Thursday, December 19, 2024

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• Richard Florizone appointed Special Advisor to the President and Provost on Global Futures Networks

• Banking on community to keep shelves stocked
• You're invited to the Freedom of Expression and Inclusive Engagement panel discussion
• Andrea Rottmann named winner of 2023 WCGS Book Prize
• Theoretical neuroscientists receive ENNS Best Paper Award at ICANN 2024
• Session will give overview and introduction of inclusive research resources
• Systems Design Engineering celebrates the remarkable career of Kumaraswamy Ponnambalam

Richard Florizone appointed Special Advisor to the President and Provost on Global Futures Networks

A message from James W.E. Rush, Vice-President, Academic and Provost.

Waterloo at 100 recognizes that the world’s complex challenges will continue to evolve and that our University itself must evolve to meet these needs. Waterloo’s Global Futures Networks, at the core of Waterloo at 100, outline the five interconnected impact areas where the University can help shape the future of humanity and our planet: Societal, Health, Sustainable, Technological, and Economic Futures. These Global Futures are advanced through a variety of initiatives, programs, and engagements that cut across the University’s mission in research, education, service, and outreach.

Due to a combination of factors, including budget considerations, leadership changes in the roles of President and Provost, and the need for additional structural adjustments, the search for the Associate Vice-President, Global Futures has been put on hold. This pause will provide time to ensure the right structure and staff support is in place for the Global Futures Networks Office before an AVP, Global Futures is appointed.

In the meantime, to support the advancement of the Global Futures Networks with its initial activities and programs of support, the University will engage Dr. Richard Florizone on a part-time basis to serve as Special Advisor to the President and Provost on Global Futures Networks for a 12-month period commencing January 1, 2025. Dr. Florizone will provide strategic direction to the development of the Global Futures Office, an institutional cross-campus portfolio advancing initiatives aligned with the five interconnected Global Futures. At the same time, Dr. Florizone will support continued momentum and advancement of the Global Futures Networks initiatives and activities, including supporting the launch of the Health Futures.

As a President Emeritus of Dalhousie University, Dr. Florizone brings significant experience in academic leadership. In combination with his expertise in creating transformative change in sustainability as a Distinguished Fellow of the International Institute for Sustainable Development, a policy advisor to senior leaders in public and private industry, among many other contributions, Dr. Florizone is uniquely positioned to fulfill the requirements of Special Advisor. Recently, he has worked with Waterloo to lead facilitated conversations with a broad cross-section of University leaders and contributors in research, education, and service activity related to Sustainable Futures. Through this work, Dr. Florizone has identified sustainability impact areas appropriate for the University based on its strengths and where the greatest opportunities exist for Sustainable Futures.

To support Dr. Florizone in this work to spur innovative ideas that drive academic change, Fayaz Noormohamed, currently Senior Director, Strategy and Implementation in the Office of the President will be assigned to the role of Interim Executive Director, Global Futures Networks commencing January 1, 2025, where the majority of his time will be spent over the next 12 months. Under the supervision of the Special Advisor to the President and Provost on Global Futures Networks, the Interim Executive Director will oversee the development of the Global Futures Office, which includes setting the Office’s multi-year strategy; managing the Global Futures Fund for developmental activities; fostering external, community, and campus engagement; convening collaborative working groups and advisory supports to explore and develop Global Futures initiatives; organizing and overseeing resources for a shared services model to advance the Global Futures Networks; and overseeing the implementation of a communications and marketing strategy. During this period, Fayaz will also continue in his role with the President’s Office in a limited capacity.

Banking on community to keep shelves stocked

Employees in Advancement and University Relations rolled up their sleeves and pitched in to support the Food Bank of Waterloo Region this fall term at the Food Bank Sorting Challenge.

Andrea Rottmann named winner of 2023 WCGS Book Prize

A message from the Waterloo Centre for German Studies.

Andrea Rottmann, author of Queer Lives across the Wall: Desire and Danger in Divided Berlin, 1945–1970 (University of Toronto Press), has been awarded the Waterloo Centre for German Studies Book Prize for first books published in 2023.

Dr. Rottmann, a postdoctoral researcher at the Freie Universität Berlin, has written a book tracing the everyday lives - both public and private - of queer Berliners from the end of the Nazi regime in 1945 through to the emergence of the gay and lesbian liberation movements of the 1970s. The book was lauded by the jury for its ability to bring the reader closer to understanding the lives people lived, connecting their troubles with the “big ideas” that animate scholarly work.

An accessible book that exemplifies many of the objectives of the WCGS Book Prize, it will be an important touchstone for many working in queer studies, German studies, and points in between. As one juror put it, "this book is not only clearly written, it's beautifully written." The photographs from real people's lives that illustrate the book bring into even sharper focus the "places where life is actually lived."

The Waterloo Centre for German Studies, a research institute at the University of Waterloo, promotes scholarly inquiry into all aspects of the German-speaking world. As part of this mandate, the WCGS takes great pride in sponsoring an award that celebrates the dynamic and engaging scholarship occurring in all fields of German Studies. The prize is adjudicated by a jury of German studies scholars chaired by James M. Skidmore, Director of the Centre. Members of this year's jury were Peter C. Caldwell (Rice University), Christina Kraenzle (York University), Suzanne Marchand (Louisiana State University), and Ernest Schonfield (University of Glasgow).

The prize consists of a cash award of CAD $3,000 and an invitation to give a public talk on her book. For more information, please contact wcgs@uwaterloo.ca or visit our website where you'll find all of the books shortlisted for this year's prize.

