Wednesday, February 27, 2019

Lifetime Achievement Award in Computer Science for Tamer Ozsu

This is an excerpt of an article originally published on the Cheriton School of Computer Science website.

University Professor M. Tamer Özsu has received the 2018 Lifetime Achievement Award in Computer Science from CS-Can/Info-Can. Conferred annually since 2014, these prestigious national awards recognize faculty members in departments, schools and faculties of computer science who have made outstanding and sustained achievement in research, teaching and service. 

“Congratulations on your tremendous recognition and achievement of a CS-Can/Info-Can Lifetime Achievement Award,” wrote Hausi Muller and Carey Williamson, Co-Chairs 2018 CS-Can/Info-Can Awards Committee in their letter. “You are joining an illustrious group of previous Lifetime Achievement Award winners.”

“Congratulations to Tamer,” said Mark Giesbrecht, Director of the David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science. “This prestigious recognition by his peers is richly deserved for the many research contributions Tamer has made to computer science in general and data management systems in particular, as well as his countless contributions to the Cheriton School of Computer Science and the university community.”

The 2018 awards will be presented at the annual CS-Can/Info-Can Awards Dinner, which will be held on June 3, 2019 at McGill University as part of group’s annual meeting. 

Professor Özsu is the seventh faculty member in the Cheriton School of Computer Science to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from CS-Can/Info-Can, following Distinguished Professor Emeritus Don Cowan (2017 recipient), Professor Emeritus Ric Holt (2017 recipient), Distinguished Professor Emeritus Janusz (John) Brzozowski (2016 recipient), University Professor J. Ian Munro (2016 recipient), Distinguished Professor Emeritus Alan George (2015 recipient), and Distinguished Professor Emeritus Frank Tompa (2015 recipient).

About University Professor M. Tamer Özsu

Professor M. Tamer Özsu, University Professor in the David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science, has contributed to fundamental advances in the field of databases and data management, provided leadership in professional and academic communities to which he belongs, and mentored countless students, many of whom have become accomplished researchers and industry leaders.

Professor Özsu’s research on data management has two broad themes: distributed data management and application of database technology to interesting application domains with complex data management requirements, with frequent interplay between these themes. He is recognized as a pioneer in distributed data management, a field he has contributed to and shaped since its early days. Important advances include the earliest understanding of distributed concurrency control algorithms. His book, Principles of Distributed Database Systems, is the standard graduate textbook on this topic and is used worldwide.

Over the years, Professor Özsu has examined new application domains and extensions of relational data management techniques, including semi-structured data such as XML and very large graphs, multimedia spatio-temporal data, and stream data. In each of these cases, he is responsible for advances in data modelling, query processing, and end-user applications.

Professor Özsu’s research accomplishments have been lauded at the highest levels, including recognition as a Fellow in the Royal Society of Canada, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Association for Computing Machinery, and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. He is an elected member of the Science Academy in Turkey. He holds the rank of University Professor at the University of Waterloo, the highest distinction awarded to faculty, for exceptional scholarly achievement and international pre-eminence.

Read the rest of the article on the Computer Science website.

Nominations open for student leadership awards

The Office of the President, together with the Federation of Students (Feds) and the Graduate Student Association (GSA) are recognizing student leaders at the University of Waterloo through the President, Feds, and GSA Leadership Awards.

The awards honour those students at the University of Waterloo who have demonstrated exemplary leadership skills in various ways at the University and/or in the surrounding community.

Winners are recognized at the annual President’s Leadership Awards Banquet where they will be presented with an award. Successful nominees and their nominators will be invited to attend the event where they will have an opportunity to connect with University senior leaders, Feds Executives and GSA Executives. 

President’s Student Leadership Awards

The President’s Student Leaderships Awards are presented to one undergraduate and one graduate student which are chosen from the nominees of the Feds and GSA awards.

Feds Undergraduate Student Leadership Awards

The Feds Undergraduate Student Leadership Awards are given to up to ten Waterloo undergraduate students who are engaged in a student leadership position and are making contributions to undergraduate student life.

GSA Graduate Student Leadership Awards

These awards are given out to up to five Waterloo graduate students who have demonstrated leadership in service to or benefiting graduate students at the University, and who are contributing to graduate student life in a meaningful way.

The nomination deadline for these awards closes on Monday, March 3.

For more information about nomination criteria and to download the nomination forms, please visit the President's Student Leadership Awards website.

Photograph collage courtesy of the Federation of Students.

Celebrating Waterloo's Excellence, Innovation and Wellness achievements

The University of Waterloo’s efforts to adopt the Excellence, Innovation and Wellness (EIW) Standard have been profiled on Excellence Canada’s website.

Among those units celebrated for receiving the Canada Awards for Excellence are:

• The Library;
• Human Resources;
• The Office of the Vice-President, Academic & Provost; and
• Organizational and Human Development (OHD).

In 2014, the Library piloted the implementation the EIW Standard at the Bronze (first) level. Since then, eight units have successfully integrated the EIW Standard at the Bronze or Silver levels.

The University of Waterloo has committed to integrating the EIW Standard at the “Going for Gold” level for the University as a whole, as a framework for promoting continual organizational improvement. This will provide a common framework against which each Faculty and Department of the university can assess its operations using nationally recognized quality standards of leadership, planning, service to students, people engagement, and process management and will enable the University as a whole to address any institution-wide gaps that are identified and develop supporting initiatives to benefit the University community.

Public lecture will discuss the Berlin Zoo

The Waterloo Centre for German Studies has announced its next event, “Humans Animals, and Nazis on Display: The Berlin Zoo in German History,” a talk by Waterloo History professor Dr. Gary Bruce.

Professor Bruce will discuss his latest book Through the Lion Gate: A History of the Berlin Zoo.

At the centre of Berlin’s social life, the zoo helped to shape German views not only of the animal world but also of the human world for more than 170 years, from the ethnographic display of Africans, Inuit, and other ‘exotic’ peoples in the late 19^th century to the Nazis’ bizarre attempts to breed back long-extinct European cattle. This talk will explore the Berlin zoo’s long history as a mirror of both the different political eras in Germany and the longings of Berliners who were so profoundly attached to their zoo.

The event is being held in the Hall at Knox Presbyterian Church (50 Erb Street W., Waterloo) on Wednesday, March 6, 2019 at 7:00 p.m. 

The event is free, but registration is recommended.

More information is also available on the WCGS website.