Thursday, July 11, 2024

From WatSAFE to Regroup, a new ENS system rolls out across campus

A change to the University of Waterloo’s Emergency Notification System (ENS) is on the horizon. On October 1, 2024, the University will retire its WatSAFE app and replace it with the Regroup Mobile app. The change is part of a new, integrated ENS that will be fully implemented by October 1, 2024.

“Making campus safer is a duty we all share, and you can contribute by downloading the Regroup Mobile app to your phone now,” wrote Jacinda Reitsma, Vice-President, Administration and Finance in an email sent to the campus community this morning.

You can download the app using instructions found on the University’s emergency notifications website.

“The move away from WatSAFE to Regroup Mobile follows a comprehensive review of our emergency notifications in the wake of the hate-motivated attack at Hagey Hall on June 28, 2023,” Reitmsa writes. “Regroup Mobile was chosen for its simplified notification process, ensuring fast, accurate and consistent emergency messaging across text/SMS, voice calls, emails, mobile app push notifications, social media platforms and desktop alerts. The system also meets all UWaterloo's security and privacy requirements and complies with all privacy and security laws and regulations provincially and nationally.​”

This transition is led by the Safety Office, Information Systems Technology, and University Relations. In addition to the new app, the University is also implementing a new emergency communication program to align with best practices and ensure continuous improvement in emergency communications.  

“For more information on Regroup Mobile we encourage everyone to visit the Emergency Notifications website for detailed information on how to download and customize the app, as well as to answer any questions you may have about how Regroup Mobile will help make campus safer for everyone,” Reitsma writes. “We urge all members of our campus community to get the new app and to make sure that your phone number is up to date.”

For all students, please ensure that your Quest profile information, including your cellular phone, is up to date so your information in the Regroup Mobile app is current.

If you have any questions about the new system, or any difficulties downloading or logging in to the app, please email ens@uwaterloo.ca.  

You're invited to the Wicked Problem of Precarity Symposium

A message from the Teaching Innovation Incubator.

In the spring 2024 semester, our campus embraced a unique academic venture with the launch of the Wicked Problem of Precarity course. This innovative course, co-taught by three doctoral students from the Faculty of Health, Faculty of Environment, and Faculty of Arts, gathered undergraduate students across the five faculties to collaboratively explore and address the complex issue of precarity.

The course fostered a rich, interdisciplinary environment, enabling students to delve into how precarity—manifesting as poverty, homelessness, housing scarcity, and more—affects various aspects of life. Now, we are excited to present the culmination of their hard work at the Wicked Problem of Precarity Course Symposium.

Symposium highlights:

• Poster Presentations: Discover the creative solutions to precarity problems proposed by our undergraduates. Their final projects span a range of topics, each offering a fresh perspective on tackling real-world issues.
• Graduate Student Insights: Hear directly from the doctoral students who co-designed and taught the course. They will share their experiences and insights into the process of developing this interdisciplinary learning experience.
• Interdisciplinary Approaches: Gain a deeper understanding of how combining different fields of expertise can lead to innovative solutions to complex societal challenges.
• Networking and Refreshments: Enjoy an afternoon of engaging discussions and networking opportunities, complemented by grazing platters and drinks.

This symposium is a fantastic opportunity to connect with fellow staff, students, and faculty, and to learn about the impactful work being done on our campus to address the pressing issue of precarity through innovative teaching approaches.

All staff, faculty, and students are welcome! Whether you are interested in innovative teaching methods, interdisciplinary research, or simply curious about the course’s outcomes, we invite you to join us for an informative and inspiring afternoon.

Please register through Ticketfi to secure your spot.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Breathe easy: you can borrow a carbon dioxide monitor on campus

By Angela Rooke.

Students, staff and faculty can now borrow devices to track air quality in their living, working and study spaces. Ryan Tennant, a PhD candidate in Systems Design Engineering, secured funds from the Waterloo Engineering Endowment Fund to purchase nine Aranet4 CO₂ monitors which are now available for loan through UWaterloo Libraries.

Ryan already owns two of his own Aranet4 CO₂ monitors. He was inspired to seek out special funding to make the technology available to the larger UW community. When asked for his motivation to make them more widely available, Ryan says, “I wanted to promote awareness and understanding of indoor air quality among our UW community. By making this technology easily accessible through the Library, we can empower students, faculty, and staff with the information they need to take proactive steps in maintaining a healthy indoor environment.”

As Ryan further explains, “Knowing the real-time concentration of CO₂ in your space can help inform your actions. If the monitors suggest you’re in a high CO₂ environment, you can open a window, move to a space with better ventilation, or turn on a portable air filtration device. These actions can not only improve concentration and cognition, reduce the risk of headaches and fatigue, but can also reduce the risk of spreading illnesses that float through the air.”

The primary contributor to indoor CO₂ is respiration from humans. Without enough fresh outdoor air circulation, the concentration of the gas increases in indoor environments. Baseline CO₂ levels are measured in parts per million (ppm), and outdoor levels are typically around 420 ppm. While CO₂ is not inherently dangerous, when the levels exceed 1000 ppm, we may feel tired and have reduced cognition and decision-making performance. As CO₂ rises to over 1500 ppm, we may experience headaches, fatigue, poor concentration, and loss of focus. High CO₂ also indicates that we may be breathing more of each other’s exhaled air, increasing the risk of spreading and inhaling respiratory particles which can carry viruses and make people sick. Some contagious illnesses that float on respiratory particles include Measles, Influenza, RSV, Strep A, Norovirus, and SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19).

UWaterloo Library has kindly agreed to circulate the monitors to the campus community, and you can now borrow a CO₂ monitor by checking it out at Davis Centre, Dana Porter or Musagetes Library.

Thursday's notes

"Connect with the environment!" says a note from GreenHouse. "Join us this July with an all new Changemaker Labs Series. Take a break from your studies and work and join us in exploring the outdoors while learning a little something something on the side." 

 Pretty SLICC, if you ask me: The Centre for Teaching Excellence is running a workshop entitled Student Led Individually Created Course (SLICC) Instructor Workshop: Introduction to the SLICC Framework (CTE7030) on Tuesday, July 23 from 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. in MC 2036.

"In this workshop, we will look at The Student Led Individually Created Course (SLICC) reflective experiential learning framework, a framework that is inherently flexible, and promotes student ownership and autonomy through co-creation of their learning experience," says a note from course creators. "The SLICC framework can be integrated into courses at different levels, varying class sizes, and is well suited to capstone and field courses, research and project-based courses, work placements, volunteer, and community service-learning opportunities."

That's rich: The Chemistry department is hosting Dr. Jason L. Dutton of the Department of Biochemistry and Chemistry at La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia for a seminar tomorrow entitled "How electron poor can we make gold(III)?"

"The title says it all really, and the answer is pretty darn electron poor it turns out," says the talk's abstract. "In this seminar, we will discuss our foray into gold(III) coordination chemistry, and our efforts to render Au(III) centres as reactive as possible by making them as electron poor as we can."

The seminar takes place on Friday, July 12 at 2:30 p.m. in the C2-361 Reading Room.