IST to begin move to East Campus this week

Information Systems and Technology (IST) is on the move.

IST will be moving from its longtime homes in the Math & Computer (MC) building and Engineering 2 (E2) to its new location in East Campus 2. The move will be staged, with groups moving in blocks starting on Friday, October 17.

Most of the units will be settling into their new digs before the New Year, according to the official word, however, some services may take longer due to renovation requirements and other considerations. The ITMS Production Studio, the CHIP help desk, Media Loans and exam/survey processing have been so identified.

IST will be updating its contacts list as people move to the new building, and as services settle in, the services catalogue will also be updated.

Some services will not be moving at all, including the Skills for the Electronic Workplace (SEW) courses, which will still be held in MC 1078, MC 2060 and MC 2009. IST's own Friday morning professional development seminars will still be held in MC 2009, and the multimedia equipment loans and Data Centre will remain in MC.

Anyone with questions about IST's move can contact the IST Service Desk (CHIP) via email or by calling extension 84357.

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This month: a President's Town Hall

Thursday, October 30 marks the return of the campus-wide Town Hall event, which will now be known as the President's Town Hall Meeting.

A the meeting, President Feridun Hamdullahpur will be introducing the 2014 Annual Report entitled "Defining Tomorrow," a new publication that provides a snapshot of the University of Waterloo's progress towards its goal of becoming one of the world's top universities over a one-year reporting period.

In his address to campus, President Hamdullahpur will be reflecting on the University's accomplishments this past year and will talk about the year ahead.

The event will be held in the Humanities Theatre at 10:30 a.m.

Members of the University community are invited to share their thoughts and ideas about where Waterloo is heading in an interactive dialogue.

Questions can be sent in via email, and on Twitter both before and during the President's Town Hall Meeting, by sending tweets to @UWaterlooLIVE or by using the hashtag #uwth.

The President's Town Hall will conclude with a complimentary light lunch, served in the atrium of the School of Accounting and Finance at 12:00 p.m. Please register to save your seat at the town hall and the luncheon event.

 

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Alumni award winners for convocation named

The Advisory Committee on Graduate Scholarships and Awards has reviewed the nominations for the Alumni Gold Medals and Outstanding Achievement in Graduate Studies designation and has announced the winners of the Alumni Gold Medals for Outstanding Academic Performance in a Master’s Program and in a Doctoral Program, as well as the winners of the Outstanding Achievement in Graduate Studies Awards.

Receiving the Alumni Gold Medal for Outstanding Academic Performance in a Master’s Program is Ahmad Abdi of Combinatorics & Optimization. Adbi’s thesis was entitled “The Cycling Property for the Clutter of Odd st-Walks” and his supervisor was Professor Bertrand Guenin.

Abdi, currently a doctoral student in Combinatorics & Optimization, has “an exceptional academic record, has demonstrated exceptional research abilities and has made significant contributions to his research which examined a long-standing open question in a core area of Combinatorics & Optimization,” reads his award citation. Abdi “introduced new ideas and techniques to the topic.” He has received a number of scholarships, including the NSERC Canada Graduate Scholarship, a UW Provost Graduate Scholarship, an NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Award and the Jessie W.H. Zou Memorial Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Research.

Receiving the Alumni Gold Medal for Outstanding Academic Performance in a Doctoral Program is Dubravka Gavric, who achieved her PhD in Psychology. Gavric’s thesis was entitled “What is the Function of Post-Event Processing in Social Anxiety Disorder? The Role of Metacognitive Beliefs, Memory Uncertainty and Perception of Performance.” Her supervisor was Professor David Moscovitch.

Gavric‘s research focused on improving the understanding and psychological treatment of social anxiety disorder, an extremely disabling anxiety disorder that is estimated to affect approximately 4 million Canadians. She has been an active scholar, publishing and presenting posters and papers at national and international conferences and has made substantial independent contributions to highly respected and widely-read peer-reviewed journals in the field of clinical psychology. Gavric has also earned numerous scholarships, including the SSHRC Canada Graduate Scholarship at both the Master’s and Doctoral levels and an Ontario Mental Health Foundation Research Studentship. She is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow at St. Joseph’s Healthcare in Hamilton.

The winners of the Outstanding Achievement in Graduate Studies award are:

 

Master’s:

• Katelyn Fraser
• YK Hei Franki Kung
• Matthew Schmidt
• Dorothy Lui

Doctoral:

 

• Ryan Henry
• Lital Sever

The award winners will be recognized at the fall convocation ceremonies on October 24 and 25.

 

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Tuesday's turkey leftovers

Friends and colleagues of Professor Jon Sykes are being invited to a retirement celebration in his honour scheduled for Thursday, October 23 from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. at the University Club.

Sykes, who received his BASc, MASc, and PhD at Waterloo, joined the civil engineering department in 1975, specializing in water resources and ice mechanics. During his time with the department, Professor Sykes has served as Associate Chair for Graduate Studies, Associate Chair for Undergraduate Studies and department chair.

The event is hosted by the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering. Speeches begin at 3:30 p.m.

Please RSVP by Friday, October 18 by calling Shirley Springall at extension 36336 or via email.

The third annual Research Data Management Conference, sponsored by the University of Waterloo Library, will be held on Wednesday, October 22, 2014 from 9:00 am to noon, in DC 1302.

This year’s conference features the following speakers:

• Ian Milligan, assistant professor of digital and Canadian history, University of Waterloo,  “Historians and the Web Age: Making Sense of Abundance.”
• Carol Perry, associate librarian, University of Guelph, “Project ARC.”
• Courtney Earl Matthews, digital repository librarian, University of Waterloo, “Overview of Research Data Management in Academic Libraries.”

For more information and to register, please visit the Data Management Conference 2014 Guide. Anyone with questions is invited to contact Sandra Keys or Kathy Szigeti for more information.

 

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