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Friday, February 2, 2001

  • Spiffy new labs in the Davis Centre
  • Planning school longs for a studio
  • Memos from the registrar
  • The talk of the campus

[He looks puzzled]
Nick Cercone contemplates extra switches that have been added to connect CS department computers in the course of the renovations

Spiffy new labs in the Davis Centre

"Phase one" is finished and "phase two" is starting, as the computer science department does major renovations to its 14 research labs. And Nick Cercone, chair of the department, couldn't be prouder of the efficient new space that's being created to house a growing number of CS graduate students.

"We were able to fairly well renovate the northern half of the third floor of the Davis Centre," says Cercone, adding that although Davis is only 14 years old, the work was badly needed. "We were having two PhD students, and three master's students, per office," he says. As for the tatterdemalion environment: "I was tired of trying to bring in people from industry -- I wanted to make them much more professional."

With the renovations, there are more and tidier offices for grad students, who will even have "lockable drawers!" Cercone says happily. "They have space for private work, they have space for camaraderie when they need it."

So far the project has moved the database lab and renovated the labs for the computer systems group, software engineering, scientific computing and networking. The scientific computing lab has already been dubbed "the green room" since it got a coat of paint.

Coming in the second phase, says Cercone: work on the artificial intelligence lab, construction of a new bioinformatics lab, expansion of the graphics lab to add a video studio, improvements to the programming languages lab and software architecture lab. Other labs will get some attention in phases three and four.

"What we hope at the end of another year," says the department chair, "is to come out with 14 gleaming, shining, state-of-the-art labs."

The work is especially important, he said, because CS has already expanded its graduate program from about 140 master's and PhD level students to 190, and will soon reach 225, thanks to the Access to Opportunities enrolment expansion program.

Funding for the renovations is coming as part of the Bell University Labs project, which was originally put forward under the name of Bell Emergis. A launch is planned this spring for the Bell program, which is bringing UW some $27 million over three years from Bell Canada, the Canada Foundation for Innovation and the Ontario Research and Development Challenge Fund.

Planning school longs for a studio

UW's school of planning -- one of the biggest in Canada -- "offers an excellent educational experience to undergraduates and graduates alike", says the report of a program review that involved a visit by three outside experts.

The planning school is among the first academic units to complete the internal program review process that UW introduced in 1997. A report on the findings was brought to the university senate in January.

Some key lines from the report:

Of the 30 undergraduate and graduate planning programs in Canada, the School of Planning at UW is the only program to offer each of Bachelor (both regular and coop), Masters and Doctoral degrees, and all three are accredited by CIP. It is one of the largest planning programs in the country, and attracts very good to excellent undergraduate students (median incoming average approaches 80%), and excellent graduate students. The School focuses on several themes: natural environment, human and built environment, and planning policy and practice. . . .

Teaching improvement and enhancement are being emphasized by the Director, and over the past three years there has been a steady improvement in the evaluation by students of course instructors.

Most faculty in the School have active research programs, and the number and quality of publications have been increasing. . . .

In the words of the Review Team, "the School's emphasis on the common themes present in natural, human and built environments successfully brings people with very diverse interests together to discuss and collaborate on a wide range of planning issues." The Review Team also noted a "very strong link between the School and the professional planning community," and that "through excellent promotional materials and school visits, the School is a formidable ambassador for the planning profession."

Concern has been expressed by both the School and the Review Team regarding the inadequate amount of studio space. The Review Team concluded that "a studio setting is essential to planning education", and encouraged the School, Faculty and University to determine how this need could be satisfied.

The School will always face a challenge of achieving balance between having courses taught by full-time faculty, and by having professional planners teaching on adjunct appointments. The use of professional adjuncts helps to ensure that the professional practice aspects of planning are addressed in the curriculum, but such adjuncts are not available for all the other tasks required to run a program (advising students on research projects, serving on School, Faculty and University committees, etc.). The School is well aware that at times it has over relied on adjuncts, and is systematically striving to attain an appropriate balance.

While some faculty are involved in world- or national-class research, some others have very modest research programs. Opportunities for enhanced research programs, or alternative duties, could be explored in the future.

Where to from here? "For the School, a high priority will be to determine how its space needs in general, and for a design studio in particular, can be met. The School is continuing with a planning process which is intended to revise core and elective courses for all graduate and undergraduate programs. The intent also is to develop a new certificate program in urban design, a new professional practice Masters degree, and a new unifying theme of Natural Hazards for the Natural Environment theme area."

Memos from the registrar

Some announcements of interest to undergraduate students:

Student examination reports for full-time undergraduate students that were on campus in the fall term and are here again full-time for the winter term are available for pick-up. Pick-up locations are as follows: engineering departments, for engineering students; engineering undergraduate office, for engineering exchange students; Renison College or St. Jerome's University for students registered in those colleges; registrar's office, Needles Hall, for all others.

