![[University of Waterloo]](/images/logobars/goldbar.gif)
| Yesterday |
Tuesday, November 22, 2005
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Editor: Chris Redmond credmond@uwaterloo.ca |
The NYSE event attracts attention in the business and financial world; the office opening, in a building already packed with tenants from the high technology world, gives UW a convenient base for relationships with alumni, business and potential students in the American northeast.
It also offers a touch of déja vu for Tom Coleman, who became dean of UW's faculty of mathematics last summer, and was previously director of the Cornell University Theory Center, which has offices in the same New York building.
![[Plate glass doors]](/images/2005/112255broad.jpg)
The location is the New York
Information Technology Center at 55 Broad Street, a block and
a half south of the stock exchange. The 30-storey building
(right) is connected with the New York Software Industry
Association, a promoter of software development activities.
Renovated a few years ago and equipped with the latest
technology, including a 13-foot (4-metre) video wall in the lobby, it's
well-known internationally as the home of New York's technology
community -- the site that established New York's
"Silicon Alley".
"UW is officially stepping onto the world stage with this new office," says UW president David Johnston. "With the establishment of this office, we have created another way of bringing Waterloo to the world. The office will promote the academic programs and showcase the research potential at Waterloo while fulfilling the university's mandate to promote global outreach and increase industry partnerships."
It'll be officially billed as Waterloo ICR Manhattan, referring to the Institute for Computer Research. UW's base is on the third floor, but Waterloo will have access to facilities and rooms on other floors and has arrangements with NYSIA and Cornell for administrative support services.
Coleman, who was instrumental in the development of the facility, said the office will yield numerous benefits. "First, it connects us to our alumni living in New York and surrounding areas. Second, it connects us to the international business and financial worlds, allowing us to strengthen current and forge new partnerships and networks that will bring promise for the future. Thirdly, and quite significantly, it serves as a storefront for the incredibly talented researchers and students that make Waterloo's reputation what it is today, both at home and abroad." It will help to promote Waterloo's academic programs and showcase UW's research potential, particularly in such areas as quantitative fiance, security, risk management, insurance and pensions, logistics and optimization.
Coleman expects the office will be used at first primarily for seminars, research briefings and society meetings. The facility will also provide UW with another avenue to reach prospective students and faculty, particularly those interested in mathematics and computer science.
Johnston and Coleman will be at an opening celebration at 6:00 tonight, along with UW chancellor Mike Lazaridis, Campaign Waterloo chair Bob Harding, vice-president (external relations) Laura Talbot-Allan and associate vice-president (strategic initiatives) Gerry Thompson. Also invited are a group of alumni, representatives of Canadian and New York companies, and other guests. Lazaridis will deliver a keynote address on "What's Coming in Wireless Communications." Pamela Wallin, Canadian Consul General in New York and a former member of the UW board of governors, will also speak.
And Wallin will be on hand tomorrow morning, along with Darcee Munroe, Consul for Economic Affairs-Ontario, when Johnston and the UW delegation ring the ceremonial bell as the NYSE opens daily trading. That event is sponsored by Brookfield Asset Management (formerly Brascan) under the leadership of Harding, who is chairman of Brookfield's board and a former chair of the UW board of governors. Brookfield is an NYSE listed company (symbol BAM).
The "wall" will support living plants that process waste water -- a "biofilter" -- and at the same time improve air quality in the building. Explains Patti Cook, development officer for the faculty of environmental studies (and formerly UW's waste management coordinator): "An innovative filtering system using a wall of living plants is an effective and natural way to treat the air. A living wall is to be installed in ES1 as the first demonstration of the Faculty's commitment to green buildings. In addition to air purification, the wall will significantly add to the attractiveness of the indoor environment, and will serve as an educational tool."
The project is being done by Air Quality Solutions, the Guelph-based firm that's already well known for a massive "living" or "green" wall at the University of Guelph-Humber in Toronto.
Says Cook: "The water and electrical connections have been set and are ready to go. The plaques and pictures have been moved from the wall where the biofiltration system will go. Once the Air Quality Solutions folks arrive, there is a framework they install, with a special surface or backing for the plants (ferns, mosses, and other plants). Part of this installation will be the on-going research of the best plants to use for these 'interior plantscapes'. The catchment at the base of the 'air biofiltration system' extends about a foot and a half from the biofilter, as the water path through the wall is vertical."
She said some of the funding coming from the Waterloo Environmental Studies Endowment Foundation, "with the students demonstrating their commitment to this installation of this new Green
| WHEN AND WHERE |
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Miniature art show and silent auction, department of fine
arts, preview until Thursday, sale Friday from 4:30 to 9:00,
East Campus Hall.
