‘Minor setback’ for pharmacy building

Recent construction strikes have delayed work on UW’s health sciences campus in downtown Kitchener, forcing a postponement of the date when students will start classes in the new building. The spaces that were planned “for partial occupancy” for January 2008 are now expected to be available for the spring term. Pharmacy administrators sent an email message yesterday to the members of the incoming class, who currently number 102, advising them of the delay.

“While this is a minor setback,” the email message says, in part, “rest assured that we are well prepared to make the necessary adjustments in order to meet your educational needs.”

All winter term classes for the incoming class will take place on the main campus, says spokesman Ken Potvin, pharmacy’s director of admissions, professional relations and undergraduate affairs.Space is booked and all students have been accommodated.

“The plan remains to offer the spring 2008 classes at the new facility in Kitchener, so you should enjoy the amenities it will offer before embarking on your first co-op work term in the fall of 2008,” the message continues.

The setback also has some impact on incoming students in McMaster University’s Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine (Waterloo-Wellington Regional Campus). The McMaster medical students are starting in September 2007 in Hamilton, as planned. UW is working diligently with McMaster on options for interim accommodation in January 2008, to ensure delivery of their educational needs.

The labour disruptions that delayed the construction included a stoppage of approximately 1-1/2 weeks by crane operators and a general labourers’ strike of about 3-1/2 weeks, which affected the mixing and pouring of concrete as well as other work.

When students, faculty and staff move in next May, they will have access tothe basement,with student lounge and lockers,a temporary resource centre, and graduate student space; part of the main floor, with a 160-seat lecture theatre, reception area and lobby, and possibly a café; the second floor, which includes the Professional Practice Lab; andthe third floor, with the Pharmaceutics Flex Lab.The second and third floors will also have offices and group learning space related to the labs.

In the meantime, says pharmacy director Jake Thiessen, hiring continues. Seven of an expected 10 full-time faculty have already been appointed, including Marianna Foldvari, holder of the Canada Research Chair in Bionanotechnology and Nanomedicine.

Back to top

CFI-funded projects study the tiny and the fast

from the UW Media Relations office

Five University of Waterloo researchers were recently awarded grants totalling $796,545 from the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI), says a UW press release. "The money comes from CFI's leaders opportunity fund, which is designed to assist universities in attracting and retaining top faculty." This is the last of three articles on their research.

Michael Tam, chemical engineering, received $146,000 for a Laboratory for the Synthesis, Physical and Thermodynamic Characterization of Novel Nanostructures for Applications in Chemical and Biological Systems. The lab will prepare and characterize polymeric systems suitable for biomedical and chemical applications.

“‘A detailed understanding of factors controlling the behaviour and use of synthesized materials is critical to developing robust drug delivery vehicles and systems for protein purification and removal of organic contaminants,’ Tam says. ‘This development of new medicines and efficient modes of delivering them to the desired targets will be critical in bringing about innovations that will benefit society and humankind.’

“‘The research will contribute to the creation of key fundamental knowledge critical to the development of better and more advanced delivery systems needed to treat diseases such as cancer and various genetic disorders such as Down syndrome, cystic fibrosis and Huntington's disease.’”

Dayan Ban, electrical and computer engineering, was awarded $100,000 for “quantum heterostructure optoelectronic devices for terahertz applications.”

“‘This CFI-funded platform for experimental research will be unique because it will be capable of extracting the electrical, optical, temporal, spectral and structural information of materials and fabricated component devices within the terahertz (one trillion periods per second) domain,’ Ban says.

“He adds that a potential application of the research will be in biological and medical imaging. ‘A portable and environmentally friendly terahertz imaging system will have positive impact on the health of Canadians.’ Examples include non-invasive medical imaging for dental application and detection of sub-dermal melanoma.

“In the environmental area, terahertz spectroscopy will be used for detection of water, oxygen, chlorine, nitrogen compounds and ozone depletion in the atmosphere.”

Back to top

Checklist for 2007, as seen from 1997

Fifth in a series of reports on the 40th anniversary “time capsule”

It’s time for one more look at the “predictions” that people put on record at the end of the university’s 40th anniversary celebrations in 1997. Here’s a selection of the things they said they’d expect to see at Waterloo in 2007 — and your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to judge which 50th anniversary predictions were golden and which were way off the mark.

• “There will be commuter buses between the three campuses (UW, WLU and Guelph) for students taking courses at all three.”

• “UW Science Faculty opens a new Science Centre with animatronic mastodons and other ice-age creatures in a setting similar to UW site 11,000 years ago.”

• “Account codes will have 32 numbers to capture the benefits of new technology.”

• “Warriors will have won at least one CIAU championship in men’s football, basketball or hockey. Athenas will have won at least one CIAU championship.”

• “There will be a full 18-hole golf course on the north campus.”

• “The department of electrical and computer engineering will double in size and will attract more students and business people. The combined effort with Bell Canada and Ericsson research group will reach its peak.”

• “A personal space for every student, his/her own lab room with computer.”

• “UW will be under one big glass roof so that students walk under the sun and out of the rain and snow.”

• “All grad students will have offices with windows. Of course that means that the math building will have to be demolished.”

• “Staff will continue to do more with less and the UWSA will be looking to improve salary and working conditions. There will be a growing urge to unionize.”

• “The work week will be reduced to 30 hours per week.”

• “Cutbacks to housekeeping budgets and lack of participation with recycling is making the campus less than the beautiful showpiece of the late 80s.”

• “Every research lab on campus will be sponsored by industry.”

• “UW will be rich from all of its stock options and royalties from its spinoffs, and mega-donations from its millionaire alumni.”

• “Budget pressures may cause some very large first-year courses to be taught via remote methods.”

• “Graduate education will become an important component of UW’s distance program. In addition to the great success of the Master of Technology program, UW will offer other graduate credentials related to software engineering (especially object technology) and mediation studies.”

• “SLC will be expanding to become a community mall. Food quality will not increase.”

CPA staff

Back to top