Season's greetings (and a holiday earworm) from Applied Health Sciences: Not to be outdone by the Faculty of Environment's recent holiday video, the folks from Applied Health Sciences have put together this festive year-in-review that features The Water Boys, a giant novelty flying disc (fine, call it a Frisbee if you must), and at least one kangaroo.

The video debuted yesterday afternoon on YouTube and has nearly a thousand views as of this morning.

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IQC will grow quantum materials in new lab

by Tobi Day-Hamilton, Institute for Quantum Computing

Researchers will create quantum materials that could lead to the development of the first quantum computer in a new laboratory at the University of Waterloo’s Institute for Quantum Computing (IQC.)

The lab houses a unique deposition tool to grow materials that could form the building blocks of quantum technologies. Deposition systems ‘deposit’ layers of materials that can be a nanometer to several micrometers thick to create materials for use in a wide range of technologies.

Quantum materials hold the promise of bringing quantum devices out of the lab and bringing the possibility of a quantum computer and other quantum devices one step closer.

The innovative $5 million deposition tool, built by Oxford Instruments Omicron NanoScience, features an Ultra High Vacuum (UHV) multi-chamber design to grow high-quality thin films and layered structures. Thin film structures are at the heart of today’s electronics, from computer chips to micro sensors.

The unique aspect of the new tool is the range of materials that can be grown within it—from oxides and metals to superconductors and topological insulators—a novel type of material exhibiting unique quantum behaviour. Unlike typical deposition systems, this lab will have the ability to grow magnetic materials, superconductors and topological insulators within the same system without breaking vacuum.

“New materials are not conventional, so we need to take an unconventional approach to this research,” said Professor David Cory, Canada Excellence Research Chair and deputy director, research at IQC. “The Institute for Quantum Computing has made a significant investment in quantum materials research and the most promising direction for building quantum devices is quantum materials.”

The new tool features a combination of molecular beam epitaxy and sputtering, two well-developed deposition techniques, to grow these materials. Researchers hope this innovative regime will provide a new direction for the development of quantum materials.

This new lab further extends Cory’s research program, which now totals over $40 million, and is an essential tool for fellow IQC Professor Guo-Xing Miao's research on quantum materials and spintronics – a new generation of electronics that also harnesses the spin, the intrinsic magnetic moment, of an electron to carry information.

“The Institute for Quantum Computing is proud to be the home of this world-leading research,” said Professor Raymond Laflamme, Executive Director of IQC. “David Cory’s work in quantum materials, and the research of his colleagues here at IQC, are accelerating the pace of advancement in the quantum revolution.”

The Government of Canada, the Canada Foundation for Innovation, the Ontario Research Fund, industry partners and others helped fund the new lab.

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Conrad expert to lead business panel

Professor Margaret Dalziel (right) has been appointed by the Ontario Ministry of Finance as Chair of the Expert Panel Examining Business Support Programs.

Dalziel is Associate Professor at the Conrad Business, Entrepreneurship and Technology Centre in the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Waterloo.

She is co-founder and Vice- President, Research of The Evidence Network, a company that provides assessments of the effectiveness of organizations that support business, research, innovation, and entrepreneurship.

The Ministry has announced that the expert panel will review and evaluate the province’s business support programs and provide recommendations that the province will use to ensure the growth of Ontario companies is supported effectively.

Dalziel and panelists Dr. David A. Wolfe and Dr. Douglas Cumming will develop their recommendations using the evaluation criteria (innovation, exports, and productivity) put forward by the Jobs and Prosperity Council, which recommended the creation of the expert panel.

“This review will ensure that our business support programs, which help businesses create jobs and increase our productivity, are able to better attract strategic new investments to Ontario” says Charles Sousa, Minister of Finance.

Dalziel joined the University of Waterloo in 2013 from the University of Ottawa, where she was Associate Professor at the Telfer School of Management.

The expert panel will report back to the province by the end of February 2014 with recommendations on all forms of business support including tax credits, grants, and other direct support programs.

The panel’s report will inform the 2014 Ontario Budget.

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Snow trouble at all for closing guidelines

As the snow continues to fall (or squall, if I can use squall as a verb), here is a reminder that the university's Weather/Emergency Closing Guidelines, which have been recently updated, have got you covered in the face of severe weather conditions.

As you'll recall, in October 2009 the university ended its practice of following the lead of the local public school board in determining whether or not to open for business in the face of severe weather conditions.

The decision is now made by the Vice-President Academic & Provost after consultation with the Director of Police and Parking Services, the Vice-President Administration and Finance, and the Director of Custodial and Grounds Services.

When a decision about the university's opening or closing in the face of severe weather conditions is made, a notice will be posted to the university's homepage and audience pathway pages by 6:00 a.m., and a message will be sent out through the university's Twitter accounts. The university's info line (1-866-470-0910) will be updated to announce the closure. A storm closing call list exists to inform the members of the university's Executive Council, faculty and staff association presidents, federated and affiliated college administrators, and satellite campus contacts of the decision in the early morning. The Daily Bulletin will also be updated.

Such closures will remain in effect until 6:00 a.m. or later the following day.

The storm guidelines provide for a complete closing of the university “when normal operation would pose a significant danger to students, staff and faculty, or would prevent large numbers of them from coming to campus”.

But they also say: “When UW does not close in inclement weather, faculty, staff and students are reminded that they are responsible for determining when weather conditions make their travel unsafe and should consider public transportation because it may well be the safest option and cleared parking spaces may be in short supply.”

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