Monday, November 5, 2018

Upcoming panel will ask ethical questions about AI

With increasingly powerful artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms, robots are becoming more intelligent. How do we prevent these intelligent robots from becoming harmful to society?

An upcoming panel on Responsible Artificial Intelligence will explore the roles industry, government and academia have to play in ensuring that important ethical questions are taken seriously as these technologies are being designed and developed. The panel, hosted by University of Waterloo’s Department of Knowledge Integration, the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI), and Communitech, will take place on Wednesday, November 7 at 12:00 p.m. at CIGI.

Throughout the research and development of AI, often important ethical, legal and social questions are left for others to sort out after the fact. As a result, society is beginning to see technology that has the potential to do serious harm, such as algorithms infused with racial and gender biases that are used in facial recognition, insurance decisions and even criminal sentencing.

“I have been asked ‘is anyone at Waterloo studying the ethics of AI?’” says Professor Robert Gorbet, chair of the Department of Knowledge Integration, who with colleague Katie Plaisance came up with the idea to organize this panel. “Given Waterloo’s leading role in innovation in the technology sector, this is an important topic to explore.”

Chairing a program that trains students to value epistemic diversity, Gorbet is especially interested in having a diversity of views. “We’ve curated an exciting interdisciplinary and cross-sectoral panel to help us all consider the question of AI, and what it takes to do it right.”

Register for this event on Eventbrite.

Work-travel opportunity for Waterloo staff

Are you looking to further your professional development through idea-exchange and learning alongside counterparts at other universities, colleges, research institutions or industry-partner organizations?

Join HR and Waterloo International for a brown bag lunch information session on staff work-travel opportunities at Waterloo. 

Attendees will learn about the Staff Enhancement Experience (SEE) Canada Grant and the Staff International Experience Fund (SIEF), and have an opportunity to hear from past winners about their experiences. A question and answer period will help employees identify the right program for their own professional development needs. 

To find out more, please register for the brown bag lunch information session:

• Monday November 26, 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m.. ROOM EC5 1111 (Enterprise Theatre)

For more information please visit the SEE Canada Grant and the Staff International Experience Fund (SIEF) web pages.

If you have questions about the grant(s), please email:

seecanada@uwaterloo.ca for SEE Canada or tmunro@uwaterloo.ca for SIEF

WGSI launches Generation SDG blueprint

Legacy Project gives arts quad a new look; other notes

The winning design of the Celebration 2017 Legacy Project competition was a visible part of this weekend's Fall Open House, which brought thousands of prospective students and their families to campus.

There was a drop-in celebration in the Arts quad intended to engage parents and future students as they walked through the centre of campus during the Fall Open House.

Team Interlace, the winning student design team, crafted a submission that was "conceived as a crossbreed between landscape and architecture" and the proposal "suggests a new paradigm in student space design: the "Urban Livingroom." The space is a network of "interweaving microcosms and amenities woven together by leading floor lines and outdoor furnitures."

For more information, check out the Celebration 2017 Legacy Project website.

There's still time to provide feedback on the Multi-Year Accessibility Plan: The Accessibility Committee has been requesting feedback from persons with disabilities and others in the Waterloo community on the Multi-Year Accessibility Plan.  Creating and maintaining a campus that is welcoming for everyone impacts students, staff and faculty.

The MYAP is an on-going initiative that will require continued collaboration to ensure that accessibility considerations are embedded within the University’s culture. It is intended to support and align with our commitments under Policy 58: Accessibility and meet our obligations under the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA). Beyond that, our long-term goals will be to improve access to our campus by adopting best practices and being innovative in the realm of accessibility.

Please read the draft MYAP and provide your feedback through the Accessibility at Waterloo page by Friday, November 9. Once finalized, the MYAP will be published online.

Feedback on accessibility at Waterloo can always be provided through the members of the Accessibility Committee.

The School of Pharmacy's annual public lecture is scheduled to take place on Wednesday, November 7 at 7:00 p.m. at the School of Pharmacy in Kitchener. The lecture is entitled "Eliminating medication errors."

In March 2016, Melissa Sheldrick’s 8-year-old son Andrew died after a series of errors were made during the dispensing process at their local pharmacy. Hear how this tragic event inspired Melissa’s campaign to improve medication error reporting across Canada, and learn about the medication use process, including the role we can all play in ensuring medication safety.

The event features an overview of medication safety and the medication use process by Hallman Director David Edwards and a talk by Melissa Sheldrick describing her journey advocating for improved medication error reporting. 

Register for the School of Pharmacy public lecture today.