The bouncy castle was part of an obstacle course set up in the great hall of Renison University College the other day — a stress relief opportunity for exam-burdened students. The Renison Academic Student Council also provided free lunchtime pizza.

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Golf simulator hooks media coverage

A novel machine that's been installed in a former racquetball court in the Physical Activities Complex, and is helping golfers and engineers alike, received more publicity last night as it was featured on the local CTV evening news.

"Aside from keeping players in top form," reporter Leslie Gordon said, "the golf simulator that lets you play any course in the world is an effective research tool."

A UW news release a few days ago noted that the faculties of engineering and applied health sciences, along with the department of athletics and recreational services, are celebrating the donation, a simulator made by the Ohio-based firm aboutGolf, which allows for collaborations between aboutGolf and researchers in the two faculties.

It quoted John McPhee, a professor of systems design engineering: "We're delighted to partner with aboutGolf, who have provided us with cutting-edge simulation technology for conducting our latest research into golf equipment and biomechanics. The golf teaching and research facility will support our investigations into new designs for shafts and clubheads, biomechanic modelling, motion capture, and golf ball simulation and optimization."

Bill Bales, chief executive officer of aboutGolf, said his company is honoured to contribute to research at Waterloo. "Such an accredited engineering establishment deserves the most advanced technology, and we are excited to see what will come of their use of a donated aboutGolf simulator."

Besides the research that will be undertaken, the simulator will be used by the men's and women's varsity golf teams to facilitate their practice schedules and extend their game play throughout the year, the release said.

"The aboutGolf simulator provides the golf team with a focus, with a great benefit being the ability to obtain a greater understanding of their games and allow them to move to the next level," said Dave Hollinger, head coach of the Warrior men's golf team.

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Open Text builds again on north campus

from a news release issued by Open Text Corp.

Open Text Corporation, Canada’s largest software company and a global leader in Enterprise Content Management, today unveiled plans to expand its Waterloo facility to two buildings, doubling the company’s footprint at its headquarters location. Construction of the second building is expected to get under way in July 2010 and project completion is slated for the summer of 2011.

“It’s an exciting day for the Waterloo Tech Region and particularly for Open Text, our employees, customers and partners,” said John Shackleton, president and CEO of Open Text. “Despite the challenging economy, customers continue to view ECM as strategic to improving their business processes and meeting compliance requirements. We anticipate continued demand and therefore are keeping pace for the long term by expanding our headquarters facility with a second building.”

The new 120,000-square-foot, five-storey building will complement the existing 113,000-square-foot, three-storey Open Text office on Frank Tompa Drive in Waterloo, and will be joined to the existing facility by an elevated enclosed sky-bridge. In addition, a single-level parking structure will be constructed to ensure sufficient parking for employees and visitors. It’s anticipated that the finished complex will house up to 1500 employees; there are currently over 700 people employed at the existing Open Text headquarters facility.

Open Text executive chairman and Chief Strategy Officer Tom Jenkins made the announcement today at an open house attended by local dignitaries, customers, other tech company leaders, and partners. Attendees were able to see computer renderings of the new Open Text complex and even share in a cake fashioned in the shape of the new building.

“We’ve grown from a handful of dedicated employees with a dream to a global company with an even bigger vision, and this expansion is another step in our progression. The finished complex will enable us to meet customer demand going forward and support continued growth,” said Jenkins.

Open Text’s long history as an innovator in the software industry began at the University of Waterloo in the late 1980s with a group of university researchers who were working on a project to convert the entire Oxford English Dictionary to electronic form, a major feat in the pre-Internet days. The work formed the basis for the Internet’s first search engine technology, which was soon adopted by Yahoo. Today search technology is one of the components of Open Text ECM Suite, which helps large organizations manage huge volumes of documents, email, video, images, web content and other online information.

“This is a landmark day for a great neighbour and partner to the university, and we’re pleased to see continued progress for Open Text,” said David Johnston, president of UW and a guest speaker at the open house.

2009 has been a banner year for Open Text. The company earned a spot on Fortune Magazine’s 2009 list of the 100 Fastest-Growing Companies globally, ranking 15th overall and 6th on the list’s breakdown of fastest-growing tech companies. The company made two major acquisitions: Vignette, a global provider of high-end web content and social media solutions; and Vizible Corporation, a privately-held maker of award-winning digital media interface solutions.

