July 24, 2003

Thursday July 24, 2003

Student Life 101 orients new students to UW
UW profs named to Royal Society of Canada
Thursday notes

Editor:
Chris Redmond
credmond@uwaterloo.ca

Third-place finish for Midnight Sun

The University of Waterloo's Midnight Sun VII was the top Canadian team and finished in third place overall in the American Solar Challenge event that wrapped up yesterday in Claremont, California. Team member Calli Citron says the team had "a flawless last run, with no glitches... our overall time was less than it was two years ago and it was a good race." University of Missouri - Rolla was the winner of the race, followed by the University of Minnesota.

Student Life 101 orients new students to UW -- from the UW media relations office

Photo by Barbara Elve
From left to right, Student Life 101 coordinators Cora Dupuis and Beatrice Wong and Student Life assistant, Courtney Shantz.

Students attending UW for the first time this fall will gather on campus by the thousands on Saturday, July 26, to explore their brave new world, far away from home.

The annual event, known as Student Life 101, is an orientation program "designed by students for students" to help with the transition to university life before the fast-paced weeks of classes early in the fall term. It runs from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and includes campus tours until 2:30 p.m.

Heather FitzGerald, UW's student life coordinator, said that about 5,000 students and guests (parents and siblings) are expected at the event. "There has been an exceptional interest in Student Life 101 this year," she said.

Now in its seventh year, the event is organized by FitzGerald, who relies on four event coordinators: Cora Dupuis, a fourth-year political science student, Graeme Canivet, third-year computer science, Beatrice Wong, third-year pre-optometry, and Erin Corcoran, second-year architecture, as well as some 150 student volunteers.

The summer-time orientation event was created "to relieve student and parent anxiety and reassure them that UW is a warm and friendly place," FitzGerald said. "We want to let them know that there are a lot of people and services here to help them and to make their years here fun."

A top presentation is called "Student Life at UW" and will be held both at noon for students in the faculties of Engineering, Mathematics and Environmental Studies and at 1 p.m. for students in Applied Health Sciences, Arts, Science and Software Engineering.

The presentation allows students to learn about all of the services and resources available to help them throughout their university career. They will also get a chance to meet key people on campus including Amit Chakma, vice-president academic and provost, and Chris Edey, president of the Federation of Students.

UW profs named to Royal Society of Canada

Two Waterloo faculty members are among 60 new fellows recently named to the Royal Society of Canada, considered to be the nation's top honour for academics.

Ian Munro of the school of computer science, and Adel Sedra, UW's new dean of engineering, will be formally inducted into the Canadian Academy of the Sciences and Humanities of the Royal Society of Canada in a ceremony set to take place on November 24, 2003.

From the nomination citations:

"Ian Munro is a leader in the design and analysis of algorithms and data structures. He introduced implicit data structures which rearrange the source data so as to encode complex structures without need of additional storage... Dr. Munro has also led the field, together with his students, in the difficult area of analysis of collision resolution strategies for hashing algorithms."
"Adel Sedra is internationally recognized for his scientific contributions to the field of microelectronics and in particular for his seminal research work on the design of analog filters used in communications and signal processing systems. By applying powerful analysis techniques to practical industrial applications, Dr. Sedra has helped to create new circuits and structures that are used in industry worldwide..."

The Royal Society encompasses a broad range of disciplines, including natural and applied sciences, medicine, and social sciences and humanities. Its mandate is to promote and develop learning and research in the arts and sciences through the work of its three Academies: the Academy of Science, the Académie des lettres et des sciences humaines, and the Academy of Humanities and Social Sciences.

Thursday notes

The speaker at today's statistics and actuarial science lecture will be Stella Karuri. Her topic is "Bayesian Integration and Analysis of Computer Experiments." The lecture starts at 3:30 p.m. in MC 5158.

A retirement party for Murray Shepherd, UW librarian, will take place today at the University Club from 3 - 5 p.m. Shepherd is retiring from UW after 34 years. For details contact Cheryl Kieswetter, ext. 2282.

And the economics society is hosting a wine and cheese social for students and faculty today from 4:30 - 6:30 p.m. in the psychology lounge (PAS 3005). Complimentary refreshments will be served.

C&PA

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