Environment and resource studies students planted a maple tree yesterday near the university's Summit Centre in Huntsville, Ontario. It was the first exercise in a short course in "Practice of Restoration Ecology", ERS 375, led by instructor Jeff Thompson. Photo by Robin Brushey.

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Must follow copyright law, provost warns

A memo from provost Geoff McBoyle, sent across campus just before the long weekend, warns of “significant” changes to the way people on campus can (and can’t) make photocopies, starting at the end of this month.

Like at least two dozen other Canadian universities, Waterloo is saying farewell to its arrangement with Access Copyright, an agency that represents Canadian authors and publishers. Instead, the university will rely on direct licensing from the copyright owners, as well as the “fair dealing” rule that is a key part of Canada’s copyright law.

Here’s what McBoyle said in his memo, dated July 28: “As indicated in my memo of July 14, effective August 31, 2011 the University of Waterloo and the federated university and affiliated colleges will no longer have an agreement with Access Copyright. As a result, we are transitioning into a new copyright environment.

“Legal Implications. It is very important that faculty, staff and students abide by the provisions of the Copyright Act when making copies. A breach can have serious financial consequences for the university. In the event that the university is found liable for a breach, the university has the right to claim contribution and indemnification from the wrongdoer.

“Course Packs. Course pack production is an area which will be significantly affected after August 31. It is important that faculty and instructors contact the Bookstore immediately about course packs required for the fall term.

“Support and Advice. We are committed to providing support and advice to assist faculty, staff and students as we move forward. The updated copyright web site provides quick access to helpful information. Copyright at the University of Waterloo: A Guide for Those Teaching Courses gives a brief overview of the rules related to copying for instructional purposes. The Waterloo Copyright FAQ provides guidance and detailed answers to specific questions you may have. Both include a list of copyright contacts at UW — individuals with copyright expertise who are available to answer your questions.

“In addition, the Fair Dealing Advisory recommended by the legal counsel of the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada) may help you determine what may be legally copied. The guidelines reflect recent legal rulings on copyright issues in the educational sector, including the ruling that making copies for the purpose of instruction cannot be considered fair dealing.

“Should you have any questions please contact the appropriate individual listed as a copyright contact.”

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$12 million from Ontario Research Fund

Officials and researchers celebrated yesterday in the fourth-floor lobby of Engineering 5 building, as more than $12 million in research support from the Ontario Research Fund was announced for 21 Waterloo faculty members and several more from Wilfrid Laurier University.

“We’re celebrating the lifting power of partnership between the university and the ministry,” said Waterloo president Feridun Hamdullahpur, as the announcement was made by Kitchener-Conestoga MPP Leeanna Pendergast on behalf of the provincial ministry of research and innovation.

“The support provided today is an investment in excellence,” Hamdullahpur said. “I’m extremely pleased to point out that the researchers in the 23 projects receiving this funding at Waterloo are found in all six of our faculties — Applied Health Sciences, Arts, Engineering, Environment, Mathematics, and Science. That demonstrates tremendous breadth and diversity of research excellence. They’re working in a great range of areas, from cleaning up industrial waste, to improving the performance of medical devices, to developing super materials for high-speed trains and ultra-powerful computers.”

One of the researchers sharing in the money is Slim Boumaiza of the department of electrical and computer engineering, who spoke about his work, and the importance of the funding, on behalf of all the grant recipients. Boumaiza took media and government visitors on a tour of his lab following yesterday morning’s event.

The project headed by Boumaiza, titled “GaN [Gallium Nitride] Based Energy Efficient Electronics for Wireless, Satellite, and Power Applications” is receiving $2.4 million from ORF.

A project in “Model-Based Software Engineering”, headed by Joanne Atee [correction: Atlee] of the school of computer science, is receiving $4.7 million. And a third project, under the title of “Improved Strategies for Management of Metal-Bearing Residues”, is receiving $2.9 million; it’s headed by David Blowes of the department of earth and environmental sciences.

