Multi-million-dollar grants from CFI

More than $33 million is UW's share of the funding from the Canada Foundation for Innovation that was announced yesterday as officials from Ottawa came to UW's CEIT building for a news conference and celebration.

A UW news release says the university "succeeded well above the national average", as Waterloo researchers are receiving $25.6 million for infrastructure, plus another $7.7 million to operate and maintain equipment. The funds will go to UW-led work in astronomy, quantum information processing and wireless communications. Funding for the three UW-led projects is part of a CFI announcement of $422 million for 86 projects at research institutions across Canada.

"These awards represent a strategic boost to the university’s research capacities and represent a tremendous result from one of the strongest competitions since CFI’s inception," says Alan George, UW's vice-president (university research). “We sought $42 million for 12 projects, and had 25 per cent of our applications and 61 per cent of our dollar request approved, which is above the national average.”

The biggest share of UW's funding is going toward equipping labs in the Quantum-Nano Centre that is to be built at UW starting next year. Officially that project is titled "From Nano Structures to Quantum Information Processing: A Technology Incubator for the 21st Century" and is headed by UW professors Raymond Laflamme, also director of the Institute for Quantum Computing, and Tong Leung of chemistry, with researchers from UW, the University of Western Ontario and Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre. CFI's leading edge fund is providing $17,955,697 toward total project costs of $50,326,944.

The planned centre, says UW's news release, "will bring together top researchers in quantum information processing and nanotechnology engineering to advance fundamental knowledge and develop practical applications. The advances will develop new and practical quantum devices, such as first-generation sensors and nano-electro-mechanical systems, exploiting the laws of quantum mechanics with applications in computing, material science, sensing, medicine, manufacturing and other areas."

A second project is "Submillimetre Instruments for Astronomy: Building on the SCUBA-2 Experience". Physics and astronomy professors Michel Fich and Jan Kycia will lead a team involving researchers from UW, UWO, the Université de Montréal and the universities of British Columbia and Lethbridge. Funding for this project totals $6,772,280, with $2,708,912 from the CFI leading edge fund.

SCUBA-2, an instrument to be used at the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope in Hawaii, will be the most powerful submillimetre wavelength camera in the world. These wavelengths are where the youngest objects in the universe emit dense structures that will form solar systems, stars and galaxies. The project aims to improve SCUBA-2's detector — the heart of the camera — and enable the instrument to participate in new astronomy instrument initiatives.

A third grant goes to the Centre for Intelligent Antenna and Radio Systems. UW professors Ali Safavi-Naeini, Amir Khandani, Sujeet Chaudhuri and Jake Thiessen will lead a project that involves researchers from UW, the universities of Toronto and Manitoba, Simon Fraser University as well as Defence Research and Development Canada, Nortel Networks and the Communications Research Centre. CFI's new initiatives fund is providing $5,016,637 of the project’s $12,541,593 cost.

The heart of CIARS is an electronically shielded test chamber the size of a house, where researchers can simulate the various environments in which next-generation wireless devices will need to operate. Researchers in three interrelated laboratories will study radio wave propagation, antennas, and the wireless appliances themselves. They will work to increase the capacity and reduce the cost of wireless data transmission.

UW professors are also participating in CFI-funded projects at other institutions, exploring brain developmental disorders and conducting social science research. Sociology professors John Goyder, Keith Warriner and Lori Curtis are taking part in a project called "The National Research Data Centre Network: A Quantum Leap Forward in Social Science Research". Led by the University of Manitoba, the network fosters exchange of methodological and statistical advances and improvements in data documentation.

And biology professor Melanie Campbell is participating in the Centre for the Investigation of Neuroplasticity and Developmental Disorders, led by the Hospital for Sick Children. The centre will investigate the neuroplasticity of brain function or the brain's ability to reorganize itself by forming new neural connections throughout life.

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Retired prof's gifts are recognized

first in a series of articles from UW's 2005-06 donor report

Dr. Frank Karasek came to the University of Waterloo in 1968 and established a worldwide reputation for his work in chemistry which led him to receive the prestigious honour of distinguished professor emeritus in 1988. He and his wife Irma now live in Arizona (left), but have not forgotten the impact that the university and the students had on him.

