Daily Bulletin

University of Waterloo -- Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

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Tuesday, August 13, 1996

Grad wins Institute Fellowship

A graduate engineering student at UW has received a 1996 Fellowship from the National Optical Institute. Richard Fuchs, who is working toward a master's degree in micro-electro-mechanical systems, was one of six young researchers recently presented with the awards, worth $11,000 a year at the master's level and $13,000 at the Ph.D. level. "These students show an exceptional potential and it is our duty to implement conditions which are conducive to fostering their talent," said Jean-Guy Paquet, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Photonics Research Institute based in Sainte-Foy, Quebec. The Institute launched the Fellowship Program in 1993 to develop scientific talent in the areas of optical systems and components, photonic materials and processes, photonics and guided optics, laser system technologies and information processing. Photonics is the high-speed transmission of information as pulses of laser light using optical fibre and other components.

Exams end today

Today's the last day for spring term examinations. And final results, both for the spring and summer exams, are due on Tuesday, Aug. 20.

Problem-solvers meet here

Teachers from across Canada and the United States are arriving today on campus to expand their expertise at problem solving in mathematics. They'll be attending the Problem Conference '96 at the Ron Eydt Village, with formal sessions getting under way tomorrow. The conference ends Saturday. "Our major conference for 1996 is devoted to mathematical problem solving in Grades 9 to 13," said Gordon Nicholls, Managing Director of the Centre for Education in Mathematics and Computing, which is sponsoring the event. About 55 high school and university teachers are expected from nine U.S. states and four Canadian provinces.

The conference will present different aspects of problem solving, including:

• Adapting problems for use in the classroom;
• Incorporating problem solving into a regular math classroom;
• Creating problems for specific situations.

"The participants will increase their skills in problem solving and will put together a bank of problems that will be usable in the classrooms," Nicholls said. "The aim is to increase the quality of education in mathematics." Although organizers from the Centre had hoped that younger teachers would outnumber veterans at the conference, most of the participants will be experienced teachers. The UW Centre was set up last September to do research on education, curriculum and testing procedures, as well as developing support materials for mathematics and computer science in schools. Also, it runs the well-regarded Canadian Mathematics Competition, which offers a series of math contests for students in Grade 7 through to the final year of high school. Last spring, the contests were written by more than 200,000 students.

Writer today: John Morris (jmorris@nh3adm)
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Editor of the Daily Bulletin: Chris Redmond -- credmond@watserv1.uwaterloo.ca Information and Public Affairs, University of Waterloo (519) 888-4567 ext. 3004 About the Bulletin | Mail to the Bulletin | Monday's Bulletin