Friday, July 8, 2022

Senior administrators begin administrating

July 1 marked the start of a number of administrative appointments, and in some cases re-appointments across the University. 

Professor Bruce Frayne began his term as Dean of the Faculty of Environment on July 1. Prior to his appointment, Frayne was a tenured, full professor at the Waterloo serving a second term as the Director of the School of Environment, Enterprise and Development in the Faculty of Environment.

Frayne is an urban planner, geographer, and senior member of the university administration. He holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Natal (now University of KwaZulu-Natal), a Master of City and Regional Planning from the University of Cape Town, both in South Africa, and a PhD in Geography from Queen’s University.

Frayne served as an assistant professor at Queen’s before joining the University of Waterloo in 2010 and was appointed as a full professor in 2019. In addition to leading the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Canadian Cities Index project, Frayne works in Sub-Saharan Africa and cities of the Global South. He has served as a member of Waterloo Senate (2012 to 2014) and on other bodies at the university, Faculty, and unit levels, along with several external boards, committees, and advisory bodies.

Frayne succeeded Professor Jean Andrey, whose term ended June 30, 2022 after serving nearly eight years at the helm of the Faculty.

Other academic and administrative appointments that began on July 1 or will begin shortly include:

Faculty of Arts

Professor Jay Dolmage has been appointed Chair of English Language and Literature for a term ending June 30, 2026.

Professor Scott Kline has been appointed as Chair of the Department of Religious Studies in the Faculty of Arts for a term ending June 30, 2026.

Professor Grit Liebscher has been re-appointed as Interim Chair, Department of Communication Arts for a term ending June 30, 2023.

Professor Elizabeth Nilsen has been reappointed Interim Assistant Vice-President, Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs for a term ending June 30, 2023.

Professor Robert Park has been appointed as Associate Dean, Co-operative Education and Planning in the Faculty of Arts for a term ending June 30, 2025.

Professor James Skidmore has been appointed as Chair of the Department of Germanic and Slavic Studies for a term ending June 30, 2026.

Faculty of Engineering

Professor Maya Przybylski has been appointed as Interim Director for the School of Architecture for a term ending June 30, 2023.

Professor Siva Sivoththaman begins an appointment as Associate Dean, Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs on August 1, 2022 for a term that concludes on July 31, 2025.

Faculty of Environment

Professor Neil Craik has been appointed Interim Director of the School of Environment, Enterprise and Development for a term ending December 31, 2023.

Professor Susan Elliott has been appointed Interim Chair of Geography and Environmental Management for a term ending June 30, 2023.

Professor Johanna Wandel has been appointed Associate Dean, Undergraduate Studies for a term ending June 30, 2025.

Faculty of Health

Professor Craig Janes has been reappointed Director, Public Health Sciences for a term ending August 31, 2022.

Professor William McIlroy has been appointed Associate Dean, Research for a term ending June 30, 2023.

Faculty of Mathematics

Professor Benoit Charbonneau has been reappointed Associate Dean, Undergraduate Studies for a term ending June 30, 2023.

Professor Anita Layton has been appointed Associate Dean, Research and International for a term ending June 30, 2023.

Professor David McKinnon has been reappointed as Chair of Pure Mathematics for a term ending June 30, 2026.

Professor Chaitanya Swamy has been appointed as Chair of Combinatorics & Optimization for a term ending June 30, 2024.

Professor Changbao Wu has been appointed Chair of Statistics and Actuarial Sciences for a term ending June 30, 2026.

Faculty of Science

Professor John Corrigan has been appointed as Chair of Chemistry for a term ending June 30, 2026.

Affiliated and Federated Institutions of Waterloo

Professor John Abraham has been appointed Academic Dean of St. Paul’s University College for a term ending June 30, 2026.

Professor Trish Van Katwyk has been appointed Director of the School of Social Work for a term ending June 30, 2025.

Chemistry welcomes John Corrigan as new Department Chair

This article was originally featured on the Faculty of Science news site.

Professor John Corrigan began his four-year term as Chemistry's new Chair on July 1. Corrigan joins Waterloo from Western University. He is the 15^th Chair for the Department.

