Out of the blue: Applied Health Sciences student volunteers Rob Reed, Gertrude Omoro, Rebecca Lintaman, and Fiona Elder, were out Tuesday and Wednesday welcoming prospective students and their families as part of the March Break Open House festivities.

"Although we ended up with milder-than-usual weather, they were not only fashionable but prepared for the elements wearing their custom-knitted “AHS” tuques courtesy of Health Studies student Sarah Johnston," writes Michelle Douglas-Mills, the faculty's communications manager.

Photograph by Krista Mills.

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Breaking ground with Conrad Grebel

a media release from Conrad Grebel University College

Nearly fifty years ago, five visionary men with five shovels broke ground to begin building Conrad Grebel [University] College. This dream of a small Christian college for Mennonite students studying at the University of Waterloo soon expanded into an academic body offering undergraduate courses in the Faculty of Arts as well as graduate programs in Theological Studies and Peace and Conflict Studies. Over time, the College also grew to be home to over 200 students living on campus and 4,000 students taking academic courses each year.

On March 16 at 4:00 p.m. the College is digging into its archives and unearthing the same shovel used at each of its previous ground-breaking ceremonies. All are welcome to come celebrate as Susan Schultz Huxman, Grebel President, board chair Susan Taves, and other members of the board, turn the soil to prepare for this new development at the College.

As Grebel embarks on its fifth building project, Paul Penner, Director of Operations at the College, reflected that “there’s a sense of rejuvenation and revitalization that comes with every building project. The entire College is involved in one way or another and as we work together our excitement continues to grow.”

“At the March 8 board meeting, a construction budget of $8.7 million was approved,” reported President Huxman. “With springtime approaching, the Grebel community is looking forward to celebrating the new growth this expansion project brings—the seeds of which were planted over six years ago by many leaders and supporters of the college.”

With new practice rooms, more offices, and expanded rehearsal studios, the building project strengthens an overall spatial organization and distinct identity for the music department at the University of Waterloo within Conrad Grebel.

A preliminary floor plan has been created for the Mennonite Savings and Credit Union Centre for Peace Advancement. This centre will be dedicated to innovation and interdisciplinary study in an incubator-style setting — where students, faculty, community leaders, and many others will collaborate on projects to advance peace.

The expansion will also provide new growth for the Mennonite Archives of Ontario and Milton Good Library. Currently overflowing its capacity, archives collect the records of daily life and are vital to researchers looking for historical clues, family stories, or artistic inspiration. The College looks forward to the increased connections these expanded archives will create with scholars, the Mennonite constituency, artists and the broader community.

With a strong sense of community firmly entrenched at Grebel’s core, the new building will be open and welcoming, with a Henry Paetkau seminar room and a Ron and Barb Schlegel community education room that is easily accessible for community initiatives.

“We warmly invite everyone to celebrate this milestone in the life of this remarkable college,” says President Huxman.

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Engineering design projects to be displayed

a media release from the Faculty of Engineering

Upper-year students in seven University of Waterloo engineering programs, including the first graduating class of management engineering, will display inventive design projects during Engineering Design Symposium Week beginning this Friday.

Throughout the event, approximately 750 senior engineering students will present more than 150 design projects, posters and prototypes to the public, industry guests, alumni and the academic community. In the past, design projects such as BufferBox®, a self-service parcel delivery kiosk with 24-hour a day access, have led to the successful startup of local companies.

All events will be held at the William G. Davis Computer Research Centre. Visitors are encouraged to browse the interactive displays and discuss the projects with the students.

• Friday , March 16 from 9:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.: Students graduating from systems design engineering will exhibit projects in the areas of human and biomedical engineering, mechatronics, financial, and environmental systems.
• Monday, March 19 from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.: Students graduating from mechatronics engineering will present projects in the areas of autonomous systems, medical systems, mechatronics sports systems, automotive systems, and reconfigurable service systems.
• Wednesday, March 21 from 9:30 a.m. to 8 p.m.: Students graduating from electrical and computer engineering will showcase their design projects in the areas of audio/ video processing, energy and power, robotics, tracking, software, and entertainment.
• Friday, March 23 from 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.: Students graduating from the inaugural management engineering class, from nanotechnology engineering, and software engineering will demonstrate innovative projects in the areas of software systems for mobile devices, desktop computers, embedded systems, cloud computing, logistics, financial systems, nano-fluidics and nano-biotechnology, nano-photonics and electronics, and nano-functional materials.

Waterloo Engineering acknowledges the sponsorship of Infusion Development, AMD, Qualcomm Incorporated, Maplesoft, and the ASME in recognition of the achievements of our senior undergraduate students.

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Remote access changes kick in; other notes

Effective noon today, direct access to computers on campus using Microsoft Remote Desktop will be blocked, according to a memo circulated yesterday to graduate students, faculty, and staff from Jason Testart, director of Information Security Services at Information Systems and Technology (IST).

Academic support staff were informed last week that a similar change was to have taken effect for them on March 20, but that notice was superseded by yesterday's memo.

"Those wishing to connect to on-campus resources using Microsoft Remote Desktop from off-campus will need to first establish a VPN connection to the campus network," reads the memo. "At a high level, this requires you to perform the following steps once on the off-campus computer that you use to connect:

• Using your browser, connect to http://cn-vpn.uwaterloo.ca/ and login with your WatIAM password.
• Download the "AnyConnect" client and install it on your computer.

When you want to connect to an on-campus computer using Microsoft Remote Desktop, simply do the following:

• Open the "Cisco AnyConnect" application.
• Connect to "cn-vpn.uwaterloo.ca", and login with your WatIAM userid/password.
• Once connected, use the Microsoft Remote Desktop application to connect as you did previously."

IST has more detailed online documentation available, including instructions for Windows, Mac OS X, and Ubuntu, and those needing assistance can contact their local help desk or the Computing Help and Information Place (CHIP) at extension 84357, or helpdesk@ uwaterloo.ca.

The Waterloo Centre for the Advancement of Co-operative Education (WatCACE) has organized a research seminar on Monday, March 19 featuring Dr. Richard Wiggers, research director for the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario (HECQO), who will be presenting the results of a survey conducted at 13 post-secondary institutions, including Waterloo, that asked faculty members about their experience with and perceptions of Work-Integrated Learning. The seminar takes place at 11:30 a.m. in Room 2218 of the Tatham Centre, and all are welcome.

Here's the latest Nutrition Month "myth vs. truth" nutrition tip from Health Services dietician Sandra Ace.

"Myth": Honey, brown sugar and agave syrup are better for you than white sugar.
"Truth": Nutritionally speaking, they are all pretty much the same. Although honey, brown sugar and agave syrup are more “natural,” they are still sugars that contain concentrated sources of calories with very few other nutrients. Your body can’t tell the difference between these and white sugar. Excess sugar in any form gives you extra calories so whichever sweeteners you choose, use small amounts.

If you have any questions or comments about these tips, which are running the month of March, please contact Sandra.

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