Thursday, January 14, 2016

Prime Minister Trudeau visits campus

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks with Harry Gandhi of Medella Health, a startup in the Velocity Science space this morning.

The Prime Minister of Canada made his first official visit to the University of Waterloo this morning.

The Right Honourable Justin Trudeau and the Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, are here to tour the Velocity Science Lab and make a special announcement, the details of which will be published in Waterloo News and in the Daily Bulletin later today (watch this space).

The visit began at 8:30 a.m. today with a tour of the Velocity Science Lab in the Earth Science and Chemistry building. Prime Minister Trudeau and Minister Bains met with a number of Velocity Science startups including Medella Health, Vitameter, Thalo, Acorn CryoTech and Nicoya Lifesciences.

Velocity Science is tripling the size of its on-campus lab to more than 2,600 square feet, which will house the program until it moves into a new 7,000-square- foot home in the Science Complex, the Faculty of Science’s upcoming state-of-the-art building. Velocity Science is a partnership between Velocity and the Faculty of Science that provides startups with the mentorship, lab space, and support needed to develop their science-based companies.

The announcement takes place in the main atrium of the Science Teaching Complex at 9:15 a.m.​

After his visit to campus concludes, the Prime Minister will visit BlackBerry before traveling to Kitchener for a tour of Google's new office.

PM announces $12M for water research

by Katrina Schigas.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development Navdeep Bains announced $12 million in funding to bring industry and academic researchers together to build the next generation of water technologies.

Along with Feridun Hamdullahpur, president and vice-chancellor of the University, and Dean of Science Bob Lemieux, Trudeau and Minister Bains also met with Velocity Science student entrepreneurs. 

“It’s always a pleasure to see so many innovative, enthusiastic young people and extraordinarily inspiring Faculty. Thank you so much for showing me some of the great work that’s being done here at this amazing institution,” said Trudeau.

The $12 million, from the Federal Economic Development Agency of Southern Ontario, is being provided to the Southern Ontario Water Consortium (SOWC), which is located on the Waterloo campus. SOWC leads the development of business-led partnerships with post-secondary institutions to create innovative products, technologies and services for the water sector in southern Ontario.

“We can’t wait to see what our most innovative Canadian companies have in store for our communities. The future is within our grasp and no where is that more clear than in the extraordinary community of Waterloo,” said Trudeau.

“Today’s announcement further establishes the Southern Ontario Water Consortium, the University of Waterloo, and Canada, as leaders in environmental stewardship and innovation," said Feridun Hamdullahpur. “As Canada’s most innovative university, Waterloo is a leader in partnering with industry through research collaboration and co-operative education and in bringing multidisciplinary teams together to tackle problems in key frontier disciplines like quantum science, aging populations, and water management.”

Up to 90 businesses and not-for-profit organizations in southern Ontario are expected to benefit from the funding through the development and advancement of up to 80 collaborative water projects. The investment is expected to support at least 14 new partnerships and create or maintain 520 jobs over the course of the project.

Wrapping up the United Way Campaign

A message from University of Waterloo United Way Campaign Co-Chairs Nadine Collins and James Skidmore.

Well, we did it. Again.

Our 2015 United Way campaign was one of our best campaigns ever. Students, faculty, staff, and retirees demonstrated that the University of Waterloo is a caring and generous community.

2015 campaign highlights include:  

• Raising more than $267,000. To give you a better sense of the impact that $267,000 can have, with this money local agencies can:
  • provide language and employment support for 260 newcomers to Canada
  • help 144 seniors maintain their independence by offering hearing support classes
  • organize workshops focused on independent living for 500 homeless youth, helping them get a new start in life
  • give 480 women who have experienced trauma an opportunity to participate in support programs
  • provide 1,200 meals for those in need
• During the fall campaign, nearly 130 campus volunteers organized events and activities that make working here that much more fun, raising $25,000 in the process.
• Members of Waterloo’s Executive Council heeded Doug Peers’ call to donate.  They reached 100% participation AND increased their donations by 50% over last year, contributing a cumulative total of $27,000.
• This year $29,000, in new donations, were made at the United Way’s leadership giving level. Those new monies were in turn eligible for matching from the Guloien Family Challenge Grant, thus turning $29,000 into $58,000 for the United Way of KW.

