Emergency communications test tomorrow

This is how the university's home page looked one day last November when the new emergency communications system was tested. Another test is scheduled for tomorrow (Wednesday) afternoon.

Periodically the university conducts such tests of its emergency communications. This system employs several communications media, including messages to voicemail on campus phones, text messages to cell phones, and a message to computers that appears as a "pop-up" directing everyone to the university's special emergency home page.

This system is only deployed in the event of major emergencies where there is imminent physical danger to members of the campus community.

Ensure you get text messages
To ensure that you will receive an emergency cell phone text message, faculty, staff and students must list their cell phone numbers in their university personal information files. For students this should be done using Quest. For faculty and staff, log into the myHRinfo system to make sure your cell phone is accurately listed

Update software for "pop-ups"
Most people on campus will receive the automatic pop-up message if they are using PCs. Those with "self-managed" machines, including Macintosh computers, can obtain the necessary software for downloading at http://ist.uwaterloo.ca/download/package_info/uw_emerge.html

This software will enable these machines to connect with the Emerge software system used to display pop-up messages.

InfoLine
As well, everyone is reminded that when calling in from off campus for information during emergency situations, the university's InfoLine can be accessed at 1-866-470-0910. This special university number is a communication service allowing multiple callers access simultaneously. The number will help in avoiding switchboard overload in high-volume situations.

The university will also use InfoLine in non-emergencies, such as a campus closure due to a winter storm or other important updates for the campus community. It is a single point of access to receive up-to-date information regarding the status of the campus. InfoLine will normally be updated by 6 a.m. as it relates to a storm closure.

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Research funding continues to grow

by Janet Janes, Office of Research

Academic research income is on the rise across Canada, and the University of Waterloo is reaping its share – $169.5 million for 2009-2010 (see graph, below). That represents a more than 17 per cent increase in total sponsored research awards compared to last year and an annual research funding amount that has doubled since 2001.

It’s good news for researchers as well as the university’s Board of Governors, which heard a report from George Dixon, vice-president (university research), at its June meeting.

“The level of research funding we’re seeing is definitely sustainable,” he says. According to Dixon, despite the current economic downturn, funders are recognizing the value of university research and demonstrating their commitment with increased dollars.

In the last few years, the provincial government has become one of the greatest supporters of academic research in Ontario universities, recognizing it as a key to innovation in Ontario. Provincial funding for research has increased by about five per cent in each of the last three years. Likewise, the federal government continues to create opportunities that encourage industry to invest in research by developing matching grant programs. In turn, the private sector is considering how research combined with commercialization can help their products and businesses grow.

“The federal government has recognized the impact of research scholarship to society as a whole,” says Dixon.

Although the boom in research funding isn’t unique to Waterloo, scientists on campus have continued to benefit from optimal support. Dixon told the board that Waterloo’s success rate in tri-council funding was significantly higher in two of four categories:

• Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada discovery grants (73.1% success compared to the national average of 57.8%)
• Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council strategic grants (48.4% success compared to the national average of 22.7%).

Waterloo ranked slightly higher than the national average in the Canadian Institutes of Health Research fall open competition (18.9% compared to the national average of 18.3%) and just below the national average for SSHRC standard grants (33.8% compared to the national average of 34.1%).

Funding from the federal tri-councils accounted for a quarter of Waterloo’s total research funding for the year, with the rest coming from federal government excluding the councils (24%), the provincial government (23%), other (17%), and industry (11%).

Why has Waterloo been so successful? Dixon says Waterloo faculty have always been successful in attracting individual research funding. In recent years, colleagues have focused on collaborating on larger projects – and it’s working. Identifying opportunities, working together across faculties, and writing effective grant proposals are key and have made a significant impact on the increased research funding for Waterloo.