The last day to file a "Notice to the Registrar of Intention to Graduate" form is March 1, 2001 for undergraduate students expecting to graduate at spring convocation. These forms are available in the Registrar's Office, second floor, Needles Hall, or from department offices. A printable version of this form is also available on the web. Spring 2001 Convocation dates are June 13, 2:00 p.m., Applied Health Sciences, Environmental Studies, and Independent Studies; June 14, 2:00 p.m., Arts; June 15, 2:00 p.m., Science; June 16, 10:00 a.m., Mathematics, June 16, 2:00 p.m., Engineering.

Class Enrollment (formerly called pre-registration) for undergraduate students for the Fall 2001 term is the week of March 19, 2001.

Both the hard copy and the electronic copy of the 2001-2002 Academic Calendar should be available around the second week of March 2001. The hard copy calendar can be picked up in the Registrar's Office and the electronic copy of the calendar will be available on the web. Students will be asked to present their WatCards at the time of picking up the printed calendar.

The talk of the campus

I learned yesterday that Andrew Combe, who was a staff member in the plant operations department, died January 20. "He's missed," says his boss, Peter Fulcher of the buildings section in plant ops. Combe, who was a mason (bricklayer), worked mostly in the Villages. He'd been working for UW since June 1990, and Fulcher said that for the past two years he had been battling illness. A funeral service was held January 24; Combe is survived by his wife, Dolly, a daughter and a son, and other family members. Memorial donations to the Grand River Regional Cancer Centre were suggested.

[Bater] Geography professor Jim Bater (right) is filling in as acting dean of environmental studies for a few weeks, the provost's office says. Geoff McBoyle, dean of ES for the past four years, is recuperating from surgery. Bater was previously dean of ES from January 1984 to June 1992.

I've been asked to mention that the February issue of the human resources newsletter is now available on-line in PDF format. This issue has its emphasis on Registered Retirement Savings Plans. There's also an article about a job-sharing arrangement, apparently stunningly successful, in UW's office of research, as well as other HR notes.

An invitation from the local Volunteer Action Centre: "Join a Habitat for Humanity Waterloo Region committee and share your skills with an organization that builds houses in partnership with low income families. Volunteers with many abilities are invited to become part of a committee which provides support to partner family homeowners. Everything from assistance with budgeting, home repair, house management as well as emotional support is needed to help families become independent. Individuals with a background in volunteer management can become involved with a volunteer committee, while others may be interested in a new committee formed to reach out to churches who may want to become involved." More information: 742-8610.

Happening today at UW:

And of course FASS -- "2001: A FASS Oddity" -- continues in the Humanities Theatre, tonight at 7:00 and 10:00, Saturday night at 8.

A note from the co-op department: "Architecture students taking part in co-op employer interviews -- one copy of résumé package to dropoff slot by 8:00 p.m."

Activities Saturday include Fit Fest in the Physical Activities Complex and, starting at 8 p.m., Blues Night at the Graduate House with the Pandemonium Blues Band.

Sports this weekend: the basketball Warriors host Lakehead in doubleheaders both tonight and tomorrow. Both nights, Waterloo's women play the Nor'Westers at 6 p.m. and the men follow at 8 p.m. Other Warriors teams are on the road. The hockey Warriors visit York tonight and Guelph on Saturday afternoon; the women's volleyballers are at Ottawa tonight, and both volleyball teams play at Queen's tomorrow afternoon; the squash team is at Toronto for the league championships over the weekend; the track and field team is in Toronto tomorrow for the York Open.

Advance note: the teaching resources and continuing education office will give a workshop on "Teaching Dossiers, Part 2" in two separate sessions next week. Participants can choose Wednesday afternoon or Thursday afternoon, starting at 3:00 in either case. More information is available from the TRACE web site.

Finally, advance word of this year's Bernoulli trials from statistics professor Christopher Small:

The competition will be on Saturday, March 3, starting at 9:00 sharp. If you enjoy mathematical problem solving then the Bernoulli Trials may be for you. Participants are presented with a series of mathematical problems in the form of statements. Each student has 10 minutes to figure out whether each statement is true or false. As no written proofs are handed in (only an answer of "true" or "false"), the winner of the competition is usually someone with a good combination of mathematical insight and inspired guesswork. The format is a double knockout. Contestants proceed from round to round. You can proceed to the next round if you have at most one mistake. After two mistakes, you are eliminated, but are encouraged to stay and cheer on the ever-shrinking group of surviving students. The winners and runners-up receive cash prizes. A buffet breakfast is provided free of charge, and there is no charge for participating. To participate, you must be a full time student at Waterloo. The program you are in does not matter. You must register so that we have an idea of how many people will be involved. Send me an e-mail with your name, year of studies, student id. I look forward to hearing from you.
Small can be reached at cgsmall@uwaterloo.ca.

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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