Ready for the slopes were a group of engineering students who assembled last week for "traybogganing". "No shiny new Subway trays were harmed in the making of our event," reports Stuart Pearson of civil eng, in response to a remark in Thursday's Daily Bulletin. "Note the completely legitimate trays. And a good time was had by all."

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Presidential nominating committee at work

The university secretariat has announced the full membership of the nominating committee that will find UW’s next president, under the provisions of Policy 50. And here they are:

• Chair: Bob Harding, chair of the UW board of governors, chairman of Brookfield Asset Management Ltd.*
• Sheila Ager, faculty senator and board of governors member, faculty member in classical studies, sager@ uwaterloo.ca, ext. 32943.
• Jonathan Aycan, graduate student in management sciences, president of Graduate Student Association, student representative on board of govenors, jaycan@ uwaterloo.ca.
• Allan Babor, president of Federation of Students, formerly an independent studies student, student representative on board of govenors, ababor@ uwaterloo.ca, ext. 32478.
• Tom Brenner, social work faculty member, Renison University College, representing federated university and affiliated colleges, tebrenner@ uwaterloo.ca, ext. 28635.
• Rob Caldwell, external board of governors member, managing director of Blackmont Capital Inc.*
• Tara Collington, faculty senator, faculty member in French studies, tcolling@ uwaterloo.ca, ext. 36123.
• Bob Copeland, director of athletics and recreational servies, elected staff representative on the committee, bcopeland@ uwaterloo.ca, ext. 33663.
• George Freeman, faculty member in electrical and computer engineering, president of faculty association, elected at large, freeman@uwaterloo.ca, ext. 32876.
• Bruce Gordon, external board of governors member, chairman of Manulife Canada Ltd.*
• Keith Hipel, faculty member in systems design engineering, faculty senator, kwhipel@ uwaterloo.ca, ext. 32830.
• Tim Jackson, alumnus (accounting 1991), external board of governors member, partner in Tech Capital Partners Inc.*
• Tim Kenyon, faculty member in philosophy, elected at large, tkenyon@uwaterloo.ca, ext. 32650.
• Ophelia Lazaridis, external board of governors member, director, Lazaridis Family Foundation.*
• Paul McDonald, faculty member in health studies and gerontology, faculty senator, pwmcdonald@ uwaterloo.ca, ext. 35839.
• Terry McMahon, faculty member in chemistry, dean of science, faculty senator, mcmahon@ uwaterloo.ca, ext. 84591.
• Ian McPhee, external member and vice-chair of board of governors, retired as vice-president of Sybase Waterloo.*
• Deep Saini, dean of environment, faculty member in environment and resource studies, faculty senator, hsaini@ uwaterloo.ca, ext. 32884.
• Frank Zorzitto, faculty member in pure mathematics, faculty senator, fazorzit@ math.uwaterloo.ca, exts. 35563.
• Secretary: Lois Claxton, secretary of the university, lclaxon@uwaterloo.ca, ext. 84012.

Committee members indicated with *an asterisk can be reached through the secretary of the committee.

Policy 50 instructs the nominating committee to do its work in confidence. The policy says the committee “will invite or arrange for nominations, by whatever means it considers appropriate, from any person or group; it will arrange to advertise the position in Canada; and it will establish criteria against which nominations and applications may be measured.

“The committee will consider all names placed before it and will develop a short list of candidates as its first step in proceeding towards a recommendation. These candidates will be invited to meet with the committee and/or with such other persons and/or groups as it may determine. It will then rank the candidates on the short list and will present to the Senate and, if approved, then to the Board of Governors the name of one candidate for appointment as President.”

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Grade 10s look ahead to university

a release from the UW media relations office

UW will offer parents and their Grade 10 students the chance to get a head start on planning for a university education at a special evening event tomorrow. Grade 10 Family Night will help students understand what they can do in Grade 10 to prepare for applying to any of Ontario's universities. Topics include courses to take in high school and resources to help learn about the hundreds of university programs offered in Ontario.

As well, current university students will talk about what they wish they knew about university while still in high school.

"With so many choices available at Ontario universities, the application process can get overwhelming for students," said Kim Kennedy, head of guidance at Huron Heights Secondary School in Kitchener. "The Grade 10 Family Night at the University of Waterloo is a great opportunity for students and their parents to start thinking about university and what they can do now to prepare."

Topics include "Study what you love — choosing the right program for future success", by Ken Coates, Waterloo's dean of arts; Admission requirements and application information, by Nancy Weiner, associate registrar; and Budgeting for a university education, by student awards and financial aid staff.

At the event, guests can visit booths to learn about such high school enrichment opportunities as Shad Valley, Waterloo Unlimited and the Centre for Education in Mathematics and Computing, which runs math contests for thousands of students across Canada and around the world.

The evening starts at 6:30 p.m. and takes place at the Theatre of the Arts, Modern Languages building. People will also be able to view the evening as a live webcast. Further details and registration are available online.

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Finding your own job can't be 'lame'

by Karina Graf, from the Inside Scoop newsletter for UW co-op students

As he scrolled through the listings on JobMine, 4A nanotechnology engineering student Ryan Iutzi (left) didn’t see his dream posting. Having worked in a variety of industries throughout his previous co-op jobs, he wanted to spend his final 8-month work term conducting research. He was positive his dream job existed, so he set out to find it on his own.

Initially, he spent hours at the computer; he investigated research teams across North America and narrowed his targets to a short list of professors to approach. He strategically devised a plan of attack. “You have to do it right,” Iutzi explained. “I didn’t just send a lame email.” He created a professional application package, which included a résumé, cover letter and letter of recommendation. He mailed the package directly to his target employer.

“You can’t send a lazy application,” says Iutzi. “When you’re a student searching by yourself you almost have to act as if you’re the CECS department. You have to explain the University of Waterloo and the co-op system, because it’s not necessarily something they’re familiar with.” His diligence paid off. Although Iutzi prepared multiple application packages, the first one he mailed was a winner.

He connected with a professor at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh and secured his job as an undergraduate research student with a team he was excited to work with. The team was small, and led by “a fairly young professor who seemed quite aggressive. I could tell this is a group that doesn’t just do small things. They want to make big changes and push the field forward.”

Transistors were the main focus of Iutzi’s research. As cell phones and other devices that use transistors become smaller, he explains, “we’re starting to hit a brick wall. You can actually count the number of atoms in some of these devices, and the technology is no longer behaving the same.” So he investigated how to make the devices more controllable.

Research was often frustrating. Iutzi said, “When I first started doing my projects, I thought, ‘Things aren’t working, I have no clue what I’m doing, I’m in over my head.’” For his first four months, everything seemed to be going wrong and he said he felt ready to rip out his hair. “And then all of a sudden,” he continued, “Bam! A result made sense and for the first time I really felt like I had a handle on what I was doing.”

By the end of his work term, he had co-authored eight research papers for conferences and peer-reviewed journals and decided to apply for graduate school. “I really enjoyed it,” he said about his research-based work term. “We produced a lot of good things. Progress and success can only happen if you push through all the hard challenges.”

CAR

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