Tuesday, February 21, 2023

An update on the University Secretary search

A message from Vivek Goel, President and Vice-Chancellor.

We have embarked on the process of selecting a University Secretary. The search will be comprehensive in scope with an integral portion being a process of consultation. 

We ask for your assistance in gathering information to support the process. Please complete a brief questionnaire to be returned to Laverne Smith & Associates. All responses will be held in strict confidence by the consultant and the inclusion of your name is optional. 

As this is a very important matter for the University, your input is critical and I would ask you to take the few minutes required to help us in this important undertaking. Please complete your questionnaire by March 6, 2023. 

Thank you for your time and input.

Global Futures: AI to enable a dynamic workforce

This article is part of the Global Futures series.

Esteban Veintimilla is the CEO and co-founder of 1Mentor, a company using artificial intelligence to understand industry's evolving skills requirements. Veintimilla is also an advisor for students entering their first co-op work term at the University of Waterloo’s Conrad School of Entrepreneurship and Business.

Talent leads the way in shaping innovative ecosystems that grow local and global economies. We asked ​Veintimilla how we should develop talent to support resilient economies for the future.

Opinion by Esteban Veintimilla:

Entrepreneurship is about solving complex problems, and in a world of rapid technological advancement and unpredictable change, we need to reimagine how we prepare emerging talent. 1Mentor partners with higher-education institutions to better serve their students by providing tools to prepare future-ready talent.

When I started my undergrad in math and business at the University of Waterloo, I thought I wanted to go into finance. I discovered co-op and immediately saw how valuable these work experiences would be to my professional development. It allowed me to explore different careers while expanding my skill set. I did my first work placement in finance, then others in actuarial science, business analysis, project management, and finally in entrepreneurship where I found my passion. The vision for my company took shape when I was working at Waterloo supporting students in finding co-op placements. I realized how difficult it was to equip students with evolving industry demands and that there was a need to create agile partnerships between industry, government and academia to prepare students for the future of work.

The 1Mentor platform is designed to equip students with the insights to understand what skills and competencies to develop to achieve their career objectives. Through support and investment from the University’s entrepreneurial ecosystem and Velocity, as well as the ability to leverage guidance from a world-leading institution in co-operative education, we have grown rapidly in a short period of time.

Using data to drive insights 

Our platform uses cutting-edge, proprietary AI to analyze higher-education data and more than 110 million job postings to understand industry requirements. 1Mentor lets students explore career paths, understand how prepared they are, and find upskilling opportunities to prepare for the jobs they are passionate about. Our goal is to be the go-to place for students to understand what skills and competencies they need and to prepare themselves to land jobs and be successful in those roles.

In addition to the clarity that data provides for students, it also supports colleges and universities. Our post-secondary partners understand that they need to adapt to a dynamic workforce. Our platform lets them see data on their programs and students to understand how they compare to the job market. They receive critical information on what fields students are interested in pursuing in today’s economy.

At the pace that industry is evolving, students are entering disrupted fields and jobs that didn’t exist a decade ago, and new opportunities will continue to appear. Career pathways are no longer linear, and we see students from all academic backgrounds pursuing fields like AI, fintech, data and blockchain. We cannot rely on traditional models of workforce development. Colleges and universities must adapt and prepare their students for this new reality, whether through courses, micro-credentials or work-integrated learning opportunities.

It is exciting to see that the challenge is being recognized globally. We get to work with innovative universities in the United States, United Kingdom, Latin America and Canada, including Waterloo, to ensure emerging talent is future ready. When I graduated from Waterloo, co-op helped me feel equipped to pursue my professional goals and take on the challenge of being a business owner. I want that feeling of empowerment shared by all students, and it is incumbent on post-secondary institutions to ready the next generation of talent.

Remembering Distinguished Professor Emeritus Josef Paldus

This article was originally published on the Applied Mathematics news site.

Distinguished Professor Emeritus Josef Paldus passed away peacefully on Sunday January 15, 2023.

