Police issue alert after student assaulted (updated)

University of Waterloo Police Services has reported that a female student was sexually assaulted by two males as she was walking through the west cul de sac between Village 1 and Mackenzie King Village on Monday night between 10:00 and 10:30 p.m.

Waterloo Regional Police issued the following descriptions of the suspects:

• Suspect #1 Male, white, 19 years, 5'6", heavy build, wearing a red hat.
• Suspect #2 Male, non- white, 19 years, 6', black hair, slender build.

The two attackers then fled in an unknown direction.

“Police have increased patrols in the area of the residences,” reads the statement by the university police, which has been posted online. “We remind students to be aware of their personal safety and when possible walk with others.”

“The ongoing investigation is being led by Waterloo Regional Police supported by the University of Waterloo Police,” the statement continues. “We will keep the campus apprised as additional information becomes available. Anyone with information is asked to contact Waterloo Regional Police at 519-650-8500 extension 3310, University Campus Police at extension 22222 or Crimestoppers at 1-800-222-8477.”

For personal safety tips, visit the safety guide on the UW Police website.

"The safety of our students and all members of our campus community is of paramount concern at the University of Waterloo," reads an updated statement published today and circulated via email to students, faculty, and staff. "As a result of this incident, campus police have increased patrols in the area of the student residences. Students, faculty, staff and other members of our community are encouraged to be alert to danger and report any suspicious activity to campus police."

When walking,

• Follow a major road at night, or a well-lit path
  
• Walk at a steady pace and with confidence near the curb
  
• Avoid dark entrances and shrubs
  
• Do not walk home alone at night — make arrangements with a friend to meet and walk home together, call for a ride, or use one of the resources offered by the university.
  

Further information about campus safety resources, including our shuttle service, can be found online. The shuttle service is available from the first day of registration to the last day of exams. It leaves regularly from the Student Life Centre at about 7:00 p.m. in the winter, at 9:00 p.m. in the summer and runs until 2:00 a.m. Women have first priority for rides. Emergency intercoms, with flashing blue lights, are located throughout the campus.

 

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St. Paul's announces INDEV grants

St. Paul’s University College is pleased to announce that fourteen International Development (INDEV) students who are not eligible to receive funding from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), will each receive $1,500 through the St. Paul’s Student Awards Fund.

The Faculty of Environment, in partnership with St. Paul's, offers the first-year entry undergraduate degree program in International Development. In their 4B term INDEV students begin eight-month field placements in one of seven developing countries – Botswana, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Malawi, Nepal, Peru and Vietnam. The first INDEV cohort completed their placements and graduated in June 2012.

St. Paul’s is providing the awards to 4^th year INDEV students leaving this September to complete eight month field placements in Botswana, Burkina Faso, and Nepal. The $1,500 award matches the amount that seventeen other students heading to CIDA eligible countries – Malawi, Ghana, Vietnam and Peru – will receive through CIDA’s Students for Development grant. 

The eight-month, for-credit field placement in a developing country arranged through the World University Service of Canada is a critical and required experiential learning component of the Bachelor of Environmental Studies in International Development program.

St. Paul’s also supports the INDEV program by awarding a Fellowship to each admitted student that includes a term in residence and partial meal plan tenable in their 4A term prior to the 4B and 4C field work terms. The fellowship is valued at $3,000.

 

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Waterloo Co-op by the numbers

A message from Co-operative Education and Career Action

What’s to know about co-op at uWaterloo? Take this self-quiz and maybe even learn something new…

1. Waterloo students rock. How many organizations hire our co-ops each year? a. 762 b. 4,500 c. 9,200
2. Think jobs are in Canada only? Think again. Students work in 63 countries every year. True or false?
3. Do you use Skype? We do. Last year CECA facilitated 899 Skype interviews. True or false?
4. How many interviews occur in the TC every year? a. 54,786 b. 30, 918 c. 18,523
5. Guess how many job apps co-op students submit every year. Hint: It’s lucky we don’t use paper résumés anymore! a. 325,000 b. 53,000 c. 219,000
   
   

For answers to the quiz and more astonishing facts and figures, check out this info graph. Co-op at uWaterloo is hardly a trivial matter. And while you’re at it, why not check out our new website.

 

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Building for the future: IQC

The first in a series of two profiles of the institutes sharing the new Mike & Ophelia Lazaridis Quantum-Nano Centre.

Launched a decade ago in just two small offices at the university, the Institute for Quantum Computing (IQC) has grown into the world's largest concentration of quantum information researchers who will have little trouble filling their new digs in the 285,000 square foot Mike & Ophelia Lazaridis Quantum-Nano Centre.

With 17 faculty, 5 research assistant professors, 40 postdoctoral fellows, and 96 students, the institute has built a reputation as a magnet for the world's top minds in quantum information science, including one of only 19 Canada Excellence Research Chairs and a Nobel Prize winner. In addition, the institute's students and postdoctoral fellows are drawn to Waterloo from all over the world.

Research at the institute is focused on quantum computation, communication, and sensors. IQC seeks to harness the properties of particles in the quantum realm, such as photons and electrons, to improve communications, develop sensors of unprecedented precision and build ultra-powerful computers.

IQC researchers were part of an international team that recently achieved a milestone in quantum teleportation, successfully teleporting photons over a distance of 143 kilometres. The project, led by researchers from Vienna's Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information relied on algorithms and equipment developed in Waterloo. The results of the experiment were published in Nature in early September. IQC faculty member Thomas Jennewein developed an algorithm that synchronized and measured the transfer of photons between two sites in the Canary Islands, and research assistant professor Vadim Makarov designed highly sensitive photon detectors, which allowed the teleportation to occur with high precision. Makarov was on hand in the Canary Islands for the experiment.

"The new centre represents the next big milestone in the evolution of this research at the University of Waterloo," says Raymond Laflamme, the institute's executive director. "It's incredibly exciting to think about the research and innovation that will happen here."

The opening of the centre on Friday will enhance Waterloo's growing reputation as the world's "Quantum Valley."

 

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