WatCACE co-op research funding available

with material from WatCACE

The Centre for the Advancement of Co-operative Education at the University of Waterloo (WatCACE) has announced the next round of competition for funding to support research on both applied and theoretical aspects of co-operative education and work-integrated learning.

The goals of the program, according to a notice circulated to the associate deans (co-op), Centre for Teaching Excellence, Co-operative Education and Career Services, the Centre for Extended Learning, and the Experiential Learning Group, "are to enhance the practice of co-op and other forms of work-integrated learning at Waterloo and elsewhere, to enhance understanding of the pedagogical model and the consequences, and to enhance the reputation of Waterloo as a world leader in tech understanding of, as well as the practice of, co-operative education."

In this round, priority will be given to projects that will investigate:

• the outcomes of co-operative education or other forms of work-integrated learning, particularly those outcomes that are academic and psychological in nature;
• pedagogical activities that support reflection on and integration of learning at work and learning at school;
• the long term career and personal value of co-op; and/or
• the outcomes of co-operative education as compared to other forms of experiential education.

The maximum support for any one project during any year is $20,000, and support can be made available for a maximum of three years for any project.

"Applications are required and awards are competitive," states the memo. "Reviews of applications and decisions on awards are under the direction of a Review Committee that includes the Director of WatCACE (chair), a representative from the faculty complement of the Co-operative Education Council, and a representative from among the senior staff of the Co-operative Education and Centre for Career Action department." Priority will be given to research proposals that show promise of leading to external funding and refereed publication. In addition, awardees are required to hire a Waterloo co-op student for at least one term in each year of the awarded project.

Proposals must be submitted electronically and details about the application process can be found online.

The deadline for applications is March 16, 2012. Results of the competition will be announced in May, and funds will be made available to the winning application as early as May 1, 2012.

Proposals and questions should be submitted to the Director of WatCACE, Judene Pretti, at tjpretti@ uwaterloo.ca.

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Startups compete for Venture Fund award

This week some of the University of Waterloo's emerging student entrepreneurs will compete against one another in the VeloCity Venture Fund finals in an attempt to win one of four prizes of $25,000. Eight teams hoping to win financing for their groundbreaking ideas will present their innovative products to a panel of judges.

The event will be taking place on Thursday, January 26, from 3:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. in the Davis Centre Foyer.

The fund awards up to four $25,000 prizes to Waterloo student-run startups, to help them become established in their related industry.

The teams have only five minutes on the clock to convince the judges that their ideas are worth funding.

The VeloCity Venture Fund was created in March of 2011, inspired by Kik Interactive Inc. founder Ted Livingston's $1 million donation as well as his personal success story. Livingston created his mobile messaging app while living in the VeloCity residence.

In the spring 2011 term, VeloCity awarded the first two $25,000 prizes to Lumos, a game analytics service providing developers with insight into performance and an overview of player engagement, and Maide Inc., a mobile software company that brings multi-touch tablet applications to the world of 3D computer aided design (CAD). In the fall 2011 term, four startups won the award: MappedIn, Crouton Labs, Beta Cubed, and Maluuba. These companies offer a range of technology, including indoor mapping, an app for online food delivery, an online bookshelf, and voice recognition software.

A reception will follow the event from 4:30 to 5:00 p.m. in the Davis Centre ICR lounge.

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Enter the Dragon (and a dumpster)

with material from the International Student Office and the Federation of Students

Monday marked the first day of the lunar new year, as most East Asian cultures celebrated what is sometimes called the “spring festival,” which given the weather this January is a perfectly apt title. The “Year of the Dragon,” named for one of a dozen animals that make up the Chinese calendar, began with the coming of the new moon. Observances for the start of year 4710 will continue until the Lantern Festival, two weeks away.

The conventional cry is the Chinese words for a happy new year – “Gung hai fat choi!” – but the festival isn’t just a Chinese one. The lunar new year (so called because it is signaled by the phases of the moon) is observed by overlapping communities that include Chinese (themselves speakers of two main languages, Mandarin and Cantonese) and a dozen or more other groups.

On campus the largest group of international students is made up of Mandarin-speaking Chinese. Mandarin is the national language of China, the tongue spoken in Beijing, Nanjing, and other mainland regions as well as Taiwan. Another large group of Chinese at the university speaks the country’s second main language, Cantonese, which predominates in southern regions such as Guangzhou as well as the autonomous region Hong Kong.

The Spring Festival “is one of the most colorful festivals in the world,” writes Maggie Xiaohui Liang of the university’s International Student Office. “It is celebrated in many Asian countries outside of China such as Korea, Thailand and Vietnam.” As for the dragon who presides over the year ahead, “The dragon is a very powerful symbol in the 12 Chinese Zodiac elements.”

“Chinese New Year is a time for families to get together, rest, have feast and wish each other the best of luck,” Liang writes. “Although many students are not able to go home for this important festival, the ISO wishes everybody a happy, healthy and prosperous year of the dragon.”

For the second year in a row, the Colour Me Educated Campaign will be trapping seven student leaders inside a dumpster in the Student Life Centre in the name of raising funds for Pathways Kitchener, a branch of Pathways to Education Canada.

Federation of Students Vice-President Natalie Cockburn, Engineering Society "A" president Leah Allen, Biology Undergraduate Students Club president Ryan Cuzzi, Arts Student Union Vice-President Executive Kevin Seemangal, Environment Student Society president Kevin Knapp, MathSoc president Harrison Gross, and Applied Health Sciences Undergraduate Members president Andrew Noble will climb into the waste bin at 11 a.m. In order to get out again, each student will have to reach their fundraising goal of $100. The dumpster has been modified with a large window on one side. Paint cans, a feature of the Colour Me Educated campaign, will be set up for donations.

At the end of the annual nine week campaign, on March 28, the student society for the faculty that raises the most money will have the chance to pour paint on the president of the university. Last year the campaign raised over $4,000 for Pathways Kitchener, which assists students in economically disadvantaged communities graduate from high school and transition into further education and/or training.

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