Monday, March 15, 2021

World Water Day is March 22. What does water mean to you?

A message from the Water Institute.

Water is fundamental to human health and a key social justice issue. Lack of access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation is one of the greatest human health and environmental threats facing the world’s most vulnerable.

Each year on March 22, the University of Waterloo’s Water Institute hosts a World Water Day celebration focusing on the importance of water for human, environmental and economic health, while raising awareness of the 2.2 billion people living without access to safe water. The day is about taking action to tackle the global water crisis and to support the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6: water and sanitation for all by 2030 and the many other SDGs linked to water.

This year’s World Water Day theme is valuing water. The aim is to create a more comprehensive understanding of how water is valued by different people in different contexts so we can safeguard this precious resource for everyone. In response, the Water Institute has put together an engaging program that encourages participants to explore what water means to different people, learn its true value, and discover how we can better protect this vital resource together.

In the morning, the Water Institute and its graduate student association will host an interactive workshop where participants will have an opportunity to explore their relationship to water, while learning from one another as we answer the question, “what does water mean to you?”

The workshop will be followed by a presentation from Ogamauh annag qwe (Sue Chiblow), Crane Clan and raised in Garden First Nation, who has worked extensively with First Nation communities for the last 30 years in environmental related fields. She will share knowledge on Anishinaabek N’bi pedagogies that we are water, water is life, water has a spirit, water is medicine, and is the lifeblood of Mother Earth. Her presentation will contrast Anishinaabek worldview to mainstream society’s worldview, exploring women’s roles and responsibilities in water governance.

In the afternoon, Brooklyn native Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, a marine biologist, policy expert, and Co-Founder of the All We Can Save Project, will be in conversation with CTV News' Science and Technology Specialist Dan Riskin, discussing ways to heal our oceans, our climate, and our injustices.

Johnson is the founder of Urban Ocean Lab, a think tank for coastal cities, and is co-creator and co-host of the Spotify/Gimlet podcast How to Save a Planet. With Dr. Katharine Wilkinson, she co-edited the anthology All We Can Save, and co-founded The All We Can Save Project.

Recently, Johnson co-created the Blue New Deal for Senator Elizabeth Warren, a roadmap for including the ocean in climate policy. She was named one of Elle’s 27 Women Leading on Climate, and Time Magazine named her to their 2021 Next 100 list of emerging leaders who are shaping the future. Her mission is to build community around solutions to our climate crisis.

Save your spot for this year’s event.

Engineering students raise the bar at national competition

By Carol Truemner. This article was originally featured on Waterloo News.

Waterloo Engineering students who wowed judges with their presentation at the recent online Canadian Engineering Competition (CEC) received an award in a new category created during the event to recognize their project work.

Fourth-year mechanical engineering students Jag Dhillon, Saad Haq, Tony Lee and Lucas Tang’s entry into this year’s CEC innovative design category was so impressive that the competition’s organizing committee and judges presented them with the inaugural research and entrepreneurship award.

The students, known as Team Nashwaak at the competition, initially developed a light therapy smart device to help night owls, including Tang, go to sleep.

The team then discovered the thin film optical technology incorporated into glasses not only relieves sleeping disorders but also associated emotional issues, both of which are problems many people have experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic and annually throughout Canadian winters.  The glasses are expected to be available by the end of 2021.

Stirring a new conversation

Jean Boudreau, president of Engineers Canada, said the Waterloo team displayed outstanding excellence and went above and beyond in terms of their research and entrepreneurship.

“Their project has stirred a new conversation, which would make an addition to CEC moving forward to provide a new platform for projects of this nature to be displayed,” she said when presenting the students with the new CEC award.

Tang said the judges were “floored” by his team’s presentation.

“They said we were on a whole other level compared to the other competitors and that it was no longer fair to compare us to the others,” said Tang. “They were extremely impressed by our presentation and want to see more projects of our calibre at future competitions.”

A category with the same name as the award will be part of next year’s competition.

Team Nashwaak was known as Team Lumos in the Ontario Engineering Competition held earlier this year. Team Lumos, also the name of the students’ Capstone Design (final year) engineering project, is based on a startup company called Lumos Health founded by Tang during a co-op work term as a product manager at Xiaomi Technology.

Game-changing students

Zhao Pan, Team Lumos’ Capstone Design faculty advisor, notes that the special award is the first of its kind to be introduced by the CEC first held in 1985.

“Our students are game-changers,” said Pan, a Waterloo mechanical and mechatronics engineering professor. “They literally changed the rules of the competition.”

Held online this year due to the pandemic lockdown, the annual competition brings together over 200 undergraduate students from across Canada who placed in the top two positions of their provincial or regional competitions.

A second Waterloo Engineering team won a top CEC award. Logan Ingalls and Vyshna Krishnakumar, both third-year nanotechnology engineering students, placed second in the extemporaneous debate category.

Buildings go for certification from Rick Hansen Foundation

Eight buildings on the University’s main campus are going for Rick Hansen Foundation Accessibility Certification (RHFAC).

In January of 2020, the Government of Ontario partnered with the Rick Hansen Foundation (RHF) to provide complimentary accessibility ratings to 250 organizations in 14 municipalities. Rick Hansen Foundation Accessibility Certification is a national rating system that measures and certifies the level of meaningful access of buildings and sites. RHF strives to ensure that all public spaces are universally accessible to allow everyone in the community to participate and live to their full potential.

