Dendrochronologists gone wild: students participating in a tree-ring dating workshop hosted by the Ecology Lab on November 8 enthusiastically put the screws to an Austrian pine outside Hagey Hall in order to take core samples, which were then brought back to the lab to be analysed. The tree probably needed a hug afterwards.

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Students are winning, from architecture...

Architecture alumna Prithula Prosun (left) was one of 12 recipients of NSERC's 2011 Innovation Challenge Award for her LIFT house project, which she completed as part of her Master's thesis last year.

According to NSERC, the Innovation Challenge Awards "honour graduate students in the natural sciences or engineering who have demonstrated an entrepreneurial spirit and have identified ways their research thesis results can be developed into products and processes to benefit Canadians."

The LIFT (Low Income Flood-Proof Technology) housing is a design that allows a structure to rise with flood waters and then lower once flooding recedes, preventing damage to the home and its contents. An 800 square-foot prototype was built in Dhaka, Bangladesh, a city that is no stranger to severe flooding.

"Ms. Prosun is the first architecture student ever to win an NSERC Innovation Challenge Award - from any university," says School of Architecture director Rick Haldenby. "She was the only Master's student in the list." She joins four other University of Waterloo students who have won an Innovation Challenge award since the program launched in 2004. Haldenby adds, "The entire community of the school of architecture is extremely proud of her."

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...to nano

with material from the Eng-e-news faculty and staff newsletter

Lawrence Wong (right), of systems design engineering and the University of Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology, was awarded the MEMSCAP Microsystems Design Award for his presentation entitled Ultrasound Imaging System using Capacitive Micromachined Ultrasonic Transducers.

The award is given to the participant who demonstrates the most novel and industrially relevant research results and is open to students in a graduate degree program in a Canadian university.

The competition, sponsored by CMC Microsystems, is targeted at microsystems applications including telecommunication, health care, automobile, aerospace and the environment.

A PhD candidate, Wong is a member of the Advanced Micro-/Nano- Devices Lab at the University of Waterloo. The lab has won three such awards since its inception in 1997.

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Speed networking and other Tuesday notes

with material from Sharon McFarlane, Alumni Advancement Officer, Faculty of Science

Over 200 science students will descend into the EIT foyer today from 5:30-7:00 p.m. to meet with science alumni from traditional and non-traditional careers in what has quickly become the blitzkrieg custom in the faculty called Speed Networking.

In its second year and third installment, this flagship career event unites 45 science alumni with career minded science students who are exploring work options upon graduation. During the event, students will be paired with alumni for eight one-on-one speed sessions. They have seven minutes to interview the alumni about their chosen field, what led them to choose that career path, job satisfaction and anything else they can think of before moving on to the next alumni table. A MRI Technologist, a Manager of Hydrogeology and Source Water, a Freelance Actor and Director and alumni from various graduate programs across Canada is only a sample of careers on tap for today.

Event coordinator Bonnie Fretz of the Science Alumni Office is thrilled with the variety of alumni coming back to campus to speak with students, “It’s a great opportunity for our students to consider different careers, to see where their degree can take them," she says." Our alumni see the benefit in this type of interaction. They feel like they’ve helped the next generation of graduates… so it’s a win-win situation all around”. For more information on Speed Networking 3.0 please contact Bonnie at bfretz@ uwaterloo.ca.

Other notes on a Tuesday:

The flu clinics in the Student Life Centre may have closed, but flu shots are available at Health Services on a drop-in basis on Mondays for the rest of term, between 2:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m.

On Thursday, November 24 the UW Concert Band invites you to come and enjoy their end of term performance. The show will start at 7 p.m. in the SLC Great Hall and all members of the university and surrounding communities are invited.

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