A memorial has sprung up near the Village 1 pathway where a first-year engineering student was struck and killed by lightning last Friday.

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A magical co-op work experience at Disney

by Kaitlyn Holbein.

Starting in spring 2014 and continuing into the fall, several fortunate applied health sciences students have been working for the Walt Disney Company in Florida.

While this opportunity was available to all recreation and leisure students, it also satisfies co-op work term requirements.  Seven students are taking part in the inaugural program and three of those students are using this experience to gain a co-op credit.

The Disney work and study experience began in May, with students taking online courses in destination tourism from the University of Florida. After several weeks of online learning, the students headed to Florida in July to finish their courses in-person, and to begin their stints with Disney.

Faith Tang, a 2A therapeutic recreation and fine arts major, is thrilled with her experience at Disney so far. She’s enjoyed making new friends from all over the globe, and getting to apply her theoretical knowledge of destination tourism to the practical world of Disney.

“We’ve been learning how the Disney experience is a really major event in peoples’ lives,” says Faith. “People save up money for years and years just to take their family on this trip. Disney goes to great lengths to ensure that their parks are really accessible to all guests – there aren’t many rides that people with physical disabilities can’t go on, for instance.”

Another component that Faith has really enjoyed about the Disney experience is the rotational work schedule. While she’s spent the past few weeks working in food services at Blizzard’s Beach, a smaller Disney park where “everyone feels like family,” Faith will soon be working at Disney’s Epcot International Food and Wine Festival. Other co-op students have had the opportunity to support operations and to perform character roles, among other positions.

Overall, the time she’s spent at Disney has helped Faith to narrow down the course of her future studies: “I think going through this program and studying destination tourism has made me want to do an option in tourism at Waterloo. This opportunity has really sparked my interest in the industry.”

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Perimeter director named to Royal Society

Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics Director Neil Turok has been elected a Fellow of the prestigious Royal Society of Canada.

Fellows of the Royal Society are “peer-selected as the best in their field,” in areas spanning science, the arts, and Canadian public life. 

“Neil Turok is an internationally renowned physicist who has made major contributions to cosmology, the study of the origins and evolution of the universe,” reads the Royal Society of Canada’s citation. “He is a world leader in developing and testing fundamental theories and is the co-inventor of the cyclic model for cosmology. His visionary leadership has advanced science in Canada and worldwide, in directing the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics and by founding the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences.”

“I am thrilled to be counted among the Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada,” said Turok. “It is a privilege to live in Canada and to contribute in some small way to the intellectual life of this great country.” 

Turok will be invited to join the other new Fellows to be inducted to the academies of the RSC during a ceremony on Saturday, November 22 at Fairmont Le Château Frontenac in Quebec City.

“Turok’s election acknowledges not only his groundbreaking work on early-universe cosmology, but also his dedication to sharing the power of science globally through education and outreach,” says a statement posted on the Perimeter Institute’s website. “As Director of Perimeter Institute since 2008, Turok has helped bring many of the top talents in theoretical physics to Canada, and enhanced Perimeter’s ongoing efforts to educate and inspire young scientists and the general public.” 

Turok has an adjunct faculty appointment in Waterloo's Department of Physics and Astronomy.

Founded in 1882, the Royal Society of Canada (RSC) comprises the Academies of Arts, Humanities and Sciences of Canada. Its mission is to recognize scholarly, research and artistic excellence, to advise governments and organizations, and to promote a culture of knowledge and innovation in Canada and with other national academies around the world.

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Velocity Foundry opens Friday

The Velocity Foundry—Waterloo's new incubator space for hardware, materials and life sciences startup companies—will officially open this Friday.

The Velocity Foundry is an 11,000-square-foot space where startups can develop, test, implement and commercialize their innovative, entrepreneurial ideas. It is located just steps from the Velocity Garage, Waterloo's incubator for software startups.

Representatives from the federal and provincial governments, the University of Waterloo, and the startups occupying the space will be on hand for the grand opening event, which starts at 10:00 a.m. on Friday, September 12.

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Wednesday's whyfores and whatnots

The School of Optometry and Vision Science was evacuated this morning around 7:44 a.m. after a gas leak was reported. City of Waterloo and Waterloo Fire Rescue officials are working on the problem. Details on class postponements, and at this point there's no indication of any, will be sent out online and through official social media channels. Update: classes scheduled for 8:30 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. have been cancelled. Further updates to come.

Welcome Week continues today with Monopo-Tea in the Student Life Centre's Great Hall from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., the Welcome Week Arcade in the SLC multipurpose room from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., and the $5000 Amazing Goose Chase, which starts at 5:00 p.m. in the SLC Courtyard.

Justin Trudeau, the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, will be on campus on today as part of a larger tour of Waterloo Region. He will address students at 2:00 p.m. in the Great Hall of the Student Life Centre.

Square, the mobile payments business, will be opening an office in Waterloo Region today. President Feridun Hamdullahpur will be bringing greetings on behalf of the University. The office will be located at 305 King Street in downtown Kitchener.

The Graduate Studies Office will be hosting Graduate Scholarship Information sessions for Master’s, Doctoral and Undergraduate students in 3B-5B with a minimum 80 per cent average in each of the last 2 academic years. The sessions will feature application tips for CIHR, NSERC, SSHRC and OGS.

The sessions will take place on  Monday, September 15, 2014 from 4:00 p.m. to 5:45 p.m. and Thursday, September 18, 2014 from 5:00 p.m. to 6:45 p.m. in the Humanities Theatre in Hagey Hall.

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