Friday, January 13, 2023

The AI Tsunami - Where will it take us?

A message from the Office of Research.

Join the next Research Talks, a public event and panel discussion on Tuesday, January 24, from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. featuring members of Waterloo Artificial Intelligence Institute (Waterloo.AI) and local industry leaders who will speak about the current and future uses of Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Panelists include:

• Kesha Bodawala, Model Development Lead, P & P Optica (What’s in your food? Assessing the quality of food products using AI)
• Evan Jones, Founder, Stitch Media (Incorporating AI into storytelling and virtual reality)
• Sirisha Rambhatla, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Engineering, University of Waterloo (AI and the future of healthcare)
• Will Zhao, Assistant Professor, Stratford School of Interaction Design and Business, University of Waterloo (Challenge of the Bots: Exploring the social impact of contextual conversational AI)

This public event and panel discussion will take place at Jobsite Brewing Co., 45 Cambria Street, Stratford, ON. Please register to attend as seating is limited.

Keeping tech talent in the region

By Namish Modi. This article originally appeared in the Fall 2022 issue of Waterloo Magazine.

Through its reputation and ability to provide impactful work, Google remains a local staple employer for University of Waterloo co-op students and an essential part of a booming downtown tech core. 

“Waterloo anchors Canada’s tech corridor,” says Kaitlyn Barnett (BSc’ 14), a Google campus outreach program manager. “Being in Kitchener-Waterloo is super valuable. We need to be here to attract and retain talent in Canada. It’s key to Google Waterloo’s success.” 

Google’s Waterloo offices are its biggest centre in Canada. Google Waterloo engineers have helped develop notable products like Chrome and Gmail. Since opening in downtown Kitchener, there have been 211 work terms for Waterloo co-op students. Worldwide since 2004, there have been more than 1,000 Waterloo work terms at Google. 

Construction is underway for a fourth Google building in Waterloo Region, with an 11-storey building on the corner of Breithaupt Street and Moore Avenue in downtown Kitchener. 

The first Google office in the region was located at David Johnston Research & Technology Park at the University of Waterloo’s north campus. In 2011, Google moved to the Tannery in Kitchener and eventually moved to its primary location on Breithaupt Street. 

Barnett believes that the University of Waterloo, which houses one of the bigger engineering and computer science programs and with one of the world’s largest co-op programs, makes it a good source of talent. “Waterloo Region, through its booming startup industry and hubs like Communitech and the Accelerator Centre, makes the area appealing for Google,” says Barnett. She was a Waterloo co-op student herself. 

“(Google Waterloo) is a key engineering site for Canada, so it attracts a lot of talent,” says Barnett. “I think having proximity to the University of Waterloo and sourcing talent from the school helps us to build a pipeline of talent.” 

Google hosts developmental workshops, alumni panels and interview workshops with Waterloo students that help retain and attract future-ready talent. 

“You hear amazing things about Google from literally anybody you talk to anywhere,” says Hima Sheth, a second-year Computer Science student working as a software developer intern in spring 2022 at Google Waterloo. “I think Google’s reputation as such a huge engineering organization is a huge factor when picking a co-op role.” 

Barnett, speaking from personal experience, says, “the co-op program is hugely beneficial and gives students an edge when searching for jobs in the workforce post-graduation.”   

“There are so many professional development skills that come out of being a co-op student that I attribute immensely to my career trajectory,” Barnett says. 

What do Waterloo students bring to Google?

As Google Waterloo offices continue to grow, so do the opportunities for co-op students.

This spring, more than 20 students were working for Google locally. Currently, students are working in a hybrid model, with some days spent in the office and other days remote. 

“I think students are happy to be back on site,” says Kerri Kudsia, intern staffing partner at Google Waterloo. 

Kudsia found Waterloo students to be adaptive and willing to shift to remote work when it was necessary in 2020 because of the pandemic. 

“I think hybrid offers flexibility. We have seen the success of hybrid as a key factor to how the future of the workforce is going,” Barnett says. “Of course, still having that in-person component allows for collaboration and community building.” 

Waterloo’s standout students take on several roles at Google Waterloo, including software developers, engineers, UX engineers and technical research interns. 

Luna Xiaowan Lu (BCS’ 16) worked as a co-op student at multiple Google offices and is now a full-time software developer at the Waterloo Google office. 

Lu says: “There are many benefits of working at Google as a co-op student, including learning a standard way to do things which helped prepare me for a career at the organization.”

Through her work at Google, Lu became a better coder overall while working with more complex servers. The company culture, which is welcoming and helpful, persuaded her to pursue a full-time role at the organization. 

“Once I had Google on my resume, it made it a lot easier for me to find future co-op jobs,” says Lu, who also had co-op work terms at research labs and startup organizations. “The environment at Google was supportive and helped me become a much more positive student in general.” 

