The Daily Bulletin is published by Internal and Leadership Communications, part of University Communications
Contact us at bulletin@uwaterloo.ca
Submission guidelines
McLaughlin's book maps the Waterloo genome
Distinguished Professor Emeritus Kenneth McLaughlin's latest history book decodes the University of Waterloo's genetic makeup.
Innovation and Entrepreneurship are in the Waterloo Genome, launched Wednesday at the Waterloo Innovation Summit, explores the innovative spirit and bold actions that transformed Waterloo Region.
The book launch was paired with an exhibit that details pivotal moments in the evolution of one of the world's leading innovation ecosystems.
Read an excerpt of the book that outlines one of the defining moments in the development of Waterloo's creator-owns Intellectual Property policy on the Waterloo Stories site.
Order your copy online from the University of Waterloo Bookstore.
An accomplished historian, McLaughlin published Waterloo: The Unconventional Founding of an Unconventional University in 1997 and Out of the Shadows of Orthodoxy: Waterloo@50 in 2007. He has also published a history of St. Jerome's University.
Waterloo Innovation Summit continues today
Day 2 of the Waterloo Innovation Summit begins today. President Feridun Hamdullahpur will be kicking off the event with opening remarks at 9:00 a.m.
The opening keynote address will be delivered by Mariana Mazzucator, professor in the Economics of Innovation at the University of Sussex's Science Policy Research Unit (SPRU).
A fireside chat featuring panelists John Chen of BlackBerry and Cary Burch of Thomson Reuters will take place at 11:00 a.m.
At 11:45 a.m., a panel session entitled "Universities as Innovation Engines" will feature speakers Suzanne Fortier of McGill University, Meric Gertler of the University of Toronto, Feridun Hamdullahpur, and Sir Nigel Thrift of the University of Warwick.
The afternoon's keynote address will be delivered by Salim Ismail, global ambassador and founding executive director of Singularity University. Salim has a unique perspective and track record on how to innovate, how to turn cutting–edge ideas into thriving startups and how to apply leading–edge thinking to invigorate entire industries.
At 2:30 p.m., there will be a panel discussion entitled "Making Big Bets on Science" that will feature the University of Waterloo's David Cory, the University of Toronto's Shana Kelley, Philip Low of Neurovigil Inc., Blair MacIntyre of the Georgia Institute of Technology and Ronan Stephan of Alstom Groups. The panel moderator is Steven Woods of Google Kitchener-Waterloo.
Later tonight, attendees will be treated to the Interactive Playground at THEMUSEUM in downtown Kitchener. The Interactive Playground features wearable technology, music, sound, gaming robotics, quantum science and arts in a series of interactive installations, and will provide attendees with the opportunity to meet the artists, scientists, developers and entrepreneurs behind the projects.
Highlights include:
- The Cave of Sounds, an interactive sound installation exploring the prehistoric origins of collective music making through the contemporary music hacker scene.
- U-Paint! – The U-Paint! Instrument was produced in 2013 by Swedish composer Anders Lind as part of his artistic research project Voices of Umeå at the Department of Creative Studies at Umeå University in Sweden.
- Mood Meter – Mood Meter was designed at the MIT Media Lab to assess and display smiles related to the overall mood of a community by gathering and aggregating facial affective information (i.e., smiles) from people in the room.
- Euphonopen – The Euphonopen is an instrument designed for the live performance of a drawing that generates and manipulates sound according to the mark-making hand movements of the person who draws.
- University of Waterloo REAP – Research Entrepreneurs Accelerating Prosperity (REAP) sparks creative minds to explore the latest interactive, machine-to-machine, and digital display technologies, and challenging students to build innovative business opportunities using partners’ technologies.
- Installations developed by the Games Institute at the University of Waterloo, including Quantum Cats, a touch-screen action game where cats with quantum properties are propelled to rescue trapped kittens; Beam Me Around, Scotty! – a game in which pairs of players engage with asymmetric gameplay mechanics and interfaces in a cooperative adventure to escape a hostile alien world; Places, Please!: Hamlet Edition, a 4-player cooperative, mobile game designed to simulate the acts of putting a theatrical production at the Stratford Festival of Canada; and The Rival Books of Aster, a strategy game set in a completely original fantasy universe.
