Wednesday, December 14, 2022

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• Support and resources for employees over the winter break
• Provost's Office advertises new associate vice-president opportunities
• Innovative urinal design is really making a splash (or not, as the case may be)
• Registration open for 2023 Canadian Graduate Quantum Conference
• And now a word about storm closings

Support and resources for employees over the winter break

A message from Human Resources.

As we approach the holiday season, many of us are looking forward to festive gatherings for the first time after two years of uncertain plans. And while it can be “the most wonderful time of the year” for many, it’s also a time when stress levels soar, and emotional strain can take its toll upon us with many stressors making the holiday season anything but merry. When you are struggling, it can be a time of overwhelming emotions, new challenges, and possibly unrealistic expectations from family and friends. 

If you find yourself stressed and anxious as we approach or during the winter break, remember that Homewood Health, your Employee & Family Assistance Program (EFAP), is available to assist you through its new digital platform, Pathfinder. This service is an enhanced, future forward online experience that aligns your reason for accessing the program, the severity of your concern, level of risk and your care preferences to offer you the right service or resource at the right time that can be accessed 24/7/365. Pathfinder develops a curated care path and service recommendations based on your individual needs and preferences.

You and your eligible dependants can access Homewood Pathfinder by either logging in with an existing Homeweb account or by creating an account on Homeweb.ca using the invitation code for the University of Waterloo. The invitation code is: UAL823. When creating an account, Homewood will ask you to provide the following:

• First and last name 
• Date of birth 
• Email address 
• Password 
• Your organization – University of Waterloo 
• Your invitation code - UAL823 

These services are offered at no cost to you and is completely confidential. Explore how to access Pathfinder and learn more about its features.  

No matter how you celebrate this festive time, the University of Waterloo wishes you and your family a safe and enjoyable winter break.

Questions? Please review the EFAP benefit website or contact HRhelp@uwaterloo.ca for more information.

Provost's Office advertises new associate vice-president opportunities

The Vice-President, Academic & Provost is inviting expressions of interest for two associate vice-president positions. Both positions have a January 2023 start date for a five-year term.

Associate Vice-President, Academic Operations

"The AVP, Academic Operations will be accountable for advancing the University’s academic mission by fostering relationships in alignment with the academic priorities and plans for the University," the provost's memo says. "The AVP, Academic Operations will provide oversight for understanding the physical infrastructure and capital planning needs of Faculties, Waterloo’s campuses, and partnered institutions, and will ensure coordination across all sites. The incumbent will also work closely with the Associate Provost, Integrated Planning and Budgeting and other senior University leadership to coordinate related budget processes and needs."

This position is open to current tenured University of Waterloo faculty with considerable leadership experience in academic administration roles. The role requires a depth of knowledge and understanding of University operations and related policies, exceptional facilitation, communication, and relationship management skills, and will be able to lead teams to support coordination across multiple stakeholders.

Associate Vice-President, Faculty Planning and Policy

"The AVP, Faculty Planning and Policy holds an important leadership role with responsibilities for processes and practices related to faculty, and the distinctive elements of the faculty lifecycle at the University of Waterloo," the provost writes. "The incumbent will provide ongoing advice, support, and direction on annual and in-year changes to Faculty Hiring Plans and issues arising from challenges and opportunities. As part of this role, the incumbent will work with the Deans and key academic leaders as they prepare academic plans, including strategic hiring plans."

This position is open to current tenured University of Waterloo faculty with considerable leadership experience in academic administration roles. Given this is an important leadership position working with Faculties, Departments, and many other academic and non-academic units and other individuals, the role requires a depth of understanding in faculty-related policies and practices. The AVP will have knowledge of the faculty lifecycle, exceptional facilitation and communication skills, and will provide quality advice and support in a manner that facilitates positive relationships with and among faculty, University administrators, and the community.

How to submit expressions of interest and how to get more information

Expressions of interest outlining how the applicant’s experience and interests align to the positions' requirements are requested by December 19, 2022, via email to recruitment.provost@uwaterloo.ca. Please do not hesitate to reach out to Jenny Flagler-George, Director, Strategic Initiatives via email at jflagler@uwaterloo.ca if you have any questions or inquiries.

Innovative urinal design is really making a splash (or not, as the case may be)

Engineering researchers followed their curiosity and called on nature to inspire a new urinal that solves the messy problem of splash-back.

The long, sleek design all but eliminates splatter on floors and shoes by ensuring the angle at which a urine stream hits the urinal wall doesn’t exceed about 30 degrees, a measurement determined via physical experiments and computer modelling.

“We found that when a liquid jet or droplet train impacts a rigid surface below a certain critical impinging angle, almost no splatter is generated,” the researchers concluded. “Thus, a surface designed to always intersect the urine stream equal to or smaller than the critical angle prevents splash-back.”

