Events

An enduring appeal of interactive entertainment media such as video games is that they invite the user to co-create the on-screen experience. More than an invitation, these experiences demand near-constant attention from players—and do so on myriad dimensions, including cognitive (problem-solving), emotional (affective reactions), apparatus (control or interface intuitiveness), exertional (physical activity) and social (attending to social agents). Individually and combined, these sources of demand are mediators for understanding the relationship between formal features of interactive media and intended (or unintended) outcomes of usage.

This presentation will present and review an interactivity-as-demand model based on prior and ongoing research into video games and virtual reality technologies, with specific implications for game design and player psychology.

Speaker Bio: Nick Bowman (PhD, Michigan State University) is an Associate Professor of Emerging Media at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. His research focuses on the uses and effects of interactive and immersive media, with specific interests in social media, video games, and metaverse technologies. He has published more than

125 peer-reviewed manuscripts and co-authored more than 200 competitively selected conference presentations. He is the editor of Journal of Media Psychology and associate editor for Technology, Mind, and Behavior. Recently, he completed a term as the Fulbright Taiwan Wu Jing-Jyi Arts & Culture Fellow and the National Chengchi University in Taipei, where he was researching the cognitive, emotional, physical, and social demands of virtual reality experiences, including video gaming and digital advertising campaigns. He is a lifelong gamer, part-time mechanic, and an excited-yet-skeptical futurist.

Meditation has been shown to reduce stress, increase balance and stillness, increase awareness, and even expand acceptance and compassion for yourself and others.  Each week will vary slightly. “Practices” include breathing, mindfulness, body awareness, earthly grounding, spacial awareness, centring, and more.

Sessions are facilitated from a well-being perspective. No religious affiliation is needed. Everyone is welcome to participate. All experience levels are welcome from advanced practitioners to those who are trying meditation  for the first time.

Why not give it a try! Gift yourself with a few moments of stillness to reset and recharge. It’s as true for  people as it is with technology as well as people...we can all benefit from shutting down for a few moments and recharging.

This session is open to all members of the FoE community. Please bring your own meditation pillow or mat to sit on.

What if we could make complex social and cultural questions playable? And what if we could do so through interactions with familiar digital interfaces set in alternative presents and near futures? The work I will discuss sits at the intersection between the design traditions of speculative and critical design on the one hand, and the philosophies and best practices of game design, playful media and interaction design on the other. It turns out, though, that an arranged marriage between these traditions produces unusual offspring. In this talk, grounded in examples including outsourcing religious tolerance to technological solutions, Indigenous Hawaiians undertaking space travel, matrimonial websites from the near future, and flirtatious AI chatbot therapists, I make the case for paratopian design, which is neither utopian
nor dystopian, but proposes paradigm shifts that invite us to reconceptualize and reconsider the building blocks of "here" & "now".

This event is part of the “ADE for Game Communities: Enculturing Anti-Racism, Decolonization, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (ADE) in Games Research and Creation” series from the ADE Committee of the Games Institute, University of Waterloo, and is supported in part by funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.

Speaker Bio: Dr. Rilla Khaled is an Associate Professor of Design and Computation Arts at Concordia University in Montréal. She directs the Technoculture, Art and Games (TAG) Research Centre. Her work focuses on how playful media can improve daily life, and spans designing award-winning games, creating speculative prototypes of near-future technologies, working with BIPOC communities to materialise inclusive futures, establishing foundations for recoverable, materials-based game design research, and articulating boundaries for experimental uses of AI.

The Department of Chemical Engineering (ChE) and the Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology (WIN) are partnering to organize a series of discourses on technology-based solutions to global challenges linked to UN Sustainable Development Goals.

We are pleased to present another discourse in our series: Circular Economies: Electronic and Electrochemical Devices.

The distinguished panel for this event comprises Komal Habib (SEED), Steven Young(SEED), Ting Tsui (ChE), Michael Fowler (ChE), and Asmae Mokrini from the National Research Council (NRC).

Please join us in Faculty Hall, (E7-7303/7363) from 2:30 - 3:30pm.

Registration is required! Refreshments will be provided.

Join us for a special milestone marking the 10th Anniversary of the University of Waterloo Water Institute Collaborative Water Program (CWP)! It's time to celebrate 10 remarkable cohorts of CWP graduates from the most interdisciplinary water graduate program in Canada.

The Water Institute and the Collaborative Water Program team are delighted to organize this anniversary celebration welcoming our alumni back to Waterloo,
offering a platform to exchange your experiences and insights from the water sector and beyond. Be part of this exciting gathering and get ready to reminisce and forge new connections at the upcoming event!

