This year's events, organized by students Maeve Bonner and Sarah Jansma, also include a concert at Fed Hall on Saturday, featuring five student bands. Doors open at 8:00 and a $5 cover charge applies. A penny raffle, movie night and spaghetti dinner organized by the Student Catholic Community round out four days of fun with charitable intentions.

The choice of the Working Centre as the beneficiary was a easy one. Established in downtown Kitchener in 1982 by SJU grads Joe and Stephanie Mancini, it operates the St. John's Kitchen, Barterworks, and Recycle Cycles, among many other worthy initiatives.

UW Place celebrates; other events

The 7th annual "Community Life Night" will be held today from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Beck Hall playground at UW Place, the residences on University Avenue.

"The main purpose of the event is to promote safety within the UW Place community and to make our residents aware of the resources that exist on and off campus," said Sandy Morton of the residence life office. UW Place houses a mixture of first-year and exchange students, upper-year undergraduates, grads and students with families.

There will be activities including carnival rides, entertainers Barney the magician and Erick Traplin, KOOL-FM on site, hot dogs and soft drinks. There will be a fire truck and representatives from the Waterloo Fire Department along with Waterloo North Hydro, Anselma House, Sexual Assault Centre, K-W Multicultural Centre, Walksafe, UW Athletics, UW Safety and more.

Also today and this weekend:

Co-op students are barely back from the spring work term, but it's time to look ahead to January jobs. The first posting of winter term jobs will go up today and noon (and expire Monday night). This posting includes jobs in most programs, but not architecture or the teaching option.

The Grad House is offering "some of the best blues music in the area" today, in an event that runs from noon to closing time and will raise funds for the Food Bank of Waterloo Region. Everybody's invited; admission is a cash or non-perishable food donation. Performing will be Poor Charlie (noon to 2), the Matt Osborne Band (3 to 5), the Waterstreet Blues Band (5 to 7), Gorgeous George (7 to 8 and again 10 to 11), Bluesynergy (8 to 10), and the Pandemonium Blues Band (11 to closing).

The University Club has a Reif Estate wine tasting event set for tonight (dinner's at 7:00). Last-minute information should be available at ext. 3801.

Programming contests will be held on campus tomorrow and again September 28, as UW moves to choose its team for the big ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest for this year. Gordon Cormack of the department of computer science, who coaches UW's programming teams to top placings in the international competitions almost every year, notes that the contest runs for three hours and involves on-line problem solving in Java, C, C++ or Pascal. "Results of the local contests are used to select six team members to represent UW at the ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest (first round in November). A variety of problems are posed, from easy to challenging." Information for potential competitors is available on-line.

Here's word from Gays and Lesbians of Waterloo: "The new school year's first Boyz & Boys & Girls & Grrls Night, a mostly-LGBT-student pub and dance night, is happening Saturday at the Grad House. This is an all-ages event, and everyone is welcome to attend, regardless of your sexual orientation. Here's what we have planned: 9 p.m. to 10 p.m., Primer Party! Get to know people in a more relaxed setting. 10 p.m. to 2:30 a.m., Music, dancing, more drinks, and more fun. The cost is only $2.50 at the door. Please arrive early as we are expecting a large crowd at this event."

Sports show goes on at WLU, despite bargaining breakdown -- from The Record
Sports this weekend: The cross-country teams are hosting the Waterloo Open, Saturday afternoon on the north campus. The men's tennis Warriors host McMaster and Western starting at 9:00 tomorrow, while the women's team is down the street at Wilfrid Laurier. The baseball Warriors host Guelph tomorrow at 1:00. The women's rugby team will host Brock at the same hour -- not on the same field, I hope. Competing away from Waterloo are the football Warriors (at Windsor) and the men's and women's soccer teams (at Nipissing on Saturday and Laurentian on Sunday).

CAR

TODAY IN UW HISTORY
September 20, 1953: The cornerstone is laid for a new teaching building at Waterloo College, soon to become the parent of the "Associate Faculties".