Sleep-deprived, but all smiles: Members of the Federation Orientation Committee, responsible for delivering Orientation Week to campus, pose for a group photo last Saturday night.

"This amazing team of 32 student leaders, representing all six Faculties, the Student Success Office, and the Federation of Students, have been working diligently since November 2013 to bring together the amazing introduction to campus and welcoming events hosted for our newest students last week," writes the Federation of Students' Becky Wroe.

Won't you give them a hand?

Photograph by Ryan Robinson-Hatton.

 

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Way-finding project on display in Davis Centre

Professor Donald McKay of the School of Architecture, has been developing a campus way-finding project in partnership with Waterloo Region.

McKay's presentation, "Finding Ways: The University of Waterloo campus and its future"

is the final exhibition of eight mounted under the banner of the Building Waterloo Region festival during the summer of 2014. The show was installed in the atrium of the Davis Centre in time for the launch of the fall term.

"Finding Ways tackles the complex issues confronting accessibility, navigation and public space on the Main Campus of the University of Waterloo," says a statement on the project's website. "Finding Ways draws on extensive on-site research and digital surveying to develop a new campus map that includes a network of pedestrian streets, orientation points and bus stops, as well as a system of signage, the design of free-standing information towers, a distinctive alphabet, and an independent power source."

Six panels present proposals that address the complex issues of accessibility, navigation and public space on Waterloo's main campus. The work was done by team of graduate and undergraduate architecture students under the leadership of Professor Donald McKay and sponsored in several phases by the University.

"Over the last decade the campus has added a dozen new buildings. The student population has doubled. An increased proportion of those students are using public transportation to reach campus. Light Rail is coming. The campus has ‘jumped the tracks’ and is expanding to the east and north towards the Northdale neighbourhood which continues to develop at medium and high density," says a statement from the School of Architecture. "The current, higher-density campus needs a coherent public matrix—a street and signage system, a network of public spaces—to orient both the community and visitors, a matrix that would make casual access to the entire university a commonplace and inviting experience."

Finding Ways advocates for the common ground—the campus itself—as an educational, social, and cultural field of experience.

This new way-finding system is accompanied by a handbook designed to address many of the basic issues of the new matrix, and detailing how to develop and use the map, the network, and the signage.

The exhibition will remain open until October 13.

Photographs by CPA staff.

 

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Engineering professor named to Royal Society

Professor Mohamed Kamel of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering has been named a Fellow of the 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.

"Mohamed Kamel has made distinguished and outstanding contributions to the fields of pattern recognition and machine intelligence. He introduced novel approaches in clustering and classification and developed valuable solution methods," his citation reads. "He pioneered the application of these approaches in character recognition, biometrics, visual inspection, solving differential equations and data mining. His work has significantly impacted industry as demonstrated through his patents, research contracts with industry and his involvement in spin-off companies."

Kamel 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.

"His work has significantly impacted industry as demonstrated through his patents, research contracts with industry and his involvement in spin-off companies," says a statement on the Waterloo Engineering website.

 

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Mini Town Hall next Tuesday

The latest Strategic Plan Mini Town Hall meeting will explore the student experience.

The "Vibrant Student Experience" meeting will take place on Tuesday, September 16 from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. in the Student Life Centre's Great Hall. Members of the Vibrant Student Experience working group will be on hand, including:

• Chris Read, Associate Provost, Students
• Danielle Burt, President, Federation of Students
• Maryam Shahtaheri, President, Graduate Student Association

The interactive dialogue can be watched live, and questions will be taken from the floor, via email, and via tweets to the @UWaterlooLive account. The hashtag to follow is #uwth.

The town halls are organized to give an opportunity to members of the university community to learn how the Strategic Plan is being put into action as the theme leaders and members of the theme working groups present their progress and also answer questions.

 

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Thursday's notes

Feds Fall Welcome Week continues today with the President's Lunch, served from 12:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. in the Student Life Centre great hall. The Welcome Week arcade continues from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. in the Student Life Centre multipurpose room, and the main event is a concert in the Physical Activities Complex featuring Down With Webster, USS, and Serani. Free tickets are still available at the Feds Welcome Week page, and there are still plenty left.

"The University of Waterloo’s United Way campaign needs you to spark positive change in Kitchener-Waterloo," writes Jacqueline Martinz. "Make a difference in your community by volunteering for a worthwhile cause. As an Area Representative, you’ll help raise awareness about the campaign within your department/unit, share key messages from the United Way KW, and organize special events that generate enthusiasm about supporting the United Way. All volunteers enjoy perks such as our fantastic volunteer training lunch on September 17."

If you are interested in becoming a volunteer or learning more about the opportunity, please contact Melissa McNown-Smith via email or at extension 32440 by Monday, September 15.

The Registrar's Office is reminding upper year undergraduate students that they will be able to check their official academic standings and final grades for the spring 2014 term on Wednesday, September 17 by checking their unofficial transcript in Quest. A student's academic standing can determine whether he or she can proceed to their next term of study.

Students are also being instructed to check their emails for updates regarding their academic standings and what options are available to them. Students with questions should contact their academic advisor.

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