Monday, January 20, 2020

Sign up now for the Problem Pitch competition

The Problem Pitch Competition is now open for applications until February 2 at 11:59 p.m., according to a note from the University's Problem Lab.

The competition invites teams of up to four students to choose an important industry problem and thoroughly research its history, scope, and impact. Students pitch their findings to a panel of judges to compete for a share of up to $30,000 in grant funding.

Teams with the best understanding of an important problem will receive $7,500 to research and develop a solution to the identified problem. Teams will have an opportunity to double their prize winnings post-event if they are able to demonstrate financial need and progress over time, in consultation with the Problem Lab. 

Participants are invited to attend a research workshop with Waterloo Entrepreneurship Librarian Rachel Figueiredo on January 28 at 4:30 p.m. in AL 124. Problem Pitch competitors will be shown critical information that can directly be used to enhance the research of their chosen problem. 

Registration opens for Hagey Funspiel

Hurry hard! Registration has opened for the 48^th annual UW Hagey Funspiel. The event takes place on Saturday, February 22 at the Ayr Curling Club. The event is open to faculty, staff, retirees, alumni, students, suppliers and guests.

The Hagey Bonspiel began in 1969, when Don Hudspeth and Ken Croft, both from Plant Operations, decided that "it would be a good idea if the University of Waterloo had a bonspiel." They envisioned some good, healthy competition, mixed with some fun between faculty and staff. Don and Ken received permission from Gerry Hagey, who was just ending his term as Waterloo's first president, to use his name for the event, and they found the funds for a trophy, which has been displayed at the University Club. The rest, as they say, is history.

You can register online now. The $40 registration fee covers two games of curling, morning and afternoon snacks, a sit-down luncheon and prizes. Payment is by cash or cheque made out to the Hagey Funspiel and can be posted dated to February 21, 2020.

No experience is necessary and curling lessons are available, and first-timers can be paired with experienced curlers. The fun, however, is mandatory.

Anyone with questions or who wants to send their payments can contact Jim Howard in Human Resources, East Campus 1, ext. 36451, at jim.howard@uwaterloo.ca.

Senate meets today, transit strike back on the table, and other notes

The University's Senate has its first meeting of 2020 today at 3:30 p.m. in NH 3407. Among the agenda items:

• Changes to academic plans in Communications Arts to rename "Speech Communication" programs to "Communications Studies"

"This change comes out of a sustained conversation within the Speech Communication unit over the 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 academic years, resulting in a unit vote in Spring 2019 to change our program name to Communication Studies," says the motion's background document. "All existing Speech Communication students who are still enrolled by the time the plan title change goes into effect will be moved into the new plan and will graduate with a Bachelor of Arts in Communication Studies."

• A motion to approve the following name change: "Applied History Specialization" to "Digital and Public History Specialization", effective September 2021;
• A motion to approve the closure of applications to the online-only completion of the Three-Year General Science program, until such a time as the Faculty develops a more robust set of Science courses to allow the degree to be completed entirely online at Waterloo, effective September 2019;
• A motion to inactivation of the Honours Co-operative Biotechnology/Economics, effective September 2021;
• A motion to appoint Stephanie Ye-Mowe and Guiseppe William Femia as undergraduate student representatives on the Amit and Meena Chakma Awards for Exceptional Teaching by a Student Committee with terms extending to 31 December 2021;
• A motion to approve two amendments to the 2020-2021 calendar dates that firstly reflect that in 2021, the Canada Day holiday falls on a Thursday, and as such the University of Waterloo has scheduled a Holiday (Additional Day) on Friday, July 2, and secondly, the dates for the Fall Term Reading Week and the Winter Term Reading Week have been revised to include the dates starting the Saturday before Thanksgiving Day and Family Day and ending the following Sunday.

By way of explanation: as per the wording in the Academic Calendar, Reading Weeks occur in the fall and winter terms; they start with the Saturday before the public holidays of Thanksgiving Day and Family Day and end on the following Sunday. 

• Motions to approve two new specializations within the Master of Engineering (MEng) in Chemical Engineering, effective May 2020, and that Senate approve changes to the three-year general religious studies plan, four-year general religious studies plan, and honours religious studies plan, effective September 2021;
• A motion to approve new regulation regarding declaring a major, minor or specialization in the Faculty of Arts, effective September 2021;
• A motion to approve the harmonization of rules and practices related to recognition of excellence.

This will have the effect of consolidating practices related to the recognition of excellence (Dean’s Honours List) each term and at graduation and associated text, while also removing related faculty-specific text so that all faculties are participating in this harmonization, with the exception of Engineering (all majors, including Software Engineering).

In addition, Marios Ioannidis, a professor in Chemical Engineering, will deliver a teaching and research presentation to Senate.

The union representing Grand River Transit workers rejected a tentative agreement with the Region of Waterloo struck last week that that would have averted a transit strike and are currently in a position to strike as of tomorrow morning (though negotiations continue). It is expected that ION services will be running as normal, but in the event of a transit service disruption, there are a number of campus transportation alternative resources, including:

• Commuting tools on the Sustainability website
• Parking Services carpooling information
• Student Life Centre commuting resources
• University of Waterloo Rideshare on Facebook

The University has access to free carpool matching software through its membership in the Region of Waterloo TravelWise program, which can help employees and students share rides to campus.

If you drive to campus, consider offering a ride to a peer or colleague. Drivers and people seeking rides can use TravelWise to get matched, and can carpool with people from neighbouring organizations like Wilfrid Laurier University and OpenText. Click on these links to register:

• Register as an employee
• Register as a student

Two new artist exhibitions are on display at the University of Waterloo Art Gallery (UWAG). In Gallery One is Jennifer Willet's "Baroque Biology," which presents a feminist science-fiction where biotechnology manifests interspecies collaboration, reproduction, theatre and storytelling as a means to re-imagine our shared biotech future. The exhibition presents a series of imaginary biotechnological vignettes including digital images, performative sculptures, and living cultures; where non-human organisms interact with humans in an effort to convey information about complex biological processes. In Gallery Two is Melissa General's "Reclamation," which was created during the artist's residency at Artscape Gibraltar Point on Toronto Island. "During the course of my residency I frequently visited the shoreline, digging into the sand and recording the waves of Lake Ontario with a hydrophone in an attempt to reconnect and intervene with the water, land and self," writes the artist.

The exhibitions run until March 7.