Pilot training part of 2 new programs

from the UW media relations office

Aviation enthusiasts will be able to learn to fly while earning a university degree through two new programs offered by the University of Waterloo. A new bachelor of environmental studies degree in geography and aviation as well as a new bachelor of science in science and aviation will take flight starting September 2007. Recently approved by UW's senate, both programs were developed in partnership with the Waterloo-Wellington Flight Centre.

"The field of aviation has evolved significantly over the past 50 years," said Morton Globus, a professor emeritus in the faculty of science and key developer of the new programs. "Aviation and aerospace industries demand a new breed of specialists who have a comprehensive academic background to help them understand complex aircraft systems and well-developed analytical, critical thinking and decision-making skills."

Today, flight training is a requirement for many aviation and aerospace careers. A university degree, meanwhile, is seen by the airline industry as a valuable asset for a pilot and is rapidly becoming a requirement for the profession. To meet that need, UW's new programs provide a solid foundation for careers in a diverse range of aviation and aerospace industries.

Both degrees are designed to provide candidates with a comprehensive grounding in aviation-relevant subjects such as geomatics (science and technology of gathering, analyzing, interpreting, distributing and using geographic information), climatology, cartography and remote sensing.

Globus, a pilot himself and UW's liaison with WWFC, said the programs are unique in Canada. "Waterloo has a very strong science, environmental science, geomatics and technology base that will provide many of the essential underpinnings of aviation and aerospace," he said.

In the faculties of environmental studies and science, aviation-related areas include solid-state physics, wireless communication, astrophysics, energy cells, fuels, remote sensing, climatology/meteorology, environmental sciences, computer cartography, geomorphology, global positioning systems and geographic information systems, among others.

The aviation component of both programs will cover professional pilot program requirements, delivered by WWFC. The WWFC, a non-profit organization established in 1932, has been offering flight training for more than 70 years and is widely respected in the Canadian aviation industry.

The new programs will cost about $50,000 for flight training, on top of about $25,000 in tuition fees over four years.

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Renison opens new wing on Friday

Renison College will hold a grand opening celebration Friday morning for "a new centre of learning" — its Academic Centre, a $4.5 million expansion project adjacent to the college’s Luxton Building.

The long-awaited new wing includes a state-of-the-art language lab, an East Asian Studies Centre, multiple student study spaces, and a 4,300-square-foot library. The Centre will also house an enlarged Institute of Ministry and Chaplaincy, a Li Tim-Oi Memorial Reading Room and Archives, as well as space for the new Confucius Institute.

“This ambitious capital project reflects the commitment of Renison College to enhancing the educational experience of our students—and assuring their ability to compete successfully in a global job market,” says Renison principal John Crossleyi n a news release. “Our investment in facilities and new technology enables Renison to respond to increasing demands for its programs, and marks the college as a frontrunner in today’s higher education environment. We are enormously grateful to the dozens of supporters and partners, large and small who made it possible.”

The official opening takes place Friday at 11:00, at Renison College. Benefactors, UW officials and the heads of the other colleges, "along with members of Kitchener-Waterloo’s business community", will be on hand to celebrate the event, Renison says.

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Pixels in the big picture

Sandra Bullock (left) of UW's health studies and gerontology department was one of some 62 researchers — chosen from sixty thousand submissions — to make a presentation of their work at the international AIDS conference held in Toronto last month. Title of her talk: "Crystal Methamphetamine Use and Participation in Unsafe Sex among Poly-drug Using Men who Have Sex with Men in Toronto, Canada". It's often said, she explains, that the use of crystal meth is fuelling a new epidemic of unsafe sex and HIV transmission. But after interviewing 300 men, about a quarter of them HIV-positive, she concluded that risk behaviour "does not seem to be associated with meth dependence. The association between Meth and unsafe sex differs by HIV status and by when Meth use began." Meth, she found, was the "8th most frequently tried drug", with 54.7 per cent of the sample havaing used it some time in their lives.

Manolo Rosales, a third-year geography student, suffered an interruption to his UW career just before the start of fall classes, when four members of his family were deported from Canada. Rosales and his mother, his father and a brother were escorted to Buffalo to fly home to Guatemala. They came from that country as refugees five years ago, but Canadian authorities say their homeland is now a safe place. Appeals are in progress, and three other members of the family are still in the country, media reports indicate.

Jaclyn Huiskamp of the soccer Warriors is UW's female Athlete of the Week after she scored the winning goal in a 2-1 defeat of the Guelph Gryphons on Sunday. . . . Today's the deadline (at the graduate studies office in Needles Hall) for applications for the 2007 Rhodes Scholarships to Oxford. . . . Anybody on campus who needs help with "battery eligibility and exchange", after Dell recalled the batteries on several million laptop computers, can consult the information systems and technology hardware shop, phone ext. 3-2456. . . .

Renison College has named a new chaplain, following this summer's retirement of Gerry Mueller. She is Megan Collings-Moore, who advises that a new schedule of Anglican worship services at St. Bede's Chapel is in effect: "Sundays at 10:30 a.m. we celebrate Eucharist (communion). Wednesdays at noon there is a brief (5-10 minutes) silence followed by Celtic mid-day prayers. And Thursdays the Christian Meditation group meets at 7:30 p.m. All are welcome to any of these worship gatherings."

CAR

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