The ORF funding announced yesterday also supports seven projects under a “research infrastructure” program:

• Facility for testing and operating quantum photonics devices (Thomas Jennewein, physics and astronomy)
• Biomechanics of falls and impact-related injuries (Andrew Laing, kinesiology)
• A setup for development of ion-nanomaterial and study of electronic cellular systems (Vivek Maheshwari, chemistry)
• The MicroTile interactivity project (Jill Tomasson Goodwin, drama and speech communication)
• Flow cytometer suite for biomaterials and bioengineering research (Maud Gorbet, systems design engineering)
• Angle resolved inverse photoemission spectroscopy in strongly correlated electron systems (David Hawthorn, physics and astronomy)
• Functional DNA and lipid bionanotechnology (Juewen Liu, chemistry)

And the ORF is supporting 13 projects through its “early researcher award” program:

• Defining Ontario’s future forests: science, stakeholders and assisted colonization (Brendon Larson, environment and resource studies)
• Astrophysical windows into fundamental physics (Niayesh Afshordi, physics and astronomy)
• Sensitive detection using superconducting quantum circuits (Adrian Lupascu, physics and astronomy)
• Integrated counter-terrorism institutions in comparative perspective (Veronica Kitchen, political science)
• Adaptations in bone quality in response to neurologic injury and reduced mechanical loading (Lora Giangregorio, kinesiology)
• DNA-functionalized hydrogels for visual detection and removal of contaminants in water (Juewen Liu, chemistry)
• Satellite based quantum communication (Thomas Jennewein, physics and astronomy)
• Interference management in asynchronous wireless networks (Patrick Mitran, electrical and computer engineering)
• Multifunctional nanowires: understanding and manipulating optical and magnetic properties through defect engineering (Pavle Radovanovic, chemistry)
• Representations of the hand in higher-order somatic loci and their neural interactions with primary motor cortex (Aimee Nelson, kinesiology)
• Assessing the vulnerability and environmental impact of pumping wells near wetlands and streams (James R. Craig, civil and environmental engineering)
• Algorithms for quantum computers (Andrew Childs, combinatorics and optimization)
• Manipulating single electron spins for quantum information processing (Jonathan Daniel Baugh, Institute for Quantum Computing)

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Editor's thoughts on returning to Waterloo

Let me add a couple of personal notes this morning, as I sometimes do after returning from vacation travel. I was away from campus for the whole month of July, mostly enjoying summer, but also attending a two-day conference of institutional editors from across the United States and Canada, elegantly known as The Huddle. This year’s Huddle was held at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, on one of that institution’s campuses in the city of New Brunswick. It was interesting to learn a bit about Rutgers (“the big dog of higher education in New Jersey”, one booster told me) and, in particular, to see that some of its publicity uses the slogan “A tradition of innovation”. Hmm, I seem to remember suggesting exactly that phrase as a slogan for Waterloo some years ago.

I was invited to give an informal talk as the closing event of the Huddle, telling my colleagues — most of whom, these days, are younger than I am — about the olden days: Linotype machines and hot-lead printing, the creation of Waterloo’s Gazette newspaper in 1969, typewriters, computing in the pre-Internet era, and things I’ve learned over the years about the power of words. In return I came home with some ideas about online news distribution that may, one of these days, be reflected in how Waterloo does things.

While I was away I missed, I’m sorry to realize, the memorial service for Maurice Green, who was this university’s official photographer from the early days to his retirement in 1990. I can’t begin to count the number of times that, as editor of the Gazette, I would call over to Central Photographic: “I need a picture!” And that cheerful British voice would respond without fail: “Well, you’ve come to the right place.” I always had, too.

Finally, I have to mention a great debt of gratitude to Patricia Bow (left), who filled in as editor of the Daily Bulletin during my absence this summer and a good many previous times since she joined the staff in 1999. She’ll be doing it no longer: yesterday’s issue, completed late on Friday afternoon, was her last task for the university before taking official retirement. Our colleague Kelley Teahen wrote in the spring issue of Waterloo Magazine that “Pat is soft-spoken, a true editor’s editor, meticulously organized, careful in all things — and in possession of one of the wildest creative imaginations on the planet.” I can only add that I’m going to miss her very much, as a source of the perfect word and the dryest comment, and as a reliable and lovable colleague.

CAR

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