Friday, January 8, 2021

Marking the anniversary of the Ukraine International Flight PS752 crash

By Daily Bulletin staff.

Today marks one year since the crash of Ukraine International Airlines Flight PS752 in Iran on January 8, 2020.

On a scheduled international passenger flight from Tehran to Kiev, the Boeing 737-800 was shot down by missiles by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) three minutes after takeoff from Tehran Imam Khomeini International Airport. Everyone on board the flight was killed.

Today, the University remembers the victims of the tragedy, including members of the Waterloo community: PhD students Marzieh (Mari) Foroutan of the Faculty of Environment and Mansour Esnaashary Esfahani of the Faculty of Engineering, as well as Engineering alumnus Mojgan Daneshmand, her husband Pedram Moussavi, a former post-doctoral fellow in the Faculty of Engineering, and their children, and School of Optometry and Vision Science alumnus Dr. Neda Saddighi.

Last year, after the campus memorial service held in their honour, many across the campus community reached out to ask how they could do more. In response, and with the blessing of the victims’ families, the University established the Mari Foroutan Memorial Graduate Scholarship and the Iranian Student Memorial Engineering Fund, which was established with a plan to issue the first scholarship in 2021.

“Please feel free to support our students in memory of those lost on Ukraine International Flight PS752,” writes Dean Mary Wells in a note to the Engineering community. “[T]hose 176 people who perished in this crash have not been forgotten.

At this past fall’s convocation celebrations, the University awarded posthumous degrees to Esfahani and Foroutan in honour of their academic accomplishments. Esfahani was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy in Civil Engineering. He was conducting his doctoral research in the area of construction automation and management, focusing on adaptive reuse projects in the circular economy.

Foroutan’s graduate work in the department of Geography and Environmental Management focused on the application of new algorithms and technologies in remote sensing to study climate change as well as researching planetary extremes from hyper-arid hot deserts to freezing worlds. She was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy in Geography.

“We could not fulfill our mission of building a sustainable future together without talented and dedicated international students like Mari," says Jean Andrey, Dean of the Faculty of Environment. "I offer my sincerest condolences to her family and friends. Last year we not only lost a gifted environmental problem solver but an exceptional person.”

Today, a number of virtual events will take place around the world to mark the anniversary of the plane crash. The Association of Families of Flight PS752 Victims is holding a virtual memorial event, which will be streamed live from its YouTube channel. According to the Association’s website, the events began last night at 9:42 p.m. eastern time, the moment that the fateful flight took off last year, and will continue today.

If you are grieving and need support, the following resources are available.

Counselling Services - 519-888-4567 ext. 32655
Here 24/7 - 1-844-437-3247
Health Services - Student Medical Clinic - 519-888-4096
Grand River Hospital - 519-749-4300
St. Mary's Hospital - 519-744-3311
Good2Talk - 1-866-925-5454
Crisis Services Canada - 1-833-456-4566 or by text 45645  
Bereavement Ontario Network
Grieving Together Canada
EmpowerMe - 1-833-628-5589

For staff and faculty:

Employee and Family Assistance Program
Occupational Health Nurse
Extended Health Care Benefit for private counselling
UW Chaplains (support all faiths and secular perspectives)

IST's Annual Report celebrates 2020 achievements

A message from Bruce Campbell, Chief Information Officer, Information Systems & Technology.

The work and achievements of Information Systems & Technology (IST) are captured in this 2020 Annual Report. The past year was very busy for IST. The COVID-19 pandemic forced the sudden and unplanned transition of an in-person, on-campus work environment to a distributed experience, dependent on the ability to connect and collaborate remotely. Much of the work IST accomplished throughout the year assisted the University community through the digital transformation that occurred to support remote work, teaching, and learning.

The main articles of the report highlight some of this work, while other achievements are noted under the "Other accomplishments" section. 2021 promises to be another busy year as we continue our work to deliver exceptional IT services and solutions to the campus community.

Visit the IST Annual Report site at https://uwaterloo.ca/ist-annual-report. 

Print + Retail Solutions Celebrates Gord Higginson's retirement

A message from Print + Retail Solutions.

After 35 years of dedicated service to the University of Waterloo community, Gord Higginson will retire on January 15. Since 1986, Gord has been the familiar face of customer service in W Store | Course Materials + Supplies (formerly the Book Store), helping countless students find their academic materials. During Gord’s tenure, more than 175,000 students have graduated from UWaterloo, many of them directly benefitting from his assistance. He has also supported the University’s custom courseware program and served as a text buyer for Arts and Humanities courses. Tirelessly working for his customers, Gord has been frequently recognized for his outstanding service, always willing to go the extra mile to ensure they have what they need.

