![[University of Waterloo]](/images/logobars/goldbar.gif)
| Yesterday |
Thursday, November 3, 2005
|
Editor: Chris Redmond credmond@uwaterloo.ca |
![[Green, purple, blue, yellow, orange]](/images/2005/1102crayons.jpg)
Coneheads?
Actually they're
crayons, a brand new box all
ready for the dean to use.
Alison Zorian, Gina Yun, Marica Taylor, Jack Rehder, and Diane Johnston
of the dean of mathematics office made the effort for Hallowe'en on Monday.
|
That means $400,000 every working day comes from government agencies, industry and other sources, passes through UW bank accounts, is spent under the supervision of faculty members (on lab expenses, graduate student salaries, equipment and other costs), and has to be accounted for.
Says the memo from provost Amit Chakma: "Financial administration and oversight is a shared responsibility across campus involving many people. Areas of major concentration of this activity are the Finance Department, the Office of Research and the Faculties (both at the decanal and unit level). I have asked Alan George to lead a small task force to review the way in which our research funding is managed, controlled and reported upon, with the general objective of providing improved service to our various communities." George is associate provost (information systems and technology).
Issues for the task force, Chakma wrote, include "Who does what? That is, which activities should be the responsibility of the Finance Department, the Office of Research, or the Faculties and their units?" Beyond that: "Are there opportunities to streamline activities? Does paper go through too many hands? Are there opportunities to replace paper transactions by electronic communication? How does UW ensure accounting and other related procedures and policies are effectively communicated and followed?"
Besides George, the task force includes Judi Carter (executive assistant in the faculty of applied health sciences); Dianne Johnston (finance officer in the faculty of math); Jane Manson (director of finance); Barry Scott of the research office financial staff; Bill Taylor (faculty member in biology); Roy Wagler of information systems and technology; and Mike Worswick (faculty member in mechanical engineering). "The task force has intentionally been kept small," Chakma wrote. "However, it will consult widely as appropriate. Anyone interested in the work of the task force is encouraged to contact its members, or make a written submission."
Designing computer algorithms, improving highway pavements and crunching health statistics are three of the 33 Waterloo projects that will benefit from the new funding. Across Ontario, premier Dalton McGuinty, who personally heads the new ministry, announced $48 million for 312 projects.
"We need to ensure that Ontario can compete in the marketplace of ideas," said an announcement from the premier. "By building a world-class research infrastructure in Ontario, we can attract and retain the best and brightest people and provide jobs and prosperity for Ontarians well into the future."
Paul Guild, UW's vice-president (university research), commented: "These crucial investments in infrastructure support will help our researchers to make significant and outstanding contributions to the development of science and innovation in Canada. As well, they will help train the next generation of outstanding Canadian researchers, ensuring that Canada's prosperity continues."
A few of the researchers receiving last week's funding:
Amir Khandani, electrical and computer engineering. "Laboratory Facilities for Analysis, Design and Implementation of Communication Algorithms." $130,659. The infrastructure funding "will spark investigation into several new research directions to increase the spectral efficiency of wireless networks, together with methods for fast and power efficient implementation of the underlying communication algorithms."
Cecile Devaud and Carolyn Ren, mechanical engineering. "A Facility to Develop Novel Micro Devices and Analysis Tools for Biomedical, Environmental and Safety Applications." $193,434. The funding "will support infrastructure essential to launch an innovative research program in the design and optimization of stand-alone Lab-on-a-Chip devices. The infrastructure will include a High-Performance Computing system and a Fluorescent Visualization system."
Jeff Orchard and Martin Karsten, computer science; Chek Beng Chua, Etienne de Klerk, Jochen Konemann, Romy Shioda, and Jacques Verstraete, combinatorics and optimization; Nathalie Lanson, applied mathematics; Michael Rubinstein, pure mathematics; Weidong Tian and Grace Yi, statistics and actuarial science. "Providing Research Infrastructure for Mathematical Excellence." $630,429. The award "will enable diverse research, from statistical models of financial markets, to the development of biomedical prototypes to aid in cancer treatment. The goal is to offer advances in technology and critical discoveries in mathematical theories contributing to business efficiency, healthcare, engineering and cryptography."
Jennifer Durkin, kinesiology. "Investigation of Knee Joint Loading Patterns Following Injury and Their Influence on Articular Cartilage Remodelling." $124,900. The award "will enable research examining the biomechanical relationship between joint injury and the development of osteoarthritis (a type of arthritis that is caused by the breakdown and eventual loss of the cartilage of one or more joints)."
Other projects deal with everything from nanomaterials to lasers, from obesity to water quality, from genes to philosophers. A full list is included in a news release from UW's media relations office.
Among the artists featured in "Monuments, Anti-Monuments and the
Limits of Sculpture":
• David Mach, a Scottish artist based in London, England, who uses
mundane objects to comment on both sculpture and society
• Aganetha Dyck, Winnipeg, who collaborates with colonies of bees
in an exploration of "human culture and the language of nature"
• Greg Forrest, Halifax, who questions the nature of a monument
through his transformations of everyday objects into monumental
sculpture
• Ruth Abernethy, best known for her commissioned works including
"Raising the Tent" at the Stratford Festival Theatre and the
portrait of Glenn Gould outside the CBC building in Toronto
• Fastwürms (Kim Kozzi and Dai Skuse), Toronto/Creemore
multidisciplinary artists whose art "explores high and popular
cultures, bent identity politics and social exchanges..."
