Friday, August 4, 2023

Class project builds awareness of endangered species on the Grand River watershed

A message from the Department of Communication Arts.

Students in this spring term’s Introduction to Critical Design Thinking course (SPCOM 149/THPERF 149) shared their work in public spaces on campus, expressing ideas and solidarity, and raising awareness toward social and environmental action.

Led by Professor Jay Havens, member of the Six Nations of the Grand River and a faculty member in the Theatre and Performance program, for their final collaborative project, the students built a giant three-dimensional model of the tiny Cerulean Warbler from repurposed cardboard. Their work is on display now, suspended above the foyer in the Modern Languages Building.

Havens describes their process: “For this class project, students were asked to research endangered species living in the Grand River watershed and then suggest how we could create a public artwork to help bring awareness to this fragile ecosystem. After selecting the cerulean warbler from several proposed species, the class built this artwork using recycled materials held entirely together with hot glue and tape. Nia:wen Kowa to everyone who participated in this.”

The method and magic of finding a co-founder

By Naomi Grosman. This is an excerpt of an article that originally appeared on Waterloo News.

The road to building a company with advanced technology from the ground up can be winding. 

For those who choose to travel that road in good company, meeting a co-founder can be methodical: taking on extracurricular projects while in school, attending professional networking events, tapping into family and friendships, and networking. But whether that relationship formalizes into a solid foundation that works in the startup’s favour can depend on more nebulous components. 

Alroy Almeida (BASc ‘13), Velocity’s director of Deep Tech, is one of four co-founders of alumni company Voltera, which develops machinery to print circuit boards. 

He met two of his co-founders, Jesus Zozaya and James Pickard, when working together on their fourth-year design project in mechatronics engineering. Their fourth co-founder Katarina Ilic, a graduate of nanotechnology engineering, joined when the group decided to transform their design project idea into a product and a business. 

He says co-founders are bound to run into difficulties and differences of opinion, just like in any other relationship, especially when there is high stress and high risk involved. 

“What always worked [at Voltera] is we had tremendous amount of respect for each other, which came from seeing how hard each other was working on making this dream a reality,” Almeida says. “You will have differences of what is the best path forward, but it should be coming from a place of wanting what’s best for the business with no personal agendas.” 

Finding the beauty in complimentary skillsets 

Ground News co-founders, Sukh Singh (BASc ‘12) and Harleen Kaur, are siblings. Their paths crossed professionally when they came together to work on their startup, which is a news aggregation platform that aims to improve access to news and temper polarizing perspectives. 

Ground News co-founders Sukh Singh (BASc ‘12) and Harleen Kaur.

“We both come from a background where technology can solve some very big problems, but news is a problem we think has not been solved with technology,” Singh says. “If it has — it’s a mixed bag and technology has muddied the picture as much as it has clarified it.” 

What brought the two together as co-founders was not their shared DNA, but rather complimentary skillsets — Kaur’s background in engineering and leadership in mobile technology startups and Singh’s background in software. 

Read the rest of the article on Waterloo News.

What's open and closed this long weekend

Monday, August 7 is the Civic Holiday, which means that many University operations will be closed or operating under modified hours. Some examples of operational changes include:

Most Food Services locations will be closed holiday Monday, with the exception of The Market at UWP, which will be open from 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. Visit the Food Services hours and locations page for detailed information.

Print + Retail Solutions operations will be closed on Monday, August 7.

Athletics and Recreation facilities will be closed Sunday, August 6 and Monday, August 7 for the long weekend.

The Visitors Centre will be closed from Friday, August 4 at 4:30 p.m. until Tuesday, August 8 at 8:30 a.m. No tours will be running during this time.

The Dana Porter Library will be open from 12 noon to 6:00 p.m. on holiday Monday, and the Davis Centre Library will be open from 12 noon to 3:00 a.m. Check the Library's hours page for more details.

The Student Life Centre and the SLC Turnkey Desk are both open 24/7 all weekend, including holiday Monday, and the Flock Stop convenience store will also be open 24/7. Turnkey@DC is closed for renovations until the fall term.

Enjoy the long weekend! The Daily Bulletin will return on Tuesday, August 8.