Music student recital 12:30, Conrad Grebel University College chapel. Teaching research project presentations by graduate students in the Certificate in University Teaching program: Joanne Benham Rennick, "Encouraging Deep Learning by Teaching to Students' Primary Learning Styles", Jessica Huber, "Applying Self-Directed Learning Principles", 1:00, Math and Computer room 5158. Electronic grade submission demonstration 2:30, Arts Lecture Hall room 113. Germanic and Slavic lecture: Nicola Würffel, University of Giessen, Germany, "Learner Strategies and Problems in Web-Based Foreign Language Learning", 3:30, Humanities room 373. Master of Business, Entrepreneurship and Technology information session 4:00, Needles Hall room 1101. 'Still We Ride' documentary about 2004 confrontation between police and bicyclists in New York, 5:30, Davis Centre room 1304, sponsored by Waterloo Public Interest Research Group. Kerr-Saltsman Lecture on International Affairs: Robert Fisk, The Independent, "The Great War for Civilization", 7:00, Federation Hall. 'Justifying God': last of three seminars by Darren Marks, University of Western Ontario, sponsored by Renison Institute of Ministry, 7:00, Renison College. Noon concert: Archiglas, Russian a cappella group, Wednesday 12:30, Conrad Grebel University College chapel. Arts research seminar: "International Relations and Human Rights: Defining a Role for Canada," Lowell Ewert (peace and conflict studies) and Brian Orend (philosophy), Wednesday 12:00, Humanities room 373. Café-rencontre du département d'études françaises: Jacqueline Viswanathan, Simon Fraser University, "Le scénario de film: une histoire racontée en images," mercredi 14h30, Tatham Centre salle 2218. Smarter Health seminar: Richard Alvarez, Canada Health Infoway, "Accelerating the Development and Implementation of Electronic Health Records", Wednesday 3:00, Davis Centre room 1302. 'Nahanni Forever': presentation about the Nahanni River wilderness, Northwest Territories, sponsored by Royal Canadian Geographical Society and Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, Wednesday 7:30, Theatre of the Arts, admission free. |
More renovation work lies ahead. "The project of greening the ES buildings will proceed in phases as funding becomes available," Cook said. "The redesign of part of ES2 for offices, workspaces, and classrooms for the Department of Environment and Resource Studies includes environmentally sound wall structures (moveable), lighting, floor, and furnishings systems. Other ES2 redesigns include expanded and improved studio space for the School of Planning; improved research spaces for wetlands hydrology, ecological restoration, GIS, water and sedimentology; and computing."
ES is looking for donors to support some specific parts of the project, including renewable energy features and a green roof. "This exciting new project," says Cook, "will turn existing buildings into the first 'green' facility on campus. The need to renovate space made available by the relocation of the School of Architecture provides an opportunity to remake the Faculty of Environmental Studies' facilities in a manner consistent with principles of sustainability."
![[Johnston: 'Father of five daughters']](/images/2005/0927dj-diversity.jpg)
When David Johnston posed for one of the Diversity Campaign posters, the sign he chose indicates why he's so keen on encouraging women to enter graduate study. |
Watch for green hats on campus tomorrow, as the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance brings "Cap Day" to Waterloo. OUSA is holding similar events on campuses across the province this month, "designed to boost awareness about OUSA's 2005/06 campaign, 'put a lid on it: cap tuition'. Students are encouraged to wear 'tuition caps' and learn more about the state of tuition in Ontario. With the two-year tuition freeze set to expire at the end of this year, OUSA is currently lobbying the government to develop a sustainable, student-friendly tuition framework in the province. The Cap Day events will provide students with the opportunity to become directly involved in influencing the government's tuition policy." An OUSA booth will be open in the Student Life Centre tomorrow, offering not only hats but also free coffee or hot chocolate.
The latest offer from the UW Recreation Committee is poinsettias for the Christmas holidays -- red, white or pink, in six-inch or eight-inch pots. "The poinsettias are from Greenway Blooming Centre in Breslau," says a UWRC memo, noting that orders are due by this Friday: "Request an order form from uwrc@admmail," and expect to pick up the plants on December 7. What else is happening with the UWRC? Well, the usual range of outings intended for staff and faculty members, including a feng shui noon-hour discussion group next Tuesday, and discount tickets for the Canada-vs.-Russia hockey game at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium this Thursday night.
LT3 -- the Centre for Learning and Teaching Through Technology -- will have a visit Thursday from Jennifer Jenson of York University, giving a talk with multiple titles: "Special Event: Educational Games. A Dialogue in Two Parts. Level Up: Digital Game Design for Learning." Says the LT3 web site: "This talk will look at current commercial video games as examples of good 'game design' that can be appropriated and made use of in the design of digital games specifically for learning. It will in particular draw on models of learning already well-exemplified in video games to show how we might better build digital environments for educative ends. Dr. Jenson's current research interests include: Gender and video games, video games and education, designing digital environments for learning, and new media production. Refreshments will be served." The event is co-sponsored by UW Gamers, and starts at 12 noon Thursday in the Flex Lab in the Dana Porter Library. Registration is online.
The UW bookstore has another sale in the South Campus Hall concourse this week. . . . Gary Marx of the school of optometry (gmarx@uwaterloo.ca) would like to hear from UW employees or retirees who are members of any GolfNorth course (there are at least 12 in the area), or are thinking of joining, with an eye to getting a corporate discount. . . . A proud parent who's a member of UW's faculty draws our attention to the musical "The Pajama Game", running this week at Forest Heights Collegiate Institute in Kitchener. . . .
CAR