Thursday, June 3, 2021

Equity survey coming in June

"In mid-June 2021, we are excited to invite all students and employees to participate in an equity survey," says a memo from James Rush, vice-president, academic & provost and Jean Becker, senior director, indigenous initiatives and interim associate vice-president, human rights, equity and inclusion. "We are gathering this data as part of our commitment to support our equity goals and end systemic racism. This has been an ongoing, collaborative process, and we owe great thanks and gratitude to all who have contributed time and energies to this initiative."

"Equity data describes aspects of your personal identity," the memo continues. "Collecting this data is a necessary step for us to better understand our community. It will help us identify equity gaps in programs, services, and policies to better meet the needs of underrepresented and equity-deserving students, faculty, and staff."

The survey is completely voluntary. Respondents will have complete control over how much information you choose to share and you are free to add or remove information when invited to complete survey updates. The equity data will not include any personally identifying information and data will only appear in summary reports.

If you have questions about the survey, browse the Frequently Asked Questions.

"The information you provide will create a complete picture of the makeup of our campus, creating opportunities for positive change now and in the future," Rush and Becker write.

"We have been collecting some equity data in recent years, but we need to expand the data we collect. This survey will be asking for more comprehensive voluntary self-identification in the following areas:

• disability
• Indigenous identity
• racial identity
• gender identity
• sexual identity
• religious or spiritual affiliation
• family education background
• Canadian residency status

"Creating a more complete data set about the people at Waterloo will help address any areas where we are not serving members of our community."

"This survey is the next step in the work of many groups on campus. The Equity Office and Institutional Analysis & Planning developed the survey instrument through consultation with an Equity Data Advisory Group. This group is made up of students, faculty, and staff with expertise in equity and related data collection. Many members also have lived experience as a member of an under-represented group. In addition, the Equity Office worked with Indigenous representatives, and groups such as the President’s Anti-Racism Taskforce (PART), the Black Faculty Collective, along with student groups and associations, to ensure that they informed how the survey was developed."

"Once collected, we will use equity data alongside other data and information to answer the following vital questions:

1. How does the makeup of Waterloo’s community compare to Waterloo Region, Ontario and Canada?
2. Are equity-deserving groups participating in the programs and services that Waterloo offers, and how does their participation compare to other groups and the overall university community? What are the gaps and how can they be addressed?
3. Do some groups experience fewer benefits or more barriers while learning or working at Waterloo, compared with the overall University community? What can be done to improve any gaps?"

"This equity survey, along with other data and information, will allow Waterloo to monitor progress in achieving strategic goals and evaluate the success of equity-based initiatives," Rush and Becker write. "The initial data gathering will begin mid-June and continue into the fall. We expect that our first public status report will be available later this year. We encourage all you to learn more about the equity survey by browsing the Frequently Asked Questions and attending the virtual Equity Data: Ask Us Anything About Data Collection on June 8 at 10:30am."

Waterloo awarded for sustainability breakthrough

A message from the Sustainability Office.

Last Thursday, Sustainable Waterloo Region awarded the University of Waterloo with the Sustainability Breakthrough Award at their 12^th Annual Recognition Event.

Waterloo received the award in recognition of our efforts in establishing short and medium-term greenhouse gas emission reduction targets and development of our Shift: Neutral climate action plan as foundational steps towards carbon neutrality on our campus.

President and Vice-Chancellor Feridun Hamdullahpur was thrilled to accept the award on behalf of the University. “The last year has presented significant challenges, but our commitment to sustainability has never wavered,” he said in a video acceptance speech that was played during the event.

For more information about the award, check out the news post on the Sustainability Office website.

To help high school students, Engineering calls upon the Hive Mind

The University of Waterloo’s Faculty of Engineering is offering free tutoring to high school students across Ontario to help them succeed with remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The new program, known as Hive Mind, is aimed at Grade 10, 11 and 12 students who are struggling in advanced functions, calculus, chemistry and physics—all key subjects required to pursue post-secondary engineering programs.

Leanne Predote, senior manager of Waterloo’s engineering outreach department, said Hive Mind was launched earlier this year to help ensure students interested in pursuing a post-secondary STEM education would not be at a disadvantage because of the coronavirus restrictions to in-person classes. 

“Many are struggling with digital divide issues and additional mental health stress and can’t learn as well in an online environment,” she said. “Hive Mindgives them the one-on-one support they need right now.”

While available to all high-school students, Hive Mind is being run as part of Waterloo’s Women in Engineering (WiE) program, of which Predote is a member. 

“Young women are more commonly the ones who have taken on additional familial duties throughout the pandemic, leaving them with less time to focus on their own studies,” said Predote. 

Students can register through the Hive Mind site for individual or group sessions with one of two Waterloo Engineering undergraduate students employed as learning assistants for their spring semester co-op work terms.

Since February, over 120 have registered for the program and 350 one-on-one sessions have been held.

Predote said response to the program has been “overwhelmingly positive,” with students commenting that the learning assistants were able to answer questions and provide explanations both clearly and concisely.

Many of the over 300 schools contacted about Hive Mind are in rural areas where there are generally fewer extra learning resources offered than in larger cities.

While established to fill a need caused by the pandemic, Predote said HiveMind could be continued when students return to in-class learning. 

“It’s in alignment with our outreach efforts,” said Predote, a Waterloo Engineering alumnus. “We’ll evaluate it as we move forward but I think it’s definitely a worthwhile program to continue.”

Quantum Quest Seed Fund now seeking proposals

Transformative Quantum Technologies at the University of Waterloo has announced that Round 9 of the Quantum Quest Seed Fund (QQSF) has opened and will run until June 21.

The fund is intended to encourage ideas and uncover opportunities from diverse fields outside the scope of researchers who work day-to-day with quantum devices. Round 9 is a targeted call for proposals for the Faculties of Health and Environment at Waterloo. Topics might include quantum sensing for health; quantum sensing for detecting changes to the environment; quantum simulation for environment and/or health, to name a few.

The QQSF provides funding for Seed projects in the amount of up to $50,000 per year for a two-year period, and up to $15,000 for six-month Exploratory studies. Projects funded under QQSF are expected to lead to other sources of follow-on external funding.

Eligible projects will have only one Lead Principal Investigator (PI) that has an existing tenure-track appointment within Health or Environment, though collaborations with other researchers are permitted. To comply with the Canada First Research Excellence Fund (CFREF) award administration, QQSF will only accept applications that do not replace or displace the funding that is available through Tri-Council agency’s regular programming.

Eligible expenses include the salaries of students, post-doctoral fellows, and co-ops. In addition, costs for minor equipment, materials and supplies, publication costs and travel essential for the conduct of the research will be covered.

For more information about how to apply for the funding, please refer to the guidelines to access the application documents: https://tqt.uwaterloo.ca/opportunities/quantum-seed/.