Drop in to discuss design, development, data

Interested in better campus living through technology?

Then a workshop organized by Information Systems & Technology (IST) this Friday might just be for you.

IST is seeking campus community members interested in experimenting with grassroots innovation efforts in the areas of design, development, and data access and are inviting them to stop by the FLEX lab for facilitated brainstorming, breakout discussions, and paper-based activities that will hopefully get those creative juices flowing.

The aim of the event is to share ideas for making Waterloo better through Design, Development, and improved Data Access and to establish grassroots groups to collaborate across campus organized around technology-enabled research, teaching, learning, and administration.

Participants can explore the emerging IT Strategic Plan, entitled "Together We Enable," think about ways to revitalize the student IT environment and discuss how to grow the university's technology-enabled learning environment. The event's organizers hope to spark discussion on ways to build on the current information technology foundations to better support research and administration, and hope to find new methods of collaboration to improve usability, delivery, and overall support of IT services.

They also hope participants will have a little fun along the way as well.

The Campus Innovation Drop-In Workshop will take place on Friday, May 24 from 12:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. in the Dana Porter Library's FLEX Lab.

For more information, contact Colin Bell.

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Grand River Hospital given Top Employer award

by Karina Graf, Co-operative Education & Career Action.

On Friday, May 10, Co-operative Education & Career Action (CECA), along with representatives from the School of Pharmacy, recognized Grand River Hospital Cancer Program, Grand River Hospital Pharmacy Services, and Grand River Hospital (GRH) as outstanding employers of University of Waterloo co-op students.

CECA Executive Director Peggy Jarvie presented Top Employer Awards to the three groups from GRH. Joining her from the university were CECA Faculty Relations Manager Janice Bruin and Hallman Director and Associate Dean, Faculty of Science, David Edwards who also thanked the hospital for its support of co-op students. Attendees from GRH included Board of Directors Chair D’arcy Delamere, CEO Malcolm Maxwell, and others who foster the program.

Pictured above are (l-r) Dr. Ernest Osei of GRH’s medical physics department, GRH President and CEO Malcolm Maxwell, Peggy Jarvie, and Ann Lillepold, GRH’s Vice-President, Human Resources.

These awards celebrate GRH’s long history of hiring Waterloo co-op students – in particular, pharmacy students. The pharmacy department at GRH has supported the Waterloo pharmacy co-op program from the School of Pharmacy’s very first co-op term in fall 2008.

GRH has continued to employ Waterloo students every subsequent term, hiring a total of 26 co-ops to date. Of these, 17 were pharmacy students who worked in roles such as Inpatient Dispensary Pharmacy Student, Medication Reconciliation Coordinator, and Emergency Department Pharmacy Assistant. In the past two years, GRH has also hired two biology students and seven mathematical physics students to work in the role of Physics Technician. GRH also hires alumni from Waterloo’s pharmacy program to work as licensed pharmacists.

The Top Employer Awards are a celebration of the partnership between the university and organizations such as GRH that hire Waterloo co-op students term-after-term. These organizations provide a meaningful and rewarding work experience that students carry with them throughout their careers.

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Mathematics, music collide at Random Walks

A two-day festival celebrating the work of avant-garde composer Iannis Xenakis will take place this weekend in Waterloo and Toronto.

The Random Walks festival, which runs from Friday, May 24 to Saturday, May 25 has been organized by the Institute for Quantum Computer, the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics and the Fields Institute.

Born in 1922, Xenakis spent the majority of his life in France after escaping Greece during the Second World War. He became famous for his compositions of electronic music and musique concrète that used mathematical models as their base.

Other musicians whose works are being performed include John Cage, Edgar Varese, Hans Abrahamsen and Arne Eigenfeldt.

The festival features lectures and concerts in Toronto and Waterloo. Friday's events take place in Toronto, with local Waterloo events taking place on Saturday, May 25. Local events include "Grains of Sound: A Concert of Electroacoustics, Video and Robotic Performers" at the Mike and Ophelia Lazaridis Quantum Nano Centre at 1:00 p.m. Tickets ($20 adult/$10 student) are available at the Theatre Centre Box Office.

At 3:00 p.m. also at the Quantum Nano Centre, a panel session entitled "Music and Algorhythms" featuring John Mighton of the Fields Institute, Raymond Laflamme of IQC, the Perimeter Institute's Laurent Friedel, Arne Eigenfeldt, Rob Wannamaker, and Curtis Roads. The event is free for ticket holders of the noon-hour or evening concerts, which include:

• Persephassa, at 5:00 p.m. on Waterloo Park's cricket pitch (free); and
• Sound Shapes featuring the JACK Quartet, 8:00 p.m., the Perimeter Institute. Tickets are $35 for adults and $20 for students.

Visit the Random Walks Festival website for more information about the festival and the full schedule.

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