Wednesday, July 26, 2023

Engineering student qualifies for 2023 CrossFit Games

By Jordan Flemming. This article originally appeared on Waterloo News.

Jack Farlow, a second-year engineering student at the University of Waterloo has achieved a remarkable feat by qualifying for the 2023 CrossFit Games. The games are a multi-day competition that brings together elite athletes from around the world to showcase their fitness and compete for the title of Fittest on Earth. 

After two previous attempts, making it to the semifinals each time, Farlow secured his spot in to compete in this years’ finals taking place August 3 to 6 in Madison, Wisconsin. 

“After working so hard over the past seven years — and making it to the semifinals but not the finals — getting into the games just felt very rewarding and made me appreciate how far I’ve come,” says Farlow. 

The competition season begins with an open qualification stage, where participants complete a series of workouts to earn a spot in the next round. From there, the top 10 per cent of athletes advance to the quarterfinals and then the top 60 athletes compete within their geographic region in the semifinals. 

Finally, the top 40 athletes globally progress to the CrossFit Games, where they face a series of grueling workouts and challenges over several days. These challenges incorporate a variety of movements, such as weightlifting, gymnastics, cardiovascular exercises and more. 

Farlow stands out as the only student participant and the second youngest contender among the 40 competitors in the finals. Most of his fellow competitors are full-time athletes with ample resources and time to prepare.  

Balancing academic commitments and CrossFit training is a demanding endeavor. At only 21 years old, Farlow faces a challenge that extends beyond the physical — he must manage a full course load during the summer term while preparing for the games. 

“You have more time in the day than you think, if you use your time efficiently you can get a lot done. Focusing on your intention is key,” Farlow says on how he chooses to allocate his time. 

Farlow's CrossFit journey began after he left his high-level hockey career behind in high school. Drawn to the gym and the challenge of CrossFit, he quickly found himself immersed in the sport. As he progressed, he realized that his true passion lay in pushing his limits and excelling in CrossFit rather than on the ice.  

In preparation for the quarterfinals and semifinals, Farlow dedicated four hours a day to his training. With the finals approaching, he has amplified his efforts, dedicating six hours each day to hone his skills and has incorporated more swimming, biking and training outside the gym to prepare for the diverse challenges the finals may throw his way. 

“Luckily my friends are also into CrossFit, and I am able to see them at the gym to help maintain a bit of my social life while I balance school and preparing for the games,” Farlow remarks. 

Farlow's passion for fitness has also influenced his academic journey. Originally enrolled in systems engineering, he made the switch to biomedical engineering for its commonalities with health and fitness. He has a particular interest in wearable technology as he uses a smart watch to measure his own performance in his trainings. 

While striving for success in CrossFit, Farlow recognizes the importance of fostering long-lasting friendships and establishing memories while at university. In one of his recent classes, Farlow and his classmates worked on developing and programming a prosthetic hand device that can perform common tasks. It’s this kind of hands-on learning experience Farlow looks forward to applying to future co-op terms. 

As the finals approach, Farlow seeks to strike a balance between appreciating how far he has come, but his competitive spirit is pushing him to perform his best in the upcoming games.  

Photo credit: Training Day Media.

Dreaming in technicolour

A team of computer scientists and designers based out of the University of Waterloo have developed a tool to help people use colour better in graphic design. 

The tool, De-Stijl, uses powerful machine learning technology to suggest intuitive colour palettes for novice designers and inexperienced users. The software combines and improves on the functionalities of existing tools like Figma, Pixlr, and Coolor, allowing users to select important theme colors and quickly visualize how they’ll impact a design.

“You put your graphical elements into the canvas,” said Jian Zhao, an assistant professor of computer science at Waterloo. “De-Stijl separates it into background, image, decoration and text, and based on these it creates a palette and then can make recommendations based on the design elements of layout, colour proximity, and proportion.”

De-Stijl’s most exciting contribution is an innovative 2-D colour palette, developed in consultation with expert graphic designers, that not only suggests colours but also demonstrates their impact in different distributions.

“Humans perceive colors differently based on their proportion and their placement,” said Xinyu Shi, a PhD student in computer science and the lead author on the research. “With the 2D format, users can better perceive how their current graphic designs look, focusing on the colour itself.”

The Waterloo-led project grew out of a longstanding relationship with Adobe, the design powerhouse responsible for products like Photoshop and InDesign.

Adobe realized that a lot of people responsible for creating branding and other marketing materials didn’t have advanced graphic design knowledge or the resources to hire expert designers. They tasked the Waterloo team with helping them find AI-powered solutions for these novice designers. 

The De-Stijl team worked with a combination of design experts and ordinary users to build and test the software. During the testing phase, users customized marketing materials from provided templates using both De-Stijl and its competitors.

“No one tool can do the work that De-Stijl can do,” Zhao, said. “So we compared it to a suite of tools as a baseline.”

In anonymous expert assessments, De-Stijl outperformed the competition in usability, customization and attractiveness of design.

Shi emphasized that De-Stijl is not meant to replace expert graphic designers or human creativity. Rather, they want to remove some of the tedious guesswork from graphic design.

“Our aim is to facilitate, not replace,” Shi said.

The research paper, “De-Stijl: Facilitating Graphics Design with Interactive 2D Color Palette Recommendation,” was published in Proceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI ’23), April 23-28, Hamburg, Germany.

Student solidarity festival in Arts Quad tomorrow

A message from the Faculty of Arts.

Students of the Gender and Social Justice (GSJ/ENGL) 309 class have planned a Student Solidarity Festival on Thursday, July 27 from 1 to 3 p.m. in the Arts Quad. The festival is a student-led, instructor-supported response to the June 28 attack. The event will include queer poetry reading, free food, and BYOP (bring your own pet).

The university community is invited to join together to stand against campus violence and show solidarity for diversity and inclusion – and of course, to pat the pets and enjoy some free food.

A team of campus safety allies will be there to ensure a safe and fun event for everyone.