Tuesday, November 13, 2018

Pop-up goes the President

Students will have an opportunity to meet with President Feridun Hamdullahpur for an informal afternoon of conversation about anything and everything at the President’s Pop-up Café on Monday, November 26 from 2:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. This is a chance for 30 undergraduate and graduate students to get to know the President and other top leaders at the University and so they can get to know you too, all over coffee, tea and snacks.

Space is limited with those who register being randomly selected on November 21. Registration is now open until November 19 at 5:00 p.m.

Don’t miss out on this unique opportunity.

Senior leadership videos continue with Vice-President, University Research Charmaine Dean

This is the third in a weekly series where the Daily Bulletin profiles the University's senior administrators and features short video interviews with members of Waterloo's senior leadership team

Charmaine Dean is Vice-President, Research and Professor in the Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science at the University of Waterloo. Her research interest lies in the development of methodology for disease mapping, longitudinal studies, the design of clinical trials, and spatio-temporal analyses. Much of this work has been motivated by direct applications to important practical problems in biostatistics and ecology. Her current main research applications are in survival after coronary artery bypass surgery, mapping disease and mortality rates, forest ecology, fire management, smoke exposure estimation from satellite imagery, and modeling of temporary and intermittent stream flow for flood analysis and predictions.

Dr. Dean received her Ph.D. degree from the University of Waterloo in 1988. She was President of the Statistical Society of Canada in 2007, President of the International Biometrics Society, Western North American Region in 2002, and has served as President of the Biostatistics Section of the Statistical Society of Canada.

Dean began a five-year term as Vice-President, University Research on July 1, 2017.

Beyond Impact Innovation Summit today

Canadians will need to increasingly turn to technology to adapt to the impacts of climate change, according to climate experts and corporate leaders.

As part of its commitment to apply innovative solutions  to some of the world's most significant challenges, the University is partnering with Microsoft Canada and SAP Canada to host its Beyond Impact Innovation Summit in Vancouver.

Speakers at the Summit will discuss how the country’s top technology researchers and businesses can work together to help Canadians adapt to physical, financial and social damage that events such as widespread forest fires and flooding are having on Canadians.

“The world’s leading scientists have warned us about the impacts of a changing climate on our environment, our cities and our lives for decades and it is clear those impacts are now happening,” said Feridun Hamdullahpur. "Technology is going to play a central role in empowering Canadians to adapt and respond to climate change, and Canada's tech leaders will have a significant role to play in protecting health, lives and property."

The Waterloo Innovation Summit, taking place on November 13 in Vancouver, will see speakers from Microsoft’s AI for Earth initiative, representatives from Waterloo’s Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) as well as climate change researchers and policy makers.

“People working in the clean tech sector are using their talents and ingenuity to address the impacts of climate change,” said Bruce Ralston, the minister of Jobs, Trade and Technology for the Government of British Columbia. “It is critically important that we work together to find climate solutions. This summit provides a forum for tech leaders to collaborate on innovative ways to address global warming that will benefit people, businesses and the planet.” 

Microsoft’s AI for Earth initiative is designed to put the company’s cloud computing and artificial intelligence tools into the hands of people working on global environmental challenges. Waterloo is the host institution for the newly created SDSN, which as a mandate to work with academic, government and industry partners across the country to share knowledge and research to help Canada meet the sustainable development goals laid out by the United Nations.

“It is our mission to empower every person and every organization to achieve more,” said Edoardo De Martin, general manager of Microsoft Vancouver. “Technology is transforming our ability to understand, explore and address environmental challenges, while supporting the growth of global collaboration.”

Summit attendees will include Canadian business, government and academic leaders who will engage with speakers on the latest technology and research that can aid in adaptation and discuss how different sectors can work together to address common challenges presented by climate change.

“As a global enterprise software company, SAP has the unique position to be both an exemplar of sustainable business practices and with our technology, an enabler for other businesses to advance theirs,” said Kirsten Sutton, vice president and managing director of SAP Labs Canada. “We’re looking forward to welcoming the Waterloo Innovation Summit to Vancouver and this important conversation on Canada’s opportunity to be a climate change leader.”

The Summit is taking place on November 13 at Microsoft Vancouver.

Chamber choirs bring story of Matthew Shepard to campus

This is an excerpt of an article originally published on the Conrad Grebel University College news site.

Twenty years ago, a gay university student in Laramie, Wyoming, was driven to the outskirts of town. He was beaten, robbed, tied to a fence, and left to die. For 18 hours, Matthew Shepard hung bleeding, in near-freezing temperatures. The passing cyclist who found him thought at first that he was a scarecrow. He spent several days in a coma in hospital before dying.

However, despite that senseless and dreadful death, Shepard's memory lives on. He became the symbol of the mindless violence that continued against gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer people (LGBTQ). He was the inspiration when American laws against violent hate crimes were adjusted to include sexual orientation. And just a few weeks ago, in the presence of more than 2,000 mourners, Shepard’s remains were interred in the Washington National Cathedral – a public and safe final resting place.

As the struggles of homophobia, prejudice and hate continue to be present in our communities, American composer Craig Hella Johnson created a musical memorial, Considering Matthew Shepard that University of Waterloo Music Professor Mark Vuorinen describes as "a work of great hope, compassion, and love."

Read the rest of the article on the Conrad Grebel website.