Ten students from Waterloo were among 117 from across Canada (and three from Hong Kong) who took part in the “Rising Stars of Research” undergraduate poster competition held in mid-August at the University of British Columbia. Prizes were awarded in seven theme areas. An honourable mention in computational sciences and technology went to Peter Forbes, a Waterloo student in statistics and actuarial science, whose project was “ENTREE, A Personalized Recipe Recommendation Engine”. Also honoured from this university: Robert Xiao, also in computational sciences and technology; Laura Sauder in biology and molecular biology; Lai Chi (Lily) So in engineering; Alexander Mangerel in physical and earth sciences.

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Waterloo moving up in Shanghai rankings

Waterloo has moved up this year in the much-publicized Academic Ranking of World Universities, and currently stands somewhere in the world’s top 200.

The ranking is published annually by the Centre for World-Class Universities at China’s Shanghai Jiao Tong University. It’s based on a set of indicators using third-party data including the number of alumni, faculty and staff who have won Nobel prizes or Fields medals, the number of highly cited researchers, and counts of papers published in Nature and Science magazines or indexed in the Science Citation Index and the Social Science Citation Index.

ARWU produces an overall ranking of what it considers the world’s top 500 universities, and also ranks the top 100 universities in each of five broad fields and five specific subjects.

For the eighth year in a row, ARWU has named Harvard University (left) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, as the number one university in the world. It’s followed by the University of California at Berkeley, and then Stanford University, also in California. American universities continue to dominate the higher reaches of the list, with Britain, Japan and Switzerland also represented in the top 25.

Canada, which has about one-half of one per cent of the world’s population, provides four of the top 100 universities: Toronto (at number 27), British Columbia, McGill and McMaster.

Beyond the top 100, universities are listed in groups. The “101-150” category includes two more Canadian institutions, Alberta and Montréal, and the “151-200” group has two more, Calgary and Waterloo.

“This is an improvement from our ranking in 2009 when we were in the 201-302 range,” says a memo from Jennifer Kieffer of the institutional analysis and planning office, who has summarized the ARWU data for use by the university’s top executives. She notes that 15 other Canadian institutions are listed further down within the top 500.

More from Kieffer’s report: “The five broad fields evaluated in the 2010 ranking were Social Sciences, Clinical Medicine and Pharmacy, Natural Sciences and Mathematics, Engineering/Technology and Computer Sciences, and Life and Agricultural Sciences.

“Waterloo did not make the top-100 ranking in Social Sciences, Clinical Medicine and Pharmacy, Natural Sciences and Mathematics, or Life and Agricultural Sciences.

“In Engineering/Technology and Computer Sciences Waterloo ranked in the 52-75 range along with McGill. Toronto was ranked 19th, and the University of Alberta was ranked in the 76-100 range.

“The five specific subjects evaluated in the 2010 ranking were Mathematics, Chemistry, Economics/Business, Computer Science and Physics. Waterloo did not make the top 100 in Mathematics, Chemistry, Economics/Business, or Physics. In Computer Science, Waterloo, along with McGill, placed in the 76-100 range. Toronto (10), UBC (29), Alberta and Montreal (both in the 52-75 range) also made the top 100.”

She points out that an article published in the Daily Bulletin on August 16 highlighted the accomplishments of Waterloo’s Chemistry department being ranked in the top-100 worldwide. This article refers to the 2009 ranking. Unfortunately, in 2010 Chemistry did not make the top-100 list.”

The ARWU rankings are a different project from the British-based Times Higher Education QS World University Rankings, which also put Harvard in first place last year. The Times listed McGill as Canada’s top university, and ranked Waterloo in 113th position overall.

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Stratford 'kickoff' and other daily notes

Civic leaders, university officials and VIPs are expected to be on hand this morning for a by-invitation "kickoff event" being held by UW's Stratford campus. It's happening not at the university's temporary Wellington Street location, and not at the future permanent site on St. Patrick Street, but at the auditorium in Stratford's historic city hall (right, with Stratford mayor Dan Mathieson and dean of arts Ken Coates) . "Meet us for a presentation and reception," says the invitation to the 11 a.m. event, "as we celebrate the start of the transformation of the St. Patrick Street site. Share in our landmark moment." Incidentally, the invitation also reveals that the Stratford campus has a mailing address of its own (6 Wellington Street, Stratford N5A 2L2) and a phone number (519-275-2727).  Coming next month: a  September 209 open house for "the official opening of the 6 Wellington St. location".

Bradley Moggach, president of the Federation of Students, said on Facebook yesterday that student leaders “are currently working out a much more student friendly funding model and a more centralized location” after last year’s rejection of a proposed Student Services Building in a fee referendum. “Students' Council mandated myself to investigate the building again this year,” says Moggach. “The student building has a slightly different concept that the last proposal, will be in a different location (currently looking at two), and is very student focused. The design process would cost $150,000-$250,000 to do before the funding has been approved. Ideally, students would approve the funding and then would have the ability to choose how the building design in Fall 2011, before construction began. This allows for more student control and significant savings. More details of the building will emerge after we have run an extensive survey in early September.”

James A. (Jim) Reimer (right), who retired recently from the faculty of Conrad Grebel University College, died Saturday. A graduate of the University of Manitoba, Union Theological Seminary and the University of Toronto, Reimer taught theology and was one of the founders of the Toronto Mennonite Theological Centre, which linked Grebel and other institutions through the Toronto School of Theology. He was well known as organizer of a series of meetings between North American Mennonite theologians and Muslim scholars from Iran. In 2008 a scholarship fund in his honour was announced at TST. Reimer is survived by his wife, Margaret Loewen Reimer, and a daughter and two sons. Visitation at the Erb & Good Funeral Home is scheduled for Wednesday, 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m., and a funeral service will be held Thursday at 1 p.m. at First United Church on King Street.

The annual Friends of the Library lecture is usually a feature of springtime — the 2009 lecture was held in April and introduced new chancellor Prem Watsa to the campus — but for 2010 the date has been moved to the fall. “This year’s speaker is Beckie Scott,” says an announcement from the library. “Beckie is a three-time Olympian, member of the International Olympic Committee, and was most recently involved in the organization  of the Vancouver Olympic Games. Her talk will provide a behind the scenes review of the Games, her involvement in the IOC as well as her thoughts on clean sport. The talk is open to everyone.” It’ll be held Tuesday, September 21, at 4:00, in the Humanities Theatre. And you know what goes with the Friends lecture each year: “During the Friends of the Library event, the Library showcases the work of campus authors, artists, and composers. We would like to hear from members of the university community who, in 2009-10, authored a book, composed a musical score, mounted an art show, or were recognized for their design or photography work. Works will be publicly recognized and displayed during the event. If you would like your work included please contact Cheryl Kieswetter at ext. 32281 by September 3.”

And . . . here's a reminder that if you do some of your computing through the Nexus system, as thousands of people on campus do, your password may need changing: “As of Monday, August 30, Nexus passwords will be required to be a minimum of 8 characters in length (up from 6). Otherwise the rules remain the same: at least one number, at least one upper case letter, at least one non-alpha-numeric character. People who do not change their passwords before Tuesday will not be able to log in without doing that first. While 8 characters is the minimum length, longer is also better. Passwords are changed via the 'Change Password' link on the log-in browser on Nexus workstations, or via the Desktop icon on Nexus workstations, or online.”

CAR

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