'Green' projects win Best in Science grants

Three Waterloo professors in science and engineering are involved in environmental research projects singled out for funding support from the Ontario Ministry of the Environment.

The MOE announced recently that it is funding 16 projects in 2009 through its Best in Science program, with a total of about $1.7 million. Three of the 16 include Waterloo researchers.

These are the Waterloo-linked projects:

Groundwater recharge and source water protection. Groundwater recharge is a process where water moves downward from surface water to groundwater. It is an important process for managing levels of groundwater that occurs both through the natural water cycle and where reclaimed water is routed to the subsurface.

This project will evaluate methods for estimating rates for groundwater recharge and map areas where recharge occurs in Ontario. Prof. David Rudolph (left), earth and environmental sciences, will collaborate with researchers from the Central Lake Ontario Conservation Authority and the University of Guelph. Funding: $150,000 ($55,000 of total goes to Waterloo).

Developing improved tools for mapping spatial and temporal variability in assessment of subsurface vapour intrusion to indoor air. Quantifying and eliminating risks associated with the redevelopment of previously contaminated sites includes assessment of the exposure pathways. Exposure pathways are the ways that people can be exposed to contamination, such as breathing contaminated air, drinking contaminated water, or touching contaminated soil. Vapour intrusion is one exposure pathway: a way by which pollutants in soil or groundwater could get into indoor air.

Researchers at the University of Waterloo led by Prof. Tadeusz Gorecki (right), chemistry, have developed a new technology for tracking vapour intrusion that has been tested in the laboratory. Collaborating with researchers from the Netherlands, they will test the technology under more practical conditions — Ontario sites currently under redevelopment. Funding: $150,000.

Evaluation of biofilm growth and assessment of pathogen infiltration pathways in large-diameter test holes. Four large-diameter water holes, built at Fleming College, Peterborough, to mimic residential drinking water wells, will be used to test the susceptibility of the holes to contamination by pathogens.

The study will look into effects of hole design and seasonal variability. Its results can help improve the design of water wells and reduce their risk of contamination. Prof. Neil Thomson (left), civil and environmental engineering, will collaborate with researchers from Fleming College. Funding: $90,000 ($67,626 of total goes to Waterloo).

“The answers to many of the environmental problems we face today will be found through science and research,” says environment minister John Gerretsen. “The work undertaken by . . . our universities is going to benefit all Ontarians by helping provide clean air, land and water. That means a better and safer environment for both current and future generations.”

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Another leap for quantum computing

Jay Gambetta (right), a postdoctoral fellow in the university’s Institute for Quantum Computing (IQC), with a team of physicists from Yale University, recently created a two-qubit superconducting quantum processor.

"Few-qubit processors have already been shown in nuclear magnetic resonance, cold ion trap and optical systems; however, a solid-state realization has remained an outstanding challenge," says a news release from IQC. "This new research demonstrates a two-qubit superconducting processor and the implementation of the Grover search and Deutsch-Jozsa quantum algorithms."

"Future research efforts will be focused on increasing qubit coherence times, gate performance and register size in order to create a functional technology,” Gambetta says.

The research is to be published in Nature’s weekly journal of science. An advanced release of the paper, “Demonstration of Two-Qubit Algorithms with a Superconducting Quantum Processor” is available online on Nature’s website.

Gambetta joined IQC as a postdoctoral fellow in October 2007 and was recently accepted into the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR) Junior Fellow Academy in the Quantum Information Processing program.

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Moving up, moving on, digging down

This note from the office of the associate vice-president, academic: "Catherine Schryer (left), director of the Centre for Teaching Excellence (CTE) and a member of the Department of English, will be leaving the university as of September 1, 2009, to take up a position at Ryerson University. Donna Ellis, presently the associate director of CTE, will become the interim director of CTE as of September 1, 2009."

Savvas Chamberlain, for many years a Waterloo electrical and computer engineering professor, was appointed a member of the Order of Canada on July 1 for "his contributions to Canada's reputation as a global leader in high-performance imaging and semiconductors," according to a news release from Rideau Hall. Chamberlain spun off his UW research to found DALSA corp. in 1980, now a leading maker of sensors and digital cameras — including some chosen by NASA to scan the terrain of Mars.

Amit Chakma, Waterloo's just-departed provost and vice-president academic and now president of the University of Western Ontario, is profiled in a June 30 feature story by Larry Cornies in the Western Alumni Gazette. Titled "Bringing Western to the World," the story is focused on Chakma's goals for UWO: "The university's next iteration, he says, must be 'a Western that is more global. A Western that is on the go. And a Western that has more activities that will have more impact.'"

“This Monday, join us for a day of transplanting!” writes Ashlea Hegedus-Viola, Dorney Garden intern in the environment faculty. “We'll be moving trees, shrubs and herbaceous plant material affected by the construction of EV3 to areas around EV1. Equipment and refreshments will be provided. Bring extra shovels if you wish; wear appropriate footwear. 8 to 11 a.m. or 3:30 to 7:30 p.m., rain or shine.” Contact point is the rock circle outside EV2 beside the Ring Road.

The plants will go to existing gardens near EV1, as well as a proposed native conifer garden east of the building, and on the south a prairie savanna naturescape and the beginnings of the Natural Landscaping Team's new woodland fern garden. Some of these gardens grew from students' ERS thesis projects. For more information, contact ahegedus@uwaterloo.ca.

From FEDS come the results of the summer by-election of undergraduate faculty reps to Students' Council for the academic year 2009-10. They are Barbara MacDonald and Ajnu Jacob (representing the math faculty); Nick Soave (environment); Praveen Arichandran, Abhilash Jayakumar, Anna Lafoyiannis, and Mohamed Farid (engineering); and Annie Halim (applied health sciences). These summer by-elections are a normal part of the FEDS electoral process, held to "promote equal opportunity for co-op students in accessing the highest levels of student representation" at the university.

CPA staff

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