September 23, 2002

Monday, September 23, 2002

Machine lab welcomes giant tool
Tenure for 28 profs last year
Web access for instructors, advisors
Conference explores drinking water safety
It's the last week of September

Editor:
Chris Redmond
credmond@uwaterloo.ca

[Ingersoll photo]

Machine lab welcomes giant tool

There's something new on campus today: an Octahedral Hexapod (right).

"The Octahedral Hexapod is a specialized, state-of-the-art machine tool using parallel kinematic technology," explains a news release from the company that built it, Ingersoll Milling Machines of Rockford, Illinois.

Resembling a lunar lander (octahedral hexapod means eight sides, six legs), the precision tool is being installed in a new "machining lab" in UW's department of mechanical engineering.

A celebration of the new lab's opening is scheduled for 11:00 today in Engineering III room 2150. The event will star David Johnston, UW's president, and Tom McDunn, president of Ingersoll.

The machine, says Ingersoll, "is the first unit ever built in this size range with unprecedented metal cutting capability. The first of its kind, the Octahedral Hexapod, capable of 5-axis machining of hard materials, was developed in 1993. Since then over two dozen companies around the world have introduced Parallel Link machines in the same spirit and spawned numerous research programs in several universities."

At UW, such work is headed by mech eng professor Sanjeev Bedi, who notes that "the rigidity of the octahedral configuration and the freedom to approach the work piece makes the hexapod ideal for surface machining research." Bedi plans to give students hands-on experience with the state of the art in metal cutting equipment.

Says Bedi on his web site: "In future, the work will be undertaken to allow a solid modeller and an NC machine to share their work space and allow virtual projection of a part onto the work volume of a machine. This will allow the development of an NC machine which does not require a tool path and is capable of machining a virtual part by mere selection of control buttons. (This is my dream.)"
"Professor Bedi's expertise in complex surface machining in general and his academic pursuit of optimum tool path strategies to achieve accuracy with minimum passes is of great interest in the industry and machine tool builders like Ingersoll," the company says.

"The Octahedral Hexapod will also form a research platform for exploration of new manufacturing arenas. Kanwar Singh, Ingersoll's director of advanced technology points to the Octahedral as 'allowing the stiffest machine tool structure with the least amount of weight requiring minimal foundation support'. . . . You can literally pick up one corner of the machine while cutting without affecting the resulting accuracy."

At today's ceremonies, the company will present a plaque commemorating the vision of Edson Ingersoll Gaylord, past president and Chairman of Ingersoll. "Edson was a true visionary in our industry and it is only fitting that we honor his contribution with this plaque on this occasion", says McDunn. "Edson would have been most proud to see this equipment serve to keep innovation in North American manufacturing alive."

WLU staff strike continues

From Saturday's Record
From WLU management
From the WLU students' union
From the WLU library

Tenure for 28 profs last year

Five faculty members came to UW with tenure in the past year, and a total of 23 who were already at Waterloo were awarded tenure, says the annual report of the University Tenure and Promotion Advisory Committee.

The committee, chaired by Bill Lennox of the civil engineering department, sent its annual report to the university senate this month. It notes that in addition to people who were awarded tenure, a total of 18 faculty members received promotions. "There were four unsuccessful applicants for promotion."

Faculty members usually start at the rank of assistant professor. They move up to associate professor about six years later, usually at the same time that they get tenure. A promotion to "full" professor can come some years later.

The UTPAC report notes that one of the four faculty members who were turned down for promotion filed an appeal, and "a tribunal was formed in response to an appeal against the decision of the President not to promote to Professor.

The tribunal heard testimony from a Departmental Tenure and Promotion Committee spokesperson, the Faculty Dean, and statements from the candidate and the President. Questioning by the tribunal focused primarily on the scholarly record. The unanimous decision of the tribunal was that the criteria for promotion to Professor had not been met."

During the year, the committee also dealt with a case that has been under way since 1999, involving a faculty member who was denied tenure, filed a grievance and received a new hearing. "All relevant material considered," says the report, the committee "did not find a sound rationale for overturning the previous decision."

Web access for instructors, advisors

Pages tailored to faculty and staff on the Quest student information system site, which have been "coming soon" for a fair while, went into operation last week.

Carmen Roecker in the registrar's office notes that the new pages provide various options to instructors and staff who need to deal with student records -- including an "important dates" list, a collection of "step-by-step procedures with screen shots", and an "advisement repository".

In addition, the WINQ inquiry system is now linked to Quest, she said:

A new version of WINQ has been published. If you currently have access to WINQ and you usually link to WINQ using the URL ayersrock.uwaterloo.ca, you'll see a new "front page". This page contains a "log on to WINQ" button and has links to the "winq news" and "wing password mtce" pages. You can also go directly to this page from the QUEST web site by clicking on to faculty or staff and then to winq on the left-menu navigation bar.
In addition to new functionality, all issues reported to date have been resolved. We invite you to read the winq news page for important information about the new version of WINQ and how to get help.

She notes that not everybody in the world can make use of the new services: "To log on to Quest, you must be an academic advisor, an instructor, or a student. Faculty and staff that should have advisor's access to Quest should send an e-mail to Charlene Schumm in scheduling (cschumm@uwaterloo.ca)."

