![[University of Waterloo]](/images/logobars/goldbar.gif)
| Yesterday |
Wednesday, October 26, 2005
|
Editor: Chris Redmond credmond@uwaterloo.ca |
![[A sea of backs]](/images/2005/1018gates1.jpg)
Bill Gates
of Microsoft Corp.
drew crowds in the Student Life Centre (pictured) and the Davis Centre
to watch his UW talk by video on October 13. Transcripts, pictures,
web links and news coverage of the computing celebrity's Waterloo visit
are now available on
a special
web page.
|
The new 225,000-square-foot (21,000-square-metre) facility will be "strategically sited", as a UW news release puts it, "to facilitate interaction between the disciplines of Engineering, Science and Mathematics." Planned location is the grassy space between Biology II and Math and Computer.
The release says KPMB was selected from more than 20 firms for the job. "The university is pleased to engage KPMB and looks forward to the realization of our dream to create a centre that will be the finest expression of design anywhere and will house what will emerge as the finest cluster of quantum computing and nanotechnology researchers, teachers and students in the world," said David Johnston, UW's president.
KPMB's McKenna said the firm is "excited by the challenges of the project -- the specific demands of the site, the constraints of the campus, interior planning considerations, and the integration of highly technical systems. Our strategy will be to resolve these with inventiveness, skill and imagination."
Hall added: "We envisage an architectural response that expresses the revolutionary nature of nanotechnology and quantum research within the context of the University of Waterloo's research program. At the same time, we will study how the new building can continue the existing network of courtyards which distinguish the campus and how linkages can be created to adjacent Faculties both above and below ground."
Funding for the facility got a huge kick-start earlier this year through a $50-million donation to UW from Mike and Ophelia Lazaridis. Lazaridis is the founder and co-CEO of Research In Motion, as well as UW's chancellor.
| POSITIONS AVAILABLE |
|
On this week's list from the human resources department:
Longer descriptions are available on the HR web site. |
The new building for quantum computing and nanotechnology -- popularly being called "the quantum-nano centre" -- presents a unique opportunity for KPMB to build on previous innovations in laboratory and educational facility design. Recent laboratory and science projects include the James Stewart Centre for Mathematics at McMaster University and the Faculty of Engineering and Computer Sciences at Concordia University.
| WHEN AND WHERE |
|
Blood donor clinic today 10 to 4, Thursday 9 to 3,
multipurpose room, Student Life Centre, appointments now at the turnkey desk.
Café-rencontre: Tara Collington, département d'études françaises, "Les Mamelles de Tirésias: la transposition d'une pièce surréaliste en opéra bouffe," 14h30, Tatham Centre salle 2218. Smarter health seminar: Diane Beattie, London Health Sciences Centre, "Getting to Filmless: Implementing a Shared Services Approach to Digital Diagnostic Imaging," 3:00, Davis Centre room 1302. Federation of Students annual general meeting 4 p.m., Student Life Centre great hall; all undergraduate students are members. Career workshop: "Special Work Strategies Session for International Students", 4:30, Tatham Centre room 1208, registration online. Warrior volleyball vs. Windsor, women 6 p.m., men 8 p.m., Physical Activities Complex. Project Ploughshares seminar on small arms control, 6:15, Davis Centre room 1304. United Way events: statistics and actuarial science "Idol" show, 12 noon Thursday, Math and Computer room 5158, tickets $5. Faculty of arts pizza lunch, 12 noon Thursday, Humanities room 373, includes pumpkin carving. Issues in Native Communities speaker series: Lorna McNaughton, "The Mohawk Institute Indian Residential School", Thursday 7:00, St. Paul's College. Pascal Lectures on Christianity and the University: Lamin Sanneh, Yale University divinity school, "Faith and Power: Islam and Christianity in a Secular West", Thursday 8 p.m., Humanities Theatre; seminar Friday 3:30, Davis Centre room 1304. More information online. Town hall meeting with the president and provost, for faculty and staff, Tuesday, November 1, 4 p.m., Humanities Theatre. |
So a bit belatedly, here are the correct names of the 2005 medal winners. At the master's level, it's Michael Yu-Kae Cheng, who received an MMath in computer science at the June convocation, writing his thesis on "A Hybrid Transfer of Control Approach to Designing Adjustable Autonomy Multiagent Systems". Says his supervisor, Robin Cohen: "He is a totally exceptional student . . . he had two accepted papers in first-ranked international conferences with very low acceptance rates." Cheng is now working for Microsoft in Redmond, Washington.