Conducted over the course of several years by a team of professors and students at the University of Waterloo and Weber State University in Utah, the research was presented at a recent American Physical Society conference in Indianapolis.

Inspiration for the new urinal design came from the way dogs lift their hind legs to urinate against trees, a behaviour that instinctively minimizes the impact angle, and the curving structure of nautilus shells.

The result is a “splash-free urinal” with a special narrow opening and a curved inner surface designed to prevent droplets from flying out regardless of how tall the user is or where they aim.

“The idea for this project truly originated – well, exactly where you think it did,” said Dr. Zhao Pan, a professor of mechanical and mechatronics engineering and director of the Pan-Lab for fluid physics at Waterloo. “When you study fluid behavior all day, you can't help but wonder about these everyday scenarios. The fun part is that we are solving a real-world problem affecting 50 per cent of humans.”

The project involved tests with jets of coloured fluids at different speeds and heights with five urinals, including a widely used North American urinal, a replica of a famous sculpture by modern artist Marcel Duchamp and three original designs.

Their effectiveness was measured by wiping the splattered mess with a paper towel after each experiment and weighing it to determine the mass of liquid picked up.

“Our new urinal designs will keep bathrooms cleaner and reduce the labor, water, and chemicals required for periodic cleaning to promote more sustainable bathroom maintenance,” the researchers wrote.

The team also included Waterloo students Kaveeshan Thurairajah, Mabel Song and JD Zhu, and Dr. Randy Hurd and student Ethan Barlow of Weber State.

Registration open for 2023 Canadian Graduate Quantum Conference

A message from Transformative Quantum Technologies.

The Canadian Graduate Quantum Conference (CGQC) will take place January 24, 25, and 26, 2023, hosted at the University of Waterloo and supported by Waterloo's Transformative Quantum Technologies, Institut Quantique at the Université de Sherbrooke (USherbrooke) and the Stewart Blussom Quantum Matter Institute at the University of British Columbia (UBC).

The conference is free for UBC, UWaterloo, and USherbrooke students. This includes registration, hotel accommodation (if needed), all food, and social events.

Consisting of three days of academic keynote speakers, industry panels, and student presentations, CGQC aims to connect Canadian graduate students with each other across institutions to foster research collaboration, cross-pollination of ideas, and connections. Activities will also include poster presentations, social events and a banquet dinner.

For any questions, feel free to reach out to registration@cgqc.org. The registration deadline is January 5, 2023.

And now a word about storm closings

With snow on the ground (and more forecast for later this week), now is a perfect opportunity to review the University's Weather Closing Guidelines before the streets and walkways on campus become fully covered in ice and snow for the season.

According to the weather closing guidelines, the University and the affiliated and federated institutions of Waterloo will close “because of severe weather when normal operation would pose a significant danger to students and employees, or would prevent large numbers of them from coming to campus or returning safely to their homes.” 

The decision to close or remain open in severe weather is usually made by the Vice-President, Academic & Provost in consultation with the Director of the Special Constable Service, the Associate Vice-President, Communications, and the Executive Director of Plant Operations. The Provost and the team of advisors meet to consider the conditions whenever severe weather is in the forecast and the team also seeks a wealth of information in order to inform the difficult decision of whether it is safe to open campus.

The advisory team evaluates:

• multiple sources of weather information and radar, as well as actual outside conditions, and the forecasted conditions throughout the day;
• community impacts, such as what other local institutions including the school board and the City of Waterloo are doing;
• the condition of campus, including pathways, roadways, and buildings - and how long it will take to make movement on campus safe; 
• the status of local and regional roads, with input from the local city governments;
• whether local and regional public transportation is running including GRT, ION, GO and Greyhound; and
• the conditions at Waterloo's satellite campuses.

The guidelines define the condition of "closed" to mean that "classes are not held; meetings and other scheduled events are cancelled; scheduled examinations are cancelled, to be rescheduled; deadlines for assignments and other submissions are postponed until the same hour on the next business day on which UW is not "closed"; staff, other than those providing "essential services," are not expected to be at work, but are paid for a normal day."

For the most part it is safe to assume that the University's default status is "open" unless messaging indicates otherwise.

Notice of the University's status will be posted on days where severe weather is forecast, normally at 6:00 a.m., to allow faculty, staff and students time to decide their course of action that day. As the guidelines indicate, "those who judge that it may be unsafe to come to campus should discuss alternate work and study arrangements with their instructor or supervisor."

In the event of severe weather that warrants a closure, all members of the University community should consult the University’s homepage and Twitter feed, consult Portal, check the WatSAFE app, tune in to a local radio station, check local media websites or call the University’s Infoline (1-866-470-0910) to learn whether or not the University has closed.

The University also maintains a dedicated weather statement page with Environment Canada weather notices for the region and safety tips that will be updated in the event of severe weather.