![[University of Waterloo]](/goldbar.gif)
| Yesterday |
Tuesday, August 17, 2004
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Editor: Chris Redmond credmond@uwaterloo.ca |
Shutdowns tomorrowUW's supplier of general internet connectivity will be performing network maintenance in their Toronto location on Wednesday morning from 3 to 7 a.m. Network traffic utilizing this Toronto node will be affected during this maintenance period. (Connections to commercial websites use general internet connectivity, whereas connections to universities use ORION.)Electrical power will be shut down in Engineering II and Engineering III Wednesday from 6 to 7 a.m. Computer equipment in those buildings should be shut down in an orderly fashion tonight. |
I guess things are far from quiet in the Davis Centre, where renovations to the library are continuing with a goal of getting the place open in the first week of September classes. Similarly, there's construction noise in South Campus Hall, where a number of staff in development and alumni affairs (and the vice-president, university relations) have been temporarily displaced to the Tatham Centre while some work is done on their offices.
Renovations are finished on the fourth floor of Carl Pollock Hall, however, and the dean of engineering office expects to be open for business in its spiffy new space today, following several weeks of exile.
Catching up on the Daily Bulletins that appeared while I was away (and my thanks to Avvey Peters and other colleagues here who made that happen), I see that the big issues last week were student parking and the financing of the planned new health sciences campus in downtown Kitchener.
And of course there was the shocking news that a University of Toronto student, driving the Blue Sky solar race car, was killed Thursday in a crash on Perth Line 43, the road that turns into Erb Street west of Waterloo. The vehicle was heading to UW as part of the Canadian Solar Tour, which has now been cancelled. U of T says it will conduct its own investigation of the crash, which is also under investigation by the Ontario Provincial Police. UW's Midnight Sun solar car was not part of the tour, as it's making a six-week trip around North America. The car and team spent last night at Lake Louise, Alberta, and should be getting into British Columbia today.
A final word about my days away: I didn't travel as far as Midnight Sun will be going (the planned itinerary is some 19,000 kilometres), but I put a lot of distance on my non-solar car, with some stops for lobster, ice cream and other essentials along the way. I'm proud to say I didn't read any e-mail for a full week, and I didn't have much to do with higher education either, although I did have an interesting conversation with a student who was cooking a crepe for me at an open-air cart. She was majoring in "culinary arts" at Johnson & Wales University, "America's career university" -- a place I didn't know much about at the time. By coincidence, I later ran into an article that appeared in Time magazine last spring, focusing on J&W along with a couple of other institutions that train students in the booming field of top-class food service.
"This is a wonderful example of the university-industry synergy that is now so critical in furthering fundamental research in Canada," said David Johnston, UW president. "Merck Frosst's generosity in the donation of this sophisticated equipment reflects the close association that has existed between the company and our department of chemistry."
"Merck Frosst supports excellence in research in Ontario through a number of important donations, grants and fellowships. This particular donation is another tangible example of private sector investment in Canada's research community," said Robert Young, the company's vice-president for medicinal chemistry. "Helping University of Waterloo scientists compete at the cutting edge of research and providing the highest quality education for Canada's scientists-in-training is an example of the commitment of Merck Frosst to innovation in Canada."
Mass spectrometry is one of the most powerful techniques for determining the structure of new chemical and biochemical molecules and entities. Mass spectrometry is an indispensable tool of any research program involving preparative chemistry or biochemistry.
Chemistry professor Terry McMahon said that until now, UW chemists and biochemists had to perform mass spectrometry research at other facilities across Canada. "With the Merck Frosst donation, these experiments can now be performed in-house, allowing UW researchers much greater flexibility in designing and executing experiments thus opening avenues of research that were previously impractical or impossible without a readily accessible mass spectrometry facility."
Though the new mass spectrometer will be used by a variety of UW researchers, it is particularly well suited for health-related research. Areas of health research include the design and construction of new molecules leading to the development of novel therapeutics, such as new antibiotics for combating life-threatening bacterial infections and drugs for treating cancer, diabetes and stroke.
Other research areas include the fabrication and elaboration of new biomaterials, and the design of molecular probes for examining fundamental principles of biochemical processes. Ultimately, the research will result in improved health care and quality of life for Canadians and people around the world.
The donation builds on the existing relationship that Merck Frosst has with UW's department of chemistry. Over the years, the company has supported the Merck Frosst Award for students as well as the Merck Frosst Lecturer Award.
Kevin Bateman, who graduated from UW with a master's degree in chemistry in 1993 and is a key member of the scientific staff at Merck Frosst, played a vital role in securing the gift to the university. Bateman spoke at the event on behalf of Merck Frosst.
Psychology. Emily Cripps, "Toward an Empirical Understanding of Hypersexuality." Supervisor, Jonathan Oakman. On display in the faculty of arts, Humanities room 317. Oral defence, Monday, August 23, 9 a.m., PAS room 3026.
Statistics and actuarial science. Chantal Labbé, "Contributions to the Theory of Constrained Portfolio Optimization." Supervisor, A. J. Heunis. On display in the faculty of mathematics, MC room 5090; oral defence Wednesday, August 25, 2 p.m., Math and Computer room 6007.
Computer science. Finnegan D. J. Southey, "Augmenting Local Search for Satisfiability." Supervisor, D. Schuurmans. On display in the faculty of mathematics, MC room 5090; oral defence Friday, August 27, 2 p.m., Davis Centre room 1304.
Statistics and actuarial science. Yuejiao Fu, "Statistical Inference for Mixture Models." Supervisors, J. Chen and J. D. Kalbfleisch. On display in the faculty of mathematics, MC room 5090; oral defence Monday, August 30, 10 a.m., Math and Computer room 6007.
Applied mathematics. Yi Zhang, "Stability of Hybrid Systems with Time Delay." Supervisors, X. Z. Liu and X. Shen. On display in the faculty of mathematics, MC room 5090; oral defence Thursday, September 2, 10 a.m., Math and Computer room 5158.
Applied mathematics. Woei Chet Lim, "The Dynamics of Inhomogeneous Cosmologies." Supervisor, J. Wainwright. On display in the faculty of mathematics, MC room 5090; oral defence Thursday, September 9, 10 a.m., Math and Computer room 5158.
CAR