Theoretical neuroscientists receive ENNS Best Paper Award at ICANN 2024

Front (L to R): Kathryn Simone, Professor Jeff Orchard (sitting), P. Michael Furlong; Back (L to R): Maddy Bartlett, Terry C. Stewart, Nicole Dumont, Professor Chris Eliasmith.

This is an excerpt of an article originally published on the Cheriton School of Computer Science website.

A team of theoretical neuroscientists has received the European Neural Network Society Best Paper Award at ICANN 2024, the 33^rd International Conference on Artificial Neural Networks. The prestigious recognition was given for their paper “Biologically-plausible Markov Chain Monte Carlo Sampling from Vector Symbolic Algebra-encoded Distributions.”

Led by P. Michael Furlong, Research Officer at the NRC-UW Collaboration Centre, along with colleagues Kathryn Simone, Nicole Dumont, Madeleine Bartlett, Terrence Stewart and Professors Jeff Orchard and Chris Eliasmith, the work describes a way that a network of spiking neurons can generate random samples from a probability distribution. The distribution is encoded using vector symbolic algebra, a type of compositional language embedded in a vector space.

“How do brains represent probability distributions and sample from them to make decisions, plan into the future, or imagine different scenarios?,” said Nicole Dumont, a PhD candidate at the Cheriton School of Computer Science. “Models of such functions should be able to sample different types of structures, not just numbers but things such as trajectories through a space like your office building, sequences of actions, and even language.”

Vector symbolic algebras provide a unifying framework for representing these different data structures and more, all in a high-dimensional vector space, using the properties of distributed representations.

“We introduced an algorithm for sampling from distributions represented in a particular vector symbolic algebra,” Dr. Simone explains. “It enables us to sample different kinds of data structures all using the same recurrent neural network architecture. We like this approach because it provides a generalizable neural circuit that could explain behaviour in the face of uncertainty for many kinds of tasks.” Dr. Furlong continued, “It would make sense that the brain would have a decision-making mechanism that can work in many different scenarios, instead of just one circuit per decision. We demonstrated that capability by sampling over a few different data structures. In our future work, we will include more complex structures, like language.”

Read the full article on the Cheriton School of Computer Science website.

Session will give overview and introduction of inclusive research resources

A message from the Office of the Vice-President, Research and International.

The Inclusive Research Team is hosting Overview and Introduction: Inclusive Research Resources (Introductory Session) on Thursday, January 16, 2025, from 11:00 a.m. to 12 noon. Are you planning to attend?

The Inclusive Research Team is dedicated to intentionally supporting faculty to build equitable and inclusive research practices for rigorous research. This presentation is focused on providing you with an introduction to the resources and supports provided by the Inclusive Research Team within the Office of the Vice-President, Research and International, including how to navigate the Inclusive Research Resource Hub and how we support embedding EDI in grant applications.

Please registerto receive the Zoom link to participate.

Hub feature

The Hub is a resource library of important documents focused on EDI and Indigenous research to support the UWaterloo community as they integrate EDI into their research designs and teams. The Hub was created as part of the Inclusive Research Team’s commitment to ongoing development and capacity building to support equitable and inclusive research practices.

Learn how to use the Inclusive Research Resource Hub to find EDI and Indigenous Research Resources with the new Navigating the Hub Guide!

Upcoming webinars:

Inclusive Research Tools: Identifying and Addressing Barriers, Thursday, February 6, 2025, 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m., register.

The Foundation: Building Inclusive Teams, Friday, March 7, 2025, 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m., register.

What is GBA+ Anyway? An Introduction,Monday, March 24, 2025, 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m., register.

The Decolonial “R’s” of Research: Principled Approaches to Engaging Indigenous Communities, Monday, April 28, 2025, 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m., register.

Resources 

• Inclusive Resource Hub
• Our website

For more information or questions, please reach out to research.equity@uwaterloo.ca or Indigenous.Research@uwaterloo.ca.

Systems Design Engineering celebrates the remarkable career of Kumaraswamy Ponnambalam

This article was originally published on the Systems Design Engineering website.

The Systems Design Engineering (SYDE) community gathered December 12 in E7 to honour Professor Kumaraswamy Ponnambalam, fondly known as Ponnu, for a heartfelt retirement celebration. The event, filled with laughter, memories, and a touch of Ponnu’s signature wisdom, marked a new phase for his role at Waterloo after over 35 years.   

Ponnu baffled attendees by trying to lecture (with graphs) on how models for “decision-making under uncertainty” could be applied to his retirement income.  His reflections with characteristic hard-hitting reflection on his time at the university included a graph of how global wealth distribution had skewed the wealthy in his time at UWaterloo. Acknowledging the support he has received throughout his career, he praised his students stating, "My PhD students give me so much of their effort, love, time, and discussions. I am thankful for them."  He concluded with an inspiring reminder: "Don’t stop learning." 

Numerous retired colleagues, former students and current collaborators commemorated the occasion with many candid moments including Ponnu’s daughter, Canmanie (one of Ponnu’s 4 children), presenting a book of letters from around the world of people thanking and congratulating Ponnu. Many in attendance joined Ponnu and his wife Tuiley to take a Spanish dance lesson – a request from Ponnu as he wanted to celebrate his time with dance! 

Thank you, Ponnu —you will be deeply missed! 

Visit the Systems Design Engineering page for more photos from Ponnu's retirement event