“John is an outstanding scholar and leader. He is an excellent fit to the role of Chair of Chemistry and he knows UW well, having earned his PhD with Arthur Carty in 1994," Bob Lemieux, Dean of Science. "I very much look forward to welcoming John to our Science leadership team.”

His research interests are located on the frontiers between coordination chemistry, materials chemistry and nanosciences: his team targets atomically precise (nano)clusters via the design of molecules that are incorporated into higher order architectures.

His research program focuses on the design of new reagents for the assembly of metal containing molecular species, which include nanometer sized, semiconductor architectures with specialized properties (functionalization).

The functionalities are incorporated into (or onto) the frameworks via a molecular precursor approach whereby small molecules are designed, prepared and integrated into higher order structures via controlled assembly. The preparation of such well-defined (re: size, shape and composition) results in molecular architectures with size-dependent properties and potential applications in areas encompassing energy (eg. photovoltaics), medicine (eg. bio-labels) and catalysis. Research in his laboratory works within a continuum of molecule to cluster to nanomaterial.

Corrigan has held several leadership positions during his career. He was the inaugural Director for the Centre for Advanced Materials and Biomaterials Research (CAMBR), which brings together more than 50 research groups to tackle key materials challenges. He was the Associate Chair Undergraduate in Chemistry and a mentor to new faculty. Additionally, he has served on numerous departmental and university committees. 

He completed his B.Sc. studies in Chemistry at the University of Toronto and obtained his Ph.D. at the University of Waterloo under the guidance of Prof. Arthur J. Carty. After a NSERC post-doctoral fellowship in Germany at the Universität Karlsruhe (now Karlsruhe Institute of Technology) with Dieter Fenske, he joined the Department of Chemistry at Western.

"The make-up of my alma mater’s campus has changed significantly since I graduated. What has not changed is the tradition of innovation and excellence in teaching and research in the Department of Chemistry," said Corrigan. "I am humbled and excited to return to Waterloo as Chair of this awesome department and I look forward to working together with all of the students, staff and faculty that make this place great."

Please welcome John back to the University of Waterloo.

Statement on incident at Claudette Millar Hall

Waterloo Regional Police have made an arrest in connection to a violent incident that occurred in Claudette Millar Hall on the evening of July 6. The victim sustained non-life-threatening injuries and received hospital treatment.

"We are fortunate that violent incidents on the University of Waterloo’s campuses are extremely rare," says a University statement. "The University of Waterloo is a safe place to live, learn and work. We understand the individuals involved in this incident knew each other and we have no concern for the safety of any other individuals. We have processes in place to safeguard our campus following incidents of this nature."

"The safety and well-being of our students is always our top priority. We are grateful for the swift action from Waterloo Regional Police Services, our Housing team and our Special Constable Services who worked together to ensure that our residence remained safe and secure."

"We are in touch with the victim and their family to ensure we can provide support to them at this difficult time. Our Housing and Campus Wellness teams are working together to provide support to anyone who feels uncomfortable, notices someone struggling, or needs support or self-care."

We encourage members of the campus community who feel they need support to contact any of the following resources:

• Students: If you feel overwhelmed or anxious and need to talk to somebody, please contact the University’s Campus Wellness services, either Health or Counselling Services.
• Employees: Our Employee and Family Assistance Program is available 24/7 for counselling, coaching and support. Call 1-800-663-1142 or visit Homeweb.ca.

These community supports are available as well:

• Here 24/7 - 1-844-437-3247
• Grand River Hospital - 519-749-4300
• St. Mary's Hospital - 519-744-3311
• Good2Talk - 1-866-925-5454
• Crisis Services Canada - 1-833-456-4566 or by text 45645
• Empower Me (1-844-741-6389) 
• MATES is a one-to-one peer support program that provides services to students who are experiencing personal or academic concerns or low-level mental health and wellness difficulties 

The UW Special Constable Service partners with Counselling Services and the Canadian Mental Health Association to implement IMPACT (Integrated Mobile Police and Crisis Team). IMPACT is a program that has a trained mental health professional working out of the UWSCS offices to assist community members who may be struggling. IMPACT workers provide Mental Health care in after-hours settings when counselling is unavailable. IMPACT workers are available by contacting the UWSCS at 519-888-4911.

