Thursday, January 19, 2017

Teaching and Learning Conference proposal deadline approaches

Thursday, January 26 is the deadline of the call for proposals for the Centre for Teaching Excellence’s eighth annual Teaching and Learning Conference.

The conference itself will be held on on Thursday, April 27. This year’s theme is “Cultivating Curiosity in Teaching and Learning.” The keynote speaker is Peter Felton, executive director of the Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning at Elon University.

More information about the conference and about submitting a proposal, can be found at the conference website.

Vancouver hosts anniversary reception, launch of Quantum: The Exhibition

Each week in 2017, the Daily Bulletin will be featuring content highlighting the University of Waterloo's 60^th Anniversary.

Feridun Hamdullahpur will be taking the University's 60^th anniversary celebrations on the road today with a special anniversary reception event in Vancouver that will provide attendees with an exclusive sneak peek at the grand opening of QUANTUM: The Exhibition.

The event will include a networking reception and is being held in partnership with the Vancouver alumni chapter. Providing remarks will be President Hamdullahpur, Vice-President, Advancement Joanne Shoveller, and David Cory, Canada Excellence Research Chair in quantum information.

This interactive exhibit was designed by Waterloo’s own Institute for Quantum Computing, and allows attendees to explore core quantum concepts in fun, interactive and most importantly, understandable ways.

The event takes place at 7:00 p.m. at Science World at Telus World of Science in Vancouver.

Engineering professor named IEEE Fellow

This article was originally published on the Faculty of Engineering news site.

Kankar Bhattacharya of electrical and computer engineering has been named an IEEE Fellow for his contributions to electricity markets and reactive power ancillary services. Bhattacharya, a member of Waterloo Engineering's Power and Energy Systems Group, became a fellow on January 1.  

The fellowship is one of the most prestigious honours of the IEEE. The recognition is bestowed upon a limited number of senior members who have significantly contributed to the advancement or application of engineering, science and technology bringing significant value to the IEEE society. 

Study finds water treatment fixes led to fish recovery

Upgrades to a wastewater treatment plant along Ontario’s Grand River, led to a 70 per cent drop in fish that have both male and female characteristics within one year and a full recovery of the fish population within three years, according to researchers at the University of Waterloo.

The 10-year study, published in Environmental Science and Technology found that the microorganisms used to remove ammonia in the wastewater treatment process also reduced the levels of endocrine disrupters in the water, which caused the intersex occurrences in fish to dramatically decline.  

“Having long-term data of the fish population, before and after the wastewater treatment upgrades makes this a truly unique study,” said Mark Servos, Canada Research Chair in Water Quality Protection in the Department of Biology. “The changes to Kitchener’s wastewater treatment system have had a much larger positive impact then we had anticipated.”

In 2007, Servos started tracking the number of intersex male rainbow darter fish in the Grand River. Intersex fish are a result of exposure to natural and synthetic hormones in the water, which cause male fish to grow eggs in their testes. At one point Servos noted the rate of intersex changes in the Grand River was one of the highest in the world.

In 2012, the Region of Waterloo upgraded the Kitchener Wastewater Treatment Plant and changed the aeration tank to reduce toxic ammonia. Within one year the proportion of intersex males dropped from 100 per cent in some areas to 29 per cent. By the end of three years, the numbers dropped below the upstream levels of less than 10 per cent.

“Rainbow darters are the Grand River’s canary in the coal mine,” said Servos, who is also a member of the Water Institute. “They’re extremely sensitive to the concentration of estrogens and other hormone disrupters in the water. Still, we didn’t expect them to recover so quickly.”

Endocrine disruption in water systems is a worldwide phenomenon. Estrogen in birth control pills and other chemicals that mimic natural hormones are known to impact fish health in trace amounts as low as one part per trillion, far below what conventional wastewater treatment can typically remove.

“In Europe, water treatment engineers have been turning to extremely expensive tertiary treatments to meet regulatory standards,” said Servos. “Kitchener’s example shows what can be done with currently available technology.”

The Grand River watershed in southern Ontario, is the largest watershed that drains into Lake Erie. The area has a growing population of nearly one million people.

Keegan A. Hicks, Meghan L. Fuzzen, Emily K. McCann, and Maricor J. Arlos, University of Waterloo graduate students, are co-authors on the paper.

Thursday's notes

The Faculty of Mathematics 50^th Anniversary kick-off event, held yesterday, may have been the first panel discussion on campus to feature actual panels - in this case, the control panels from an IBM 1620, which the University of Waterloo acquired in 1961.

The Centre for Extended Learning (CEL) will be closed on Friday, January 20 from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. for its annual holiday celebration.

There will be an electrical power shutdown in EC4 on Monday, January 23 at 5:30 a.m. that will last until 8:00 a.m. as the main high voltage breaker is replaced. Plant Operations is advising employees in that building to ensure that their computers and other equipment are properly shut down on the last working day before the repairs are carried out.