Professor Paldus obtained his M.Sc. Degree in 1958 from the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics of the Charles University in Prague, Czechia, and his Ph.D. (CSc.) in 1961 from the Institute for Physical Chemistry of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, the same year he married his lifetime partner, Eva. From 1962 to 1964, he pursued his postdoctoral studies at the Division of Pure Physics of the National Research Council of Canada in Ottawa under the guidance of Dr. Don Ramsey and Dr. Gerhard Herzberg.

In 1968, after emigrating to Canada, he became an Associate Professor in the Department of Applied Mathematics at the fledgling University of Waterloo in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.  Seven years later, he was promoted to Full Professor in both the Applied Mathematics and Chemistry Departments, and continued to help build a world-class department. In 1984, he joined the Quantum Theory Project and also served as an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Florida, Gainesville. He was also the Associate Director of The Fields Institute for Research in Mathematical Sciences in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, from 1991 to 1994. Until his death, he continued to serve as a Distinguished Professor Emeritus in the Quantum Theory Group, in the Department of Applied Mathematics at the University of Waterloo.

Prof. Paldus leaves behind a great body of work on coupled cluster theory, where he and Jiří Čížek adapted the many-body coupled cluster method to many-electron systems, thus making it a viable method in the study of the electronic correlation that occurs in atoms and molecules. He was also well-known for his contributions to the Unitary Group Approach. This approach regards the computation of Hamiltonian matrix elements over N-electron spin eigenstates that appear in electronic correlation problems.

During his remarkable career spanning over 6 decades, he served as a Visiting Professor at several universities and research institutions in such countries as France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, and Israel, as well as organizing many international conferences and summer schools. Among many international prizes and honours, he received honorary degrees from Charles University Prague, Bratislava, and Strasbourg, as well as becoming a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and the American Institute of Physics. He also served as a member of numerous editorial and advisory boards of scientific journals in chemical physics, including the International Journal of Quantum Chemistry, Advances in Quantum Chemistry, Journal of Chemical Physics, Therotica Chimica Acta, Journal of Mathematical Chemistry, and the Canadian Journal of Chemistry. 

A number of you will have known "Joe" as teacher, colleague, friend. He will be greatly missed and the world will not be the same without him.

Attend the official launch of Velocity Health on March 2

A message from Velocity.

What is Velocity Health? Recognizing the need for transformative solutions in an evolving healthcare landscape, Velocity is building a globally competitive platform for startups to commercialize health technology. This expansion provides world-class support to even more health startups in Canada. 

On March 2, Director of Velocity Health, Moazam Khan, will share the exciting work that is underway to create a global network of health innovators. Discover how companies receive early-stage validation and a range of support and resources throughout their lifecycle, from ideation to clinical trials, market validation and adoption. Find out about exciting new Pan-Canadian partnerships that will unleash a wave of support toward health technology commercialization and hear from key people in the Velocity Health partner network, including representatives from the health technology ecosystem across Canada. 
 
The evening will also include a variety of Velocity Health company demos and founder panels.  

Please register by 12 noon on Friday, February 24.  

The event takes place at the University of Waterloo’s Federation Hall, 200 University Avenue West, Waterloo, ON, Canada N2L 3G1. Doors open at 4:15 p.m. for networking, and opening remarks begin at 5:00 p.m. Refreshments will be served. There are a limited number of tickets.

We look forward to sharing with you how Velocity Health is supporting and growing health startups in Canada. 

Going up? Check out the Dana Porter Library's new elevators at grand opening on Wednesday

A message from the Library.

Drop by the Dana Porter Library lobby to experience the new elevators, view archival photos of DP and grab a treat.

The Library’s elevators were original to building when it was first constructed in the 1960s and were completely replaced over the fall 2022 term to improve patron experience. The new elevators include modern accessibility features, including soft push buttons with braille located on both sides of the doors within the cab and voice annunciation.

The grand opening event takes place on Wednesday, February 22 from 12 noon to 2:00 p.m. in the Dana Porter Library lobby.