The buildings involved in the assessment at Waterloo include B.C. Matthews Hall, the Physical Activities Complex, South Campus Hall, the Student Life Centre, Columbia Icefield, Mathematics and Computer, Claudette Millar Hall and Dana Porter Library. COVID-19 safety measures and the University of Waterloo’s campus visitation guidelines will be in effect during the assessment. After that time, each building will get a rating and a report addressing successes and areas for improvement.

The Pharmacy building, home to the School of Pharmacy, was the first UWaterloo building to complete the RHFAC assessment back in late 2020. It received the rating of RHF Accessibility Certified.

New timelines for building the next WCMS

The WCMS 3 project team has announced that the launch date for WCMS 3 websites has been revised from April 26 to June 29, 2021. The team needs more time to finish work on the WCMS 3 platform, which includes core (Drupal 8) functionality as well as technical setup on the new cloud hosting platform, Pantheon. The delay is required in order to release a WCMS 3 platform that contains critical bug fixes and go-live required features.

Impact on other project timelines

The change to the WCMS 3 launch date necessitates the revision of other project timelines. Beginning June 29, 2021, website points of contact may:

• Start to migrate WCMS 2 websites to WCMS 3 as per the migration schedule shared with them
• Request a new WCMS 3 website
• Request to launch websites built during the beta testing phases

Please note that the above applies to standard FDSU and single-page site themes only. Migration information for other WCMS 2 site themes (e.g., Conference, Publications) will be shared at later date.

Impact on user testing periods

Two additional alpha testing phases have been added to the schedule. One closed and one open beta testing phase will follow the alpha testing period. Campus will receive an invitation to participate in the open beta testing phase closer to that time. 

Revised migration schedule

The WCMS 2 to WCMS 3 migration period will be revised to June 29, 2021 – November 19, 2022. Information on the migration process is now available on the WCMS 3 website. 

Impact on spring term co-op hires

The WCMS training and support team will continue to provide website cleanup and preparation activities designed to make the migration process smoother. Acknowledging this change has an impact on workloads of spring term co-op students, every effort will be made to help provide as much advance and preparatory work as possible.

To learn more about this project and to review the revised project timeline, visit the Building the Next WCMS website. 

Safeguarding Science workshop and other notes

Faculty members, Research staff, Safety Office staff, Research Ethics staff, and Information Systems & Technology staff involved in research using biological, chemical, radiological, or nuclear materials or technology are invited to join Public Safety Canada (PSC) for a workshop on Safeguarding Science.

This online workshop will take place on Tuesday, March 23 (10:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.). Please register to receive a link to the event which be held on Microsoft Teams.

The purpose of the workshop is to provide information and guidance to Canadian researchers on possible threats to their research and how to mitigate them. More information can be found on the Public Safety Canada Safeguarding Science website.

The League of Legends Virtual Esports Camp, hosted by the Waterloo Warriors, has been rescheduled to line up with the dates of Ontario's postponed March Break this year, which now begins on April 12. The camp is open to participants aged 12-19 and will now run from April 13 to 15 in partnership with the Waterloo Region Sport Hosting Office. Register today.

Here is today's Nutrition Month Myth vs. Fact supplied by Health Services Dietitian Sandra Ace:

Myth:  Healthy eating is all about portion control.

Fact:  A better focus is to eat regular, balanced meals.

One of the most frequent questions I am asked by my clients is how much to eat. Since energy needs are influenced by many variables, a population-based nutrition education tool is not intended to provide one-size-fits-all advice about specific portions of food. The previous Canada's Food Guide made detailed recommendations about serving sizes and number of daily servings, differentiated by age and gender, that many found difficult to use. The new healthy eating advice, and in my opinion, a more sensible approach, is to think of your meal or snack as a balanced plate. That is why the most recent update to Canada's Food Guide does not give specific guidance around portion sizes but instead focuses on proportionality. The balanced plate demonstrates the recommended proportions of food groups in relation to one another. It provides a visual cue that vegetables and fruits should make up the largest proportion of foods eaten throughout the day. This concept of proportionality can be used whether your meals or snacks are served on a large plate or smaller plate, in a bowl, on a shared platter or from your lunch bag at work. It applies to breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks and meals eaten both alone and with others. It can be used to plan meals for all ages, even younger children, who require less food.

To illustrate this, if you are making a stir-fry, about half of the volume of your meal should be veggies. So plan for 2 parts of veggies to one part of protein and serve with one part grain. In a soup, add double the portion of vegetables to protein or grain. When eating pasta, in order to avoid overloading your plate with pasta, you might first fill half with a leafy green salad or roasted vegetables. At a buffet or pot-luck dinner, go to the leafy greens and veggies first. Again, fill half your plate and leave about one quarter for your grain and your protein choices.

If you are trying not to overeat, also focus on mindfulness.  Mindful eating doesn’t always come instinctively in today’s hectic world. Eating mindfully means noticing signs of hunger and fullness, taking time to eat and fully experiencing and enjoying meals. This can help you improve your awareness of day-to-day eating decisions, including portions. Learn more about the benefits of mindful eating strategies and how to get started here. A registered dietitian can provide individually-tailored advice if you need it; like other health professionals, we continue to deliver service during the pandemic, often through virtual platforms or over the phone.