Daily Bulletin

Federal funds for eleven projects

Mik Pintar -- leader of one of eleven projects that received CFI funding yesterday -- in his physics lab with a graduate student.

Eleven projects at Waterloo will get CFI funding ranging from just over $80,000 to $2.4 million. The CFI grants are intended to pay 40 per cent of the costs for the projects. Another 40 per cent has been requested from the Ontario Innovation Trust, and the remaining 20 per cent will come from various outside sponsors, says Andrew Barker of UW's office of research.

Nationally, the funding is going to 214 "infrastructure projects" in universities, colleges, hospitals and other research institutions. "This extraordinary level of partnership," says CFI president David Strangway, "will not only benefit Canada's research community, but will also play a critical role in strengthening Canada's position in the global economy."

CFI notes that it has handed out $839 million since it was created by the federal government two years ago. "When coupled with contributions from other funding partners, the result is more than $2.097 billion in capital investment to help strengthen the research environment in Canadian institutions." UW received funding for six projects in the spring of 1999.

Here are the eleven UW projects that will be receiving new funds:

• Integrated Centre for Visualization, Design and Manufacturing (Sanjeev Bedi, mechanical engineering; Thomas Seebohm, architecture; and eight other faculty at UW and other institutions), $1,785,857.
• Waterloo Atmospheric Observatory (Peter Bernath, chemistry, and four other faculty), $547,246.
• Waterloo Center for High Performance Computing (Alan George, computer science, and nine other faculty), $373,842.
• Roads and Pavement Research (Ralph Haas, civil engineering, and eight other faculty), $2,400,000.
• Air Pollution Research Institute (Robert Hudgins, chemical engineering, and seven other faculty), $318,866.
• Industrially Focused Analytical Research Laboratory (Janusz Pawliszyn, chemistry, and five other faculty), $300,000.
• 500-MHz Micro-Magnetic Resonance Imager for Quantitative Multiscale Science of Porous Media (Mik Pintar, physics, and nine other faculty), $820,865.
• Testing and On-Line Quality Control for Advanced Polymeric Materials and Polymerization Processes (João Soares, chemical engineering, and three other faculty), $500,406.
• Live Fire Research Facility (Beth Weckman, mechanical engineering, and five other faculty), $2,135,415.
• Software Technology for Embedded Control Programs (Grant Weddell, computer science, and four other faculty), $282,026.
• Canadian Elections Database, 1867 to Present (John Wilson, political science, and three other faculty), $84,200.

UW will get research data centre

CFI is providing $5,380,089 to create "a national network of Research Data Centres", one of which will be at UW, involving John Goyder of the sociology department and other statistical researchers.

The centres, about five across Canada, will be "secure" locations where approved researchers can use federal government databases that would otherwise be confidential. CFI listed dozens of academics across Canada who are already using such data for research about child development, labour markets, immigration, education, aging, health care and statistical modelling -- including UW faculty members in health studies and gerontology, recreation and leisure studies, and statistics and actuarial science.

Switchboard moves out of Physics

The operators and other telephone services staff will be at work tomorrow in new quarters on the second floor of the Math and Computer building, close to the rest of the IST (information systems and technology) department. They've been part of IST since 1996.

The actual "switch", the electronic equipment that handles UW phone calls, will stay in the Physics building. That's where it has been -- with many an upgrade over the years, and several changes of phone number -- since UW was an infant university and the "Physics and Mathematics Building" opened late in 1959. A photograph from that year shows the switchboard operator doubling as a receptionist at the foot of the building's main stairway.

At one time as many as a dozen operators were needed to handle calls to 885-1211 and plug in the old-fashioned PBX cords to UW's hundreds of extensions. Now most calls come to the "automated attendant" at 888-4567. To help callers who don't know the number they want, and to deal with complicated long distance calls, UW now has three full-time phone operators and two part-timers.

The space they'll occupy in Math and Computer rooms 2058 and 2059 looks pretty much like ordinary offices, says Ginny Polai of telephone services. She was busy yesterday packing up the not-so-paperless office in Physics for the move to MC.

The switchboard move "will not disrupt the service," says Judie Lankowski, project coordinator in IST's administrative support group, which includes telephone services. "The main office will move during working hours and the switchboard will move after 6 p.m. so there will be no disruption to incoming calls."

She gave some background: "In 1996 when Data Processing, Computing Services and Telephone Services amalgamated to become IST, Telephone Services remained in the Physics building. It's always much better when a department is located in the same building -- not only logistically but morale-wise."

Phone numbers will remain the same, including ext. 2222 for repairs and ext. 6000 for general inquiries.

New home for archives; other notes

With the sale of 156 Columbia Street (Annex 2), space had to be found elsewhere to house the University of Waterloo Archives. That space will be in the back of the Commissary Building, adjacent to a loading dock. The Commissary will undergo extensive renovations to accommodate the Archives as well as two other university departments. It is anticipated that this work will begin in October. Between now and the time that the Commissary is ready for occupancy, the Archives will be stored securely in a temporary location. The materials will not be accessible until they are moved into the Commissary. For further information, please contact Jane Britton, Archives Operations Manager, ext. 2445 (jbritton@library).

Tonight: the UW Choir presents "Sing Me to Heaven", an end-of-term concert that ranges from Mozart ("Regina Coeli") to a work that's accompanied by African dancing and drumming. The title song is a gentle work by contemporary American composer Daniel Gawthrop. The concert will start at 8 p.m. at St. John's Lutheran Church, 22 Willow Street in central Waterloo. Tickets are $8, students $5.

York University is mourning its founding president, Murray Ross, who died July 21 at the age of 90. Previously a vice-president at the University of Toronto -- which provided space for York as it got organized and began teaching in 1960 -- Ross headed York from 1960 to 1970. He was the author of a dozen books, including The University: The Anatomy of Academe in 1976.

Short shorts: It's "cheap night" at Mudie's cafeteria in Village I, and the special is Jamaican veg stew. . . . The University Bible Fellowship has a conference going in the Humanities Theatre today and through the weekend. . . . The Right Angle Café, operated by the Math Society on the third floor of Math and Computer, will be open until 7 p.m. nightly until exams end, and Monday-to-Friday 7:30 to 4:30 through the dog days of August. . . . The faculty association has scheduled a general meeting for Wednesday, September 20, at 2:30 p.m.

CAR

Editor of the Daily Bulletin: Chris Redmond
Information and Public Affairs, University of Waterloo
credmond@uwaterloo.ca | (519) 888-4567 ext. 3004
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