Remembrance Day on campus and beyond

The Waterloo community, along with the rest of the country, will pause for a few moments today to remember Canada's war dead.

Says a memo from the provost: "In 2005, UW initiated the practice of observing a minute’s silence at 11 o’clock on November 11 – Remembrance Day. I would therefore ask that, if possible, whether you are alone, with a group, or in front of a class, you take time at 11 o’clock on November 11th to observe a minute’s silence, remembering and honouring the men and women who have served, and continue to serve our country during times of war, conflict and peace."

The university's homepage features a story on a Waterloo researcher who is examining the personal diaries of wartime doctors and nurses.

On campus, the flags at the south entrance will be lowered from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. in accordance with the university's guidelines.

In addition, university's chaplains will be hosting an Inter-Faith Prayers for Peace Service of Remembrance in the Student Life Centre's Great Hall from 10:45 to 11:15 a.m. today.

Off campus:

In Waterloo, the parade leaves Royal Canadian Legion Branch 350 at 10:00 a.m. and will march to the Waterloo cenotaph at city hall for a ceremony starting at 10:15 a.m. Members of the UW History Society will be laying a wreath at the ceremony.

In Cambridge, services start at the Galt Cenotaph on Queen's Square at 10:30 a.m., at the Tannery and Queen Street cenotaph in Hespeler at 10:30 a.m., and in Preston, a parade will begin at the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 126 at 10:30 a.m. at the legion hall at Westminster Drive, continuing to King and Argyle Street and the cenotaph.

In Kitchener, there will be a ceremony at the Kitchener cenotaph (at the corner of Frederick and Duke Streets) beginning at 10:30 a.m., and area streets will be closed for the duration of the ceremony.

The official date of the Remembrance Day commemoration is always November 11, the anniversary of the day in 1918 when the guns fell silent at the end of the First World War. Much of the imagery of the day is connected to that war, including the poppies, worn in lapels, that are sold by the Royal Canadian Legion as a fund-raiser. They recall the wildflowers that grow in the fields of Flanders, in north Belgium, as mentioned in the poem by Lt.-Col. John McCrae of Guelph that is read at many Remembrance Day commemorations.

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Waterloo grads' suturing tool made Dyson's list

Yes, that Dyson.

A Canadian engineering team with roots in the University of Waterloo was selected as one of the Top 20 ingenious ideas for the 2013 James Dyson Award design competition.

Their invention? A robotic suturing tool, developed through a collaboration with KidsArm project researchers at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children. The working prototype, intended for use in abdominal surgery, has already been incorporated at SickKids into a full robotic surgery suite that is currently in clinical testing.

The team members included Karl Price, Brock Kopp, and Angelica Ruszkowski, all recent Mechatronic Engineering graduates. Their invention started as a fourth-year design project.

The James Dyson Award is given to university students or recent graduates for "a design that solves a problem." In the team's case, the problem to be solved was the small incisions made during minimally invasive surgery (MIS), which are difficult to suture, or stitch up, using traditional methods. "The growing use of MIS on the operating table turns a once-routine task into a tedious and time-consuming one."

Enter the team's solution: an automated surgery tool that looks like the business end of a sewing machine on an articulated limb, itself attached to a "standard six-axis industrial robot." No word on its bedside manner.

The Waterloo team joined semifinalists from the UK, Germany, Spain, Ireland, Australia, France, Japan, the USA, New Zealand and Austria.

The eventual winner of the grand prize was the Titan Arm project, a powered upper-body exoskeleton designed to reduce stress on labourers. The Titan Arm team members went home with a trophy, a £30,000 team prize, plus another £10,000 for their home university department (in this case the University of Pennsylvania). But in a world where robotic laparoscopic suturing tools, 3D-printed casts for broken limbs, lightweight respiratory oxygen cylinders and powered exoskeletons are a reality, I'd venture to say we're all winners.

The James Dyson Award is administered by the James Dyson Foundation.

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Paintin' Place plans reunion celebration

The Paintin' Place Daycare, which has been in operation for more than 35 years, is joining forces with Hildegard Marsden and Klemmer Farmhouse to form a new daycare, the Bright Starts Cooperative Early Learning Centre Inc., which will be located in a new building on the university's North Campus behind the School of Optometry and Vision Science. The doors on this long-awaited service expansion are expected to open in January 2014.

However, the beginning of this new chapter means the end of an old one - Paintin' Place's own doors will be shutting as they move from their current location in University of Waterloo Place into the new facility. As far as milestones go, this one must be bittersweet.

"With this on the horizon we would like to invite as many alumni, past families, children and staff back to Paintin’ Place for a kind of reunion/goodbye party," writes Andrea Richards. "This will be taking place on Saturday November 30, approximately 10:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.. Specific details are not yet finalized but we wanted to send out a “save the date” message."

Alumni, staff members, and past clients of Paintin' Place are also being invited to share their stories, memories, and photos as the reunion organizers would like to put together a scrapbook and display for the event on November 30. These can be submitted via email or by mail to 106 Seagram Dr., Waterloo ON N2L3B8, attention: Kathy Boegel and/or Andrea Richards.

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Today's notes have a case of the Mondays

The History Department has organized a panel discussion entitled "Military History Beyond Memory: Is Remembrance Day Still Relevant?" that will take place tonight from 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in HH 1102. Speakers include James Skidmore of Germanic and Slavic Studies, Nathan Funk of Peace and Conflict Studies, Kirk Goodlet, History PhD candidate, and Dave Gall, Library Associate - Collections. The discussion will be moderated by the history department's Geoffrey Hayes.

Friends and colleagues of Professor Fathy Ismail are invited to a retirement celebration in his honour on Thursday, November 28 from 3:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. at the University Club. Light refreshments will be available. RSVPs can be sent to Christina Lashbrook by email or by calling extension 38032 by Thursday, November 21.

“Last week, it was announced that Theresa "Terri" Murray, a long-service employee in the department of Housing and Residences, retired on October 1," writes Mike Iley, manager of cleaning services. "It’s with a sad heart that we share Terri passed away recently and didn’t have the chance to enjoy her retirement, spending time in her garden and volunteering as planned. Terri’s positive impact on students and her colleagues will always be remembered." Murray, who was a residence attendant, died October 12.

Information Systems & Technology (IST) is reporting that scheduled maintenance of the Exchange (Connect email and calendar services) server in order to restore the service to the configuration prior to the October 30 outage will be taking place on Tuesday, November 12 between 7:30 and 8:00 a.m. Users connected to Exchange during the maintenance window may be prompted to re-connect by entering their username and password. Anyone with questions or concerns is invited to contact the IST Service Desk via email or by calling extension 84357.

Save the date: the 2013 Fall Town Hall meeting is scheduled to take place on Thursday, November 28 at 3:00 p.m., in a different location than usual - the Theatre of the Arts. President Feridun Hamdullahpur and Vice-President, Administration & Provost will be delivering remarks. The event will be webcast.

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