Geographical medal for UW prof

a release from the UW media relations office

Waterloo geographer Bruce Mitchell (left), one of the top water-management researchers in the world, is this year's winner of the Massey Medal, named after a former Governor General of Canada.

Mitchell, who is UW's associate provost (academic and student affairs), was selected for the award by the Royal Canadian Geographical Society. The prize, established by the late Vincent Massey in 1959, recognizes outstanding achievement in exploring, developing or describing the country's geography.

"His ground-breaking and innovative research in the areas of water and environmental management has been widely recognized and his advice is sought by governments and international organizations," says Gisèle Jacob, president of the RCGS. "For his critical thinking on water systems, he has received numerous national and international awards and distinctions."

The author and editor of 31 books and monographs, Mitchell explores integrated water-resource management, paying special attention to policy, institutions and governance. His textbooks have been standards in the field for 25 years, with one translated into three languages.

Internationally, Mitchell advises governments and universities in Australia, Indonesia, China, Nigeria and India, as well as in Canada. His work has contributed toward developing what is referred to as integrated water-resource management. This research approach focuses on selected key variables affecting water and surrounding ecosystems, rather than trying to address all variables in a river basin.

Over the years, Mitchell has been a visiting professor at the University of Leeds, University of Edinburgh, University of Western Australia, University of New England in Australia, University of Queensland, University of Madras in India, Gadjah Mada University in Indonesia, Nanjing University in China and the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He also is an honorary professor at the Dalian University of Technology in China. As well, he was the academic co-director of the Bali sustainable development project and director of a major development project in Sulawesi in Indonesia. He also served as a team member on a project exploring land and water management in Sokoto State in northwestern Nigeria.

In 2005, Mitchell was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and as a fellow of the International Water Resources Association.

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Students' 'urban furniture' in Sudbury

An exhibition of work by UW architecture students opened this week at sites in central Sudbury, as part of an effort to create “the first Canadian School of Architecture in 40 years” in that city.

A news release explains that the installation, titled "Public Places: Localized Infrastructures", “aims to unearth the possibilities inherent in underutilized public spaces of Greater Sudbury's downtown core, in an effort to enhance community engagement and identity.”

More from the release, issued by the Northern Ontario School of Architecture: “A series of interactive public art pieces made from recycled materials create usable urban furniture that can be adapted for various uses. A pallet of basic elemental forms comprised of recycled steel, cedar decking and polycarbonate sheets make up the site-responsive pieces that provide particular amenities needed at each location.

“These strategic points located across the everyday landscape of downtown Greater Sudbury encourage the user to explore and engage with not only the installation pieces, but also adjacent areas and amenities.” (Pictured: some of the students show off a kiosk in Tom Davies Square in front of Sudbury’s city hall.)

The news release continues: “All the pieces, in some way or another, are designed with existing social and physical site infrastructures in mind. Whether subtly supporting local amenities, critically questioning existing conditions or exposing untapped potentials, each grouping hopes to expose the many facets of design.

“This project reflects the core design belief that a truly successful downtown is not a product of one or two big moves, but rather, is comprised of a multitude of diverse moments and layers, woven together to create a truly unique urban fabric.”

The students involved include Victoria-Ann Beltrano, Matthew Bolen, Heather Brown, Kristin Speth and Michael Trussell, all in the Master of Architecture program. Rick Haldenby, director of UW’s school of architecture, said the students are taking part in an annual summer elective that invites them to do a temporary installation in the downtown of a mid-sized city. Until now, the location has usually been Cambridge, where the architecture school is housed.

“Because of the recent Northern Ontario School of Architecture initiative,” says Haldenby, who is helping to move the plan forward, “the committee has been working with the UWSA students to have the temporary installation take place in downtown Sudbury, as a way to begin building interest in the project as well as the downtown."

