Beesley's Epiphyte Chamber a hit in Korea

If it's good enough for the President of South Korea, it's good enough for us: Philip Beesley's latest creation, Epiphyte Chamber (seen above) was the anchoring installation at South Korea's newest art museum, the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Seoul, Korea, which opened in November 2013 after four years of construction.

Beesley, a professor at the Waterloo School of Architecture, gave a personal tour of his intricate installation to the President of South Korea, Park Geun-hye, who was on hand to formally open the new museum.

"Ours was selected as one of only two works along with Do Ho Suh's vast floating 'home within home...' to show the President for the inaugural tour," writes Beesley, "making a whirlwind of security and rehearsal followed by the unfolding of the public state event."

Beesley's installation and interaction with South Korea's president received media attention.

"Park Geun-hye made a moving comment about our interdisciplinary work as a model for how new Korean culture could grow," Beesley continues. "Every one of the team (WA=Andrea Ling, Rob Gorbet, Taehyung Kim, Connor O’Grady, Sheida Shahi, May Wu with other PBAI and Seoul folks on site, and with other Waterloo and related friends giving support from Canada) deserve profound kudos."

Check out more of the installation on Beesley's Flickr stream. The work will be on display until March 2014.

 

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Alumnus squared off against SF's Batkid

by Dana Ciak. The full version of this piece appeared on the Waterloo Alumni page on December 13, 2013.

Mike Jutan (BMath ’07) is a well-known name around the UWaterloo alumni community. Mike has gone on from his Waterloo days to fulfill his dream of being a Research and Development Engineer at Industrial Light & Magic, the visual effects studio created by George Lucas and now owned by Disney in San Francisco. He has worked on films such as Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Iron Man, to The Avengers.

Mike is also a 2012 Alumni Awards recipient, and a person who gets involved and gives back wherever he can including teaching a film development class in his spare time at 826 Valencia, a non-profit program for low income children.

“I think giving back is a way to open your eyes to the world around you. It’s really easy to get totally overwhelmed by your own life and your own problems, drawing inward and ultimately just living for yourself. Honestly, I think people can do better than that. It’s also easy to look at the world’s problems and see too many, and have no idea where to start. My advice is to just pick one thing, and start with a small commitment,” Mike says.

A story of his recent involvement giving back made international news as he suited up to help make one little boy’s wish come true.

Miles, a 5 year old boy from the Greater Bay Area who has been fighting leukemia for a few years and is now in remission, recently had his wish granted from the Make-a-Wish Foundation. Miles who has been said to draw upon strength from super heroes, wanted to be Batkid for a day.

The day was perfectly staged for Miles, having him first addressed by SFPD Police Chief, Greg Suhr, to rescue the city from villains like the famous Riddler and Penguin. Miles along with an adult Batman played by a friend of Mike’s at his side, rescued a damsel-in-distress from cable-car tracks, stopped the Riddler from robbing a bank and rescued the San Francisco Giant’s mascot, Lou Seal, from the evil Penguin played by Mike. At the end of the day, San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee, gave Miles a key to the city and thanked him for his courage and saving the day.

Read the full piece on the Waterloo Alumni website.

 

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2014's first crop of retirees announced

Human Resources is reporting that the following faculty members have retired as of January 1, 2014:

• Professor Sujeet Chaudhuri, who started at the university in May 1977 as assistant professor, and retired as tenured professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering;
• Professor Fathy Ismail, who started in May 1983 and retired as tenured professor in Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering;
• Professor John Lawrence, who started in September 1976 as assistant professor in Pure Mathematics, was granted tenure in July 1981, was named associate professor in July 1979 and full professor in July 1981; and
• Professor Joel Majonis, who started in July 1985 and retired as professor in Social Development Studies at Renison University College.

Human Resources is also reporting that the following staff members have retired as of January 1, 2014:

• Judith McDonnell, who started at the university in November 1987 and retired as secretary/receptionist in Physics and Astronomy;
• Isabelle Nador, who started at the university in July 1967 and retired as library clerk in the Library;
• Carolyn Nelson, who started in September 1970 and retired as administrative assistant in the Arts Graduate Office;
• Allyson Rowat, who started in April 2007 and retired as administrative assistant in the Anthropology department;
• Susanne Santi, who began at the university in December 2002 and retired as Manager, Research Ethics in the Office of Research;
• Velma Smith, who started work in February 1974 and retired as library clerk in the Library; and
• Greg Ursu, who started at the university in February 1991 and retired as Building Serviceperson II in Plant Operations.

Congratulations all!

 

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Move-In, Winter Orientation start this weekend

Welcome back, students. This weekend, students will be moving back into their residences. Residence Move-In is scheduled for Sunday, January 5. According to Housing and Residences, undergraduates, upper-year and exchange students may begin moving in after 8:30 a.m. Students have until the first day of lectures to move into their residences.

In addition, the annual Winter Orientation program will be kicking off this weekend. International student registration takes place on Sunday, January 5 at 9:30 a.m. in the Quantum-Nano Centre, with domestic and exchange student registration starting at 11:30 a.m. Orientation events include campus tours, starting Monday, January 6 at 11:00 a.m., the Grad House Social on Thursday, January 9 at 6:00 p.m. in the Grad House, and a student networking event on Friday, January 10 in the SLC multipurpose room.

 

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