Friday, September 25, 2020

Region announces temporary emergency short term accommodations

The University recently learned that the Region of Waterloo will establish temporary emergency short term accommodations near campus for people experiencing homelessness as part of their ongoing response to COVID 19.

The interim housing will be located at 139 University Avenue West, next door to UW Place residences. The shelter will house up to 80 residents starting from October. The Region of Waterloo provides details on the project on their website.

University leaders are working with the Region of Waterloo, the Waterloo Region Police Service, the City of Waterloo and the Working Centre to ensure that they can respond quickly to any concerns and issues that arise from this project.  On campus, Plant Operations, Campus Police, Campus Housing and the Safety Office are implementing new measures to ensure the safety and well-being of our campus community for the duration of the program.

Sandra Banks, vice-president, University Relations, says that the University “fully recognize[s] how critical these regional initiatives are as we all guide our communities through the pandemic.  The University will work to support positive outcomes as we continue to learn more about the goals of these initiatives.”

If you have questions or concerns about the project you can email community.relations@uwaterloo.ca and the team will follow up with you.

Jeffrey Shallit elected to Finnish Academy of Science and Letters

This article was originally published on the Cheriton School of Computer Science website.

Cheriton School of Computer Science Professor Jeffrey Shallit is one of five foreign members elected to the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters for 2020.

The Finnish Academy of Science and Letters is a broad-based learned society with the principal aim of promoting scientific research and acting as a bond between those engaged in advanced research. Members of the Academy are at the top of their profession, and being invited as a member constitutes a distinguished achievement in a scientist’s career.

Professor Shallit is an accomplished computer scientist interested in the interplay between number theory, algebra, logic, discrete mathematics, and the theory of computation. Most of his research focuses on combinatorics on words and automata theory, especially on decision procedures.

Professor Shallit’s books, journal and conference papers have been cited more than 8,500 times. Collectively, his research contributions have an h-index of 39 on Google Scholar.

With his colleague Jean-Paul Allouche, Director of Research at the Centre national de la recherche scientifique, he coauthored Automatic Sequences: Theory, Applications, Generalizations. This noted text covers sequences generated by finite automata and their generalizations, with applications to number theory and theoretical physics. Published in 2003 by Cambridge University Press, Automatic Sequences has been cited almost 1,500 times. With Eric Bach, he coauthored Algorithmic Number Theory: Efficient Algorithms, a book that provides a thorough introduction to the design and analysis of algorithms for problems from the theory of numbers. Cited almost 1,000 times to date, this foundational book in computing was published in 1997 by MIT Press. He is also one of four authors of Neverending Fractions: An Introduction to Continued Fractions, a book cowritten with Jon Borwein, Wadim Zudilin, and the late Alf van der Poorten (1943–2010), published by Cambridge University Press in 2014.

Read the full story.

Cybersecurity and Privacy Institute moves annual conference online

A message from the Cybersecurity and Privacy Institute.

There is a growing need for cybersecurity and privacy solutions as the digital economy grows. To create world-leading cryptography and privacy technologies, academia, industry and government are drawing on transformational research and collaborative energy to protect user data. 

Beginning October 1, Waterloo’s Cybersecurity and Privacy Institute (CPI) will kick off its first of five, free, online events with discussions focused on innovative cybersecurity research, collaboration with industry leaders and panel discussions on cutting-edge technologies. This virtual conference is open to undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, entrepreneurs, startups, government, sponsors and local businesses. 

Register for free today to the following two-hour discussions:

October 1: Privacy in the era of big data, machine learning, IoT, and 5G

October 8: The evolution of cybersecurity in the Covid-19 era

October 15: Trustworthy AI security, privacy, and ethics

October 22: Rising challenges in cybersecurity and privacy practice

October 29: Women in tech

International Week wraps up this weekend

A message from Waterloo International.

International Week 2020 is a collaborative effort, organized by a wide array of departments, units and student groups at the University of Waterloo, with coordination by Waterloo International. We hope you were able to attend some of the events, learn from these experiences or share some of your activities with others and that you enjoyed participating in these events!

International Week continues today, and into the weekend, with a range virtual activities and events.  Join panel discussions on International Development in the COVID-19 Era: What is our Value Added? or  Harnessing the Power of Math to Revolutionize Health Care featuring – Anita Layton, Cecilia Cotton, Jochen Koenemann and Christina Leslie, connect with classmates and fellow alumni through the Waterloo Engineering 2020 Reunion at Home, or participate in the Arts Reunion Trivia, from the comfort of your home. Many more events and activities can be found on the International Week events page.

