Thursday, November 12, 2015

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• Engineering breaking ground today for new building
• Thomas King to deliver 2015 Hagey Lecture
• WatITis conference registration opens
• Thursday's notes

Engineering breaking ground today for new building

The University of Waterloo breaks ground today on Engineering 7, an $88-million building that will feature some of the best engineering research and teaching facilities in the world.

The ground-breaking event will take place on Thursday November 12, at 1:30 pm at Engineering 5 on the University’s east campus.

The new Engineering 7 (E7) facility will feature an additive manufacturing—or 3D printing—laboratory and an indoor flight arena for testing autonomous and robotic vehicles.

It will also accommodate growth from Waterloo’s new biomedical engineering program and the expansion of the Faculty of Engineering’s highly popular mechatronics engineering program. It will house the Faculty’s new teaching innovation, the multidisciplinary Engineering Ideas Clinic™, where undergraduate students will integrate classroom theory with hands-on learning as they design, build, test and refine ideas.

Part of the funding for E7 will come from the Educating the Engineer of the Future campaign, a $70-million fundraising effort that will help the Faculty of Engineering achieve its goal to become a world-class engineering school.

Earlier this week, GM Canada announced $1 million in funding to support the Educating the Engineer of the Future campaign. This support will fund a Research Chair in advanced materials while also sponsoring Waterloo Engineering’s Capstone Design projects involving software development, which is key to GM Canada’s work on “the connected car.”

E7 will also become the new home for the Conrad Business, Entrepreneurship and Technology Centre. It will have dedicated study and social spaces for students, lecture halls and entrepreneurial support areas, along with areas for student teams to prototype their Capstone Design projects.

Thursday’s groundbreaking event will include remarks by Feridun Hamdullahpur; Pearl Sullivan, dean of engineering and Doug Wright, former president and vice-chancellor of Waterloo and founding dean of engineering.

Thomas King to deliver 2015 Hagey Lecture

Award-winning novelist, screenwriter, essayist, and performer Thomas King will be presenting this year's Hagey Lecture, entitled "Love in the Time of Cholera: Canadian Edition."

The event will take place on Tuesday, November 17 at Federation Hall at 8:00 p.m. (doors open at 7:30 p.m.). A reception and book signing will follow at 9:00 p.m.

The event is free, but registration is required.

Thomas King is one of Canada’s foremost Indigenous public intellectuals and the recipient of a 2014 Governor General’s Literary Award. Among his most recent award-winning works of fiction and nonfiction are: The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People in North America; The Back of the Turtle; Green Grass, Running Water; and Truth and Bright Water.

The University of Waterloo Bookstore will have a selection of Thomas King's books available for purchase during the reception.

Waterloo's premier invitational public lecture series since 1970, the Hagey Lectures – named after the University's first president – are co-sponsored by the Faculty Association and the University of Waterloo. The annual lectures are intended to challenge, stimulate and enrich not only the faculty, staff and students of the University of Waterloo, but all members of this community.

WatITis conference registration opens

The WatITis (Waterloo Information Technology and Information Systems) conference is scheduled to take place on December 7 in the Mike and Ophelia Lazaridis Quantum-Nano Centre.

This year’s keynote speaker will be Professor Craig S. Kaplan from the Cheriton School of Computer Science.

Registration opened on November 3 and will close on November 25. Registration is free, but there is a $50 charge if you register for the conference but do not show up.

Conference sessions include:

• Building Relationships in IT;
• Can I Do That in the Cloud?;
• Chat-Ops with Slack;
• Does This Look Infected?;
• Here Comes Generation Z: Are You Ready?; and

• Toward a Greener Horizon: proposed energy saving changes to MFCF machine rooms.

A full list of conference sessions (and there's something for everyone) is available on the conference website.

Thursday's notes

The School of Environment, Enterprise and Development (SEED) is inviting the community to learn more about graduate program opportunities offered in SEED by hosting an open house today.

"Enjoy a drink and some food while we take you through a brief overview of our four graduate programs," says the event description. "Faculty, staff and students will be available to chat with you and answer any questions you may have." 

With programs in sustainability management, international development practice, environment and business, local economic development and social innovation, SEED is dedicated to developing the knowledge, tools and expertise to integrate business and development activities with environmental and social goals. 

The open house takes place tonight from 4:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. on the fourth floor of Environment 3. Refreshments and appetizers will be served. 

The University Club's annual open house, now in its 7^th year, is scheduled to take place on Wednesday, November 25 from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. "Mix and mingle with friends and colleagues from all departments for some holiday cheer and festive fare created by Chefs Richard and Roland," says a note from Food Services. "We ask only that you bring a new, unwrapped toy for the tree of angels to make Christmas more merry for a child near you."

The 2014-2015 Annual Report of the Water Institute is now available for download. The report describes the Institute's activities over the past year and previews its priorities for 2015-2016.