News archive - November 2011

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Kids compete in Lego qualifier Sunday in E5

Lego robots, along with creative thinking, problem-solving skills and teamwork, will be in action in the Engineering 5 building on December 4 as 250 youngsters aged nine to 14 compete in the FIRST League Lego (FLL) Waterloo qualifier, co-sponsored by Waterloo Engineering. Competing in this year’s “Food Factor” challenge, the teams have spent the last eight weeks building and programming Lego Mindstorm robots to accomplish up to 15 missions on a specialized mat. The missions include collecting bacteria and washing them off in a sink, delivering groceries, reversing pollution to protect food and lowering the temperature to keep refrigerated food safe. Teams will also present projects to develop innovative solutions to ensure the safe delivery of food to dinner tables.

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Funding announced for 10 new CERCs

The University of Waterloo was the site of the federal government’s announcement that $54 million will be committed to fund 10 new Canada Excellence Research Chairs. The announcement was made November 28 at the Institute for Quantum Computing. In 2010, the program spread about $200 million among 19 researchers, including two at the University of Waterloo. Minister of State for Science and Technology Gary Goodyear said the federal government recognizes the importance of supporting leading-edge research and world-class researchers.

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Students apply award-winning data mining techniques

A team comprised of Waterloo management engineering students Helen Jiang and Sally Lee, and math students Larry Xing and Jonathan Yim took first place in the University of Waterloo Capital One Data Mining Cup held November 24. The goal of the competition was to apply data mining techniques to the problems associated with approving credit card applications and setting spending limits. The winning team used a simple but effective strategy of predicting customer spending patterns using decision trees and least-squares linear regression.

Monday, November 28, 2011

School of Architecture director reappointed

Rick Haldenby, the director of the School of Architecture since 1988, has been reappointed to his position until June 30, 2013. A memo from dean of engineering Adel Sedra reports that Haldenby received strong support in the reappointment process. In order to complete a thorough, international search for Haldenby’s successor, the current nominating committee will continue its work. “The committee’s first step will be to consult with all stakeholders to determine the qualities we should be seeking in a new director,” says Sedra in his memo.

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Engineering ties inside and outside new museum

There’s a significant Waterloo Engineering presence in the new $26 million Waterloo Region Museum located on Huron Road in Kitchener. The museum was designed by Toronto architects Moriyama and Teshima with Waterloo architecture graduate Brian Rudy as the project architect. The project was managed by another Waterloo graduate architect, Roger Farwell, of the Walter Fedy partnership. Display’s include the famous Waterloo Pump, co-designed by Alan Plumtree in the Faculty of Engineering in 1978.