Housing asks: "Where are you going to live?"

a message from Housing and Residences.

Throughout January, the Housing and Residences department is hard at work preparing students to search for a place to stay next fall. Programs in residences teach students about living off campus, explain strategies about searching for off-campus accommodations, and provide an overview of upper-year on-campus residence opportunities. By attending these programs, first-year students learn strategies about how to be successful as upper-year student – even if they decide to live off campus.

Since on-campus residence is guaranteed for incoming first-year students, the majority of upper-year students will be searching of a place off campus. It is important for students to remember that the Off-Campus Housing office manages a listing service, provides free lease reviews, and can help student deal with issues while living off campus.

Students can also attend a Housing Fair on Wednesday, January 29 from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. in the Student Life Centre. At this housing fair, students will compare and see over 20 accommodation types, learn about Off-Campus Housing services, and see some on-campus options – including VeloCity and GreenHouse.  Students attending the Housing Fair are encouraged to swipe their WatCard at the event for their chance to win some great prizes!

 

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Helpful tips for co-op employers

by Caitlin Feehan.

We at CECA thought that those of you who hire co-op students on campus would appreciate a few tips to make writing job descriptions and conducting interviews easier. Have a look at the infographics below, and enjoy!

Click to enlarge the infographics.

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Researchers give natural resources a close look

by Victoria Van Cappellen.

The Canada Foundation for Innovation’s $480,000 investment in the latest generation of mass spectrometers will help make the Faculty of Science at the University of Waterloo an international leader in environment and energy research.

Project leader Prof. Brian Kendall (right) from the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences received the funding to support a multi-disciplinary research program on mineral and energy exploration and the protection of Canada’s environment. Profs. Lingling Wu and Carl Guilmette, also from Earth and Environmental Sciences, are co-investigators on the project.

“This funding will help elevate Canada’s status as a leading scientific nation that uses the latest technology and scientific research directions”, said Kendall.

The grant is part of a 1.5 million-dollar initiative to establish a cutting-edge mass spectrometry facility and a strong research program in solid Earth geochemistry and environmental biogeochemistry at Waterloo. 

At the centre of these efforts are new state-of-the-art mass spectrometers, including a triple quadrupole inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (QQQ-ICP-MS), which can measure multiple elements simultaneously at the part-per-trillion level. Another device, a multi-collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (MC-ICP-MS) can analyze a wide variety of elements in minerals, rocks, petroleum, and even water.

The University of Waterloo will be the first institution in southwestern Ontario to have both of these instruments, and one of the only labs worldwide that applies both metal isotope geochemistry and geochronology towards a better understanding of the formation of natural resource deposits.

The multi-disciplinary team of scientists will use these tools to increase the understanding of oil generation and migration and to better understand the formation of ore deposits and improve exploration efforts. The team will also define how chemical reactions of iron affect the movement of chromium, an environmental contaminant, in soil, groundwater and surface water. Broader research topics include reconstructing the changes in oxygen concentration of the Earth’s atmosphere and oceans through time and understanding the impact of these changes on both the evolution of life and the formation of natural resource deposits.

 

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CTE opens workshop space

by Mark Morton.

On Monday, January 20, Centre for Teaching Excellence Director Donna Ellis and Associate Vice-President, Academic Mario Coniglio cut the ribbon at the official opening of EV1 241 and 242, the CTE's new dedicated workshop space.

CTE moved their offices to the third floor of EV1 in 2011 and exchanged their space in the Dana Porter Library (including the shared FLEX Lab) for the space occupied by the Map Library in EV1, and renovations were completed in December 2013.

This term's CTE newsletter has all the details about the design for flexibility and accessibility and be sure to check CTE's events listing for upcoming workshops.

 

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Sharepoint down this weekend and other notes

SharePoint will be down on Saturday, January 25 between 7:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. as regular upgrades and maintenance take place, according to an announcement by Information Systems and Technology (IST).

The upgrade will take the current SharePoint 2010 to the new version, SharePoint 2013, which has newer features and options.

During the upgrade, SharePoint will be unavailable. If there's a need to back-out of any of the changes, SharePoint may be down longer while a restore is done.

"You may wish to use SharePoint Workspace or the Connect to Outlook Feature as a means of keeping an offline copy of certain files available for those that need access to specific documents," says the notice from IST.

After the upgrade, SharePoint administrators should verify that site content has been migrated and site permissions are working correctly.

Anyone with questions can contact the IST Service Desk via email or by calling ext. 84357.

Students are being asked to complete a short 5-7 minute survey to help the Scheduling, Timetabling, and Examination Project (STEP) set general scheduling procedures and understand student preferences for class schedules.

The survey is voluntary and the deadline for responding is Tuesday, January 28. Respondents will be eligible to win one of four prizes of $25, which would be added to their WatCard balance. Anyone with questions can contact the STEP project via email.

Today at noon, the Waterloo Aboriginal Education Centre in St. Paul's University College is hosting a special soup and bannock lunch. In partnership with d3 Artworks Youth Vision Art Project, a new hand-painted piece of cultural artwork is being unveiled.

Cambridge's d3 Artworks Inc. has installed 16 United Youth Vision Cultural Artwork projects since 2002 in locations in Newfoundland and closer to home, including the Cambridge YMCA Youth Centre Z, the Galt Arena Gardens, St. Louis Adult Learning Centre in Kitchener, The Concordia Club of Kitchener, the Galt Legion, Lang's Farm Village Association, the Cambridge Humane Society, and Glenview Park Secondary School.

The piece to be installed at the Aboriginal Education Centre measures 9 x 8' and will hang in the lobby.

The lunch takes place at 12:00 p.m., with the unveiling scheduled for 1:00 p.m.

 

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