Friday, July 5, 2024

Friday, July 5, 2024

Editor:
Brandon Sweet
University Communications
bulletin@uwaterloo.ca

Schulich Leader Scholarship winners named

A collage of ten Schulich Leader Scholarship winners.

The University of Waterloo will welcome a new cohort of Schulich Leader Scholarship recipients to campus this fall.  

The winners represent the best and the brightest in Canada, who will enrol in a science, technology, engineering or math program at 20 partner universities across Canada. 

The 2024 Schulich Leader Scholarships winners are:  

  • Johnnie Chen – Computer Science 
  • Salma El Gohary – Systems Design Engineering 
  • Elisa Gabriele – Architectural Engineering 
  • Aditya Makkar – Computer Science 
  • Ronak Patel – Software Engineering 
  • Evan Ralph – Environmental Engineering 
  • Emma Shi – Computer Science 
  • Noah Sonser – Physical Sciences (Mathematical Physics) 
  • Pari Vansjalia – Software Engineering 
  • Daniel Zhang – Computer Science  

Schulich Leader Scholarships are one of Canada’s most prestigious undergraduate STEM scholarships, worth $100,000 to $120,000 per student. One hundred awards are granted each year to students who demonstrate not only strong grades, but also a dedication to community service. 

WatSPEED wins two 2024 CAUCE Design and Marketing Awards

The WatSPEED team outside the SLC Black & Gold Room.

A message from WatSPEED.

WatSPEED is celebrating achievements in marketing and digital advertising as part of the 2024 Canadian Association for University Continuing Education (CAUCE) awards. 

Every year, CAUCE hosts the Design and Marketing Awards to recognize excellence in the field of design and marketing in continuing education throughout Canada. This year, WatSPEED received awards in the both the Marketing Campaign (up to $5,000 budget) and Website categories.  

WatSPEED was recognized for its popular and timely webinar, ChatGPT: What Executives Really Need to Know, which included a multi-platform promotional strategy that led to a record-high number of registrations. They are also recognized for their new website, which launched in August 2023.

“At WatSPEED, we are dedicated to equipping the workforce of tomorrow and creating impactful programs for businesses and individuals,” said Sanjeev Gill, associate vice-president, Innovation and executive director of WatSPEED. “These awards highlight the ingenuity, creativity, and commitment of our team.”

Task force signup deadline approaches and other notes

People sit around a board room table.

There's still time to submit an expression of interest to join the two new task forces established to determine principles of social responsibility in investments and guidelines on how the University forges international partnerships. The Task Force on Social Responsibility in Investing and the Task Force on Principles for Institutional Partnerships have opened calls for expressions of interest to become a member, seeking representatives from the University's faculty, staff, and students with the appropriate expertise:

More information on the mandate for each task force can be found on the Task Force on Social Responsibility in Investing and Task Force on Principles for InstitutionalPartnerships websites. The deadline to apply is 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday, July 9. 

While we're on the subject of reminders, remember this: Waterloo's Virtual Private Network (VPN) will be unavailable on Thursday, July 11 as it is being migrated to new equipment as part of IST's core equipment refresh project. 

The temporary outage will take place between 7:00 a.m. and 8:00 a.m. on Thursday, July 11, and the VPN service will be unavailable during the maintenance window. IST reports that "client configurations will be updated automatically once they connect to the VPN service following the maintenance window."

An illustration of two people interacting with floating computer icons.

Information Systems & Technology (IST) has published the latest in the Atlassian Blog Series today, entitled Atlassian updates: Add translations to a form.

The poster for the "My Tree" movie including a dove and an olive branch.

Continuing Lecturer James Nugent is hosting a screening of the film My Tree on Tuesday, July 9. In My TreeA Canadian searches for the tree that was planted in his name in Israel many years earlier. When he discovers that it stands on the remains of an Arab village, he is forced to question his own culpability.

The event begins at 2:30 p.m. with a talk by Dr. Mazin Qumsiyeh of the Palestine Institute for Biodiversity & Sustainability (Zoom link to join Dr. Qumsiyeh's talk). The movie begins at 3:30 p.m., and there will be free food available from 5:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., after which there will be a Q&A with director Jason Sherman.

More information and registration is available on the event website.

Link of the day

30 years ago: Music for the Jilted Generation

When and Where

The Student Health Pharmacy (located in the lower level of the Student Life Centre) is offering flu shots with no appointments needed daily from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Call 519-746-4500 or extension 33784 for more info. COVID shots will be available on appointment basis only. You can register online at studenthealthpharmacy.ca.

Warriors Youth Summer Camps. Basketball, Baseball, Football, Hockey, Multi-Sport and Volleyball. Register today!

Safeguarding Science workshop and more, throughout May and June. Public Safety Canada invites faculty, staff and students to attend a series of virtual event via MS Teams. Register to receive a link.

Food Truck Wednesday, Wednesday, May 8 to Wednesday, July 24, 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., Arts Quad.

WatITis 2024 call for proposals, Saturday, June 15 to Friday, August 30.

Student Life Tours, Monday, July 8 to Thursday, July 11, 11:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., SLC Multipurpose room.

Safeguarding Science: Raising awareness of security risks and mitigation tools in the research ecosystem, Tuesday, July 9, 1:00 pm. to 2:30 p.m.

Midterm Meltdown, Wednesday, July 10, 12 noon to 4:00 p.m., SLC Green Space.

