Neutrinos rendered by three artists

'Render' (new name for the UW Art Gallery) will launch the innovative project "Neutrinos They Are Very Small" tonight as the first exhibition of the 2007-08 academic year. "A playful yet thoughtful and informative engagement with the complexities of contemporary physics," says a news release, "this exhibition reflects Render’s philosophy of developing a program that is cross disciplinary and engages issues and ideas of direct interest and relevance to the University of Waterloo and the surrounding community."

The show, created by three artists, is organized and toured by the Agnes Etherington Art Centre at Queen's University and the Art Gallery of Sudbury. It will run through October 20.

The news release explains: "In March 2003 artists Rebecca Diederichs, Gordon Hicks and Sally McKay, along with curator Corinna Ghaznavi, descended the Creighton Mine shaft to visit the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory, a renowned research facility in northern Ontario. Here they learned more about neutrinos, sub-atomic particles that emit from the sun in the millions of billions and pass through the universe in a constant stream, rarely interacting with other matter.

"Neutrinos They Are Very Small takes the SNO project as a metaphor for observation, experimentation, and the passion to discover and understand the universe. The exhibition offers a range of thoughts on and representations of scientific inquiry. While there are close affinities between how science and art strive to make sense of the world, the works in this exhibition are poetic renderings, musings, and low-tech sci-fi renditions.

"While physics attempts to establish universal truths, humans need narratives and pictures to understand complex ideas. Demonstrating this need for metaphor, Sally McKay creates pseudo representations of quantum behaviour. The scientific idea of entanglement addresses the relationship of parts to one another; in McKay’s installation this idea is evoked by use of multiple monitors and the massing of interconnected images.

"Rebecca Diederichs, speculating on the 'indifference' of neutrinos, began by considering what a 'non-effective' collision might look like. She took fragments of images, enlarged these and pulled out other fragments from them in pursuit of the elusive change implied by collision. Diederichs’ imagery is culled from the magnification of smaller and smaller pieces undertaken as an exploration of the process of making an abstract concept manifest. The resulting artwork is about visual material and manipulation, and the complexity of representation.

"Gordon Hicks’s work takes the form of loops generated by a point moving in accord with a mathematical equation to define a line in constant transmogrification or changing form. His considerations take him into the artistic realm of building relationships for thinking and understanding. These images combine the distillation of an idea with a theoretical description; they are abstractions, meant to be highly representational and mirroring physic’s efforts to describe the universe."

It goes on to observe that all three artists have taken the SNO project as a starting point for understanding and connecting to the world. “How,” Diederichs asks, “do we understand the science of such microscopic magnitude?” The works in the show consider how far ideas can be represented without becoming static and how far abstraction can be taken before becoming untenable. How can narratives and pictures be used responsibly to insert meaning into experience? As McKay points out, “the cold and thrilling frontiers of science are embedded in the emotional, muddy, and altogether human socio-political realities of life on the planet earth.”

"Neutrinos" will be launched with a reception from 5:00 to 8:00 today at the gallery in East Campus Hall.

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Prof to edit remote sensing journal

Ellsworth LeDrew of UW’s department of geography has been named editor-in-chief of a new journal that will be published for the first time in 2008: the IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing, or JSTARS for short.

He’s been working on development of the journal for IEEE, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, during his 2006-07 sabbatical leave, LeDrew said this week. “It was approved by the Board in June and is slated to start with the first four issues next year.

“UW and FES is the lead on this initiative. I am a fellow of IEEE (which may seem odd for a Geographer but it was for environmental remote sensing).” He’s best known for research on remote sensing of submerged coral reefs for coastal management, as well as the use of remote sensing to measure changes in sea ice.

An announcement in the IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Newsletter tells more about the new journal, which will appear quarterly, jointly sponsored by the Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society and the IEEE Committee on Earth Observation.

“A partnership between GRSS and ICEO on developing the new journal has been an obvious opportunity and, from the beginning, both groups have collaborated on the planning for the new cosponsored journal. It will be a venue for peer reviewed papers on a variety of application themes in earth observations and remote sensing of relevance to the membership of both groups.

“In addition, GRSS has seen the publication of the Transactions of Geoscience and Remote Sensing increase to 3,736 pages and 343 articles in 2006. Many papers are part of special issues that result from GRSS sponsored or cosponsored symposia and workshops and similar initiatives. The increasing demand for special issues (seven printed and planned for 2007) will soon strain the editorial and review process. Some special issue topics, particularly those that fall in the applications area, will now be published by the new JSTARS to ease this load.”

The new journal is calling for papers that “address current issues and techniques in applied remote and in situ sensing, their integration, and applied modeling and information creation for understanding the Earth. Applications are for the Earth, oceans and atmosphere. Topics can include observations, derived information such as forecast data, simulated information, data assimilation and Earth information techniques to address science and engineering issues of the Earth system. The technical content of papers must be both new and significant.”

