Carrying the Olympic torch for a few moments, along its 45,000-kilometre route toward Vancouver, was Graham Pope, a UW student in geography and environmental management. He’s on a co-op work term for Environment Canada in Alert, Northwest Territories, known as the world's most northerly community. The torch arrived by aircraft from Churchill, Manitoba, on the evening of November 8, and left next morning for Resolute Bay and Iqaluit. The torch will be in both Waterloo and Kitchener on the evening of December 27, ending a day’s travel from London through Stratford and Cambridge. It will head out on the 28th for Guelph and other western Ontario communities, including Port Elgin, where Jan Weber of UW Graphics is one of the designated torchbearers.

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Lectures on Darwin and the flu virus

Two major events tomorrow, including a public lecture on “the science behind” the H1N1 flu virus, will help UW’s science faculty mark the 150th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s landmark book about evolution.

The faculty of science has designated tomorrow as Darwin Day, commemorating the sesquicentennial of On the Origin of Species, which proposed the theory that’s now the central principle of biological study.

A lecture in the morning, to be attended by many high school students, will give three biology faculty members an opportunity to deal with Darwin and his work directly. That event starts at 10:30 a.m. in the Humanities Theatre.

One of the speakers, Jonathan Witt, will focus on Darwin’s early life and his proposed mechanism for natural selection, which explains how life evolves over time. “I will be looking at the observations Darwin made that got him thinking about evolution and show how natural selection works,” says Witt. Brian Dixon and John Semple will look at the facts, myths and important events of Darwin’s life. “Why Darwin became so famous and what he did to deserve such an esteemed status in the history of science has been much debated,” says Semple. “We will provide insights on Darwin in a way that is meant to entertain and enlighten.”

High school visitors are being offered laboratory tours and information sessions about UW’s science programs as part of their Darwin Day visit to campus.

Later in the day, the speaker is Christine Dupont, also of the department of biology, whose lecture will be given in the Theatre of the Arts, starting at 7 p.m. With the H1N1 influenza epidemic currently in the headlines, she’s expected to draw a good crowd for her discussion of the virus’s biology — where it came from and why it’s different from the regular seasonal flu.

"People have a lot of concerns about H1N1 vaccine and adjuvants," Dupont said. "I’ll also touch upon the vaccine’s components and address what some of the main controversies are." The free event is titled “The Science Behind H1N1: Evolution, Pathology, Vaccines and Adjuvants”.

After Dupont’s lecture, attendees will have the opportunity to ask questions in a panel discussion. Besides Dupont, panelists include Barbara Schumacher, UW’s director of health services; William Ciccotelli, medical director of infectious diseases and medical microbiology, Grand River Hospital and St. Mary’s Hospital; and Robert M. Friendship, a veterinarian and professor with expertise in swine health management at the Ontario Veterinary College, University of Guelph.

"We are looking forward to hosting this event and hope it will help answer some of the questions and concerns the public may have about H1N1," says Josh Neufeld, a professor of biology.

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Innovation, collaboration, installation . . .

James She, who was cited for “outstanding achievement” as he received his PhD in computer science at fall convocation, has more evidence of that achievement. He’s pictured receiving a certificate last month as the national runner-up for the Innovation Challenge Award sponsored by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council. The award recognizes work by students “who have demonstrated an entrepreneurial flair by thinking of ways to transform their research thesis results into products and processes” In She’s case — well, let NSERC tell it: “Wireless Media Express (WME) is a key ingredient for cost-effective, efficient wireless delivery of high-quality digital video to media devices. To download new advertising content onto fixed or mobile digital displays at hundreds of sites, a company could use WME to deliver to all networked locations. This is far better than manually updating content. Wireless video delivery to networked devices is hampered by interference, receiver movements and obstacles, causing fluctuating capacity and unreliable reception. WME overcomes these challenges, creates a reliable wireless platform for digital media delivery and makes strategic use of expensive radio spectrum.”

Dignitaries met at midday on Saturday for a groundbreaking on UW’s north campus, where the Stork Family YMCA and John M. Harper District Library complex is under construction to serve the west side of a growing city. The Y, the city of Waterloo, its public library, and UW are partners in the project, in effect a community centre being built on university land. “We are celebrating the fruits of unconventional collaboration and innovation,” says Waterloo mayor Brenda Halloran. “By working together, we’ve been able to develop a plan for a facility that far exceeds what any one of our organizations could have offered our residents if working in isolation. The west side and our entire community will be better served through this collaboration. It not only enables the creation of this facility, but it will see university lands serviced to support their future growth.” As a condition of the partnership, the city will develop 23 acres of sports fields along Westmount Road, and see to the servicing of another 87 acres of the northwest campus for future development. Designs for the Y and library include a low building emerging from the landscape with ample windows and a central courtyard to provide natural lighting. The building will be located on the northeast corner of the site, providing a prominent street presence. Expected completion is March 2011.

