Thursday, April 23, 2015

Science celebrates its alumni award winners

by Sharon McFarlane.

Professor Terry McMahon, Dave Wilkin, Vikas Gupta, and John van Leeuwen.

The Faculty of Science honoured three outstanding alumni last Wednesday evening as they presented the Young Alumni Award and Distinguished Alumni Awards for 2014 at the Gladstone Hotel in Toronto. 

“The vision, leadership, entrepreneurial spirit and sheer drive of these three remarkable individuals is beyond impressive,” says McMahon, “Our alumni make amazing things happen in this world.”

Social entrepreneur and founder of Ten Thousand Coffees, Dave Wilkin, BSc ’11, received the 2014 Young Alumni Award. Seen as a thought-leader on millennials, innovation and entrepreneurship, Wilkin has already earned numerous speaking opportunities with CEO’s, governments and television.

Beaming with enthusiasm at the podium, Wilkin promised to “apply the opportunities my science degree has given me and take it to my peers at Ten Thousand Coffees... We’re going to keep this momentum going and achieve great things.”   

Vikas Gupta, BSc ’91 is one of two recipients of the 2014 Distinguished Alumni Award and describes himself as a seasoned executive with entrepreneurial DNA. Gupta is currently the CEO of Big Blue Bubble, the largest independent mobile gaming company in Canada. He is also ventures well beyond his own industry as advisor, mentor, investor and sits on many boards of start- up and not for profit organizations.  Gupta also serves as advisor on the Ontario Premier’s digital media roundtable.

"My University of Waterloo years were formidable, influential, and among the most transformative of my life," said Gupta. “It is during my academic journey that I learned the importance of curiosity and came to recognize that embracing uncertainty was the key to unlocking opportunity, a characteristic that has become the fabric of my career.”

John van Leeuwen, BSc ’81, also received the 2014 Distinguished Alumni Award for the Faculty of Science. Van Leeuwen, who was named Entrepreneur of the Year in 2011 by Price Waterhouse and received the 2012 Entrepreneur of the Year in Clean Technology from Ernst & Young is the co-founder, director and past CEO of EcoSynthetix. His company leverages renewable technology to commercialize a broad spectrum of bio-based products.  Crediting his experiences at Waterloo for his most personal and professional connections, van Leeuwen admitted the choice to come to Waterloo was an easy one.

“I had a full scholarship elsewhere, but what tipped the scale for me was the co-op program. Why wouldn’t I take advantage of that? It was a no brainer,” said van Leeuwen.

Highlights from Professor McMahon’s speech included Waterloo’s enhanced international reputation, the surge in entrepreneurial activity among students including the creation of Velocity Science and the growth of the Faculty since he was first appointed as Dean in 2007.

Breaking ground on new Hagey Hall addition

by Wendy Philpott.

It was an wildly unpredictable day of snow, rain, and sunshine, but that didn’t stop the Faculty of Arts from holding a successful groundbreaking ceremony for the new student space to be built over the courtyard of Hagey Hall.

During a precipitation-free spell on Tuesday, Dean of Arts Doug Peers spoke to a gathered crowd of students, faculty, staff, and project architects and planners about this long-awaited construction project to create new and better study/social space for students. Following the dean, students Dylan Ball, president of Arts Students Union, and then Hannah Beckett of the Arts Endowment Fund board of directors, spoke about the importance of creating this hub for Arts students to gather and work (Dylan Ball and Hannah Beckett are pictured above with Dean Doug Peers at the groundbreaking).

With the actual ground breaking (or concrete jackhammering) planned to start next month, the multi-level atrium will add approximately 9,000 square feet of study and project rooms on the upper levels and a commons area on the ground floor, with coffee and food services. The grand opening will be in summer 2016.

"In order to provide Waterloo students with the most fulfilling university experience, they should have an enriching campus life to accompany the excellent education they receive," said Feridun Hamdullahpur, president and vice-chancellor in a media advisory announcing the ground breaking. "There are a number of projects in the works that will have a positive effect on the Waterloo student experience. This one directly answers the call for more study and social space for arts students, who have played a key role in its planning and design.”

Voting for staff seat on Board of Governors begins tomorrow

Voting begins tomorrow as full-time staff members elect a representative to the Board of Governors. Candidates are:

• Tom Dean, Department of Chemical Engineering;
• Brendan Lowther, Federation of Students; 
• Trenny McGinnis, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering;
• Jeremy Steffler, Co-operative Education & Career Action; and
• Glen Weppler, Housing & Residences.

The voting period for regular full-time staff is from Friday, April 24 to Thursday April 30 by electronic ballot. This group will receive an e-mail prompt to vote electronically tomorrow morning. The voting period for union full-time staff is Friday, April 24 to Thursday, May 7 by paper ballot; ballots will be mailed to full-time union staff members.

Thursday's notes

Engineering 3 will be without domestic hot and cold water today until about 12:00 p.m. as a ball valve is replaced.

Beginning Monday, April 27, Plant Operations will be performing landscape renovations at the south main entrance door to the Mathematics & Computer Building. Access to the building will be interrupted at times, but signs will be in place to redirect the pedestrian traffic.

Also beginning Monday, the servers for Mailservices, the undergraduate student email system will be physically relocated. This process will take place from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. during a 4-day maintenance window from April 27 to April 30, taking place between the end of exams and the start of classes to help minimize impact to users. Between 20 and 40 per cent of mailboxes will be impacted each day, and during the maintenance window, affected clients will not be able to access their Mailservices account during that time. It is expected that no email will be lost, and instead will queue up while the servers are relocated. Anyone with questions or concerns is invited to contact the IST Service Desk by emailing helpdesk@uwaterloo.ca or by calling extension 44357.