Local artists and scholars participating include Kirsten Abrahamson, Sheila McMath, Michael J. Ambedian, Joan Coutu, and Rick Nixon. A complete schedule of the symposium can be found online. The event is open to the public and admission is free.
| WHEN AND WHERE |
|
Career workshops: "Writing CVs and Cover Letters" 12:00, Tatham
Centre room 2218; "Letter Writing" 3:30, TC 1208; "Getting a US Work
Permit" (for graduating students) 5-8 p.m., TC 1208; registration
online.
Staff Recognition Program reception to honour 2005 winners, 4:00, Festival Room, South Campus Hall. Tanzania team of UW students talk about their work on HIV/AIDS issues, 5:30, Student Life Centre multipurpose room, sponsored by UW International Health Development Association and other groups. Issues in Native Communities series: Drew Hayden Taylor, author and filmmaker, "Aboriginal Humour and Other Things", 7 p.m., St. Paul's College. Arriscraft Lecture: Lieven De Cauter, Brussels, "Indifferent Places, Heterotopia and Camp as Spatial Paradigms for the 21st Century," 7 p.m., Architecture lecture hall. Centre for International Governance Innovation presents Robert Fatton Jr., University of Virginia, "The Fall of Aristide and Haiti's Current Predicament", 7 p.m., 57 Erb Street West, reservations rsvp@cigionline.org. Conference tomorrow at CIGI, "Canada in Haiti". 'Current Indigenous Movements in Mexico', Jorge Torres, director, CETLALIC, Cuernavaca, Mexico, 7:30, Renison College chapel lounge. Pancake breakfast fund-raiser for Breakfast for Learning, sponsored by Engineering Society, Friday 8 to 10 a.m., Carl Pollock Hall foyer (also November 11 and 18). Information systems and technology professional development seminar: "MyWaterloo", Friday 8;45, IST seminar room. Sandford Fleming Foundation Debates for engineering students, final round Friday 12 noon outside POETS pub, Carl Pollock Hall, "refreshments served". Co-op residence open house: Waterloo Co-operative Residence Inc., 268 Phillip Street, Friday and Saturday 2 to 6 p.m. St. Jerome's University president Michael Higgins, "Stalking the Holy: In Pursuit of Saint-Making", Friday 7:30, Siegfried Hall, St. Jerome's, admission free. UW Day open house for future students and their parents, Saturday, November 5, 9:00 to 3:00, details online. |
![[Women in black and white]](/images/2005/1103calendar.jpg)
Now on to other matters:
"The women of the 2007 UW Civil Engineering Class,"
a web
site announces, "have produced an exquisite calendar in a bid to
assist the 2007 Concrete Toboggan Team in raising funds. The 2006 calendar
is being sold to raise funds for the team." (The graphic at right is
a preview of what's in the calendar, the site says.) "It was a project
to bring the women together in a male-dominated field," adds Shawn Keeper,
co-captain of the Concrete Toboggan squad. "Many of the girls in the
calendar are on the team." The calendar costs $10 if ordered online, or
will be available around campus shortly with a $15 price tag, he adds.
The student life office and the Federation of Students are looking ahead to orientation for new students next fall. Orientation leaders are typically chosen and trained in the spring, but because some students will be off campus when that's happening, training is also available now, says Katherine Ropp of the student life office: "Training is open to any undergraduate student who is looking to be an Orientation leader. Students only need to take the training once. It will be offered the November 12-13 weekend and the November 19-20 weekend. The training is composed of four two-hour sessions." There's more information online, and Ropp at ext. 6993 can answer questions.
A memorial reception will be held Friday afternoon for friends and colleagues of Jim Lepock, who was a physics professor at UW from 1977 to 2002, and chair of the department for almost ten years. Lepock left Waterloo to head the department of medical biophysics at the University of Toronto. He died in August. Friday's event will run from 3:30 to 5:00 at the University Club; RSVPs go to ext. 6831. The faculty of science is creating a Jim Lepock Memorial Award, for an upper-year biophysics student; I'll say a bit more about that project tomorrow.
Flu shots will be available on campus starting next Tuesday (previous publicity has suggested the clinics don't start till Wednesday). . . . The freestanding sign outside Modern Languages says drama and speech communication students are having a "post-Hallowe'en bash" at the Bombshelter pub tonight. . . . A memo from the associate vice-president (academic) notes that applications for Fulbright Awards -- which can take researchers, graduate students and "graduating seniors" to the United States for a year -- are due November 15. . . .
Accounting students are ranking their winter term co-op jobs today, and architecture students will do the same thing tomorrow. . . . The co-op and career services department says interview rooms in the Tatham Centre can often be booked for quiet study. . . . The hockey Warriors, men's version, are playing at York tonight. . . .
CAR