- Installations featuring Thalmic Labs Myo Armband, including Race the Sun and Myo Sphero Control.
Following dinner, attendees will hear a performance of Quantum: Music at the Frontier of Science, an innovative musical experiment masterminded by the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony and the Institute for Quantum Computing (IQC) at the University of Waterloo.
Follow along today with the hashtag #WINS15
New students explore the World of Waterloo
This is the latest in a series of #UWCommunity stories that feature Waterloo in the community.
On September 9, thousands of the University of Waterloo’s newest Warriors went on a walking tour through Waterloo Park toward UpTown Waterloo, engaging in the World of Waterloo as one of their Orientation activities. A unique way to introduce students to their community, this event helps incoming undergraduates build connections and learn more about their new home.
In Waterloo Public Square, they were welcomed by an array of regional food trucks while listening to a concert featuring local talent. A short walk away, UpTown Waterloo’s Princess Cinemas entertained the student population with a short film showcase, and they were given fun opportunities to get creative through artistic programming at the Button Factory. Students also learned where the public library is located, how to explore Waterloo Park, and what businesses and restaurants are nearby.
This is the second year Waterloo Orientation has held this event, and it is considered a vital part of the Orientation program as it helps new students integrate into the community. Waterloo will be their home for the next few years, so it’s important that students understand their home extends beyond campus, into the city of Waterloo and the entire region.
Our students are budding entrepreneurs, athletes, innovators, and more, but most importantly, they are the newest members of our city and we want them to feel welcomed, supported, and connected to their community. UWaterloo students contribute to our community in a number of ways throughout the year. You can learn more by checking out the University’s new Community Impact Report.
Quiet Research, Loud Results, and other notes
The Department of Kinesiology at Waterloo and the Heart and Stroke Foundation are hosting an event entitled Quiet Research, Loud Results to raise awareness about heart health and stroke recovery, and to showcase how pioneering research is creating survivors. Admission is free.
Members of the public will learn about the latest advances in cardiovascular research, watch a demonstration of blood flow in the brain, participate in a nutrition session and get new ideas for living a more heart-friendly life when researchers from the University of Waterloo put their work on display at an interactive health fair.
Attendees can enter to win door prizes such as a gift pack Goodness Me!, and gift certificate for a round of golf at Doon Valley and a CPR kit.
The event takes place on Saturday, September 19, from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. in the David Johnston Research + Technology Park's TechTown building.
Work continues on the Ring Road for a number of projects, including the elimination of a portion of the sidewalk on the Ring Road's east side, the construction of five new pedestrian crossings, the relocation of a bus stop and the construction of a fence.
The existing sidewalk and asphalt path on the east side of the ring road from Carl Pollock Hall in the south to the pathway to Columbia Street on the north side across from the Commissary is being removed.
Five pedestrian-priority Ring Road crossings are going to be built across the Ring Road, with the intent to create defined crossing areas that align with passages through future rail line fencing (being installed by GrandLinq) where pedestrians have the right of way.
These pedestrian priority crossings will feature speed bumps and signage indicating that pedestrians have the right of way and that drivers should stop for them.
A barrier that includes a fence and planters is being constructed just off the curb at the Ring Road on the east side intended to discourage unsafe mid-block LRT track crossings.
Transit users will have noticed this week that the GRT bus stop on the east side of the Ring Road at the Parking Lot B road entrance has been removed and the passenger shelter will soon be relocated to the western side of the Ring Road near Needles Hall. With that change complete, all GRT buses now pick up and drop off passengers on the Ring Road's interior. Two parking spots in front of Needles Hall have been eliminated in favour of bus-only parking. In addition, the former bus shelter outside Biology 1 has been dismantled.
Plant Operations estimates that the pedestrian improvements will be completed by the end of October, weather permitting. Eventually, powered gates will be installed at each pedestrian crossing of the ION tracks to ensure safety. The existing Laurel Trail will remain adjacent to the rail line, but will be slightly realigned.