July 15, 2002

Monday, July 15, 2002

Magazine examines auto industry
Group studies clinical academic freedom
Monday, Monday

Editor:
Chris Redmond
credmond@uwaterloo.ca

They shoot, they score! UW graphics photographers captured top prizes in the recent 2002 University Photographers Association of America Print Competition at Kent State University in Ohio. Mike Christie, a photo/imaging specialist with graphics, won first prize in the science and research category. His subject was chemistry professor John Honek. Andrew Mills, a Pixel Pub supervisor, placed first and second, and received an honourable mention in the personal vision category with his shots taken on a holiday in Napali, Hawaii. He also won the Fuji New Approach Award for his first-place image.

Magazine examines auto industry

"Japanese automakers and the NAFTA environment" is the theme of the latest issue of Environments, a journal published by the Heritage Resources Centre in UW's faculty of environmental studies.

"This theme issue," writes editor Gordon Nelson, director of the Centre and former dean of ES, "addresses some of the conflicting views relating to Japanese owned automakers in North America.

"Some authors have portrayed Japanese automobile firms with their advanced technology and ongoing improvements as saviors of the environment. Others have depicted Japanese firms as reacting to increasingly demanding conditions in Japan by moving production to other countries where environmental regulations are less strict. These and other issues are examined more fully in the papers in this theme issue. . . .

"Topics for discussion include investment strategies, buyer-supplier relations, labour relations, human resource development, responses to national regulatory policies, NAFTA and environmental initiatives. Environments is very pleased to be able to present these rich and unique multi-national papers to its readers."

Paul Parker of the department of geography -- the director of UW's local economic development program -- is author of one of the articles in the issue and co-author of three others. He writes that the Japanse manufacturing system "should be set in a wider context of societal goals to reduce environmental harm. . . . As a major source of greenhouse gas emissions and smog precursors, the Japanese automotive industry has chosen to develop and market new vehicle technologies to meet demands for reduced emissions. . . .

"Many people want to increase their mobility and also protect the environmnent. No single company or country can resolve these conflicting objectives on its own. However, solutions need to be found and groups offering solutions are expected to gain a strategic advantage over those who ignore the needs of the future."

Environments is published three times a year; subscription rates range from $15 (students) to $35 (institutions).

Group studies clinical academic freedom

The Canadian Association of University Teachers says it has set up a task force "to investigate how free clinical faculty and medical researchers are to speak openly and report their findings." The project was announced in a front-page article in the June issue of CAUT's Bulletin.

"The task force is being established," the Bulletin says, "in response to a number of recent high-profile cases where the academic freedom of clinical faculty and researchers has been compromised."

It quotes James Turk, executive director of CAUT: "The experiences of Nancy Olivieri and David Healy make clear that academic freedom is a major issue for clinical faculty and researchers in university-affiliated hospitals and research centres. If health researchers and teachers are not able to speak freely, to share their findings with patients and colleagues, and to publish their results in scientific journals, we are all at risk."

Philip Welch, a professor of pediatrics at Dalhousie University, will chair the task force.

In the same issue, the Bulletin reports that Josef Penninger of the University of Toronto, described as "one of Canada's top scientists," is leaving the country "because the University of Toronto and its largest affiliated hospital, the University Health Network, failed to act in a timely and decisive manner to deal with unfounded allegations made against him and his lab."

Says the newspaper: "A brilliant immunologist who gained fame for landmark discoveries in the quest for cures for cancers, heart disease, osteoporosis and in unravelling the genetic elements in pain, the 37-year-old Penninger turned to senior officials of the university and the hospital to deal with what he felt were destructive allegations being made by Tak Mak, director of the Amgen Research Institute at UHN and the U of T, where Penninger worked and where he was a professor in the department of medical biophysics. After repeated pleas for assistance produced no action, Penninger accepted a generous offer last fall from the Austrian Academy of Sciences to move his lab to new $30-million facilities that would be built for him in Vienna."

Monday, Monday

This week there's a blood donor clinic in the Student Life Centre. The clinic runs today through Friday, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. Donors should make an appointment by signing up at the Turnkey Desk.

Faculty level debates begin today for the Sandford Fleming Foundation's technical speaker competition. Engineering students who have qualified at the departmental level will participate in these debates from 11:30 a.m. - 1 p.m. in E2 3324 today, tomorrow, and Wednesday. Finalists will compete on July 19.

Tomorrow, the LT3 Design Café will feature a demonstration of the Online Educational Training System in the FLEX lab (LIB 329) from 10:30 a.m. - noon. The system provides training to managers in cultural organizations such as art galleries, museums and science centres across Canada. For more information, contact Peter Goldsworthy at ext. 7008, or by email at peter@LT3.uwaterloo.ca.

Also tomorrow, engineering student Jennifer Motuz will speak about her land mine research in DC 1302 at 5 p.m. The talk has been organized by Engineers Without Borders.

Avvey Peters

TODAY IN UW HISTORY
July 15, 1968: A branch of the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce opens in the Campus Centre.