Among those larger and recent research successes:

• $50 million in federal funding for the Institute for Quantum Computing with an additional $50 million in provincial funding
• $21 million for the Ontario Research Fund – Research Excellence Awards for six Waterloo lead researchers
• $20 million for two Canada Excellence Research Chairs (two of 19 awarded across Canada)
• $16.7 million for six awards from the Canada Foundation for Innovation
• $8.3 million toward the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Clinical Trials Network

All research opportunities are important, says the VP, but seeking out the larger ones and collaboration can lead to a greater impact both for society and in funding. “My role is to identify those opportunities for collaboration – and act on them.”

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Monday's royal visit, and other notes

Yesterday's Waterloo Region Record carries an article about the Queen’s visit to Waterloo Region. It said in part: “Her plane from Toronto landed within minutes of its scheduled time – 10:40, and her motorcade headed to a Research In Motion plant where the BlackBerry smart phone is made. … She was met at the plant at 451 Phillip St., Waterloo, by Premier Dalton McGuinty, Waterloo Mayor Brenda Halloran and RIM co-founder Mike Lazaridis. Stepping from their limousine, the Queen and Prince Philip waved to onlookers, who jabbed the air with BlackBerries to capture the moment in a digital photograph.”

The search goes on for a successor to Jake Thiessen, recently retired from his post as director of the school of Pharmacy. In the meantime, Professor Nancy Waite will serve as interim Hallman director of pharmacy as well as interim director of the Health Science Campus for six months starting July 1. Waite is currently the associate director, practice-based education at the school.

Officials announced last fall that the office of Communications and Public Affairs and the office of Marketing and Undergraduate Recruitment were going to be combined, under the leadership of a new associate vice-president (public affairs and marketing). That’s not going to happen after all, says vice-president (external relations) Meg Beckel in a memo to the affected staff, noting changed circumstances and the new emphasis on “total enrolment management” at Waterloo. She says she and the provost “have agreed that it makes sense to leave MUR within the Registrar's office”, with “a dotted line reporting relationship” connecting MUR director Tina Roberts to the VP’s office. “Total enrolment management will call for strong linkages with other Registrar's Office functions and the academic setting of faculties' targets which currently is linked to the Registrar's office,” says Beckel. “Our colleagues in MUR will continue to play a key role in marketing the university, and Tina and I will continue to connect directly.”

September 23-26, the University of Waterloo will be hosting an Intercountry Adoption Summit, to be held in Stratford, "to address the growing international concerns surrounding intercountry adoption and the need to reduce corruption and human trafficking while maximizing the best interests of children." Information, including how to register, is here. The summit is actually two separate but connected meetings: The first, by invitation only, but open to the public at its closing session, "brings influential countries involved in intercountry adoption together to discuss the current and future state of intercountry adoption." The second "brings researchers and scholars from around the world together to showcase their research in intercountry adoption and is open to the general public. Scholars from 14 major disciplines involved in intercountry adoption research will be attending." A call for papers has a submission deadline of July 9 (negotiable). Details here.

A reminder that the Staff Association’s Golf Social takes place next Tuesday, July 13. Organizers ask people to register by noon this Friday “so that we have prizes for everyone.”

Yesterday's Daily Bulletin noted that a research study being carried out at the Centre for Child Studies under the direction of Prof. Daniela O’Neill is looking for families with children ages 20-26 months to participate in a mother-child study. The note should have included the following line: "This study has been reviewed by and received ethics clearance through the Office of Research Ethics at the University of Waterloo."

June was a lot wetter than normal, and slightly warmer, reports Frank Seglenieks, co-ordinator of the university's weather station in his monthly update. "Overall it was a full degree warmer than average. . . But the real story was the precipitation. At 130.3 mm it was the wettest June since 1967 and the wettest of any month since December 2008."

Finally, all area shutterbugs are invited to submit their photos of life in Waterloo Region, the best ones to be published in the 2010 edition of Waterloo Region's Vital Signs. The deadline for submission has been extended to July 7.  Details here.

CPA staff

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