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Flakes found in the daily flurry

We're into the last week of fall term exams, and just on the other side of the Christmas and New Year's holiday break lies the winter term. In preparation for that, the Student Awards and Financial Aid office has a message for students who are expecting funding from the Ontario Student Assistance Program to support their winter studies. OSAP funding will be released “by appointment only from Tatham Centre”, says a memo, starting on January 4. Appointments are available between 8:40 and 4:00 daily. “Representatives from the National Student Loan Service Centre are also on site at Tatham Centre. SAFA has increased the number of appointments available to see as many students as possible during the first three weeks of the term. To pick up OSAP funding, students should review the Important OSAP Pick-up Information and book an appointment for a date and time convenient for them.” And more: “SAFA is also serving students who receive funding from other provinces. Beginning January 4, these students should report to the lower level of Tatham Centre between 8:40 and 4:00 — no appointment required. All students are reminded that their fees must be arranged and they must present their SIN card and government-issued photo ID at the time of funding pick up. OSAP students also need to provide confirmation/proof of their gross earnings for 2009.”

“The 3rd Annual Parade of Lights was another success,” says a note from St. Jerome’s University, accompanied by the photo at left. “This year the Parade of Lights began with the unveiling of the student lounge room naming. The Lounge (room 1026) has now been named ‘The Den’. There were plenty of cheers from students who voted for this name. The evening continued with colourful lights being lit on the ‘Leadership’ blue spruce tree and caroling! Everyone’s beautiful voices could be heard around campus. The jolly old good time continued with students telling Santa what they wanted for Christmas. The evening wrapped up with some goodies and hot apple cider.”

Also in the spirit of Christmas, a message on Twitter a couple of days ago reported what was described as “seasonal kindness: EV3 construction site opened a pass-through to the ring road, presumably until next crew.” The access road from the arts area of campus to the ring road, which runs past the existing Environment buildings, has been closed for the construction project, and is to be shifted closer to Modern Languages by the time it reopens. For those who don’t pass the neighbourhood every day, word is that a webcam will soon be keeping an eye on the construction site, with other cams expected at other construction sites across the university.

Information Systems and Technology has announced its second set of workshops for the winter term. In addition to SEW’s usual core programming for electronic workplace applications, highlights of the winter brochure include a new courses on SharePoint for Project Management, Preparing your Website Content and an Introduction to Social Media, which promise various tips and tricks for using these various tools. “As well,” says a memo, “as we enter the months of inclement weather and with current influenza concerns, SEW will be again offering the apt Tools for Working from Home to illustrate how the campus community can utilize their desktop applications from the comfort of home. The registration brochure is available online in PDF format. Questions can be directed to Mark Lisetto-Smith (m25smith@ uwaterloo.ca) of Organizational & Human Development.”

Brian Bourque (right), head coach of the men’s hockey Warriors, will be heading for Erzurum, Turkey, in the winter of 2011 to serve as general manager of Team Canada as it competes in the Winter Universiade (World University Games). Bourque was appointed last week along with Western Mustangs coach Clarke Singer, who will coach the Canadian squad. It’ll be Ontario’s turn to provide the Canadian team for the world event, held every two years. “It is an honour and privilege to represent Canada,” says Bourque. Players for the squad will be named next fall.

Voting closes tomorrow in the election of four faculty representatives and one staff representatives on the nominating committee that will select UW’s next president. • The staff association is offering discount tickets for Chicopee Ski Resort in Kitchener again this season. • The finance office has just finished raffling off two Christmas baskets in support of local charities, raised more than $1,000, and reports that the raffle winners were Liz Skibicki of the engineering undergraduate office and Steve Norris of plant operations.

Leslie Barber, who has been working at UW since 1978 as a stationary engineer in the plant operations department, will officially retire as of January 1. • The “electronic waste” collection drive held earlier this month in the north campus Research and Technology Park collected 8,130 pounds of computers, cellphones and other hardware. • “The perfect gift”, for those wanting to put perfection into a Christmas stocking, would be a gift card from UW’s retail services, according to a flyer that circulated on campus this week.

CAR

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