Wednesday, April 29, 2020

University Optometry Clinic offers urgent eye care during pandemic

A message from the School of Optometry and Vision Science.

If you have an urgent eye care issue and aren’t sure where to go for help during the pandemic, the University of Waterloo’s Optometry Clinic may be able to help. The Clinic is now acting as a triage centre to improve patient access to urgent eye care, limit patients’ risk of exposure to COVID-19 due to unnecessary trips to local emergency rooms, and relieve some of the demand on hospitals.

Under Ministry of Health guidelines, health care providers can only treat patients in person if those providers have the appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE). “Because many optometrists aren’t equipped to offer urgent care safely, there’s been an increase in visits to local emergency departments,” said Dr. Andre Stanberry, the clinic’s Director.

The clinic provides urgent eye care by appointment, rather than on a walk-in basis. Depending on the situation and severity of each case, our optometrists may provide treatment over the phone, at the Clinic (where strict protocols for infection control are in place), or refer the patient to an on-call ophthalmologist. (Read our Urgent Eye Care Q and A.)

If you have an urgent eye care need, you should contact your optometrist first. If you don’t have an optometrist, you can call the clinic directly at 519-888-4623 between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. each weekday. After 3 p.m. and on weekends, please call St. Mary’s Hospital at 519-744-3311.

Wes Graham, father of Waterloo computing, receives posthumous award

Wes Graham, the “Father of computing” at the University of Waterloo, in the Red Room beside the IBM 360 Model 75, the most powerful computer in Canada at the time.

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

In 1967, Canadians celebrated the country’s 100^th birthday and the future seemed full of hope and boundless potential. But at the University of Waterloo the future had already arrived in the newly built Math and Computer building’s Red Room. It was there that an IBM 360 Model 75 was housed — the most powerful computer in Canada at the time and the same model NASA used to do the critical calculations to send astronauts to the moon.

But how did such a powerful computing machine find its home on a young Canadian campus? That story involves many people, but one person who deserves a great deal of credit is the late J. Wesley “Wes” Graham (1932–1999), the first director of the University’s computing centre.

(Editor's note: in recognition of his legacy, CS-Can/Info-Can the national, non-profit society dedicated to representing all aspects of computer science and the interests of the discipline across Canada, awarded Wes Graham a posthumous Lifetime Achievement Award)

“Wes Graham provided exceptional leadership in software developed for education that has given Waterloo and Canada an international reputation. His contributions shaped computer science education worldwide. He was pivotal in acquiring some of the world’s fastest computer hardware during our early days at Waterloo,” said Mark Giesbrecht, Director of the Cheriton School of Computer Science.

“And he was rightly known as the father of computing at Waterloo,” Professor Giesbrecht continued, “attracting incredibly talented students, encouraging them to build and explore software, and in ensuring our computing resources were available faculty and students alike. This 2019 Lifetime Achievement Award from CS-Can/Info-Can is a very much deserved recognition of his contributions.”

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

A virtual field trip experience

A message from the Ecology Teaching Lab.

There are typically field trips offered during the ENVS 200 Field Ecology course, a required course for many students in Faculty of Environment programs, however this spring they will be transitioned to an online experience. The field trip to Spongy bog in Baden, ON will be hosted virtually, with the recent completion of the “Spongy bog 360 VR project”.

Members of the Augmented Reality/Virtual Realty (AR/VR) Community of Practice are excited see that their virtual reality project will be a core lab this spring term. The Faculty of Environment’s Ecology Lab and Mapping, Analysis & Design (MAD), Centre for Extended Learning (CEL) and Centre for Teaching Excellence (CTE) combined efforts to create this virtual field trip.

The primary goal of the project was to provide an accessible learning alternative, but additional goals included providing students who were absent with an opportunity to review key concepts and also an opportunity to review key concepts after attending the field trip. This project will be the core lab for spring term.

The students learn about how to differentiate wetland classifications. The "stops" along the tour provide a visual of these unique systems and emphasize the successional concept of wetlands. Students are guided on what to look for and focus their attention on during the tour. Regionally significant features such as biodiversity, geology, and hydrology are studied. The impact of our changing climate is discussed in terms of vegetation adaptions, carbon fluctuations, and hydrology changes. The tour aligns with learning outcomes and incorporates pedagogical design.

The key concepts were highlighted using hotspots, audio clips, transcripts and supplemental photos. Guided questions and review considerations were incorporated to focus students' attention.

The Spongy bog project can be linked in UW-Learn, as well through the University's open site. There are two options to view the project, on a web page or through a VR viewer for an immersive experience. As well, this project was featured in the Educause Horizons report 2020 (check out page 29).

I, for one, welcome our new Good Buddies of the University

"This is Bruce trying to get my attention while I work," writes Amanda Campbell, graduate Coordinator, School of Environment, Resources and Sustainability (SERS).

"This is my menace Kenzie," writes Denise Hay, graduate program administrator in Kinesiology. She is chasing the tab on my computer. Each day she comes to visit my workstation and always feels it necessary to clean up the area.  Pens, paper, highlighters get tossed to the floor!  She also likes to make her presence known when I am on “Team Meetings” by walking across my desk to check on everyone in the screen. In the second photo is Kenzie deciding what needs to be tossed to the floor and my golden retriever, Morgan, trying to nap but checking out the noise!"

"This is Jinjoo (dog) and Sasha (kitten) doing focused work at their workstation," writes Victoria Chu, associate university librarian, learning, research, and user services. 

"I had to move our dining table into the kitchen to work and it is now impinging on Max’s nap corner," writes Sue Plouffe, library associate, special collections & archives. "This has lead to him wedging himself awkwardly between the wall and the table legs. I think we are interfering with his busy schedule of sneaking onto the couch for a snooze, snoring loudly, hunting for dropped Cheerios, and protecting the house from birds, bunnies, and the occasional leaf that ventures too close to the door. He also feels Special Collections & Archives’ K-W Record photographic negative collection does not include enough photos of good buddies like him!"

"Pingu is a talented supervisor managing both fall first-year assignment planning and the other employee’s James Ross Straight chart for Oceans and Fisheries, writes Stacey Phelps, occupancy and data coordinator for Housing and Residences. "He does allow for us to stop at 10 a.m. for a greenies and ball throwing break."

"Here is a photo of my adorable dog, Toast, who loves to check out the action when I’m working," writes Nancy Mattes, associate director, arts advancement in the Faculty of Arts. 

"Nashville is here to help you with your engineering research questions, help kick him out of his bout of ennui," writes Kate Mercer, librarian, information services and resources.