How various face coverings can affect communication

Although mask mandates have been lifted in most settings across the province, many people are still opting to wear a mask for various reasons. According to a new study from Professor Emeritus of Physics John Vanderkooy, however, many of these masks may be impeding our ability to communicate effectively.

Though Professor Vanderkooy officially retired formally in 2006, he continued to supervise a few students and kept a small lab in Physics. He is a member of the Audio Research Group, which has over the years been involved in monitoring the acoustics of sound with focus on microphones, loudspeakers, and signal processing. 

The group has made some studies of binaural sound using a Knowles Electronic Mannequin for Acoustic Research (KEMAR): an anthropological mannequin of a human torso and head with anatomically correct ears fitted with microphones, as well as a modified mouth that emits speech signals with a small internal loudspeaker. Though the sound it produces is not the same as human speech, Professor Vanderkooy measured the effect of a mask on KEMAR without and with a mask. This allowed the group to accurately measure the effect of the mask on any speech.

When it comes to speech intelligibility, important frequencies lie in the range 300 - 3000 Hz, with a nice crispness to speech registering at around 5000 Hz. By using the KEMAR, the group determined that many masks remove significant audio level above even 1500 Hz.

Several kinds of masks were tested: a common blue paper fibre mask, a 3M bowl-shaped masks, some cloth and N95 masks, a singer’s mask, and a face shield. Cloth and N95-type masks stifle the human voice in the 1.5 – 2.5 kHz range somewhat more. The 3M bowl mask had a huge peak at 8 kHz which actually amplified the sound, due to the resonance of the bowl cavity. The high mass/unit area of the face shield can be shown to attenuate sound above about 500 Hz. It is found to be the most limiting when it comes to communication, as it removes much of the sound above 800 Hz.

The blue paper fibre mask was found to have the least acoustic blockage. While these masks don’t greatly impede sound, they seem to be least effective in stopping the spread of virus containing aerosols.

Unfortunately, the ideal mask for effective communication doesn’t currently exist. Professor Vanderkooy says the best solution would be a mask with a very thin layer of transparent plastic placed in an opening of the mask. This covers the mouth and could be acoustically transparent, but impervious to virus transmission. The low-inertia plastic would move effortlessly with the sound vibrations, transmitting all the sound into the air outside the mask. The cloth side of the mask (responsible for the filtering action) could be held slightly separate from the skin near the mouth.

For now, we may have to settle for speaking up when wearing a mask for a conversation with ideal speech intelligibility.

Remembering Dr. Gail Corning

A message from the Faculty of Arts.

The family of Dr. Gail Corning, alumnus and former instructor in the departments of English Language & Literature and Communication Arts, would like to share that Dr. Corning passed away on July 2, 2022, following a stroke in mid-June. She is survived by her husband, Professor Emeritus Bill Corning of the Department of Psychology.

Dr. Corning was one of the first students to enter the English PhD program at UWaterloo, defending her dissertation just before her 60^th birthday. She went on to teach courses in both English and Communication Arts, once commenting: "At this stage in my life, this is what I want to do. I will probably keep it up until I cannot walk anymore. Infusing rhetorical theory into my teaching helps students understand that communicating is not about them, but about their audience. Those who grasp this concept gain a valuable lifelong skill."

Members of the University are welcome to attend the memorial service for Gail Corning at The Cedars in Waterloo on Sunday, July 10 at 7:00 p.m. 

Friday's late-breaking notes

Much of the country appears to be without Internet and wireless services today as Rogers networks are currently down for the count. As such, some campus services are experiencing technical difficulties, such as Interac and credit payment options. The Eduroam network is not impacted, and Food Services reports that WatCard payments are working at locations on campus that accept it.

Keep an eye on the University's social media accounts for updates on when services are restored.

This evening, Muslims in our campus community and around the world will begin celebrating Eid Al-Adha, an Islamic religious festival that celebrates the Prophet Abraham's faithfulness to God and the end of the Hajj, the annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca. The holiday is marked by prayers and fellowship. Check the Waterloo Masjid website for more information.