None of this would have been possible without the hard work of our volunteers and the substantial contributions from our donors. To all of you, a sincere and hearty thank you. By giving here, you’re helping everywhere.

Renison’s “Living Map” helped students find their classes

No matter how many signs or maps are posted, students always have trouble navigating Renison University College at first. “Renison has grown a lot over the years, and with each new building, our layout gets a little more complicated,” says Kari Pasick Stewart, manager of marketing and communications. “At the beginning of each term, we always have confused students trying to figure out how to get from one end of the College to the other.” 

This term, Renison decided to utilize one of their best resources to address this issue: student and staff volunteers. “For the first few days of classes, we have volunteers standing at entrances and in various spots throughout the College to help direct students to their classrooms,” says Jeff Newell, director of student engagement and housing. “These volunteers are easy to spot in their bright yellow shirts, and they can be used as extra way finding landmarks. For example, we might tell a student to keep walking straight until they meet the next ‘living map’ in the yellow shirt.” 

So far, the project has been a huge success, and feedback from the students has been great. “They really like the personalized attention, I think,” says Newell. “I hope it makes them feel welcome, and let’s them know we are happy to have them as part of our community.” Feedback from the volunteers has also been positive. “I loved holding the door and greeting students as they entered, and then wishing them a great day when they left,” says Shauna Elliott, Renison’s registrar. “Our classroom finders connected with hundreds of students who are part of the Renison community and it was an incredible experience."

Python programming workshop and other notes

Free Pythons for beginners (no, not that kind of python): Applications for a free three-day python programming workshop are now open. The workshop will run from Friday, January 29 to Sunday,  January 31. It is organized in affiliation with Women in Computer Science, a standing committee of the David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science. This 14-hour workshop covers an intense curriculum designed to give beginners complete, basic programming skills to use in their studies or workplace. It is intended for anyone who wants to learn the basics of programming. 

Over the course of the workshop, participants will learn the Python programming language through lectures and hands-on sessions supported by a team of mentors. It will cover fundamental concepts in programming, basic tools for data analysis and data visualization. No prior knowledge is expected. Everyone is welcome to apply for this workshop, though priority will be given to under-represented groups in the field of computing.

This is a free event that includes morning coffee and lunch.

President Feridun Hamdullahpur will be attending the grand opening of Google's new office in Kitchener today. The office, located on Breithaupt Street, will headquarter the company's Canadian development team, with more than 350 employees occupying 185,000 square feet of space.

Save the date: Members of the University Community are invited to celebrate International Women's Day 2016 on Friday, March 4 at a special event featuring distinguished guest speaker Jean Andrey, professor and Dean of the Faculty of Environment. The event takes place at 5:30 p.m. at Federation Hall.

Ginny Dybenko, executive director of the Waterloo Stratford Campus, has joined the Board of Directors of TVO.

"Ms. Dybenko's expertise in digital media and how it enables our lives will be of great value to TVO as we grow our roles as Ontario's partner for digital learning inside and outside the classroom and as the digital public space for Ontario perspective current affairs," said Lisa de Wilde, chief executive officer of TVO.

Dybenko's term runs to December 2018.

Noted Canadian actor and Stratford Festival mainstay William Needles died on January 12. Needles was the son of Ira Needles, the co-founder, first chair of the Board of Governors, and second Chancellor of the University of Waterloo. Ira Needles was also a founding director of the Stratford Festival, where William would later perform in more than 100 productions over a lengthy stage career.

A leading member of the Stratford Festival's first acting company in 1953, Needles was also a top educator in academic theatre, teaching at the University of California. In 1999 the University of Waterloo granted Needles an honorary Doctor of Laws degree. His convocation address made use of his commanding stage presence and was delivered without the use of a microphone.

Needles was born in born in Yonkers, New York in 1919 and grew up in Kitchener. He was 97.