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Daily Bulletin

Chemistry chair will leave for BC

The irony is that Hepburn is, indeed, setting sail for parts unknown, or at any rate for the left coast. As of July 1 next year, he'll become chair of the chemistry department at the University of British Columbia.

"They phoned me up and asked me to come," says Hepburn, who has been at UW since 1982 and was chair of the chemistry department here. He resigned from that post a few weeks ago in preparation for his move.

Why UBC? It's a bigger university with a higher endowment and better support, he said -- "just a better place to do research. . . . I've been at Waterloo for eighteen years, and I needed a change, new challenges." Interesting things will be happening at UBC, he says: "About half the department is due to retire in the next five years or so, and there'll be a huge amount of hiring. It will be an opportunity for me to build the department."

The article in the UW Magazine builds on the talk Hepburn gave in the Theatre of the Arts one noon-hour last spring, this year's tour de force in the Friends of the Library lecture series. Writer Pat Bow quotes his thoughts about how research is done and what it's for:

A lot of the research that goes on at the university can't be justified in terms of immediate economic benefit. Often, the applications are obvious only in hindsight. Hepburn offers lasers as an example. "When they developed the laser in the late '50s and early '60s, it was described as a solution in search of a problem. . . . It was a bunch of atomic physicists playing around." Casting about for commercial applications, they thought of the obvious: cutting things. That indeed is a present-day commercial application, but "it's probably some fraction of one per cent of the total commercial application of lasers." We now use lasers in CD players, communications, and biomedical research. Nobody in the '60s could have foreseen any of these applications.

The point is that with fundamental research, you just don't -- and can't -- know what the results will be, ten or a hundred years from now. Quantum computing, to cite another example, seems on the verge of producing a whole new paradigm in computing science. Yet its parent, atomic physics, was declared dead and buried two decades ago. "If people were only to do things that they knew would succeed, then essentially we'd go nowhere."

Weekend sports Football: The Warriors scored in the last minute of play, then the Gryphons couldn't make a two-point convert, and Waterloo held on for a 32-31 comeback victory at Alumni Stadium in Guelph on Saturday afternoon. Men's basketball: The Warriors played their first tournament of the season and came away with a 2-1 record at the McGill Redbird Classic. In the round robin tournament, Waterloo lost to the host McGill Redmen on Friday night by a score of 92-88 and rebounded with wins against the Bishop's Gaiters 78-71 on Saturday and against the UBC Thunderbirds 73-58 on Sunday.

Johnston heads broadband task force

The announcement came from John Manley, whom Johnston describes as "the key champion" of the Internet in the Liberal federal government. With it came a promise that Canada will reach "the goal of high-speed broadband access to all communities by 2004".

The next day, Manley left the industry portfolio to take on external affairs, in the run-up to next month's federal election. He's succeeded as industry minister by Brian Tobin, formerly premier of Newfoundland.

Manley said the task force that Johnston is chairing "will be established to advise the Government of Canada on how best make high-speed broadband Internet services available to businesses and residents in all Canadian communities by the year 2004". Said the minister: "As a first step, the Task Force will map out a strategy and advise the Government, by March 31, 2001, on best approaches for achieving this commitment."

The role is a natural one for Johnston, who has held the title of "special adviser" to Manley on "information highway matters". He chaired the government's Information Highway Advisory Council, which worked from 1994 to 1997, and later the Blue Ribbon Panel on Smart Communities. And much of his academic work has been in similar fields; one of his books is titled Getting Canada Online: Understanding the Information Highway.

One such task flows into the next, he said Friday, adding that he has also taken on a separate project to advise the federal environment ministry on how environmental information can best be stored and moved electronically.

How does he do national work of this kind, and still carry on the traditional work of a university president? "Perhaps very badly!" he laughed. But he quickly added that he doesn't like to separate the work of an "administrator" from the work of teaching and scholarship that an academic leader should be doing. "I’ve always considered myself a teacher-scholar," Johnston said, and he considers work for the government to be an extension of his academic study.

"Universities should play a role in public policy," he said firmly, explaining why he thinks it's a university president’s business to advise the government. And, he said, involvement in the broadband (high-speed Internet) wiring of Canada is valuable for UW’s role and reputation as an institution that provides leadership to the country.

Like many things in Canada, Johnston said, the provision of Internet service is a mixed public (government) and private (for-profit) activity, and much of the work of his task force will amount to making recommendations about the balance: "Where does the market leave gaps?"

The task force is assigned to "examine and report on the situation in a number of communities representing the full range of circumstances in Canada with respect to number of households, distance from existing high speed infrastructure, institutional needs, existing local infrastructure and infrastructure soon to be available. . . . consider the types, characteristics and needs of communities which without government involvement will not likely be served by high speed broadband internet access by the private sector by 2004."

Wanted: board of governors members -- a notice from the university secretariat

Prospective candidates must be Canadian citizens, experienced at governance at a senior level, with expertise in finance/investment, law, marketing, fund-raising or major construction, and with commitment to and knowledge of UW. They must also be able to make the commitment of time necessary to do the job.

Copies of the Protocol for the Appointment of External Board Members, information about the Board of Governors and nomination forms are available from Tracy Dietrich (ext. 6125, tdietric@secretariat.uwaterloo.ca), University Secretariat.

Happening on an autumn campus

Employer interviews continue this week in the co-op department, with an eye to winter term jobs. "Students should check Access early each morning for updated interview schedules and room locations," a memo suggests.

The senate research council will meet at 9:00 this morning in Needles Hall room 3001. Agenda items include a proposed Institute of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

There will be a blood donor clinic today through Thursday in the Student Life Centre, with needles at the ready from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day. There's an appointment sign-up sheet at the turnkey desk so potential donors can bleed without undue delay. "If you knew you could save a life," asks Canadian Blood Services, "would you?"

A somewhat unusual talk is scheduled in the computer science department this afternoon (3:00, Math and Computer room 2066). Says a memo: "Sculptor/mathematician George W. Hart will show slides of some of his mathematically informed sculptures. These include works made of metal, wood, acrylic, paper, CD-ROMs, floppy disks, forks, knives, spoons, etc. Also shown will be a three-minute video of the assembly of two recent commissions: a six-foot sculpture constructed from 642 CD-ROMs in the Computer Science building at UC Berkeley, and a five-foot sculpture constructed at a community 'barn raising' event at the Northport Public Library. Each of Hart's works is founded on a mathematical structure of some type. The computational geometry behind one recent work will be presented in a follow-up talk Tuesday, 11 a.m., MC 4058."

Brian Hunt of UW's architecture school speaks at noon today at the Kitchener Public Library, main branch, as KPL's Monday lecture series continues. His topic: "Masterpiece to Commonplace -- Migrating Ideas in Architecture".

Among the thing scheduled for tomorrow:

• Joint health and safety committee, 9 a.m., Needles Hall room 3001.
• Book sale in the Environmental Studies I courtyard, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., organized by Geography Publications, Alternatives, and the Heritage Resources Centre.
• Grand opening celebration for "Browsers", the coffee shop in the Dana Porter Library, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

• Breakfast seminar in the Davis Centre for "President's Circle" donors to UW, with members of the Midnight Sun solar car team.
• "Enhancing Self-Esteem", first of two sessions presented by the Employee Assistance Program, 12 noon, Doug Wright Engineering room 3522.
• Opening of "Grimm Tales", first show of the season for the UW drama department, with school matinee performances.
• Author Wayson Choy reads at St. Jerome's University, 4 p.m.

CAR

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