“Waterloo gives a sense of dignity and purpose to faculty and students alike and provides an environment in which the faculty can develop a rich career of teaching, research, and worldwide friendships with colleagues of many cultures,” says Karasek. “For those of us who benefitted so much from our life on campus, there is never anything that we can give in return that would be too much.”

In 1998, Karasek established two graduate scholarships — the H.G. McLeod Award, named after Harry McLeod, another member of the chemistry department who made significant contributions to graduate students — and the Karasek Graduate Award. Both awards acknowledge academic achievements and notable performance in research.

To honour another former colleague, Karasek established the Arthur J. Carty Lectureship in 2006 to attract an international researcher with expertise in an area of science to share knowledge and insights with students, faculty, and staff. As Canada’s first national science advisor to the prime minister, Arthur J. Carty has the ear of Stephen Harper when it comes to scientific issues. He also had the undivided attention of his audience as the Lectureship’s inaugural speaker in September.

Karasek and Carty were chemistry professors at UW in the late 1960s and chaired the Department of Chemistry at different times.

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Co-op jobs led to tutoring site

by Jessica Voll, from the Inside Scoop newsletter for co-op students

If you were to suggest the idea of starting up a business to a typical university student, they would probably laugh or stare at you in disbelief. Students are notoriously plagued by financial burdens and additional commitments, such as extracurricular activities or part-time jobs. Besides, starting up your own business is an exceptionally risky venture, even for those with ample real life work experience.

However, these obstacles didn't stop Ehsan Sarrafian (left), a 4A Computer Science and Business student, the funder and president of i-Tutor (a free online site to help tutors and tutees meet across Ontario). His passion and convictions have fuelled his quest in fulfilling his dream. He remarks that, "if you have an idea you believe in, don't be afraid to invest your time or financial resources. Now is the time when we have the most energy and creativity to help us reach our goals."

During his first year at university, i-Tutor began to transform from an idle thought to a concrete business plan. Sarrafian had tutored part-time during high school and had always found it particularly rewarding. He was surprised when he came to university to find how difficult it was to receive additional help. "TAs only have certain office hours that you can't always make, and sometimes as a first-year student you are too shy to attend group study sessions. I found the tutor boards in the SLC inaccessible and not user friendly. I thought there must be a more efficient way for students to access the help they needed."

After discussing it with several friends, he started to gather the resources he needed to nurture his idea to reaching its potential. With the aid of another bioinformatics co-op student, Rahim Sajoo, and two students from other universities, he began to design his website and search for tutors in the spring of 2004. i-Tutor is a simple yet ingenious website to "promote education and learning by providing independent and affordable tutors" and "provide Ontario students with a free resource for finding qualified tutors that are affordable and close by." i-Tutor essentially creates a direct route for tutor and tutee to meet. Tutors set their own fees, and the pair arranges their meeting times. Consequently, tutors are assessed by the most relevant party possible: their tutees. This information is then recorded and accessible online to other potential students who may want to hire the tutor.

Tutors are required, at minimum, to be enrolled in university, which i-Tutor staff cross-reference to confirm. Their services are available to students at any other university (not just the one they are enrolled in), as well as high school students, because "we need to unite, not segment our resources".

Sarrafian returned to D3 Canada and RIM for two work terms each, a decision which played an integral role in transforming his vision into something tangible. His time at D3 Canada allowed him to improve his web development skills, which became essential in helping him get i-Tutor off the ground. Working for a smaller company, he was able to quickly gain increased responsibility for his second work-term and receive an "outstanding" evaluation from his employer.

From his co-op terms at RIM, he was able to learn more about the channels of marketing, fine-tune his presentation skills, and discover how to best represent both himself and the company he was working for. In contrast to D3 Canada, RIM's big corporation environment allowed him to acquire a vision for the future for his own business. "It would take a lot of time to get there, but it's a goal I have in mind. After all, business is limitless."

CAR

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