Humans of UWaterloo explores our nature

This piece originally appeared on the Student Success Office's UWaterloo Life blog.

Two first-year Arts and Business students created a Facebook page that generated a huge buzz on campus recently: Humans of UWaterloo.

Based on the popular Humans of New York project, Danielle Bennett and Cindy Chau created the page earlier this month to help people on campus learn more about each other. They were delighted that within three days, it reached more than two thousand likes.

The page posts pictures of UWaterloo students, faculty and staff they meet around campus and includes interesting tidbits about them, in the caption. “I think the caption is really important; it gives life to the photograph,” Danielle said.

Throughout this project, Danielle and Cindy learned that campus is a diverse place, filled with unique stories. Cindy says working on this helped refresh her mind from academic stress and recommends other students to start a project of their own as a stress reliever. For Danielle, the main goal was to improve her people skills by engaging in conversations with strangers around campus. Both students feel that the project has been great and has created an amazing first-year experience for them.

Humans of UWaterloo was recently featured on the CBC news website and has been talked about on Reddit, OMGUW, Twitter and of course, Facebook. They are looking for students who are interested in running the page when they go on co-op next term - contact them through the Humans of UWaterloo Facebook page if you are interested.

 

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Professor appointed to Great Lakes board

Waterloo Professor Rob de Loë is the new Canadian Co-Chair of the Great Lakes Water Quality Board, The International Joint Commission IJC) announced on Monday.

The IJC is a bi-national organization established by Canada and the United States to prevent and resolve disputes about the use and quality of boundary waters, and to advise respective governments on water resources issues.

De Loë, a professor in the Department of Environment and Resource Studies and member of Waterloo’s Water Institute, is one of Canada’s leading academics in water governance and policy. 

The Water Quality Board is the principal advisor to the IJC in reviewing and assessing progress in implementation of the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, and in identifying emerging issues and approaches for preventing and resolving the complex challenges facing the Great Lakes.  

“The Great Lakes represent an enormous opportunity and challenge for governments, researchers, businesses and communities to sustainably manage one of the world’s greatest freshwater resources,” said de Loë. “I am honoured to be appointed Canadian Co-Chair, and look forward to working with this new Board to improve water quality in the Great Lakes.”

Waterloo’s Faculty of Environment, and the broader Water Institute membership, has a strong tradition in researching Great Lakes issues. In his new position de Loë will draw upon his expertise on how to craft policy via collaborative governance to share water resources when they’re scarce, deal with borders that divide watersheds and protect drinking water sources.

“We were pleased to receive the nominations of many worthy candidates from across the geographical breadth of the Great Lakes - St. Lawrence System, and are delighted that Dr. de Loë has agreed to co-lead this important Board,” said The Hon. Benoit Bouchard, Canadian Commissioner to the IJC.

De Loë’s duties as Co-Chair begin immediately and last until February 2017.

 

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Bridges lecture: damn lies, statistics, history

Egyptian writer and winner of the 1988 Nobel Prize for Literature Naguib Mahfouz once said "you can tell whether a man is clever by his answers. You can tell whether a man is wise by his questions." If questions are the true measure of wisdom, then, as the organizers of the third event in the Bridges Lecture series argue, Statistics is the wisest of all sciences - posing many questions, but providing few absolute answers.

Douglas Peers, dean of the Faculty of Arts, and Don McLeish, professor of statistics and actuarial science, will be presenting an interview-style lecture entitled “Damn Lies, Truths, Statistics and History” on Monday, March 17 at 7:30 p.m. in St. Jerome's University's Siegfried Hall. The moderator of the discussion will be Katherine Bergman, St. Jerome's University's president.

In the lecture, data and statistical graphics will confront the historical truths and myths that surround the development of our society, culture, health and economic development. "Situating data within an historical context will sometimes generate interesting questions that are not easily answerable," says the event's promotional material, "and in some cases provide answers that suggest we may not yet have the right questions."

The Bridges Lecture series aims to overcome the gap between mathematics and the arts and is being presented by St. Jerome's University, the Faculty of Arts, and the Faculty of Mathematics.

The event is free and open to the public, and a reception will follow.

 

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Disease prevention initiative announces awards

Waterloo's Chronic Disease Prevention Initiative seeks to catalyze new research collaborations that focus on preventing chronic diseases and reducing their burden.

The initiative offers seed funds of up to $10,000 to bring together new multidisciplinary teams and increase their success in applications for external funding. The second call for applications had another impressive response.  Six teams were successful and include investigators from 13 different departments across campus.

The next call for applications will be issued in the coming weeks with a late May deadline so stay tuned for further details!

 

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Thursday's notes

The University of Waterloo School of Architecture was recently featured in DOMUS, one of the world's leading design magazines. DOMUS is published in Milan and is distributed worldwide.

The magazine has been doing a series of articles on leading international schools of architecture, and its February issue contains the third in this series, focusing on the University of Waterloo's School of Architecture. The piece was co-written by former director Rick Haldenby and Lorenzo Pignatti, associate professor and associate director of the School of Architecture's operations in Rome.

Here's the latest Nutrition Month "myth vs. fact" from Health Services dietician Sandra Ace:

Myth: Convenience foods aren’t healthy and should be avoided.

Truth:  Healthier convenience foods can help you make tasty meals in minutes. Check the Nutrition Facts and select foods with less sodium, fat and sugar. Here are 10 convenience foods that are shortcuts to easy, nutritious and tasty meals: light canned tuna or canned salmon, pre-cut veggies like butternut squash, canned legumes such as chickpeas or lentils, canned diced tomatoes, shredded cheese, eggs, plain frozen fish fillets, frozen vegetables and fruit, 100% whole wheat pasta, 100% whole grain pizza crusts.

 

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