Associate Professor Brendon Larson writes: "Three faculty members in the Department of Environment and Resource Studies have developed pseudo-hairy facades, in support of Movember." Enduring the teasing from colleagues (and perhaps covert snickers from students) are (L-R) professors Ian Rowlands, Brendon Larson, and Dan McCarthy. "Their respective wives," continues Larson, "are also counting the days until 1 December." More Movember pictures below.

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Student wins $20K for rehabilitation research

with material from a Toronto Rehabilitation Institute media release

Master of Environmental Studies student Jason Angel (right) was recently awarded a Scholarship in Rehabilitation-Related Research for People With Disabilities. The $20,000 scholarship, established in 2005 with a pledge from the TD Bank Financial Group, supports the education and training of masters and doctoral students with disabilities who are studying in a rehabilitation-related field and intend on contributing to rehabilitation sciences as researchers.

In addition, he has joined the Intelligent Assistive Technology and Systems Lab of the iDAPT Centre for Rehabilitation Research at the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute as a member of the technology team.

The iDAPT Centre for Rehabilitation Research is a $36-million facility officially opened earlier this month with 65,000 square feet of integrated laboratories, workshops, and research spaces that is home to scientists and research students from a broad range of engineering and clinical disciplines who all work collaboratively to develop new technologies for people living with disabling injury or illness. The centrepiece of the research centre is a six-degree-of-freedom motion simulator, located four storeys below ground that can recreate different environments, like winter blizzards and bustling streets. iDAPT is the first facility to apply aerospace technology to a research lab, giving scientists safe and controlled settings to recreate everyday environmental challenges experienced by people with disabilities.

Angel is an MES student in the Tourism Policy and Planning program in the Geography Department. Under the advisement of Geoffrey Wall, a leading academic in tourism research, he is conducting research to improve accessibility in tourism for people with mobility impairments.

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More faces of Movember; Monday dispatches

The clock is running out on Movember, a moustache growing event for charity that raises both funds and awareness for prostate cancer. A few uWaterloo participants have been brave enough to submit photos of themselves, like Professor Bill Power (above) of the Department of Chemistry, and links to their Movember donation pages, like Financial Aid Assistant Paul Harnack and Human Resources System Specialist Jim Howard. Why not reward the gentlemen for their pursuit of the hirsute in the name of men's health with a donation before December 1?

GO Train coming: Beginning Monday, December 19, commuter GO Train service gets rolling from the Kitchener rail terminal at Weber and Victoria Street. Kitchener Centre MPP and Minister of Community and Social Services John Milloy made the announcement. Weekday morning train service will offer two departures, at 5:52 a.m. and 7:10 a.m., and afternoon service includes two trains departing Toronto for Kitchener at 4:45 p.m. and 5:45 p.m. The train will service Guelph, Georgetown, Brampton, Malton, Etobicoke, and Weston before arriving at Union Station. For those interested in making use of this new service, tickets for all GO trains or buses are available at the Turnkey Desk in the Student Life Centre.

Two more myHRinfo Test Drive Centres are available this week. The first is on Tuesday, November 29, from 12:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., and the second takes place on Thursday, December 1, from 8:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Both sessions take place in MC 1078.

And a final note that this Friday is Mental Health Day and registration has opened for what promises to be "a candid talk on mental wellness in the workplace" from 9:00 to 11:00 a.m. in the Humanities Theatre. The event, State of Mind: A Look At Mental Health Issues in the Workplace features Dr. Ian Arnold, chair of the Workforce Advisory Committee, Mental Health Commission of Canada, and consultant Mary Ann Baynton, and is supported by the Faculty Association, Occupational Health, Human Resources, the Staff Association, the Employee Assistance Program, and the Great West Life Assurance Company.

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