Monday, March 6, 2017

Professors awarded $1.4 million for infrastructure

Nineteen researchers at the University of Waterloo will receive a total of $1.4 million for infrastructure to support research.

The funds are awarded through the John R. Evans Leaders Fund (JELF) by the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI), and will provide researchers with the foundational research infrastructure necessary to lead in their field. The Honourable Kirsty Duncan, Minister of Science, made the funding announcement in Fredericton today.

“CFI has been supporting research at Waterloo for many years. We are appreciative and value CFI’s long-term support, as well as today’s announcement of funding for infrastructure that will support researchers across all of our Faculties,” said D. George Dixon, vice-president, university research at Waterloo.

The following Waterloo researchers and projects are receiving funding through the JELF awards:

Applied Health Sciences

• James Wallace (School of Public Health and Health Systems): Interactive Data Exploration and Analysis (IDEA) System ($70,000)

Arts

• Heather Henderson (Department of Psychology): Assessing Children’s Learning in Naturalistic Contexts: Supporting Collaborative Research in Developmental Science ($60,000)
• Lennart Nacke (Department of Drama and Speech Communication): SURGE – The Stratford User Research and Gameful Experiences Lab ($60,000)
• Marcel O’Gorman (Department of English Language and Literature): Critical Media Prototyping Suite ($40,000)
• Neil Randall (Department of English Language and Literature): Waterloo Virtual Reality Storytelling Lab ($35,000)
• Mathias Schulze (Department of Germanic and Slavic Studies): Language Interaction Laboratory ($40,000)

Engineering

• Ning Jiang (Systems Design Engineering): Infrastructure for Waterloo BCI Laboratory ($50,000)
• Giovanni Montesano (Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering): Advanced Composites Processing Infrastructure for Next-Generation Lightweight Vehicles ($75,000)
• Kevin Musselman (Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering): Discovery and Synthesis of Nanomaterials for Ubiquitous Electronics ($80,000)
• Rebecca Saari (Civil and Environmental Engineering): Modelling Sustainable Systems for Climate, Clean Air, and Clean Energy ($50,000)
• David Simakov (Chemical Engineering): Catalytic Performance Evaluation System ($50,000)
• Thomas Willett (Systems Design Engineering): Integrated Micro-mechanical Testing Instrumentation System ($75,000)
• Tze-Wei Yeow (Systems Design Engineering): High-resolution Real-time Three-dimensional (3-D) Ultrasound Medical Imaging Research ($50,000)
• Evelyn Yim (Chemical Engineering): Nanotopography Platform for Stem Cell ($100,000)
• Alfred Yu (Electrical and Computer Engineering): Development of New Ultrasound Imaging Tools for High-Frame Rate Vascular Diagnostics ($100,000)

Environment

• Andrew Trant (Environment and Resource Studies): Trant Eco-cultural Legacy (TEL) Lab: Promoting Conservation, Ecology and Science Communication in Changing Landscapes ($28,047)

Mathematics

• Christopher Bauch (Applied Mathematics): Coupled Human and Natural Systems Laboratory (CHANS-lab) ($85,166)
• Marek Stastna (Applied Mathematics): Computational Infrastructure for Simulating Lake, Atmosphere and Ocean Dynamics ($188,715)

Science

• Jan Kycia (Physics and Astronomy): Quantum Materials at Ultra Low Temperatures ($171,600)

Panel will ponder the impact of Trump's America

With a new presidential administration south of the border, members of the University community are being invited you to attend a panel discussion on the social, cultural and economic consequences of American politics and its implications for Canada.

The panel discussion “Total Impacts: Political, Economic, And Social Effects of the U.S. Administration” will include:

• Tony LaMantia, President and CEO, Waterloo Economic Development Corporation;
• Anna Esselment, Assistant Professor, Political Science, and Associate Chair, Undergraduate Studies;
• Aaron Ettinger, Assistant Professor, Political Science;
• Victoria Lamont, Associate Professor, English Language and Literature

Moderating the event will be John Ravenhill, director of the Balsillie School of International Affairs and professor in Political Science.

The discussion takes place on Thursday, March 9 from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. in the atrium on the first floor of the School of Optometry and Vision Science (OPT). There will be a coffee reception to follow.

All are welcome, but space is limited. Register to attend the event.

Seats will be distributed on a first come, first serve basis on the night of the event. Complimentary parking will be available in Lot O. 

Arts officially opens Hagey Hub

by Wendy Philpott. This article originally appeared on the 60 Years of Innovation website.

The Hub has been open to students (and everyone) since the fall, but February 10, 2017, marked the formal opening to honour the many people who contributed to this important priority project to enhance the don-campus experience of Arts students. The grand opening was also a perfect opportunity to honour UWaterloo's founders and celebrate our 60^th anniversary. 

The Hub's main floor is named Founders Hall. Spearheaded by John Pollock, relatives of the University's Charter Board of Governors rallied together as donors to name the main floor in honour of the visionaries who joined Gerry Hagey in 1955 to plant the seeds that grew to become Canada's most innovative university.

Dean of Arts Doug Peers hosted the grand opening event, with contributing remarks from President Feridun Hamdullahpur, Professor Emeritus Ken McLaughlin, and student leaders representing the Arts Student Union and Arts Endowment Fund.

For the complete story, including photos, check out the article on the 60th Anniversary website.

Remembering Ronald Lambert

Human Resources has reported that retired professor Ronald Lambert died February 1.

Lambert joined the University in September 1966 as an assistant professor in Sociology and Anthropology. He was cross-appointed to the Psychology department.

His research focus included the sociology of time and memory, and genealogy. He served as chair of the sociology department.

Lambert was a member of the Canadian Association of Sociologists and Anthropologists, the American Psychological Association, the American Sociological Association, the K-W Human Rights Caucus and the Waterloo-Wellington branch of the Ontario Genealogy Society.

Lambert and his wife Marilyn were among a network of people in Waterloo Region who supported American draft dodgers during the Vietnam War, providing shelter and assisting war resisters in finding temporary employment. Lambert was a leading figure in the anti-Vietnam War movement at the University.

Lambert retired as Professor in September 2004. He was predeceased by his wife Marilyn.

Monday's notes

The University of Waterloo Weather Station is running its annual Weather Station Contest to see who can best pinpoint the moment when it first hits 20 degrees in 2017.

As always, the contest is free to enter, but don't delay - the deadline to fill out an entry form is Wednesday, March 8 at 2:00 p.m.

The challenge is to guess the exact date and time the University of Waterloo Weather Station will first register a temperature of 20.0 degrees Celsius or greater. In case nobody guesses the exact time, the winner will be the person closest to the correct time.

Each entry must be accompanied by a valid e-mail address, and only one entry is allowed per person and per e-mail address.

On Thursday, March 16, the Water Institute and the Department of Economics are hosting a talk by Diane Dupont from Brock University entitled “Floods and Droughts: Eliciting Customer Willingness-to-Pay and Adverse Event Likelihood Priors for Public Utility Pricing and Infrastructure Decisions.” The lecture takes place in QNC 0101 at 2:30 p.m.