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Snippets of (obviously) hot news

A sex education program developed by Waterloo Region’s public health department for girls in grades 7 and 8 is having a “positive” impact, says a study done by several researchers, including a St. Jerome’s University psychologist, and published this week. Their report appears in the latest issue of the Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality, published by the Sex Information and Education Council of Canada. The work — described as “the first ever published assessment of a sex education program delivered in Canada aimed at young adolescent girls” — is by Barbara J. Rye of St. Jerome’s, with colleagues from the Region, Wilfrid Laurier University, NRC Picker Canada (a healthcare evaluation firm), and SEIC. It looks at the “Girl Time: Grade 7/8 Healthy Sexuality Program” developed by the Region and based on Health Canada's Canadian Guidelines for Sexual Health Education. “Girl Time” consists of eleven 90-minute sessions covering topics such as Attraction and Desire, Decision-Making and Assertive Communication, Healthy Relationships, Risks of Early Sexual Activity, and Safer Sex Choices. The researchers write: “The control group outcome evaluation demonstrated that Girl Time positively impacted on the girl's sexual health knowledge, self-efficacy, comfort with sexuality, intentions to practice safer sex behaviours (abstaining from intercourse, using condoms) and communication with parents about sexuality issues. Few Canadian girls aged 12-13 receive sex education comparable to Girl Time. The findings of this evaluation study suggest that widespread delivery of similar programs across Canada would improve the ability of young Canadian women to protect and enhance their sexual and reproductive health.”

The department of fine arts is inviting artists among UW’s faculty and staff to donate a piece of artwork to an Alumni and Faculty Art Exhibition and Silent Auction that will take place during Homecoming this fall. The art will be on display in the Modern Languages gallery and available for viewing and bidding for three days, leading up to a reception on Saturday afternoon, September 27. “If you are interested in donating work,” says a memo, “please contact Jane Buyers at jgbuyers@gto.net or Lesley Hartley at lhartley@uwaterloo.ca. We welcome artwork in any media or size as long as it is manageable by one person and ready for hanging or installation. All funds raised will go towards the fine arts endowment fund, to add to the learning environment within the department including enhancements to teaching and facilities.”

Applications for the 2009 Rhodes Scholarships are available in the Graduate Studies Office in Needles Hall, a memo announces. “The scholarships are tenable at the University of Oxford. Rhodes Scholars normally receive full support for two years with a possible renewal for a third year. The candidates are Canadian citizens or persons domiciled in Canada and are born between October 2, 1984 and October 1, 1990. Candidates may apply either in the province in which they are ordinarily resident or in the province in which they have attended university. Proven intellectual and academic attainment of a high standard is the first quality required of applicants, but they will also be required to show integrity of character, sympathy for and protection of the weak, the ability to lead and the energy to use their talents to the full. . . . Applicants will be interviewed by a University committee, which will select applications to be forwarded to the Rhodes Committee.” More information: e-mail egarner@uwaterloo.ca.

From a faculty profile on the engineering faculty's web site: "Elizabeth English has designed a foundation that can float a house. She wants to use it to help rebuild New Orleans. Usually, houses in low-lying areas are raised to protect them from floods. But a house on stilts can be hard to live in — and stilts don’t always work. 'Even if you do put the house on eight-foot stilts, you might have a 10-foot flood,' Elizabeth notes. Elizabeth has degrees in both architecture and civil engineering. She brought these backgrounds together to design a foundation with a lightweight steel frame for strength and coated Styrofoam for buoyancy. 'The foundation is designed to go under an existing house,' says English. 'It leaves the house looking the same. New Orleans has whole neighbourhoods of perfectly recoverable houses where this system could be used.' Her prototype house is already up and floating. 'We’ve basically got it worked out,' she says. 'It just makes so much sense. Trying to fight floodwater is a losing battle. It’s better to work with it and let the floodwater keep your house up.'"

The engineering e-newsletter also reports that mechanical and mechatronics professors Behrad Khamesee and Farid Golnaraghi and PhD student Babak Ebrahimi won the Best Paper award in the Biomedical and Smart Machine Track at the ASME Annual Conference on Information Storage and Processing Systems held in Santa Clara, California, last week.

CAR

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