While the week is not quite over,  as we near the conclusion, we would like to acknowledge the hard work of the various organizers, who have worked together to make this week a success, despite the challenges presented by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Thank you very much. Without your assistance and commitment to promoting internationalization and intercultural collaboration, this week could not have been possible.

International Week is an opportunity to celebrate diversity at Waterloo, foster global connections, promote the benefits of exchanges and education abroad, and recognize the contributions of international students in strengthening international and intercultural understanding.

The end of International Week does not mean that internationalization at Waterloo slows down. Even with the current restrictions on travel, encouraging intercultural experiences, cross-border collaboration and advancing intercultural and interjurisdictional understanding remains high on the agenda. The University remains steadfast in its commitment to pool knowledge, methods, resources, and networks to advance research for global impact and we are optimistic about what the future holds for internationalization.

Thank you for participating. We look forward to seeing how you are celebrating International Week on social media. #IW2020!

OHD's new Core Development program promotes connection to strategic plan

Organizational and Human Development (OHD) is pleased to announce that our newly revised Core Development program is now available for Fall 2020 registration. The four new workshops being offering in this program have been designed to reflect the University’s 2020-2025 strategic plans themes and provide a foundation for understanding of the University’s culture and values.  The goal of the Core Development program is to help employees feel successful and knowledgeable in their roles, departments, and in the University of Waterloo community. It is highly recommended all University employees take these workshops within the first eighteen months of their onboarding experience. 

The workshops in this program include:

• Building Community through Innovation and Collaboration
• Encouraging Community Through Belonging and Inclusion
• Engaging Community Through Service and Communication 
• Strengthening Community through Values and Culture 

Each program consists of three components: self-directed learning to prepare (30-45min), the virtually facilitated workshop (90min), and the post-session goal and feedback portion (15min). The workshops can be taken in any order.

Our full calendar of workshops for the fall term has several of OHD’s other main programs, such as Integrity Matters and Personality Dimensions.  If you are interested in taking any of these courses, please register through Workday. If you have questions, please contact ohd@uwaterloo.ca.

Reading lists and webinars for wellness, and other notes

W Store wants you to start the new term off right with Top Wellness Reads. The Wellness Reads collection features best-selling health and wellness books focused on a range of intersectional wellness topics – from refreshing your fall routine, to establishing life-long skills and habits for a healthier you.

The collection was curated by Robbyn Hesch, MPH, Health Promotion and Evaluation Specialist for Campus Wellness. Check out W Store’s Top Wellness Reads here: http://bit.ly/WBookClub

The University’s Employee and Family Assistance Program (EFAP) provider, Homewood Health, is offering a special webinar for post-secondary educators and staff. This one-hour session, entitled “Reducing Anxiety and Managing the Transition Back to Class,” will explore strategies for navigating the changes that educators face with greater ease while providing tips and tools to support their psychological well-being during these uncertain times.

Space is limited. Register for one of three available sessions:

(English) Tuesday, September 29 from 8:00 to 9:00 p.m. EST - to be delivered by Dr. Sandra Primiano
(English) Wednesday, September 30 from 1:00 to 2:00 p.m. EST - to be delivered by Dr. Sandra Primiano
(French) Friday, October 2 from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. EST - to be delivered by Dr. Sandra Primiano

The fall 2020 issue of the IST Newsletter is now available. Read about the new electronic health record system for Campus Wellness; get updates for the campus telephone migration project and the migration of employee email to Office 365; and learn more about implementing Kanopy, Jira Service Desk, mandatory 2FA, using Team Live Events, and work to support student information systems.

Calling all creatives! W Store has partnered with the Arts Computing Office to offer Adobe Creative Suite licenses to the UWaterloo campus community at an exclusive, reduced rate.

UWaterloo students, faculty and staff can choose from three discounted license options to best suit their creative and academic needs.

Each license offers full access to all Adobe Creative Cloud applications, including: Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Adobe XD, Lightroom, Acrobat Pro, Animate, Dreamweaver, Premiere Pro, Premiere Rush, After Effects, Dimension, Audition, InCopy, Lightroom Classic, Media Encoder, Character Animator, Prelude, Fuse, Bridge and access to the latest features and updates as soon as they're released.

For more information or to purchase an Adobe Creative Cloud license, visit http://bit.ly/UWaterlooAdobeCC.