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Dave Slover, a physiotherapist with the athletic department and with Spinal Orthopaedic and Sports Therapy in the Student Life Centre, will be part of the Canadian medical team. Tony Martins, men's volleyball coach and publications coordinator, is wearing his media hat to cover volleyball and beach volleyball as editor of True North, the national volleyball magazine of Canada. An alumnus of UW, Martins started for five years on the men's volleyball team. Sharon Creelman, the women's field hockey coach, has recently been named a junior national field hockey coach. A 12-year veteran of the national team and previous captain of the Canadian team, she will be acting as an observer with the national coach.
As far as staff in the athletics department are aware, there are no UW-based athletes competing in the Olympics.
The project is headed by Mohamed Elmasry, of the electrical and computer engineering department. The funding will enable Elmasry and his 15-member team in the Very Large Scale Integration laboratory to develop new microchips with low-battery energy and power consumptions and special features for the next generation of microchips for wireless communications.
Headquartered in Waterloo, RIM is a Canadian-owned company that's considered a leader in the emerging wireless computing industry. Wireless communications services and technologies use radio waves to transmit information. Television remote controls, garage door openers, AM/FM radios and televisions are a few examples. Other examples include cellular phones, wireless computer Local Area Networks, direct-to-home satellite and public wireless data services.
"This collaborative research program between NSERC, University of Waterloo and Research In Motion will develop low-power communications technologies that will be instrumental in furthering Canada's lead in wireless data communications," said Mike Lazaridis, president of RIM.
A comment from Elmasry: "By the year 2000, 50 per cent of all electronic communications and information systems will be battery operated. Low-power and low-energy consumptions are key features for future microchips."
"The University of Waterloo has fostered cooperation with industry since its inception and this is the latest example of a relationship with the potential of major gains by both parties," said Carolyn Hansson, UW's vice-president (university research) and a member of NSERC's council. "The university has been investing significant efforts in the field of wireless communications and we look forward to a successful collaboration with this very progressive small company for many years to come."
Conference sessions include four plenary lectures, one by a University of Ottawa academic and three by UW professors. Steve Furino of St. Jerome's College will talk on "From Cayley to Wiles: The Golden Age of Mathematics", James Redekop on "Modern Financial Mathematics", and Kathryn Hare on "Sets of Uniqueness -- A Crown Jewel in Mathematics".
The University of Waterloo has been a pioneer among Ontario universities, focusing on excellence in such specific areas as computer science, engineering and math. It also spearheaded co-operative education, which combines practical work experience with the traditional academic approach. The U.S. giant Microsoft Corp. hires more graduates from Waterloo than from any other school. . . .But, as Education Minister John Snobelen said in a discussion paper on post-secondary education released this week, too many of Ontario's 25 colleges and 17 universities are cookie-cutter copies of each other, offering the same array of programs and courses.
Only a few are first-rate; too many are not. . . .
Interesting things are happening today at the University of Guelph. There's a "town-hall meeting" this afternoon at 2, to talk about Guelph's "enhanced partnership" with the Ontario ministry of agriculture, food and rural affairs. The new arrangement, building on 30 years of work side-by-side in Guelph, will make the university, OMAFRA and Ontario's colleges of agricultural technology "a more co-ordinated unit", but there are also fears of disruption and the loss of jobs. . . .
CAR
| Editor of the Daily Bulletin: Chris Redmond -- credmond@watserv1.uwaterloo.ca Information and Public Affairs, University of Waterloo (519) 888-4567 ext. 3004 Comments to the editor | About the Bulletin Yesterday's Bulletin |