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Celebration 2017 initiative launches with committee, event
A project to leave a lasting legacy on campus in the wake of Canada’s 150th and the University of Waterloo’s 60th anniversaries is moving forward with the striking of a steering committee and the scheduling of the initiative’s launch event.
Celebration 2017 aims to involve students in designing an innovative and creative space on campus that will be enjoyed for generations to come, embodying Waterloo’s image as a hub for innovation and celebrating Canada’s spirit of diversity and inclusion.
The Celebration 2017 initiative is based on the University of Waterloo's i3 Challenge in 2010-2011. Today, the winning i3 design can be seen at the south campus entryway to the Waterloo campus.
The first step after the initiative’s initial announcement in January 2017 was to form a Steering Committee and develop its terms of reference. The committee members are:
- Jeff Casello, Associate Provost, Graduate Studies, Co-Chair
- Peggy Jarvie, Associate Provost, Co-operative and Experiential Education, Co-Chair
- AJ Wray, undergraduate student representative
- Ioana Dragon, Undergraduate student representative
- Sean Maciel, Graduate student representative
- Karen Hammond, School of Planning, faculty representative
- Tina Roberts, Marketing & Undergraduate Recruitment
- Kristen Leal, staff representative
- Harry Bakker, Executive Director, Plant Operations
- Sue Fraser, Retiree Association
The initiative officially gets underway this week and will involve a three stage challenge that sees interdisciplinary teams of Waterloo students competing to design a space on campus where the current Arts Quad is located.
The winning design will be announced at the 2017 President’s Town Hall on November 14, 2017; the successful student team will win $10,000. Prizes of $500 and $1,000 are also available for the top teams in competition stages one and two.
A jury will be selected that will include representation from faculty, alumni and external constituents.
The initiative’s launch event takes place on Tuesday, April 11 from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. in the Bombshelter Pub at the Student Life Centre. Brief remarks will begin at 4:20 p.m.
Students who are interested in competing in the challenge can drop in during the launch to learn more about the competition.
Current students can bring their teammates and come to ask questions, or come meet up with possible team members.
Site maps and brainstorming resources will be available at the event. Free refreshments will be available while supplies last.
Members of the project Steering Committee will be in attendance.
Team registration forms and other bits of useful information are available on the Celebration 2017 website.
Profs get funding for research into collaboration
This is an excerpt of an article originally published on the Cheriton School of Computer Science news site.
Professor Jesse Hoey, along with professor Mei Nagappan and international collaborators, have received a grant for more than $850,000 CAD from the Trans-Atlantic Platform for the Social Sciences and Humanities (T-AP) for their proposal titled “THEMIS.COG: Theoretical And Empirical Modeling Of Identity And Sentiments In Collaborative Groups.”
The team’s research will explore social and psychological mechanisms of self-organized collaborations, focusing on the open, collaborative software development platform GitHub. The team brings together the expertise of sociologist Kimberly Rogers from Dartmouth College (USA) and cognitive scientist Tobias Schroeder from Potsdam University of Applied Sciences (Germany) with that of Cheriton School of Computer Science’s software engineer Mei Nagappan and computer scientist Jesse Hoey.
With this funding in place, Hoey’s team will provide new data-driven theoretical insights into what motivates self-organized collaborations and determines their success. They will apply a computational model of human interaction that makes predictions about online interactions in a collaborative group. The research will provide empirical validation of sociological theory and formal answers to important social science questions about collaboration as well as generate novel research questions by expanding a theoretical model of small groups to the network level.
Read the full story on the Computer Science news page.
Margaret Trudeau: Changing My Mind, A Discussion on Mental Health
As part of the tenth anniversary of the Waterloo Staff Conference, a special evening event will be held with distinguished guest speaker and Canadian icon, Margaret Trudeau. Margaret brings her formidable life story to the stage in her quest to help others, sharing her message of resilience with the goal of helping to inspire others and to erase the stigma surrounding mental health issues. Register for this event today. This event is open to both staff, faculty, and retirees.
The presentation will take place on Tuesday, April 4 from 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. in the Humanities Theatre. Margaret will be signing copies of her book, Changing My Mind, available for sale at the event thanks to the Waterloo Bookstore.
A wine and cheese reception will also follow the event in the Don Craig Atrium, School of Accounting & Finance.
Inquiries about this event can be directed to contact Mark Lisetto-Smith, Coordinator, Communications & Events, Organizational & Human Development.
Photograph by Peter Bregg.
GRT buses run today and other notes
On Sunday afternoon, the Region of Waterloo announced that a tentative agreement has been reached with Unifor Local 4304, delaying any strike action until 5:00 a.m. on Wednesday, April 5. Buses will be running on Monday morning.
The Honourable Kirsty Duncan, Minister of Science and the Honourable Bardish Chagger, Minister of Small Business and Tourism, will be on campus today to make a government announcement in the Bruce White Atrium in Mathematics 3 at 9:30 a.m.
The Department of Athletics and Recreation handed out their year-end awards at the 57thannual Athletics Banquet on Friday evening at St. George Banquet Hall. Mohamed Yassin from track and field and Stephanie Sluys from women's hockey took home the top honours as athletes of the year. Check out the full story on the Athletics site.