SEED ranked second in sustainability

Excerpted from a Faculty of Environment news item posted here.

For the past nine years, Corporate Knights magazine has been ranking the nation’s business graduate schools on their focus on environmental sustainability. Previously coming in at #15, the School of Environment, Enterprise and Development (SEED) shot up in this year’s rankings to #2 in the report published 17 September 2012.

According to an editorial published by Corporate Knights managing editor Jeremy Runnalls, the jump was surprising; but well-deserved.

“The Master of Environment and Business (MEB) program at the University of Waterloo placed second. We continue to rank the program, despite it not representing a traditional MBA, as it presents the comprehensive fusion of business and environment we wish to encourage.”

Amelia Clarke, Director of the Master of Environment and Business (MEB) program is thrilled by the new ranking. “We purposely designed the degree to train sustainability professionals, and thus integrate sustainability and business content in each course,” says Clarke. “As an online, part-time program, we are able to offer working professionals anywhere the chance to enhance their knowledge, skills and credentials.”

Back to top

Building for the future: WIN

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

The Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology (WIN), approved by the university's senate in June 2008, has its roots in the undergraduate nanotechnology engineering program conceived in 2000 and approved in 2003. The first undergraduate students began their degrees in 2005. A graduate program soon followed. The program is a joint effort between the faculties of Engineering and Science.

The institute's research is about science and engineering at the atomic scale, where dimensions are measured in the billionths of a meter. It is home to 68 researchers, 250 graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, and 480 undergraduate students.

With the Mike & Ophelia Lazaridis Quantum-Nano Centre set to open tomorrow, WIN's Executive Director Arthur Carty is excited about the promise and potential of the new facility.

“The Quantum Nano Building will be the home base for everything that is Nanotechnology at Waterloo," he says. "It will provide laboratory space for many of our nanotechnology researchers and 200 graduate and post-doctoral students. State of the art clean room and metrology suites will house an arsenal of tools to see and manipulate matter at the nanoscale, enabling researchers to compete at the cutting edge of nanotechnology."

Pictured above are the forms on top of which the concrete was poured to make the floor of the fabrication and metrology facilities. The forms were pulled out from the bottom, leaving behind a "waffle slab", a thick concrete floor resistant to vibrations but relatively light thanks to the air pockets created by the forms.

WIN has been spending years strengthening its own foundation through a number of successful international partnerships in the nanotechnology community.

An agreement with China's Soochow University Nanotechnology (SUN) is the latest example of WIN's collaborative efforts, following a successful workshop with Soochow researchers in 2011. The agreement establishes a Joint Research Institute for Nanotechnology with a 2+2 arrangement where top doctoral students can earn PhD degrees awarded by both institutions, and a 3+1+1 program that will see undergraduates complete a Chinese bachelor's degree and then go on to complete a Master's degree at Waterloo.

WIN has also forged strong links in India, with five joint research projects currently underway at three institutions. Through numerous delegations, workshops, and invited speakers over the past four years, WIN has built a network of collaboration with both educational institutes and industry in India.

As evidence of the strong commitment of WIN's partners, many of them are travelling from around the world, including France, China, Japan and Taiwan, to take part in the grand opening ceremony.

"In this building we will harness the power of nanotechnology to fabricate stronger, lighter, smarter materials; to build the next generation of quantum devices; to attack diseases such as cancer via targeted drug delivery; and to develop new technologies for energy storage and conversion," continues Carty. "And it will be home for Canada’s largest Nanotechnology Engineering Program where the future leaders of nanotechnology will be trained."

"But perhaps most important of all, it will be a meeting place, crucible where researchers, graduate, and undergraduate students involved in nanotechnology can meet, mingle, and be stimulated by an environment conducive to interdisciplinary exchange, breakthrough research and close collaboration.”

Back to top

Date set for Nutbrown memorial

A message from the Department of Political Science

Members and friends of the University of Waterloo community are cordially invited to join the Department of Political Science for a Memorial Celebration in honour of Professor Richard Nutbrown’s scholarly, teaching and administrative contributions and achievements.

The event will take place on Thursday, October 4, in the Humanities Theatre, with the formal program beginning at 7:00 p.m. and a reception from 8:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.

Please RSVP by September 27. Parking will be available in H Lot.

To celebrate his life, contribution and achievements, the Richard Nutbrown Fund has been established at the University of Waterloo. Donations will be accepted at the memorial service. Those unable to attend but wishing to donate can do so online:

• Under “Where would you like to designate your gift?” choose ‘Select Other Projects’ from the drop down menu.
• Under “Area of Giving”, choose “Faculty of Arts” from the drop down menu.
• Under “Project (fund)”, choose “Other” from the drop down menu, and type in “The Richard Nutbrown Fund
  
  

Or donate by:

• Sending in a cheque to the University of Waterloo, 200 University Avenue, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, with a notation on the cheque that says “The Richard Nutbrown Fund”.
  
• Calling the University of Waterloo Development Office at 519-888-4567 x32038 or 1-800-408-8715 to make a donation (using a credit card) once again, giving the name of the “The Richard Nutbrown Fund”
  

To share memories and stories and for more information, please visit www.richardnutbrown.ca

Back to top

On donuts, days, and daycare spaces

Warrior donuts have reappeared at Tim Hortons locations on campus. That is all.

The Federation of Students is holding Clubs and Societies Days on September 20 and 21 in the Student Life Centre's Great Hall. From 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. on both days, students will be able to speak with members from a variety of clubs and societies including Campus Crusade for Cheese, Muslim Students’ Association, Aboriginal Student Association, UW Toastmasters, and much more. Writes Feds Communications Coordinator Jacqueline Martinz, "Clubs offer students the opportunity to meet people with similar interests, and have more fun on campus!"

The Paintin' Place Daycare reports that it still has some open spaces for 1.5 to 3 year-olds on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, as well as a couple of full-time spaces for 1.5 to 2 year-olds.

Photograph by Pamela Smyth.

Back to top