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"Second Heart" project receives $1M investment
Lockheed Martin has invested $1.1 million into a research project that explores the design and feasibility of a mobile system that would reduce the work required by the heart and cardiac system for people engaging in a sustained period of exercise.
The investment was formally announced yesterday at the University of Waterloo’s Aerospace Defence Industry Forum, which featured speakers from Lockheed Martin Canada, the National Science and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) and the Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCE).
The Second Heart project, developed by Waterloo's Centre for Bioengineering and Biotechnology, explores the design and feasibility of a mobile system for calf muscle pulsation. The intention of this system is to provide workload reduction on the heart and cardiac system for athletes and people with regular and sustained periods of exercise such as soldiers on watch or delivery personnel.
“Corporate investments and partnerships such as the one we have with Lockheed Martin make a tremendous difference in the strides we’re able to make in university research,” said George Dixon, vice-president, University Research. “We’re grateful and pleased to collaborate with Lockheed Martin on the Second Heart project especially since this project has evolved to a significant state of maturity.”
Beyond Lockheed Martin Canada’s support for ground-breaking university research, the Second Heart research also represents an integral project connected to the Air Capability Program – Tactical Industrial Regional Benefit Commitment. This program provides research and development support for new technology development through offset investments.
The offset investment supporting the University of Waterloo research project is part of Lockheed Martin Canada’s industrial and technological benefits obligations associated with Canada’s purchase, maintenance, and support of 17 CC-130J Super Hercules aircraft, which were delivered in 2010.
“We are pleased to see that our Industrial and Regional Benefit investment into the Second Heart project has produced concrete results,” says Charles Bouchard, Chief Executive of Lockheed Martin Canada. "The success of this research is an excellent example of how collaboration between academia and the private sector can help transform ground-breaking research into technological advances that can be used in the daily lives of Canadians and creating the opportunity for lasting business growth in our economy."
Storytellers competition highlights human dimensions of research
This is an excerpt of an article originally posted on Waterloo Stories.
Research projects that aim to develop deeper understanding of human interactions has earned national recognition for two University of Waterloo graduate students.
Fatima (Noori) Khan, a Master’s student in the School of Environment, Resources and Sustainability, and Emma Vossen, a PhD candidate in English, were among 25 finalists in The Storytellers competition. Funded by Canada’s Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), Storytellers challenges graduate students to tell a story about the impact of their SSHRC-funded research in 300 words or three minutes.
Vossen’s PhD dissertation in English examines how accessible games and gamer culture is to girls and women. Her Storytellers submission was about her vision for the First Person Scholar website, run by graduate students at the Games Institute. The site enables games studies scholars to publish their research in a way that is free, open access and written in a way that can be understood by those without a graduate degree.
“I entered the contest because I think there are a lot of very troublesome and problematic things in academia that we accept as an implicit part of our lives and culture,” Vossen says. “I wanted people to consider the implicit assumption that academic publishing ‘just works that way,’ and instead make them ask why it works that way.”
Khan is pursuing an MES degree in the School of Environment, Resources and Sustainability at the University of Waterloo. Working with a collaborative research team, she is focusing on how environmental changes are understood by the people directly affected; particularly sharing the perspective of rural women. Her research site is located on the east coast of India where she is exploring how her interests are woven within changes in coastal communities.
“I noticed a gap in the research that had already been conducted in Chilika lagoon,” Khan says. “A focused perspective of women was not shared, and being a woman myself, this was something I knew I could connect with and wanted to pursue in my research.”
The competition is an opportunity for early career researchers to share social sciences and humanities work on a national stage.
Read the rest of the article, and watch videos of Vossen and Khan's stories, on the Waterloo Stories website.
Tracking the success of Employer Information sessions
This winter, Co-operative Education & Career Action (CECA) hosted 114 Employer Information Sessions (EIS) throughout the course of the term. These sessions provide students with unique networking opportunities and employers a way to enhance their recruiting strategy and heighten brand exposure on campus.
In total, 8,318 students, 12 per cent more than last year, attended an EIS this winter and were able to connect directly with employers, gain insight into hiring processes, and learn about job opportunities in their fields of interest.
An EIS is a great opportunity for employers to meet students who might not have been selected for an interview, and for students to consider employers they may not have initially. This term, we saw as many as 70 students added to an interview schedule following an EIS.
Employers benefited too - 26 per cent of returning organizations saw an increase in attendance by 50 per cent or more compared their last visit, while 18 per cent of the info sessions held this winter were by companies who had never hosted an EIS before.
View the EIS Calendar to see which employers will be visiting this spring term.
Grebel president accepts call to lead Virginia university
Conrad Grebel University College President Susan Schultz Huxman has accepted the call to become the candidate of choice for president at Eastern Mennonite University (EMU) in Harrisonburg, Virginia.
"It is not easy for me to consider leaving Grebel—a school that I love and that is thriving," said Schultz Huxman. "But this invitation to serve EMU, an exceptionally innovative and healthy Mennonite institution back in the States, is an attractive match, professionally and personally, both for my husband Jesse and me.”
Schultz Huxman came to Grebel from Wichita State University in 2011. During her tenure, Grebel completed a successful capital campaign to expand its academic facilities, partnered with Mennonite Savings and Credit Union to open a new Centre for Peace Advancement, and celebrated its 50th anniversary.
“I am so very grateful to have been given this amazing opportunity to serve Conrad Grebel in a pivotal period in its history and to help advance its distinctive and attractive mission ‘to seek wisdom, nurture faith, and pursue peace in service to church and society,’" said Schultz Huxman. “Together, we have accomplished some extraordinary changes in this half –decade.”
EMU, the largest Mennonite Liberal Arts University in North America, will be celebrating its centennial in 2017-18. It is anticipated that Schultz Huxman will begin her role as its 9th president on January 1, 2017.
The Grebel board plans for an interim president while a search process is established.
Wednesday's notes
Doug Wright Engineering will be without domestic cold water and hot water on Thursday, April 21 from 7:00 a.m. to 12:01 p.m. as new valves are installed.
Doug Wright Engineering’s A and B wings and the Grad House will be without domestic cold water, hot water, and soft water on Thursday, April 21 from 7:00 a.m. to 12:01 p.m. during the valve installation. Hard water will still be available for washrooms and the Grad House during this time.
The valve maintenance in DWE carries over on Friday, April 22 from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. and hot water, cold water, and soft water systems in A Wing will be shut off. Hard water will still be available in the building’s washrooms.