At the PhD level, the medal winner was David Poulin of physics, who also received his degree in June, and is now living in Australia. Ray Laflamme supervised his thesis, "Emergence of a Classical World from Within Quantum Theory" -- a "beautiful" thesis, according to the external examiner. Poulin's work was reported not just in physics journals but in the prominent magazines New Scientist and Nature, and he has published 12 papers, including five in Physical Review Letters.
Awarded "outstanding achievement in graduate studies" status at convocation, at the master's level, were Sandra Corbin of recreation and leisure studies; Anna Bullen of philosophy; Yvonne Popovska of architecture; Leela Ramachandran of geography; and Sarah Primeau of biology. At the PhD level: Brandon Wagar of psychology; Lin Cai of electrical and computer engineering; Patricia Fitzpatrick of geography.
A few weeks ago, information systems and technology announced that it would be ending its dialup service, used by a relatively small number of users to connect (at slow bits-per-second speeds) from their home computers to the UW network and the Internet. That decision has been reversed. "In response to requests from many of its current users," a memo says, "IST has decided to continue to maintain this service until declining usage no longer warrants doing so, or until some other condition makes it too costly to maintain."
New faculty members have been invited to a session in the Tatham Centre at midday today, with the title "CECS: What's In It for You?" CECS is the department of co-operative education and career services, which promises "an opportunity for you to find out why co-op has been so well received and how its role has changed on the very campus of its Canadian debut. What exactly is co-op's impact on UW? How does it affect your classroom and your research? And how can Career Services help you and your students?" Cathie Jenkins, associate director of CECS, will lead the session; speakers include philosophy professor Chris Eliasmith (talking about how he has hired co-op students) and Emily Ecker, a civil engineering student, talking about her experience on a research job during a co-op term.
Coming on Friday is the official opening of what's going to be called the John J. Carrick Pavement Engineering Laboratory in UW's civil engineering department. Ceremonies, at 1:00 in Engineering III, will include a remote-controlled truck, driving scissors into the ribbon-cutting area, where government, industry and university officials will do the honours. The Daily Bulletin will be saying more about the lab, home of the Centre for Pavement and Transportation Technology, over the next couple of days.
Also Friday is an important "non-event" in support of the United Way, organized by the ever-creative folks in the university secretariat. "You don't have to dress up, you don't have to sing," says their flyer, "you don't have to dance or do any old thing." I'll say more about the Friday non-event ("raise bucks without work") tomorrow.
![[Fluit]](/images/2005/1026fluit.jpg)
Justin Fluit (right), captain of the UW golf team, and
teammate Jud Whiteside have been named to the Ontario University
Athletics all-stars for this year, after the Warriors took the
provincial men's championship for the second time in three years.
In cold and very windy conditions
at the tournament last week, at the Sunningdale Golf Club in London,
the Warrior men shot 598, 13 shots better than the defending champions
from McMaster University. The Warriors took bronze in the women's
division. Waterloo coach Dave Hollinger has been named men's OUA
golf coach of the year.
Jude Doble of UW's alumni affairs office sends word of an alumni career planning workshop that will be held Saturday in Mississauga -- specifically at the University of Toronto campus there. Tanya Gillert, UW alumni career advisor, will lead the event. It's the second such workshop UW has offered in the Toronto area, says Doble -- several workshops have been held right at UW -- and it's full already, as was the first workshop last month. "The third session in this series will be Friday, November 11," she says, "and still has a few spaces available." A workshop is also planned for Ottawa on November 25.
The staff association is still looking for a couple of vendors to fill up its annual craft sale November 24 and 25 (call Sue Fraser at ext. 2968 for the details). . . . Volunteers for next month's student-run Impact conference on entrepreneurship will have a table in the Student Life Centre today and tomorrow to sign up participants and answer questions. . . . The bookstore's sale in the South Campus Hall concourse continues today and tomorrow "featuring an all-new selection of titles". . . .
October 31 is the deadline for the relatively few students who will be applying for admission to UW starting with the winter term. . . . Religious Studies 348, "Gender and Asian Religion", taught by Doris Jakobsh of the sociology department, will be offered for the first time this winter. . . . Jeanette Gascho of counselling services was the winner of a $35 gift certificate in a draw held Friday among donors to the United Way campaign. . . .
And: it's going to be a big weekend on campus, with several overlapping events, including Homecoming. Headline event there is a talk by Engineers Without Borders co-founder George Roter, at 6 p.m. Saturday in the Humanities Theatre. Earlier in the day come the applied health sciences fun run, a number of alumni reunions, "Where the Wild Things Are" for children, and social events. Meanwhile, the Naismith basketball tournament, involving both men's and women's teams, will run from Friday night through Sunday; and the faculty of science has its open house (Saturday from 10 to 4) and gem show (both Saturday and Sunday) in and around the Centre for Environmental and Information Technology.
CAR