Chemistry Seminar, "How electron poor can we make gold(III)?"  featuring Dr. Jason L. Dutton, Department of Biochemistry and Chemistry, La Trobe University,Melbourne, Australia , Friday, July 12, 2:30 p.m., C2-361 Reading Room.

Gaining Insight into SSHRC merit review: a Q&A panel with SSHRC Insight Grant and Insight Development Grant Committee Members, Tuesday, July 16, 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m., virtual. Please register by July 9.

Free Public Astronomy Lecture, “The Gravity of Tinkering with Einstein” featuring Dr. Cliff Burgess, Tuesday, July 16, 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., Fed Hall. Register today.

Tim Hortons Camp Day, Wednesday, July 17.

Student Life tours, Wednesday, July 17, 11:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., SLC Multipurpose room.

Exploring CIHR Project Grant Committee Culture: A Q&A panel with Reviewer Committee Members, Wednesday, July 17, 1:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m., Microsoft Teams. Email the UW CIHR team to register for the session.

NEW - University of Waterloo Knowledge Mobilization Community of Practice, “Municipal NetZero Action Research Partnership (N-ZAP),” with Dr. Amelia Clarke, Thursday, July 18, 10:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Contact Nadine Quehl to request a Teams invitation or for more information.

Invasive Species Pull, Thursday, July 18, 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., DWE parking lot.

Wild Forces: University of Waterloo Choir, Saturday, July 20, 7:30 p.m., St. John the Evangelist Church, 22 Water Street, Kitchener. $5 students/$10 general
tickets available at the door.

NEW - Instrumental Chamber Ensemble concert, Sunday, July 21, 7:30 p.m., Chapel at Conrad Grebel University College. Free admission.

Biomedical Engineering and Technology Research Day, Wednesday, July 24, 11:00 a.m. to 12 noon, poster showcase from 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Register on the Centre for Bioengineering and Biotechnology website by July 10 to reserve a poster space.

Shad Waterloo 2024 Open Day Exhibits, Thursday, July 25, 1:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., Conrad Grebel Great Hall. 

Sweet Dreams: UWaterloo Jazz Ensemble, Sunday, July 28, 2:00 p.m., Great Hall (room 1111) at Conrad Grebel University College. Free admission.

Serenades, Ships, and Tombs: Orchestra@UWaterloo, Sunday, July 28, 7:30 p.m., Knox Presbyterian Church, 50 Erb St. West Waterloo. Free admission.

Last day of lectures and classes, Tuesday, July 30.

Pre-examination study days, Wednesday, July 31 and Thursday, August 1.

Safeguarding Science: Raising awareness of security risks and mitigation tools in the research ecosystem, Wednesday, August 7, 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.

Ontario Mennonite Music Camp, Sunday, August 11 to Friday, August 23. 

Upcoming service interruptions

Stay up to date on service interruptions, campus construction, and other operational changes on the Plant Operations website. Upcoming service interruptions include:

  • MC to QNC Pedestrian Bridge temporary closure, Monday, June 17 to Friday, September 27, no access to bridge between QNC to MC due to construction.
  • Villages Road - Columbia Street link sidewalk construction, Thursday, July 4 to Thursday, July 11, on the exit lane of Villages Road connecting Columbia Street, exit lane might be closed during the day, vehicles will be able to enter Villages Road from Columbi through the right lane but cannot exit. Vehicles are advised to connect to Columbia via Hagey Boulevard.
  • Arts Lecture Hall, Hagey Hall Humanities, Psychology, Tatham Centre fire alarm testing, Friday, July 5, 7:30 a.m. to 8:15 a.m., fire alarm will sound, building evacuation not required.
  • East Campus 1, East Campus 2, East Campus 3 fire alarm testing, Friday, July 5, 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m., fire alarm will sound, building evacuation not required.
  • ESC Main Path crane operation, Saturday, July 6, 6:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Main Path from Rock Garden to the Greenhouse intersection will be closed, temporary closures in D Lot throughout the day, access to ESC bridge closed for duration.
  • William Lyon Mackenzie King Village electrical shutdown, Sunday, July 7, 8:00 a.m. for six hours, normal power will be off including west elevator, emergency power will be available, east elevator will be operational.
  • ESC loading dock crane operation, Monday, July 8, loading dock will be closed for the duration.
  • Indigenous Circle concrete pouring, Monday, July 8 and Tuesday, July 9 (weather permitting), pathways connecting BC Matthews Hall and William Tutte to PAC Main Path to be closed, pathways will be blocked by concrete truck. Pedestrian and bicycle traffic will be rerouted around alternate pathways.
  • Cellular Tower maintenance, Monday, July 8, 7:30 a.m. to 3:0 p.m., Health Services rear driveway by the tower, crane will be operating near emergency services entrance.
  • Engineering 2, Engineering 3, Math & Computer, Davis Centre fire alarm testing, Monday, July 8, 7:30 a.m. to 8:15 a.m., fire alarm will sound, building evacuation not required.
  • Biorem fire alarm testing, Monday, July 8, 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m., fire alarm will sound, building evacuation not required.
  • Modern Languages, Dana Porter Library, Environment 1, Needles Hall, Environment 2, Environment 3 fire alarm testing, Wednesday, July 10, 7:30 a.m. to 8:15 a.m., fire alarm will sound, building evacuation not required.
  • East Campus 4, East Campus 5 fire alarm testing, Wednesday, July 10, 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m., fire alarm will sound, building evacuation not required.
  • University Club, Bauer Warehouse fire alarm testing, Friday, July 12, 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m., fire alarm will sound, building evacuation not required.