Lunch invitation: The Student Information Systems Project management committee "is pleased to host a modest lunch", says a memo, "to thank all faculty and staff members who contributed to our successful implementation and launch of Quest over the last year and more. If Quest and you are old friends, please tell us you're coming by sending e-mail to sispproj@ist, and then join us for pizza and salad in the Festival Room on Thursday, October 3."

Conference explores drinking water safety

More than 150 international water experts will gather at a conference in Ottawa this week, co-sponsored by UW, to consider the recommendations of the Walkerton Inquiry, among other studies.

The conference, entitled "Drinking Water Safety: A Total Quality Management Approach," is being organized by the Network for Environmental Risk Assessment and Management, based at Waterloo. The network also involves researchers at Ottawa, Alberta, Laval and Calgary.

Organizers say this will be the first such conference to consider the recommendations of the Walkerton Inquiry. A total of 40 scientific and technical papers on the latest drinking water research results will be presented at the event, to be held at the Fairmont Chateau Laurier hotel in Ottawa.

"It is not practical to implement all of the Walkerton Inquiry recommendations in the short term," said John Shortreed, professor emeritus in civil engineering. "Our goal is to identify the highest priority actions for the next five to 10 years needed to achieve safe drinking water in Canada. A priority 'vote' by delegates will select the most safety-effective recommendations."

At the conference, the Canadian Water and Wastewater Association will hold a debate on the implications of Walkerton. Among the panelists are Mike Murray, Waterloo Region's commissioner of environmental services, Les Gammie, of Epcor Water Services Alberta, George Terry, of the Ontario Clean Water Agency, and Carl Yates, of the Halifax Regional Water Commission.

Speakers at the conference will include Peter Huck, holder of the NSERC Chair in Water Treatment at UW and theme leader on safe drinking water for the Canadian Water Network, who will discuss common failure causes in drinking water systems.

It's the last week of September

With a full moon chalked in the blue sky, it's a bright but brisk Monday, and there's lots to do. And may I remind tennis enthusiasts that today is the last day to sign up for next Sunday's Downey Tennisfest, an event aimed at faculty, staff and retirees and their friends. Last-minute information is available from Jane Varley at ext. 2699.

The Math Grad Committee says there will be "a very important session" this afternoon "for all math students who are part of the Class of 2003 (that is they are finished classes December 2002, April 2003, or August 2003)". The meeting starts at 5:30 in Davis Centre room 1350. "There will be speakers to answer questions about and give presentations on Grad Photos, Class of 2003 Group Photo, Benefits of being UW Math Alumni, Career Services and Finding Full Time Employment, and getting involved with the Math Class of 2003 (Yearbooks, Gradball, etc.)."

Today brings the annual general meeting of Radio Waterloo Inc., the corporation that owns UW's student radio station, CKMS. All fee-paying undergraduate students are members of the corporation and can attend the meeting -- 6 p.m. in the multipurpose room of the Student Life Centre -- to help set the direction for CKMS for the coming year.

The Interdisciplinary Coffee Talk Society, which got going over the summer, will hold its first fall gathering tomorrow, at 5 p.m. at the Graduate House. The speaker will be Larissa Fast of peace and conflict studies, talking about "Conflict Resolution Strategies".

A "kickoff session" for this year's Putnam math contest will be held Tuesday night, says Ian VanderBurgh, math lecturer and organizer of UW's entries in the Putnam. Somehow I'm not surprised to hear that pizza and pop will be served at the event. Says VanderBurgh: "You'll hear about the important contest-related dates this term, and have some say as to when our weekly training sessions will be held." Tomorrow's gathering will start at 6 p.m. in Math and Computer room 5136.

A workshop for instructors -- teaching and assistants and others -- is scheduled for Wednesday under the title "Polishing Your Presentation Skills". More information is available on the web site of the teaching resources and continuing education office, which sponsors the "skills-based workshop" series. Wednesday's event will start at 12 noon in Rod Coutts Engineering Lecture Hall room 307.

This fall's Career Fair will be held Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at RIM Park in Waterloo. I'll say more about the event in tomorrow's Daily Bulletin.

It's just been announced that this year's Pascal Lectures on Christianity and the University will be given this week, on Thursday and Friday evenings. The speaker is Anne Foerst, director of the "God and Computers" project at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who will speak on "Seeking a Silicon Soul".

This weekend will bring the Ontario Universities Fair in Toronto -- specifically, at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, from 9 to 7 on Friday, 9 to 6 on Saturday and 10 to 5 on Sunday. UW will be there with a bigger-than-ever booth and staff to answer questions from future students and their parents.

Advance note: the fourth annual Faculty of Environmental Studies Lecture will be given Wednesday, October 2, at 7:30 p.m. in the Theatre of the Arts. This year's speaker is Ellsworth LeDrew of the geography department, talking about "The Role of the Cryosphere in the Everyday Lives of Canadians".

CAR

TODAY IN UW HISTORY
September 23, 1963: UW gets a new phone number, 744-6111.