The anniversary celebration program includes:

Welcome

Nandita Basu
Director, Collaborative Water Program
Canada Research Chair in Global Water Sustainability and Ecohydrology
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth and Environmental Sciences

CWP Alumni Panel

Rob De Loë
Facilitator, Director Emeritus, Collaborative Water Program
Professor & Associate Dean, Research
Faculty of Environment, School of Environment, Resources and Sustainability (SERS)

Catherine Brown
Knowledge Mobilization Specialist, Ducks Unlimited, CWP Cohort 2 (2014/15)

Sabrina Bedjera
Policy Analyst, Natural Resources Canada, CWP Cohort 3 (2015/16)

Thadshayini Chandrakumaran
Associate, Miller Thomson, CWP Cohort 3 (2015/16)

Frederick Cheng
Postdoctoral Fellow, Colorado State University, CWP Cohort 3 (2015/16)

Chris Muirhead
Water Resources Engineer | Integrated Water Management Service Line Coordinator, GHD, CWP Cohort 4 (2016/17)

Laina Timberg
Indigenous Community Relations Specialist, Metrolinx, CWP Cohort 8 (2020/21)

Keynote Address

Bruce MacVicar
Director Emeritus, Collaborative Water Program
Associate Professor, Faculty of Engineering, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Tony Maas, Senior Policy Officer, Office of the Prime Minister of Canada

Special Announcement

Mark Servos
Director Emeritus, Collaborative Water Program
Professor, Canada Research Chair in Water Quality Protection
Faculty of Science, Department of Biology

Closing remarks and adjournment

Dustin Garrick
Director Designate 2024-25, Collaborative Water Program
Associate Professor & University Research Chair
Faculty of Environment, School of Environment, Resources, and Sustainability

Reception

The evening reception offers a chance to unwind and connect with fellow alumni, CWP faculty, and current students over refreshments and appetizers. Do not miss this special anniversary celebration filled with knowledge sharing, networking, and reminiscing.

We can't wait to welcome you back to Waterloo!

Friday, November 3, 2023
3:00 – 5:00 p.m. (Program)
5:00 – 7:00 p.m. (Reception)
SLC Black and Gold Room
University of Waterloo

Meditation has been shown to reduce stress, increase balance and stillness, increase awareness, and even expand acceptance and compassion for yourself and others.  Each week will vary slightly. “Practices” include breathing, mindfulness, body awareness, earthly grounding, spacial awareness, centring, and more.

Sessions are facilitated from a well-being perspective. No religious affiliation is needed. Everyone is welcome to participate. All experience levels are welcome from advanced practitioners to those who are trying meditation  for the first time.

Why not give it a try! Gift yourself with a few moments of stillness to reset and recharge. It’s as true for  people as it is with technology as well as people...we can all benefit from shutting down for a few moments and recharging.

This session is open to all members of the FoE community. Please bring your own meditation pillow or mat to sit on.

Are you feeling exhausted, unmotivated, and negative about work or life? You might be experiencing burnout.

Burnout is defined as "a state of emotional, physical and mental exhaustion caused by excessive and prolonged stress" (CAMH). Burnout can leave people feeling physically and emotionally drained, like everything is a huge effort, and can result in lower productivity or impaired ability to function.

While burnout was first identified in relation to work and career, it can occur across a variety of settings, and across any vocation. In recent years, concerns about post-secondary student burnout has been increasing.

Approximately 78% of Canadian employees reported feeling burnt-out at some point in their careers, and 35% say they are currently experiencing burnout (Benefits Canada, 2023) Similarly, the 2022 Canadian Campus Wellbeing Survey, found that over 40% of students reported being tired out for no good reason most or all of the time, over 30% reported feeling nervous most or all of the time, and over 30% felt that everything was an effort most or all of the time.

Burnout can occur as a result of chronic stress with little time for recovery and rest. When left unaddressed, burnout can result in larger, and even long-term concerns. In this evidence-based session, we will explore the causes and signs of burn-out, as well as some practical strategies for addressing and preventing burnout.

Meditation has been shown to reduce stress, increase balance and stillness, increase awareness, and even expand acceptance and compassion for yourself and others.  Each week will vary slightly. “Practices” include breathing, mindfulness, body awareness, earthly grounding, spacial awareness, centring, and more.

Sessions are facilitated from a well-being perspective. No religious affiliation is needed. Everyone is welcome to participate. All experience levels are welcome from advanced practitioners to those who are trying meditation  for the first time.

Why not give it a try! Gift yourself with a few moments of stillness to reset and recharge. It’s as true for  people as it is with technology as well as people...we can all benefit from shutting down for a few moments and recharging.

This session is open to all members of the FoE community. Please bring your own meditation pillow or mat to sit on.

The National Conference on Diversity in Engineering 2023 aims to develop knowledge and have conversations surrounding the variety of individuals, cultures and perspectives found within engineering communities. This conference is one of conversation, reflection, and inspiration, aiming to instill a notion of positivity and togetherness in creating spaces that value the diversity within groups of engineering students and professionals. This year's conference will be hosted by the University of Waterloo from November 17-20th, 2023 with over 140 engineering students from 39 universities across Canada.

The National Conference on Diversity in Engineering 2023 aims to develop knowledge and have conversations surrounding the variety of individuals, cultures and perspectives found within engineering communities. This conference is one of conversation, reflection, and inspiration, aiming to instill a notion of positivity and togetherness in creating spaces that value the diversity within groups of engineering students and professionals. This year's conference will be hosted by the University of Waterloo from November 17-20th, 2023 with over 140 engineering students from 39 universities across Canada.