In reflecting on his decision to retire, Gord comments that, “I’ve noticed much change over the decades, but one thing that hasn't changed is the support and help that I have encountered. I've been privileged to be part of such a dedicated, hardworking and wonderful team, and I will miss you all. But I will be dropping by occasionally (when the present situation returns to normal, of course) and I wish you all the best in the future.”

Please join the P+RS team in wishing Gord many years of quality reading time in his well-deserved retirement. He may even find time to write that book he’s been talking about! 

Gord will continue to be available for well-wishes via his UWaterloo email address.

Waterloo joins forces with National Research Council of Canada to boost industrial 3D printing

By Media Relations. This story first appeared in Waterloo Stories.

Experts at the University of Waterloo and the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) are teaming up to help Canadian companies capitalize on the enormous potential of metal 3D printing technologies.

The collaboration between the NRC, the largest federal research and development organization in the country, and the Multi-Scale Additive Manufacturing (MSAM) Lab at Waterloo will run for at least seven years.

“We want to create in southwestern Ontario a unique ecosystem to support metal additive manufacturing (AM) in terms of research and development and to translate competencies to industry partners,” said Mihaela Vlasea, the associate director of MSAM.

The partnership combines MSAM’s extensive expertise in metal AM process optimization with the NRC’s decades-long experience in materials science and metal powders development to enable research from powder to part.

Teams at Waterloo and the NRC have worked closely for the past three years in the areas of metal AM and process optimization, materials and product characterization, standardized testing and validation.

The collaboration will build on that relationship at a new NRC facility in Mississauga that was officially inaugurated on November 16. The site will launch powder synthesis, recycling and characterization capabilities in Ontario to customize AM and reduce material costs for industry applications. 

To support this collaboration, the NRC awarded close to  $2.6 million worth of equipment to Waterloo as part of its Advanced Manufacturing Supercluster Support program, led by the NRC’s Automotive and Surface Transportation Research Centre. The equipment will be housed at the new Mississauga facility and the university. As part of this collaboration, both partners will also support student research.

A major thrust of the project will be the development of new AM powders – the raw materials at the heart of the technology - using metal alloys that currently aren’t available or are prohibitively expensive.

Researchers will also study re-using and recycling leftover powders, and the use of cheaper, less-refined powders that may still be capable of producing high-quality parts.

The underlying objective is to make AM technology economically viable for more Canadian manufacturers, either by creating new commercial powders – which now number less than two dozen - or dramatically reducing the costs of using existing powders.

The research teams will also study the production of powders by the Canadian mining industry of sufficient quality for AM processes.

“I think we can open up new market sectors by empowering people who currently don’t even think about additive manufacturing because their materials don’t exist or they just cost too much,” said Vlasea, a professor of mechanical and mechatronics engineering at Waterloo.

Metal AM, also known as 3D printing, is now largely limited to high-end, low-volume parts in the aerospace and biomedical fields. The goal is to extend use of the technology to industries including automotive, nuclear, and oil and gas.

The partnership positions researchers at MSAM and the NRC to provide Canadian industry with comprehensive access to advanced manufacturing equipment and expertise, and to secure funding for collaborative efforts.

Classical studies professors search for Cleopatra, and other notes

Sheila Ager, dean of the Faculty of Arts and a professor of classical studies, along with Kelly Olson, a professor in the Department of Classical Studies, appear in the upcoming documentary, Searching for Cleopatra. The documentary will air on CBC's The Nature of Things tonight at 9 p.m. According to the Nature of Things website, the documentary unpacks the many myths surrounding the Egyptian queen and unveils “a stunning and surprising image of what Cleopatra actually looked like.”

A New Year always brings about new goals and intentions. A new virtual health and fitness program from Athletic s and Recreation, Warrior Reset, can help you meet those goals. Running from January 11 to February 4, the program offers participants:

• tips, tricks and actionable items to help move the dial on your health and fitness
• three live workouts per week (full body strength, yoga and HIIT), which will be archived for later viewing
• access to a private Facebook community to find additional motivation and support from peers and a personal training team

 Register by January 10.

The faculty formerly known as AHS is now officially the Faculty of Health. The recently renamed faculty shared a tweet featuring a video to mark occasion:

Read individual Tweet on Twitter