The engineering faculty reports that “The Canada Council has chosen a new version of the award-winning “Hylozoic Ground” to fill the Canada pavilion at next year’s Venice Biennale. Heading up the project are Philip Beesley of Waterloo’s School of Architecture, Rob Gorbet of electrical and computer engineering and Andrew Hunter, director of the University of Waterloo’s Render gallery. Waterloo architecture’s spinoff company PBAi is the contractor for the project and many Waterloo Engineering students are contributing to the work.”

And this note arrives from Rick Haldenby, director of the architecture school: “Scotiabank Nuit Blanche in Toronto last month included a stunning installation entitled ‘twofold’. The project was conceived and executed by GALTstudio, a collective made up of 3A students at the School of Architecture: Mike Love, Dan McTavish, Shane Neill, Virginia Fernandez, Catherine Westgate, Brian Muthaliff, Sayjel Patel. I am extremely pleased to pass on the news that the project has won the 2009 Scotiabank People’s Choice Award in the Independent Project Category. The winners share a prize of $5,000.”

Registration for this year’s WatITis conference for information technology staff officially ends today, says a note from conference chair Marko Dumancic of the environment faculty. “Anyone not yet registered is encouraged to do so before registration closes,” he writes. “Everyone who has registered is asked to double-check to confirm that your selections and the registration system’s entries match.” The conference, scheduled for December 8, has sessions under such titles as “Innovations in Wired Network Service”, “Don't Panic: What to Do When Your Systems Are Compromised”, and “An Oenophile’s Guide to Bad Code Smells”.

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. . . pension, tuition, communication

A memo sent across campus this week comes from the human resources department and is addressed to all faculty and staff members in the UW pension plan, but particularly those who have maxed out their RRSPs and are looking for a way to put aside more money towards retirement. It makes the annual suggestion that money can be invested in the Flexible Pension Plan, but only with caution — the more so since the end of compulsory retirement at age 65. "Caution is advised to those members intending to work past age 65 who have participated in the past or plan to participate now in the Flex Plan," it says. "There is a greater risk of losing your flex contributions." That's because (the rules are complicated) the pension generated by those extra contributions can be used only in certain ways, and one of the chief of them is improving the level of pension after early retirement. There are details on the HR web site.

The finance committee of UW’s senate held a brief meeting on November 11 to get an update on the university’s financial position for the current year and hear a word about prospects for 2010-11. Right now, provost Feridun Hamdullahpur told the committee, it’s looking as though UW will spend about $2.4 million more than it takes in during 2009-10; the bottom line on spending is $435.5 million. But there remain big uncertainties, especially around the so-called “unfunded BIUs” — students whose presence push UW beyond its authorized enrolment targets and so don’t bring in Ontario government grants unless, as sometimes happens, money is provided retroactively near year’s end. Committee members asked a question or two about the $30.5 million that UW will spend this year on scholarships, bursaries and other direct-to-student funding, and about the $65 million that’s shown in the budget summary just as “supplies and expenses”. As for the new year, which will start May 1, “we will wait until we have a little more clarification from the province” before making serious attempts to strike a budget, Hamdullahpur said. Bob Truman, the director of institutional analysis and planning, said universities would really like the government to set the coming year’s tuition fee policies before Christmas, “but it becomes political” and that tends to mean delay.

Imprint reported Friday that “approximately 14” students have been fined for trespassing on the construction site that has been blocking a traditional path from the engineering corner of campus to the University Plaza fast-food heaven. • Pavement work on the parking lot at UW Place didn’t start on Thursday as originally announced, but machinery is expected to be roaring there today. • A group of grade 12 students from across Ontario were on campus over the weekend for a “Roadmap to Research” program sponsored by Waterloo Unlimited.

The continuing education office has a one-day course going today on “Leading People to Effectiveness” later this week there are “Strategic and Business Planning”, “Untechnical Communication”, and “Understanding Personal and Work Stress”. • A fund-raiser at the Waterloo outlet of Boston Pizza, today and again next Monday, will yield 10 per cent of dinnertime sales to the “Think Pink” breast cancer campaign that’s being held this weekend by Warrior sports teams. • Amanda Carruthers, Rahim Karmali, Andrew Tai Pow and Andrew Zhuang of the Warrior badminton squad have been named to the Ontario University Athletics all-star team as the season comes to an end.

Scott Pearson, assistant manager of the Student Life Centre, sends a reminder that now that GO Transit buses touch campus regularly, the turnkey desk in the SLC “is a full agency for all GO Transit, both buses and rail“. There are 13 buses daily to Square One (in Mississauga, with “easy connections to the entire GO system”) or Milton (with transfers to trains for downtown Toronto) each weekday, seven buses daily on weekends. A key fare: $12.20 one way from Waterloo to Pearson Airport, via Square One.

CAR

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