Besides serving as co-editor, LeDrew will be directly involved in editing the first issue, “Earth Observations and Renewable Wind Energy”, along with three colleagues. Later in 2008, issues will deal with “Remote Sensing of Human Settlements: Status and Challenges” and “Wildland Fires and Biomass Burning”. Deputy editor-in-chief of JSTARS is Kun-Shan Chen of the National Central University, Taiwan.

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Under a cloudless sky of #99CCFF

There’s more tweaking to UW’s parking system to be announced. “As of September 13,” writes parking manager Sharon Rumpel, “all faculty/staff permit holders will have the flexibility of parking in any ungated lot after 4 p.m. on weekdays and all day on Saturday and Sunday.” Such lots range from C, on the south side of University Avenue, to X, north of Columbia Street, as well as N and M near Columbia Streets, lots near the Village residences and the Columbia Icefield, and so on. “Parking Services will continue to monitor to ensure lot capacities aren’t exceeded,” says Rumpel. Also new: “Tickets purchased at UW Place can also be used in lots N, X and W.”

For the first time, the Certificate in University Teaching program has an identifiable office of its own — or at least it will have starting Monday, when CUT's point of presence is scheduled to open in Dana Porter Library room 328. That's part of the space previously known as the home of "LT3", the teaching technology unit that has been absorbed into CUT's parent, the Centre for Teaching Excellence. "As CTE expands its role at the University of Waterloo, we have grown," says a note announcing the opening of a CUT office. "While we anticipate that the move will be smooth, we hope, that in the event of any disruptions (i.e. no phones or access to email), you will not be inconvenienced in any way. We are always available in person." The "certificate" offered by CUT can become part of a graduate student's credentials, based on workshop participation, teaching experience and research about teaching. This fall's series of CUT workshops will also get under way next week: "Avoiding Plagiarism" on September 17, "Research Projects Workshop" on the 19th, "Teaching Dossiers" on the 24th, "Understanding the Learner" on the 26th, and so on.

The holy month of Ramadan has begun, and UW's food services is responding to the needs of devout Muslims. "During Ramadan," a flyer explains, "Muslims fast during the daylight hours and in the evening eat small meals and visit with friends and family. It is a time of worship and contemplation, a time to strengthen family and community ties." The flyer announces that Mudie's cafeteria in Village I will be open every morning at 4:30 a.m. (September 12 through October 12), allowing a pre-dawn breakfast. It also draws attention to halal ("clean") food available at Bon Appetit food fair in the Davis Centre.

The Map Library (on the main floor of Environmental Studies I) "has been busier than usual this week," librarian Eva Dodsworth reports, "with many new visitors taking in the library’s historical exhibit. Historical maps of the campus and of downtown Kitchener have been particularly popular, drawing a lot of interest and questions. Visitors have been using stereoscopes to view aerial imagery in 3-D and have been leaving the library with dozens of gifts sponsored by popular vendors and organizations. The Map Library will be celebrating the closing of the exhibit this Friday afternoon with cake and dozens of door prizes. Winners will be drawn at 2:00 with gifts ranging from 1 GB USBs to electronic Kitchener atlases to hard cover books. One of the more unique prizes include a customized aerial map sponsored by the Region of Waterloo. The exhibit will close on Friday at 4:30 p.m." The workshop "Map Your House and Neighbourhood" is being offered daily — today a 2:00, tomorrow at 11:30 — and more workshops on geospatial information systems are planned over the next few days.

On newsstands now is volume 33, issue 4, of Alternatives journal, published in UW's faculty of environmental studies. Says a publicity release: "Myth of Water Abundance is no myth if interest in our current issue is any measure. 'Water' is streaming off the shelves and bulk orders are pouring in fast and furious. Get your copy or municipal council/class set of this soon-to-be-sold-out issue of Alternatives. Check out why 'The Myth of Water Abundance' is so popular. Could it be that it features the results of a two-year study on how to move beyond water efficiency and adopt the "water soft path" to steward this precious resource?"

Registration will close tomorrow for the Downey Tennisfest for faculty, staff, retirees and alumni, to be held September 23 at the Waterloo Tennis Club (call ext. 84074). • I haven't been in the Student Life Centre for several weeks, I realize, but word arrives that Brubakers cafeteria now includes a Teriyaki Experience counter for Asian meals. • Registration for intramural leagues operated by the campus recreation program continues today and tomorrow, and registration for instructional programs in campus rec will be held next week.

"Someone's assembled four inukshuks in Laurel Creek, just north of the ES-to-colleges bridge," a reader wrote in an e-mail message that arrived late in orientation week. • The customary Imaginus poster sale is under way in the Student Life Centre (9 to 8 today, 9 to 5 on Friday). • The key control office in plant operations continues its extended hours this week, open 8:30 to 4:30 with no noon hour break.

CAR

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