Thursday, January 2, 2025

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• In the Year 2025
• Xiaojing Yan: Under the Pines, Over the Clouds at UWAG
• Celebrating the career of Dr. James Bookbinder

In the Year 2025

Well, here we are, a full quarter-century into the 21^st Century.

For those of us who weren't able to secure vacation days today and tomorrow, campus is pretty quiet even as it ramps up for the coming winter term.

Things are busy on the Campus Housing front, however. Regular CLV Front Desk hours resumed operations as of 8:00 a.m. on January 1 so that graduate students can move in. Front Desks at MKV, REV, UWP and V1 opened at 8:00 a.m. today, just in time for Winter 2025 move-in for undergraduate students, which begins at noon today and runs until Monday, January 6.

The Physical Activities Complex and Columbia Icefield Arena reopen at 8:00 a.m. on Thursday, January 2, 2025.

Food Services options are scarce this week. Mudie's in Village 1 opens this afternoon from 3:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. (same hours tomorrow), and at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday, January 4. The Market at UWP opens on Friday, January 3 from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. REVelation in Ron Eydt Village open Saturday, January 4, from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.

The remaining food outlets will open on Monday, January 6, as students return to campus for the winter term.

Campus Wellness opened at 8:30 a.m. today.

The Centre in Needles Hall will be open today and tomorrow from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Regular hours commence on Monday, January 6 through Friday, January 10 (8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. daily).

IST Service Desks in the Davis Centre and Dana Porter libraries opened today at 8:30 a.m. Service desks will be available virtually from Thursday, January 2 onward from 4:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., and will resume regular operating hours across the board on Monday, January 6 from 8:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.

Back to it, folks!

Xiaojing Yan: Under the Pines, Over the Clouds at UWAG

The University of Waterloo Art Gallery (UWAG) is hosting artist Xiaojing Yan's exhibition, Under the Pines, Over the Clouds from January to March with an opening reception on Thursday, January 9.

Under the Pines, Over the Clouds is rooted in Xiaojing Yan’s Chinese heritage and her experience as an immigrant. Her explorations as an artist can be viewed through a similarly bifurcated lens: the forms and landscapes are equally as indebted to the artist’s cultural identity as they are to her empathy for the natural world.

Yan chooses materials based on their symbolic potential: pearls, pine needles, or Lingzi mushrooms for instance. She activates their latent potential by composing them into complex, often unexpected forms. For Spirit Cloud, the artist uses over 33,000 freshwater pearls to create a luminous oscillating matrix that simultaneously evokes a cumulus cloud or a mushroom. In Mountain of Pines, the hazy, mountainous forms from traditional Chinese landscape painting are achieved by weaving thousands of pine needles through sheets of translucent gauze. For the Lingzhi Girl series, mushroom spores are mixed with wood chips before being set in a mould. The cast is then exposed to humidity and light to spur the mycelium to grow transforming the bust into a one-of-a-kind hybrid portrait that combines nature, science and art.

This uneasy balance between culture and nature is the tension at the heart of Yan’s artwork. On the one hand, her work seems modelled on the ideal of the “mind landscape” espoused in traditional Chinese landscape painting, where the pictorial and personal merge towards Zen-like form. On the other, Yan upsets these traditional modes by inserting pearls, pine needles and spores into her hybrid creations. In this manner she cedes human autonomy to a less predictable natural process. Yan’s work explores the ways in which nature, over time, can transcend culture.

Xiaojing Yan is a China-born, Canadian artist who holds an MFA from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and a BFA from Nanjing University of the Arts. She is renowned for labour-intensive works that bridge cultures by intertwining Chinese customs with symbolic materials that forge connections between art, nature, and science. Her figurative sculptures made using mycelial cultures have gained the artist international exposure, and her artworks have been exhibited at the Royal Ontario Museum, Chinese-American Arts Council in New York City, Suzhou Museum in China, and Canadian Cultural Centre in Paris, among many other venues. Her work was recently featured on the cover of Art in America, and her paper Mythical Mushrooms: Hybrid Perspectives on Transcendental Mattersappeared in Leonardo published by MIT Press. She lives and works in Markham, Ontario. Artist Website 

The opening reception takes place on Thursday, January 9 from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at the University of Waterloo Art Gallery on the East Campus.

Celebrating the career of Dr. James Bookbinder

This article was originally published on the Management Science and Engineering website.

The Department of Management Science and Engineering recently gathered to celebrate the remarkable career and well-deserved retirement of Professor James Bookbinder. Throughout his distinguished career, Professor Bookbinder has made extraordinary contributions to the field of operational research and transportation logistics, leaving an indelible mark on both academia and industry.

His journey began over 42 years ago in the Department of Management Science and Engineering (then Management Sciences) in 1981. Over that time, he has become known as a kind, caring, and compassionate colleague within the department. As the director of the Waterloo Management of Integrated Manufacturing Systems research group (WATMIMS), his expertise and insights have been sought by prestigious platforms like the New York Times and BNN, where he has shared his views on global logistics and supply chain issues.

In addition to his academic achievements, Professor Bookbinder has been an influential leader, having served as president of the Canadian Operational Research Society (CORS) and chair of the Transportation and Logistics Section of INFORMS. His dedication to mentorship has shaped the careers of many students who now hold prominent roles in CORS and INFORMS. His work with industry giants like the Canadian Tire Corporation, CN North America, Ford Motor Company of Canada, General Motors of Canada, Revlon of Canada, and the Toronto Transit Commission showcases his ability to bridge the gap between theory and practice.

One of the crowning moments of Professor Bookbinder's career was receiving the 2024 Award of Merit from CORS, recognizing his significant contributions to the profession of operational research. This accolade is a testament to his tireless dedication, innovative thinking, and the profound impact he has had on the field.

As Professor Bookbinder embarks on a new chapter in his life, the MSE department celebrates his accomplishments and legacy. His work paved the way for the future of Management Science and Engineering, and his influence will continue to resonate for years to come both within and outside our department.