Lu believes having a variety of work projects makes Google appealing. She worked on Cloud infrastructure in one co-op term and on Google ads in another co-op term. 

Sheth agrees that working on projects that have a real impact makes co-op terms that much better. In her role, Sheth writes design documents and works on the web side of her product. 

“The sheer responsibility they trust you with is pretty amazing,” Sheth says. “I’ve learned to appreciate aspects of development like coding quality and readability, and it has opened my eyes a little bit more about what problems exist in the world and what problems people are trying to solve.” 

Study refutes industry claims that ban on menthol cigarettes leads to increased use of illegal smokes

A new research study has found that banning menthol cigarettes does not lead more smokers to purchase menthols from illicit sources, contradicting claims made by the tobacco industry that the proposed ban of menthol cigarettes in the U.S. by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will lead to a significant increase in illicit cigarettes.

Researchers at the International Tobacco Control (ITC) Policy Evaluation Project at the University of Waterloo evaluated the impact of federal and provincial menthol cigarette bans in Canada by surveying smokers of menthol and non-menthol cigarettes before and after Canada’s menthol ban. 

Smokers were asked whether their usual cigarette brand was menthol-flavoured and to report their last brand purchased. Those who were still smoking after the menthol ban were also asked where they last purchased their cigarettes. 

Results showed that after the ban, there was no significant change in the purchase of cigarettes from First Nations reserves, the main source of illicit cigarettes in Canada. 

“The tobacco industry has a long history of claiming that policies to reduce smoking will lead to substantial increases in illicit trade,” said Dr. Janet Chung-Hall, a research scientist for ITC and lead author of the new study. “We can add the Canadian menthol ban to the long list of effective policies, such as graphic warnings and plain packaging, whose evaluation disproved the scare tactics by industry—showing that illicit trade did not, in fact, increase.”

A 2022 study that combined the ITC Project data with data from a comparable Ontario evaluation study showed that the Canadian menthol ban led to an increase of 7.3 per cent in quitting among menthol smokers above that of non-menthol smokers. Projecting this effect to the U.S., whose Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has proposed its own menthol ban, the ITC researchers estimate that a U.S. menthol ban would lead 1.33 million smokers to quit.

“Our previous research from Canada and the Netherlands showed that a menthol cigarette ban leads to significant reductions in smoking,” said Dr. Geoffrey Fong, principal investigator of the ITC Project and professor of psychology and public health sciences at Waterloo. “These findings combine to provide powerful evidence in support of FDA’s proposed menthol ban.”

Smoking is still the number-one preventable cause of disease and death around the world. Health authorities, including the World Health Organization, have long called for banning menthol in cigarettes because they promote smoking. Canada was one of the first countries to ban menthol cigarettes, with more than 30 countries implementing similar bans to date.  

The study appears in the journal Tobacco Control.  

Remembering Dr. Michael Smyth

A message from Renison University College.

It is with deep sadness that Renison University College announces the passing of long-time faculty member and former Associate Dean, Dr. Michael Smyth. Michael joined Renison in 1975 as a professor of Psychology in the College’s young Social Development Studies program. He quickly became a very popular lecturer, loved by students and colleagues alike. Michael was appointed Associate Dean in 1993, a position he would hold until his retirement in 2009. Michael was intensely proud of Renison and the Social Development Studies program. He was an excellent advocate for students, helping countless undergrads navigate the rules and regulations of higher education. Michael served on a variety of committees and working groups, including the Undergraduate Affairs Committee, forging a strong and lasting relationship with his colleagues at the University of Waterloo. 

Visitation and funeral services will take place at Erb & Good Funeral Home, 171 King Street South, Waterloo, ON.

Visitations: Saturday, January 14, 3:00 to 5:00 p.m.; Sunday, January 15, 12:30. to 1:30 p.m.

Funeral Service: Sunday, January 15, 1:30 to 2:30 p.m.

Reception: Immediately following Service in Fireside Room

Committal Service: In Spring

The Service will be live streamed and then will be available on the Erb & Good web page for 60 days; the URL will be published on the Erb & Good website when available.

Optometry and Vision Science recruiting for new ocular measurement study

We are recruiting children (aged 6-18) for a study at the University of Waterloo’s School of Optometry and Vision Science. This study seeks to compare the reliability and accuracy of new devices that measure prescription and eye length with existing validated instruments.

This single visit study takes around 1 hour, and will involve repeated measurements of your child’s prescription and eye length with 4 different instruments, similar to those encountered at an optometrist’s office. All devices in this study are safe for use and conform with health and safety standards. We will be using anaesthetic and dilating eye drops. Children will receive $20 for their time and parking vouchers will be provided as needed.

If you are interested in participating, or would like to book your first appointment, please contact Dr. Amy Chow (amy.chow@uwaterloo.ca). Please provide the study ID “CALM” when you email. This study has been reviewed and received ethics clearance through the University of Waterloo Research Ethics Board.