Monday, April 18, 2016

SAF student team wins international finance contest

Five University of Waterloo students are celebrating their win at the global championship of the CFA Institute Research Challenge. Brent Small (AFM), Adnan Khan (AFM), Daniel Zhang (Biotech/CPA), Kamaljot Dhaliwal (CFM) and Rudder Zhang (BMath) are all smiles as this victory marks the first Canadian team to win this prestigious international title.

The annual financial analysis competition draws over 4,000 students world-wide from over 865 universities in 70 countries. The School of Accounting and Finance (SAF) student team spent hours preparing to present and defend detailed equities research report on a publicly traded company to a panel of industry experts. The SAF team advanced through several rounds to reach the Global Finals in Chicago, where they beat out University of Georgia, Ateneo de Manila University, and Politecnico di Milano, to capture the championship and a $10,000 prize.

The competition, which spans one academic year, requires student teams to analyze a publicly traded company, submit a written report and present their buy, sell, or hold recommendation of the company’s stock. The assigned company for the SAF team was Canadian Tire Corporation, a public corporation that also owns the Forzani Group, FGL Sports, Canadian Tire Financial Services and CT REIT. The written report, submitted in January was the first key component on which each team is judged which cannot be modified. At each stage of advancement, the SAF team presented in defense of their report.

“Our students performed a complex valuation analysis that was based on the sum-of-the-parts method, whereby students used an array of valuation techniques to value each segment of the company,” says the team’s industry mentor, Steve Balaban, who is the CIO of Mink Capital. “The students put in countless hours of preparation through research, store visits, calls and in-person meetings. This was a big differentiating factor between our team’s presentation and the other [competing teams]."

Waterloo student wins provincial 3MT competition

by Tasha Glover. This article originally appeared on Waterloo Stories.

Research that offers the promise of a pharmaceutical fix for age-related sight loss earned a Waterloo PhD candidate top honours in the provincial Three-Minute Thesis competition.

Gah-Jone Won, a PhD candidate in Vision Science and Biology, was selected as the winner of the Ontario Provincial Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition. Won advanced to the provincial final, held April 14 at Wilfrid Laurier University, after being chosen from among 200 graduate students who took part in the 3MT competition at University of Waterloo.

Won’s research focuses on the development of a pharmaceutical treatment for presbyopia, an age-related condition that causes the eyes to lose the ability to focus on nearby objects. The treatment specifically targets and softens the crystalline lens in order to restore nearby vision.

The 3MT competition challenges graduate students to explain their research to a non-specialist audience in three minutes, using a single static slide and no props. The provincial competition included 20 universities from across Ontario. Won’s presentation is now in the running for the national 3MT prize, sponsored by the Canadian Association for Graduate Studies (CAGS). The national competition will take place online.

Won is supervised by Vivian Choh, an Associate Professor in the School of Optometry and Vision in the Faculty of Science.

Upon completion of his PhD, Won plans to continue his research as a postdoctoral fellow.

A delicious new initiative

by Tina Roberts

There’s a tasty new treat available on campus! Food Services and Marketing & Undergraduate Recruitment have teamed up to create ideas start here® cookies.

It started with a conversation between our two departments about Waterloo’s new campus tour. “How do we give students a sense of what’s special about our food and how do we create a memorable campus visit,” asked Andrea Santi, Manager Visitors Centre.

Chef Gord Cooledge and his team were up for the challenge. “We believe in and deliver on our core values – customer, convenience, and choices,” says Chef Gord. “For us, that means working with our customers to meet their needs and help them to be successful. An important objective in our strategic plan is to deliver and promote a spirit of community for our customers by promoting meaningful activities and initiatives. The ideas start here® cookies do just that and make us relevant as part of the greater University community.”

The cookies are made with butter, sugar, eggs, and flour, topped with royal icing and an edible ideas start here® button. The machine that creates the buttons is a simple Canon printer. The printer is loaded with vegetable dyes to create the faculty colours and the “paper” that goes through the printer is made of sugar.

Chef Gord adds that “introducing new initiatives like this has many benefits for Food Services. The projects create learning opportunities for our staff, they break the repetition of doing the same thing every day, and it makes our jobs more interesting. It also adds to the repertoire of the many ways we can serve our customers – definitely a win/win!!”

To satisfy your sweet tooth, cookies are available at Brubakers (SLC), Mudies (Village 1), Browsers (Dana Porter), and at the new SouthSide Marketplace when it opens in South Campus Hall. Special orders are also available in all 6 faculty colours through UW Catering at $1.50 per cookie.

Wrapping up National Volunteer Week

By celebrating National Volunteer Week, the University of Waterloo recognizes the importance of volunteerism and the efforts of individuals who give back both within and beyond campus.

From April 10 to 16, 2016, students, staff, faculty, and alumni came together to create a series of volunteer-driven stories featuring UWaterloo initiatives that help make a difference in our community. From creating a world-class move-in experience, to acting as global ambassadors, to making it easier for students to give back, or even baking cupcakes and delivering cake pops to raise funds, the overall impact of University of Waterloo volunteers is immense.

Thank you to all volunteers who help make our community a better place to live!

Monday's notes

The Library has announced that as of Monday, April 18, the term loan date changes from May 15, 2016 to September 15, 2016. Borrowers can begin renewing their books after April 18 for the Spring term.

The Graduate Student Association (GSA) has announced its executive team and directors, who will be taking office as of May 1. The directors for 2016-2017 are Christopher Pugh, Ghazal Memartoluie, Savio D’Silva, and Rob Pangborn. Directors for 2016-2018 are Serxho Selmani, Jae Kang, and Michael Cao.

2016-2017's executive team is as follows:

• President Robert Bruce;
• Vice President Jessica Brake;
• Student Affairs Officer Norman Kearney;
• Communications & Marketing Officer Indi Madar;
• External Affairs Officer – CASA Sondra Eger; and
• External Affairs Officer - OGSA Maxime Salman.